The University of al-Qarawiyyin ( ar, جامعة القرويين; ber, ⵜⴰⵙⴷⴰⵡⵉⵜ ⵏ ⵍⵇⴰⵕⴰⵡⵉⵢⵉⵏ; french: Université Al Quaraouiyine), also written Al-Karaouine or Al Quaraouiyine, is a university located in
Fez,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...
. It was founded as a
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
by
Fatima al-Fihri in 857–859 and subsequently became one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the
Islamic Golden Age
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign ...
. It was incorporated into Morocco's modern
state university
A state university system in the United States is a group of public universities supported by an individual state, territory or federal district. These systems constitute the majority of public-funded universities in the country.
State univer ...
system in 1963 and officially renamed "University of Al Quaraouiyine" two years later.
The mosque building itself is also a significant complex of historical
Moroccan and
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ...
that features elements from many different periods of
Moroccan history.
Scholars consider al-Qarawiyyin to have been effectively run as a
madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
until after World War II.
[Lulat, Y. G.-M.: ''A History Of African Higher Education From Antiquity To The Present: A Critical Synthesis Studies in Higher Education'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, , p. 70: ][Belhachmi, Zakia: "Gender, Education, and Feminist Knowledge in al-Maghrib (North Africa) – 1950–70", ''Journal of Middle Eastern and North African Intellectual and Cultural Studies, Vol. 2–3'', 2003, pp. 55–82 (65): ][ Shillington, Kevin: '']Encyclopedia of African History
The ''Encyclopedia of African History'' is a three-volume work dedicated to African history. It was edited by Kevin Shillington and published in New York City by Routledge in November 2004. The Library of Congress
The Library of Congress ...
'', Vol. 2, Fitzroy Dearborn, 2005, , p. 1025: They consider institutions like al-Qarawiyyin to be higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...
colleges of Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
where other subjects were only of secondary importance. Many scholars distinguish this status from the status of "university", which they view as a distinctly
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an invention.
[Makdisi, George: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", '' Studia Islamica'', No. 32 (1970), pp. 255–264 (255f.): ] They date al-Qarawiyyin's transformation from a madrasa into a university to its modern reorganization in 1963.
[Park, Thomas K.; Boum, Aomar: ''Historical Dictionary of Morocco'', 2nd ed., Scarecrow Press, 2006, , p. 348 ] Some sources, such as
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
and the
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
, cite al-Qarawiyyin as the oldest university or oldest continually operating
higher learning institution in the world.
Education at the University of al-Qarawiyyin concentrates on the Islamic religious and legal sciences with a heavy emphasis on, and particular strengths in,
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic ( ar, links=no, ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ, al-ʿarabīyah al-fuṣḥā) or Quranic Arabic is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notab ...
grammar/linguistics and ''
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as prima ...
''
Sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
, though lessons on non-Islamic subjects are also offered to students. Teaching is still delivered in the traditional methods.
The university is attended by students from all over Morocco and Muslim
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali ...
, with some also coming from further abroad. Women were first admitted to the institution in the 1940s.
Name
The
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
name of the university, means "University of the People from
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...
( )". Factors such as the provenance of
Fatima al-Fihriya's family in Tunisia, the presence of the letter ''
Qāf'' (
ق) – a
voiceless uvular plosive
The voiceless uvular plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is pronounced like a voiceless velar plosive , except that the tongue makes contact not on the soft palate but on the uvula. The symbol in th ...
which has no equivalent in European languages – the ()
triphthong in the university's name, and the
French colonization
The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exis ...
of Morocco have resulted in a number of different orthographies for the
romanization
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...
of the university's name, including ''al-Qarawiyyin'', a standard
anglicization
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...
; ''Al Quaraouiyine'', following
French orthography; and ''Al-Karaouine'', another rendering using French orthography.
History
Foundation of the mosque
In the 9th century,
Fez was the capital of the
Idrisid dynasty
The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids ( ar, الأدارسة ') were an Arab Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I, the Idrisids were an Alid an ...
, considered to be the first Moroccan Islamic state.
According to one of the major early sources on this period, the ''
Rawd al-Qirtas'' by
Ibn Abi Zar, al-Qarawiyyin was founded as a mosque in 857 or 859 by
Fatima al-Fihri, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Mohammed al-Fihri.
[ Meri, Josef W. (ed.): '' Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia'', Vol. 1, A–K, Routledge, , p. 257 (entry "Fez")] The al-Fihri family had migrated from
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...
(hence the name of the mosque),
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
to Fez in the early 9th century, joining a community of other migrants from Kairouan who had settled in a western district of the city. Fatima and her sister Mariam, both of whom were well educated, inherited a large amount of money from their father. Fatima vowed to spend her entire inheritance to build a mosque suitable for her community.
Similarly, her sister Mariam is also reputed to have founded
al-Andalusiyyin Mosque the same year.
This foundation narrative has been questioned by some modern historians who see the symmetry of two sisters founding the two most famous mosques of Fez as too convenient and likely originating from a legend.
Ibn Abi Zar is also judged by contemporary historians to be a relatively unreliable source.
One of the biggest challenges to this story is a foundation inscription that was rediscovered during renovations to the mosque in the 20th century, previously hidden under layers of plaster for centuries. This inscription, carved onto cedar wood panels and written in a
Kufic script very similar to foundation inscriptions in 9th-century Tunisia, was found on a wall above the probable site of the mosque's original ''
mihrab
Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla ...
'' (prior to the building's later expansions). The inscription, recorded and deciphered by Gaston Deverdun, proclaims the foundation of "this mosque" () by Dawud ibn Idris (a son of
Idris II who governed this region of Morocco at the time) in ''
Dhu al-Qadah
Dhu al-Qa'dah ( ar, ذُو ٱلْقَعْدَة, ', ), also spelled Dhu al-Qi'dah or Zu al-Qa'dah, is the eleventh month in the Islamic calendar.
It could possibly mean "possessor or owner of the sitting and seating place" - the space occupied w ...
'' 263
AH (July–August of 877
CE).
Deverdun suggested the inscription may have come from another unidentified mosque and was moved here at a later period (probably 15th or 16th century) when the veneration of the Idrisids was resurgent in Fez, and such relics would have held enough religious significance to be reused in this way.
However, Chafik Benchekroun argued more recently that a more likely explanation is that this inscription is the original foundation inscription of al-Qarawiyyin itself and that it might have been covered up in the 12th century just before the
Almohads
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire ...
' arrival in the city.
Based on this evidence and on the many doubts about Ibn Abi Zar's narrative, he argues that Fatima al-Fihri is quite possibly a legendary figure rather than a historical one.
Early history
Some scholars suggest that some teaching and instruction probably took place at al-Qarawiyyin Mosque from a very early period
or from its beginning.
Major mosques in the early Islamic period were typically multi-functional buildings where teaching and education took place alongside other religious and civic activities.
The al-Andalusiyyin Mosque, in the district across the
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...
, may have also served a similar role up until at least the
Marinid period, though it never equaled the Qarawiyyin's later prestige.
It is unclear at what time al-Qarawiyyin began to act more formally as an educational institution, partly because of the limited historical sources that pertain to its early period.
The most relevant major historical texts like the ''
Rawd al-Qirtas'' by
Ibn Abi Zar and the ''Zahrat al-As'' by
Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Jazna'i do not provide any clear details on the history of teaching at the mosque,
though al-Jazna'i (who lived in the 14th century) mentions that teaching had taken place there before his time.
Otherwise, the earliest mentions of ''
halaqa'' (circles) for learning and teaching may not have been until the 10th or the 12th century.
Historian
Abdelhadi Tazi indicates the earliest clear evidence of teaching at al-Qarawiyyin in 1121.
Moroccan historian Mohammed Al-Manouni believes that the mosque acquired its function as a teaching institution during the reign of the
Almoravids
The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that s ...
(1040–1147).
Historian
Évariste Lévi-Provençal dates the beginning of teaching to the Marinid period (1244–1465).
In the 10th century, the Idrisid dynasty fell from power and Fez was contested between the
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...
and
Cordoban Umayyad caliphates and their allies.
During this period, the Qarawiyyin Mosque progressively grew in prestige. At some point the ''
khutba
''Khutbah'' ( ar, خطبة ''khuṭbah'', tr, hutbe) serves as the primary formal occasion for public preaching in the Islamic tradition.
Such sermons occur regularly, as prescribed by the teachings of all legal schools. The Islamic tradition ...
'' (Friday sermon) was transferred from the Shurafa Mosque of
Idris II (today the
Zawiya of Moulay Idris II) to the Qarawiyyin Mosque, granting it the status of
Friday mosque (the community's main mosque). This transfer happened either in 919 or in 933, both dates that correspond to brief periods of Fatimid domination over the city, and suggests that the transfer may have occurred by Fatimid initiative.
The mosque and its learning institution continued to enjoy the respect of political elites, with the mosque itself being significantly expanded by the Almoravids and repeatedly embellished under subsequent dynasties.
Tradition was established that all the other mosques in Fez based the timing of their call to prayer (''
adhan
Adhan ( ar, أَذَان ; also variously transliterated as athan, adhane (in French), azan/azaan (in South Asia), adzan (in Southeast Asia), and ezan (in Turkish), among other languages) is the Islamic call to public prayer ( salah) in a mo ...
'') according to that of al-Qarawiyyin.
Apogee during the Marinid period
Many scholars consider al-Qarawiyyin's high point as an intellectual and scholarly center to be in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the curriculum was at its broadest and its prestige had reached new heights after centuries of expansion and elite patronage.
Among the subjects taught around this period or shortly after were traditional religious subjects such as the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...
and ''
fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...
'' (Islamic jurisprudence), and other sciences like
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes doma ...
,
rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...
,
logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from prem ...
,
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
,
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
,
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...
and
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
.
By contrast, some subjects like
alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim wo ...
/
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...
were never officially taught as they were considered too unorthodox.
![Al Attarine Madrasa Fez el Bali Fez Morocco - panoramio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Al_Attarine_Madrasa_Fez_el_Bali_Fez_Morocco_-_panoramio.jpg)
Starting in the late 13th century, and especially in the 14th century, the Marinid dynasty was responsible for constructing a number of formal madrasas in the areas around al-Qarawiyyin's main building. The first of these was the
Saffarin Madrasa in 1271, followed by
al-Attarine in 1323, and the
Mesbahiya Madrasa in 1346.
A larger but much later madrasa, the
Cherratine Madrasa
Cherratine Madrasa () is an Islamic school or madrasa that was built in 1670 by the Alaouite Sultan Moulay al-Rashid. It is located in the city of Fez in Morocco. The madrasa is also called Er-Rachidia Madrasa or Ras al-Cherratine Madrasa.
His ...
, was also built nearby in 1670.
These madrasas taught their own courses and sometimes became well-known institutions, but they usually had narrower curricula or specializations.
One of their most important functions seems to have been to provide housing for students from other towns and cities – many of them poor – who needed a place to stay while studying at al-Qarawiyyin.
Thus, these buildings acted as complimentary or auxiliary institutions to al-Qarawiyyin itself, which remained the center of intellectual life in the city.
Al-Qarawiyyin also compiled a large selection of manuscripts that were kept at a library founded by the Marinid sultan
Abu Inan Faris
Abu Inan Faris (1329 – 10 January 1358) ( ar, أبو عنان فارس بن علي) was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He succeeded his father Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman in 1348. He extended his rule over Tlemcen and Ifriqiya, which covered ...
in 1349.
The collection housed numerous works from the
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
,
al-Andalus
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...
, and the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
.
Part of the collection was gathered decades earlier by Sultan
Abu Yusuf Ya'qub (ruled 1258–1286), who persuaded
Sancho IV of Castile
Sancho IV of Castile (12 May 1258 – 25 April 1295) called the Brave (''el Bravo''), was the king of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 to his death. Following his brother Ferdinand's death, he gained the support of nobles that ...
to hand over a number of works from the libraries of
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...
,
Cordoba,
Almeria,
Granada
Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...
, and
Malaga in al-Andalus/
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
. Abu Yusuf initially housed these in the nearby Saffarin Madrasa (which he had recently built), but later moved them to al-Qarawiyyin.
Among the most precious manuscripts currently housed in the library are volumes from the ''
Al-Muwatta'' of
Malik
Malik, Mallik, Melik, Malka, Malek, Maleek, Malick, Mallick, or Melekh ( phn, 𐤌𐤋𐤊; ar, ملك; he, מֶלֶךְ) is the Semitic term translating to "king", recorded in East Semitic and Arabic, and as mlk in Northwest Semitic d ...
written on gazelle
parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins ...
,
a copy of the ''
Sirat'' by
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...
,
a 9th-century Quran manuscript (also written on gazelle parchment),
a copy of the Quran given by Sultan
Ahmad al-Mansur in 1602,
a copy of
Ibn Rushd
Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an
Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, ...
's ''Al-Bayan Wa-al-Tahsil wa-al-Tawjih'' (a commentary on ''Maliki'' ''fiqh'') dating from 1320,
and the original copy of
Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab
The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, of ...
's book ''Al-'Ibar'' (including the ''
Muqaddimah
The ''Muqaddimah'', also known as the ''Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun'' ( ar, مقدّمة ابن خلدون) or ''Ibn Khaldun's Prolegomena'' ( grc, Προλεγόμενα), is a book written by the Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ...
'') gifted by the author in 1396.
Recently rediscovered in the library is an ''
ijazah
An ''ijazah'' ( ar, الإِجازَة, "permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ''ijazahs'' or ''ijazat'') is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such au ...
'' certificate, written on
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins ...
, which some scholars claim to be the oldest surviving predecessor of a
Medical Doctorate degree, issued to a man called Abdellah Ben Saleh Al Koutami in 1207 CE under the authority of three other doctors and in the presence of the chief ''
qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
'' (judge) of the city and two other witnesses.
The library was managed by a ''qayim'' or conservator, who oversaw the maintenance of the collection.
By 1613 one conservator estimated the library's collection at 32,000 volumes.
![Oldest known and documented MD degree delivered in the world](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Oldest_known_and_documented_MD_degree_delivered_in_the_world.png)
Students were male, but traditionally it has been said that "facilities were at times provided for interested women to listen to the discourse while accommodated in a special gallery (''
riwaq'') overlooking the scholars' circle".
The 12th-century cartographer
Mohammed al-Idrisi, whose maps aided
European exploration during the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, is said to have lived in Fez for some time, suggesting that he may have worked or studied at al-Qarawiyyin. The institution has produced numerous scholars who have strongly influenced the intellectual and academic history of the Muslim world. Among them are
Ibn Rushayd al-Sabti (d. 1321),
Mohammed Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari al-Fasi (d. 1336),
Abu Imran al-Fasi
Abu Imran Musa ibn Isa ibn abi hajj (or hajjaj) al-Fasi () (also simply known as Abu Imran al-Fasi; born between 975 and 978, died 8 June 1039) was a Moroccan Maliki ''faqīh'' born at Fez to a Berber or Arab family whose ''nisba'' is impossible t ...
(d. 1015) – a leading theorist of the
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as prima ...
school of
Islamic jurisprudence
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...
, and
Leo Africanus
Joannes Leo Africanus (born al-Hasan Muhammad al-Wazzan, ar, الحسن محمد الوزان ; c. 1494 – c. 1554) was an Andalusian diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later ...
. Pioneer scholars such as
Muhammad al-Idrissi (d.1166 AD),
Ibn al-Arabi (1165–1240 AD), Ibn Khaldun (1332–1395 AD),
Ibn al-Khatib
Lisan ad-Din Ibn al-Khatib ( ar, لسان الدين ابن الخطيب, Lisān ad-Dīn Ibn al-Khaṭīb) (Born 16 November 1313, Loja– died 1374, Fes; full name in ar, محمد بن عبد الله بن سعيد بن عبد الله بن ...
(d. 1374),
Nur ad-Din al-Bitruji (Alpetragius) (d. 1294), and
Ali ibn Hirzihim (d. 1163) were all connected with al-Qarawiyyin as either students or lecturers.
Some Christian scholars visited al-Qarawiyyin, including
Nicolas Cleynaerts
Nicolas Cleynaerts (Clenardus or Clenard) (5 December 1495 – 1542) was a Flemish grammarian and traveler. He was born in Diest, in the Duchy of Brabant.
Life
Cleynaerts was a follower of Jan Driedo. Educated at the University of Leuven, he ...
(d. 1542)
and the
Jacobus Golius
Jacob Golius born Jacob van Gool (1596 – September 28, 1667) was an Orientalist and mathematician based at the University of Leiden in Netherlands. He is primarily remembered as an Orientalist. He published Arabic texts in Arabic at Leiden, ...
(d. 1667).
The 19th-century
orientalist Jousé Ponteleimon Krestovitich also claimed that Gerbert d'Aurillac (later
Pope Sylvester II
Pope Sylvester II ( – 12 May 1003), originally known as Gerbert of Aurillac, was a French-born scholar and teacher who served as the bishop of Rome and ruled the Papal States from 999 to his death. He endorsed and promoted study of Arab and Gre ...
) studied at al-Qarawiyyin in the 10th century.
Although this claim about Gerbert is sometimes repeated by modern authors,
modern scholarship has not produced evidence to support this story.
Decline and reforms
Al-Qarawiyyin underwent a general decline in later centuries along with Fez. The strength of its teaching stagnated and its curriculum decreased in range and scope, becoming focused on traditional
Islamic sciences
The Islamic sciences ( ar, علوم الدين, ʿulūm al-dīn, lit=the sciences of religion) are a set of traditionally defined religious sciences practiced by Islamic scholars ( ), aimed at the construction and interpretation of Islamic relig ...
and Arabic linguistic studies. Even some traditional Islamic specializations like ''
tafsir
Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...
'' (Quranic
exegesis
Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (logic), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern usage, ...
) were progressively neglected or abandoned.
In 1788–89, the
Alaouite
The Alawi dynasty ( ar, سلالة العلويين الفيلاليين, translit=sulālat al-ʿalawiyyīn al-fīlāliyyīn) – also rendered in English as Alaouite, Alawid, or Alawite – is the current Moroccan royal family and reigning d ...
sultan
Muhammad ibn Abdallah introduced reforms that regulated the institution's program, but also imposed stricter limits and excluded logic, philosophy, and the more radical
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
texts from the curriculum.
Other subjects also disappeared over time, such as astronomy and medicine.
In 1845 Sultan
Abd al-Rahman
Abd al-Rahman ( ar, عبد الرحمن, translit=ʿAbd al-Raḥmān or occasionally ; DMG ''ʿAbd ar-Raḥman''; also Abdul Rahman) is a male Arabic Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', '' ...
carried out further reforms, but it is unclear if this had any significant long-term effects.
Between 1830 and 1906 the number of faculty decreased from 425 to 266 (of which, among the latter, only 101 were still teaching).
By the 19th century, the mosque's library also suffered from decline and neglect.
A significant portion of its collection was lost over time, most likely due to lax supervision and to books that were not returned.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the collection had been reduced to around 1,600 manuscripts and 400 printed books, though many valuable historic items were retained.
20th century and transformation into state university
At the time Morocco became a
French protectorate in 1912, al-Qarawiyyin worsened as a religious center of learning from its medieval prime,
[Lulat, Y. G.-M.: ''A History Of African Higher Education From Antiquity To The Present: A Critical Synthesis'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, , pp. 154–157] though it retained some significance as an educational venue for the sultan's administration.
The student body was rigidly divided along social strata: ethnicity (Arab or
Berber), social status, personal wealth, and geographic background (rural or urban) determined the group membership of the students who were segregated by the teaching facility, as well as in their personal quarters.
The French administration implemented a number of structural reforms between 1914 and 1947, including the institution of calendars, appointment of teachers, salaries, schedules, general administration, and the replacement of the ''ijazah'' with the ''shahada alamiyha,'' but did not modernize the contents of teaching likewise which were still dominated by the traditional worldviews of the ''
ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
''.
At the same time, the student numbers at al-Qarawiyyin decreased to 300 in 1922 as the Moroccan elite sent their children to the newly founded Western-style colleges and institutes elsewhere in the country.
In 1931 and 1933, on the orders of Muhammad V, al-Qarawiyyin's teaching was reorganized into elementary, secondary, and higher education.
Al-Qarawiyyin also played a role in the Moroccan nationalist movement and in protests against the French colonial regime. Many Moroccan nationalists had received their education here and some of their informal political networks were established due to the shared educational background.
In July 1930, al-Qarawiyyin strongly participated in the propagation of ''Ya Latif'', a communal prayer recited in times of calamity, to raise awareness and opposition to the
Berber Dahir The document known as the Berber Dahir (, , formally: ) is a ''dhahir'' (decree) created by the French protectorate in Morocco on May 16, 1930. This ''Dahir'' changed the legal system in parts of Morocco where Amazigh languages were primarily spo ...
decreed by the French authorities two months earlier.
In 1937 the mosque was one of the rallying points (along with the nearby
R'cif mosque
The R'cif Mosque (; also transliterated as ''R'sif'', ''Ercif'', ''er-Rsif'', or ''Rasif'') is a Jama Masjid, Friday mosque in Fes el Bali, Fes el-Bali, the old city (Medina quarter, medina) of Fez, Morocco, Fez, Morocco. It has one of the tallest ...
) for demonstrations in response to a violent crackdown on Moroccan protesters in
Meknes
Meknes ( ar, مكناس, maknās, ; ber, ⴰⵎⴽⵏⴰⵙ, amknas; french: Meknès) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th c ...
, which ended with French troops being deployed across
Fes el-Bali and at the mosques.
![Qarawiyyin library gate on Place Seffarine 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Qarawiyyin_library_gate_on_Place_Seffarine_01.jpg)
In 1947 al-Qarawiyyin was integrated into the state educational system,
and women were first admitted to study there during the 1940s.
In 1963, after Moroccan independence, al-Qarawiyyin was officially transformed by
royal decree
A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...
into a university under the supervision of the ministry of education.
[Belhachmi, Zakia: "Gender, Education, and Feminist Knowledge in al-Maghrib (North Africa) – 1950–70", ''Journal of Middle Eastern and North African Intellectual and Cultural Studies, Vol. 2–3'', 2003, pp. 55–82 (65): ][Park, Thomas K.; Boum, Aomar: ''Historical Dictionary of Morocco'', 2nd ed., Scarecrow Press, 2006, , p. 348 ] Classes at the old mosque ceased and a new campus was established at a former French Army barracks.
While the
dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles
* ...
took his seat at Fez, four
faculties were founded in and outside the city: a faculty of
Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
in Fez, a faculty of Arab studies in
Marrakech
Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
, and two faculties of
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
in
Tétouan
Tétouan ( ar, تطوان, tiṭwān, ber, ⵜⵉⵟⵟⴰⵡⴰⵏ, tiṭṭawan; es, Tetuán) is a city in northern Morocco. It lies along the Martil Valley and is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, a few miles so ...
and near
Agadir
Agadir ( ar, أݣادير, ʾagādīr; shi, ⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔ) is a major city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Souss River flows into the ocean, and south ...
. Modern curricula and textbooks were introduced and the professional training of the teachers improved.
[Park, Thomas K.; Boum, Aomar: ''Historical Dictionary of Morocco'', 2nd ed., Scarecrow Press, 2006, , p. 348] Following the reforms, al-Qarawiyyin was officially renamed "University of Al Quaraouiyine" in 1965.
In 1975, General Studies was transferred to the newly founded
Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University
Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University (french: Université Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah; ar, جامعة سيدي محمد بن عبد الله) is a university in Fez city, Morocco, which was founded in 1975. It is named for Mohammed ben Abdallah ...
; al-Qarawiyyin kept the Islamic and theological courses of studies. In 1973,
Abdelhadi Tazi published a three-volume history of the establishment entitled (''The al-Qarawiyyin Mosque'').
In 1988, after a hiatus of almost three decades, the teaching of traditional Islamic education at al-Qarawiyyin was resumed by King
Hassan II Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to:
People
* Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name
*Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...
in what has been interpreted as a move to bolster conservative support for the monarchy.
Education and curriculum
![Scholar at the University of al-Qarawiyyin's library](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Scholar_at_the_University_of_al-Qarawiyyin%27s_library.png)
Education at al-Qarawiyyin University concentrates on the Islamic religious and legal sciences with a heavy emphasis on, and particular strengths in,
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic ( ar, links=no, ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ, al-ʿarabīyah al-fuṣḥā) or Quranic Arabic is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notab ...
grammar/linguistics and
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as prima ...
law, though some lessons on other non-Islamic subjects such as French and English are also offered to students.
Teaching is delivered with students seated in a semi-circle around a sheikh, who prompts them to read sections of a particular text; asks them questions on particular points of grammar, law, or interpretation; and explains difficult points. Students from Morocco and Islamic West Africa attend al-Qarawiyyin, though some come from Muslim
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
. Spanish Muslim converts frequently attend the institution, largely attracted by the fact that the sheikhs of al-Qarawiyyin, and Islamic scholarship in Morocco in general, are heirs to the rich, religious, and scholarly heritage of Muslim
al-Andalus
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...
.
Most students at al-Qarawiyyin range are between 13 and 30 years old, and study towards high school-level diplomas and university-level bachelor's degrees, although Muslims with a sufficiently high level of Arabic can attend lecture circles on an informal basis, given the traditional category of visitors "in search of
eligious and legalknowledge" ("zuwwaar li'l-talab fii 'ilm"). In addition to being Muslim, prospective students of al-Qarawiyyin are required to have
fully memorized the Quran, as well as other shorter medieval Islamic texts on grammar and ''Maliki'' law, and to be proficient in classical Arabic.
Architecture of the mosque
![Qarawiyyin floor plan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Qarawiyyin_floor_plan.png)
Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque was founded in the 9th century, but its present form is the result of a long historical evolution over the course of more than 1,000 years. Successive dynasties expanded the mosque until it became the largest in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, with a capacity of 22,000 worshipers. The present-day mosque covers an extensive area of about half a
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...
.
Broadly speaking, it consists of a large
hypostyle
In architecture, a hypostyle () hall has a roof which is supported by columns.
Etymology
The term ''hypostyle'' comes from the ancient Greek ὑπόστυλος ''hypóstȳlos'' meaning "under columns" (where ὑπό ''hypó'' means below or un ...
interior space for prayers (the prayer hall), a courtyard with fountains (the ''
sahn
A ''sahn'' ( ar, صَحْن, '), is a courtyard in Islamic architecture, especially the formal courtyard of a mosque. Most traditional mosques have a large central ''sahn'', which is surrounded by a ''Riwaq (arcade), riwaq'' or arcade (architect ...
''), a
minaret
A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گلدسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...
at the courtyard's western end, and a number of annexes around the mosque itself.
Historical evolution
Early history (9th–10th centuries)
![Al-Karaouine University (Al-Qarawiyyin) in the city of Fes, Morocco (Image 6 of 9)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Al-Karaouine_University_%28Al-Qarawiyyin%29_in_the_city_of_Fes%2C_Morocco_%28Image_6_of_9%29.jpg)
The original mosque building was built in the 9th century. A major modern study of the mosque's structure, published by French archeologist and historian
Henri Terrasse
Henri Terrasse (Vrigny-aux-Bois, 8 August 1895 – Grenoble, 11 October 1971) was a French historian, archeologist, and orientalist who specialized in the art and history of the Islamic world and of Morocco in particular.
Biography
Terrasse wa ...
in 1968, determined that traces of the original mosque could be found in the layout of the current building.
This initial form of the mosque occupied a large space immediately to the south of the ''sahn'', in what is now the prayer hall.
It had a rectangular floor plan measuring 36 by 32 meters, covering an area of 1520
square meter
The square metre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter (American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. It is the area of a square w ...
s, and was composed of a prayer hall with four transverse aisles running roughly east–west, parallel to the southern ''
qibla
The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the s ...
'' wall.
It probably also had a courtyard of relatively small size, and the first minaret, also of small size, reportedly stood on the location now occupied by the wooden ''
anaza
Anaza'' or ''anaza'' (sometimes also spelled anza'' or ''anza'') is a term for a short spear or staff which gained ritual significance in the early years of Islam after the Islamic prophet Muhammad planted his spear in the ground to mark th ...
'' (at the central entrance to the prayer hall from the courtyard).
Water for the mosque was initially provided by a well dug within the mosque's precinct.
As Fez grew and the mosque increased in prestige, the original building was insufficient for its religious and institutional needs.
During the 10th century, the
Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba and the
Fatimid Caliphate
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...
constantly fought for control over Fez and Morocco, seen as a buffer zone between the two.
Despite this uncertain period, the mosque received significant patronage and had its first expansions. The
Zenata
The Zenata (Berber language: Iznaten) are a group of Amazigh (Berber) tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic.
Etymology
''Iznaten (ⵉ ...
Berber
emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...
Ahmed ibn Abi Said, one of the rulers of Fez during this period who was aligned with the Umayyads, wrote to the caliph
Abd al-Rahman III
ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Rabdī ibn Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil () or ʿAbd al-Rahmān III (890 - 961), was the Umayyad Emir of Córdoba from 912 to 92 ...
in
Cordoba for permission and funds to expand the mosque.
The caliph approved, and the work was carried out or completed in 956.
It expanded the mosque on three sides, encompassing the area of the present-day courtyard to the north and up to the current eastern and western boundaries of the building.
It also replaced the original minaret with a new, larger minaret still standing today. Its overall form, with a square shaft, was indicative of the subsequent development of Maghrebi and
Andalusian minarets.
The mosque was embellished when the Amirid ruler
al-Muzaffar (son of
al-Mansur
Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ar, أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Manṣūr (المنصور) w ...
) led a military expedition to Fez in 998. The embellishments included a new ''
minbar
A minbar (; sometimes romanized as ''mimber'') is a pulpit in a mosque where the imam (leader of prayers) stands to deliver sermons (, ''khutbah''). It is also used in other similar contexts, such as in a Hussainiya where the speaker sits and le ...
'' and a dome topped by talismans in the shape of a rat, a serpent, and a scorpion.
Of these, only the dome itself, whose exterior is distinctively
fluted
Fluting may refer to:
*Fluting (architecture)
* Fluting (firearms)
* Fluting (geology)
* Fluting (glacial)
*Fluting (paper)
Arts, entertainment, and media
*Fluting on the Hump
''Fluting on the Hump'' is the first album by avant-garde band Kin ...
or grooved, survives today, located above the courtyard entrance to the prayer hall. A similar dome, located across the courtyard over the northern entrance of the mosque (''Bab al-Ward'' or "Gate of the Rose"), likely also dates from the same time.
Almoravid expansion (12th century)
One of the most significant expansions and renovations was carried out between 1135 and 1143 under the patronage of the Almoravid ruler
Ali ibn Yusuf
Ali ibn Yusuf (also known as "Ali Ben Youssef") () (born 1084 died 26 January 1143) was the 5th Almoravid emir. He reigned from 1106–1143.
Biography
Ali ibn Yusuf was born in 1084 in Ceuta. He was the son of Yusuf ibn T ...
.
The prayer hall was extended by dismantling the existing southern wall and adding three more transverse aisles for a total of ten, while replicating the format of the existing arches of the mosque.
This expansion required the purchase and demolition of a number of neighboring houses and structures, including some that were apparently part of the nearby
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
neighbourhood (before the
Mellah of Fez).
The new expansion of the mosque involved not only a new ''mihrab'' in the middle of the new southern wall, but also the reconstruction or embellishment of the prayer hall's central nave (the arches along its central axis, in a line perpendicular to the southern wall and to the other rows of arches) leading from the courtyard to the ''mihrab''. This involved not only embellishing some of the arches with new forms but also adding a series of highly elaborate cupola ceilings composed in ''
muqarnas
Muqarnas ( ar, مقرنص; fa, مقرنس), also known in Iranian architecture as Ahoopāy ( fa, آهوپای) and in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe, is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. It is the archetypal form of I ...
'' (honeycomb or stalactite-like) sculpting and further decorated with intricate
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
s of
arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
s and
Kufic
Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...
letters.
Lastly, a new ''minbar'' in similar style and of similar artistic provenance as the
''minbar'' of the Koutoubia Mosque was completed and installed in 1144.
It is made of wood in an elaborate work of
marquetry
Marquetry (also spelled as marqueterie; from the French ''marqueter'', to variegate) is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns, designs or pictures. The technique may be applied to case furn ...
, and decorated with inlaid materials and intricately carved arabesque reliefs. Its style was emulated for later Moroccan minbars.
Elsewhere, many of the mosque's main entrances were given doors made of wood overlaid with ornate bronze fittings, which today count among the oldest surviving bronze artworks in Moroccan architecture.
Another interesting element added to the mosque was a small secondary oratory, known as the ''Jama' al-Gnaiz'' ("Funeral Mosque" or "Mosque of the Dead"), which was separated from the main prayer hall and dedicated to providing Islamic funeral, funerary rites for the deceased before their burial.
The annex is also decorated with a muqarnas cupola and ornate archways and windows.
Almohad period (12th–13th centuries)
Later dynasties continued to embellish the mosque or gift it with new furnishings, though no works as radical as the Almoravid expansion were undertaken again. The
Almohads
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire ...
(later 12th century and 13th century) conquered Fez after a long siege in 1145–1146.
Historical sources (particularly the ''
Rawd al-Qirtas'') report a story claiming that the inhabitants of Fez, fearful that the "puritan" Almohads would resent the lavish decoration placed inside the mosque, covered up some of the most ornate carvings and decorations from ibn Yusuf's expansion near the ''mihrab'',
but Terrasse suggests this operation may have been carried out a few years later by the Almohad authorities.
The Almoravid ornamentation was only fully uncovered again during renovations in the early 20th century.
Under the reign of Muhammad al-Nasir (ruled 1199–1213) the Almohads added and upgraded a number of elements in the mosque, some of which were nonetheless marked with strong decorative flourishes. The Wudu, ablutions facilities in the courtyard were upgraded, a separate ablutions room was added to the north, and a new underground storage room was created.
They also replaced the mosque's grand chandelier with one made of bronze, which Terrasse described as "the largest and most beautiful chandelier in the Islamic world," and which hangs in the central nave of the mosque today.
It was commissioned by Abu Muhammad 'Abd Allah ibn Musa, the ''khatib'' of the mosque during the years 1202 to 1219.
The chandelier consists of a 12-sided copula on top of which is mounted a large cone crowned around its sides with nine levels of candlesticks. It could originally hold 520 oil candles; the cost of providing the oil was so significant that it was only lit on special occasions, such as on the nights of Ramadan. The Marinid sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf (ruled 1286–1307), upon seeing the cost, ordered that it only be lit for the last day of Ramadan. The visible surfaces of the chandelier are carved and pierced with intricate floral arabesque motifs as well as Kufic Arabic inscriptions. The chandelier is the oldest surviving chandelier in the western Islamic world, and it likely served as a model for the Marinid chandelier in the Great Mosque of Taza.
Marinid period (13th–14th centuries)
The Marinids, who were responsible for building many of the madrasas around Fez, made various contributions to the mosque. In 1286 they restored and protected the 10th-century minaret, which had been made from deteriorating poor-quality stone with whitewash.
At its southern foot, they also built the ''Dar al-Muwaqqit'', a chamber for the timekeeper (''muwaqqit'') of the mosque who was responsible for determining the precise times of prayer. The chamber was equipped with astrolabes and other scientific equipment of the era in order to aid in this task. Several water clocks were built for it in this period. The first two do not exist anymore, but are described by al-Jazna'i in the ''Zahrat al-As''.
The first was commissioned by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub in the 13th century and designed by Muhammad ibn al-Habbak, a ''Faqīh, faqih'' and ''muwaqqit''. The second was built in 1317 or 1318 (717 AH), under the reign of Abu Sa'id Uthman II, Abu Sa'id, by a scholar named Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Sanhaji. Its time divisions were engraved by Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn al-Saddina al-Qarsatuni. The clock was neglected then restored between 1346 and 1349 (747–749 AH) by a new ''muwaqqit'', Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn al-'Arabi.
A third and final water clock, built on the orders of Sultan Ibrahim ibn Ali of Morocco, Abu Salim Ali II (ruled 1359–1361), is still partly preserved today.
It was designed by Abu Zayd Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman al-Laja'i and completed on November 20, 1361 (21 Muharram 763 AH), as recorded by an original inscription. It features a large astrolabe with a diameter of 71 cm, which is embedded into a wooden structure in the corner of the room, but its mechanism is no longer present.
File:Dar al-Muwaqqit.jpg, View of the ''Dar al-Muwaqqit'', with its double-arched window overlooking the courtyard
File:Astrolabe-ghrifa.jpg, The astrolabe of the water clock device completed in 1361 by al-Laja'i
The galleries around the ''sahn'' were also rebuilt or repaired in 1283 and 1296–97, while at the entrance from the courtyard to the prayer hall (leading to the central nave of the mihrab), a decorative wooden screen, called the ''anaza,'' was installed in 1289 and acted as a symbolic "outdoor" or "summer" mihrab for prayers in the courtyard.
The stucco decoration on the entrance arch itself, however, dates from much later.
At the central outer entrance to the courtyard from the north, the cupola ceiling over the entrance vestibule of the gate called ''Bab al-Ward'' ("Gate of the Rose") was redecorated with carved stucco in 1337.
The richly-sculpted archway on the inner side of the gate also dates from this time.
File:Qarawiyyin Bab al-Ward vestibule dome 2.jpg, Marinid decoration in the cupola over the vestibule of ''Bab al-Ward'', the central northern gate of the mosque
File:Fes, fez, فاس (9284407750).jpg, Inner façade of ''Bab al-Ward'', with Marinid-era stucco embellishment
File:Al-Karaouine University (Al-Qarawiyyin) in the city of Fes, Morocco (Image 8 of 9).jpg, The wooden ''anaza
Anaza'' or ''anaza'' (sometimes also spelled anza'' or ''anza'') is a term for a short spear or staff which gained ritual significance in the early years of Islam after the Islamic prophet Muhammad planted his spear in the ground to mark th ...
'' at the courtyard entrance to the prayer hall
A number of ornate metal chandeliers hanging in the mosque's prayer hall date from the Marinid era. Three of them were made from church bells which Marinid craftsmen used as a base onto which they grafted ornate copper fittings. The largest of them, installed in the mosque in 1337, was a bell brought back from Gibraltar by the son of Sultan Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman, Abu al-Hasan, Abu Malik, after its reconquest from Spanish forces in 1333.
The mosque's library was officially founded by Sultan Abu Inan in 1349 (750 AH), as dated by an inscription over its doorway.
This first Marinid library was located at the mosque's northeastern corner (as opposed to the library's current southern location).
In 1361, Sultan Ibrahim ibn Ali of Morocco, Abu Salim added a room to it, which was built above and over the adjacent street, and dedicated to readings of the Quran.
Saadian and Alaouite period (16th-century to modern era)
![Qarawiyyin sahn pavilion (crop of Bou Inania Madrasa,Fes)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Qarawiyyin_sahn_pavilion_%28crop_of_Bou_Inania_Madrasa%2CFes%29.jpg)
The Saadi dynasty, Saadians embellished the mosque by adding two prominent pavilions to the western and eastern ends of the courtyard, each of which sheltered a new fountain. The Saadian sultan
Ahmad al-Mansur was responsible for building the first pavilion to the east in 1587–88, while the western pavilion was added by his grandson Abdallah al-Ghalib II in 1609.
The pavilions emulate the ones in the Court of the Lions, Court of Lions of the Alhambra palaces (in
Granada
Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
).
Al-Mansur also built a new room for the library on the south side of the mosque (around the library's current location), which was connected to the mosque via a door in the ''qibla'' wall.
The Alaouite dynasty, which has ruled Morocco from the 17th century onward, continued to perform minor additions and regular maintenance on the mosque. A ribbed cupola in the central nave, where the 1337 Marinid chandelier hangs, has been dated by Terrasse to the Alaouite period,
although Xavier Salmon has more recently argued that at least some elements of the dome seem to date from the Marinid era.
The stucco decoration of the central archway at the courtyard entrance to the prayer hall (i.e. the arch inside which the Marinid-era ''anaza'' stands) also dates from the Alaouite period; an inscription at the top of the arch gives the year 1864–1865 (1281 AH).
The present library building dates mainly from a major expansion and modification in the 20th century, particularly in the 1940s.
The new library expansion, which included a large new reading room, was inaugurated in 1949.
Current structure
Exterior
![Qarawiyyin Bab al-Ganaiz 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Qarawiyyin_Bab_al-Ganaiz_02.jpg)
Al-Qarawiyyin's exterior does not generally present a monumental appearance and is integrated with the dense urban fabric around it. By one count there are 18 separate gates and entrances distributed around its perimeter.
The gates vary from small rectangular doorways to enormous horseshoe arches with huge doors preceded by wooden roofs covering the street in front of them.
While the doors are generally made of wood, some of the gates have extensive ornate bronze overlays crafted during the Almoravid period.
The most ornate and best-preserved examples include the doors of the principal northern gate, ''Bab al-Ward'' (which opens onto the courtyard), the western gate called ''Bab Sbitriyyin'', and the southwestern gate ''Bab al-Gna'iz'', which leads to the ''Jama' al-Gna'iz''.
While the doors of ''Bab al-Ward'' preserve original pieces and were restored in 2005–2007, the doors of ''Bab al-Gna'iz'' and ''Bab Sbitriyyin'' are replicas made in the 1950s that replaced the originals, whose fragments are kept by the Dar Batha, Dar Batha Museum.
The northwestern gates of the mosque, ''Bab al-Shama'in'' (or ''Bab Chemaine'') and ''Bab al-Maqsura'', also have heavy bronze fittings, including some ornate Door knocker, knockers that date from the Almoravid period.
Adjacent to ''Bab al-Ward'' on its west side is another doorway, ''Bab al-Hafa'' ("Gate of the Barefooted"). It is from the Almohad era, which is distinguished by a small water channel across the floor just inside it. The channel allowed worshipers entering the mosque to wash their feet on the way in, and helped with initial ablutions.
Next to the mosque is a tower known as the ''Borj Neffara'' (, "Tower of the Trumpeters"), an observation tower that is sometimes confused as a minaret but was actually part of another ''Dar al-Muwaqqit''.
Prayer hall
The interior hypostyle prayer hall takes up most of the mosque's area. Like the interior of most traditional mosques in Moroccan architecture, it is a relatively austere space with mostly plain walls, wooden roofs, and rows upon rows of arches. The main area, south of the courtyard, is a vast space divided into ten transverse aisles by rows of arches running parallel to the southern wall.
The southern wall of this hall also marks the ''qibla''. The central axis of the prayer hall, perpendicular to the ''qibla'' wall, is marked by a central nave running between two extra lines of arches along this axis, perpendicular to the other arches.
This nave leads towards the ''mihrab:'' a niche in the ''qibla'' wall which symbolizes the direction of prayer, and in front of which the imam usually leads prayers and delivers sermons. This overall layout (a hypostyle hall with a central nave emphasized against the others) is a familiar layout for North African mosques generally.
The ''mihrab'', which dates from the Almoravid (12th-century) expansion, is decorated with carved and painted stucco, as well as several windows of coloured glass. The mihrab niche itself is a small alcove which is covered by a small dome of ''muqarnas'' (stalactite or honeycomb-like sculpting).
The central nave that runs along the axis of the ''mihrab'' is distinguished from the rest of the mosque by a number of architectural embellishments. The arches that run along it are of varying shapes, including both horseshoe arches and multi-lobed arches.
Instead of the plain timber ceilings, most sections of the nave are covered by a series of intricate ''muqarnas'' ceilings and cupolas, each slightly different from the other, as well as two "ribbed" dome cupolas (similar to the domes of the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba, Great Mosque of Cordoba and Mosque of Cristo de la Luz, Cristo de la Luz Mosque in Toledo, Spain, Toledo) dating from the Almoravid and
Alaouite
The Alawi dynasty ( ar, سلالة العلويين الفيلاليين, translit=sulālat al-ʿalawiyyīn al-fīlāliyyīn) – also rendered in English as Alaouite, Alawid, or Alawite – is the current Moroccan royal family and reigning d ...
periods.
Many of the ''muqarnas''
' compositions are further decorated with intricate
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
s of
arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
s and Arabic script, Arabic inscriptions in both
Kufic
Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...
and cursive letters.
Additionally, there are several elaborately carved bronze chandeliers hanging in the nave which were gifted to the mosque during the Almohad and Marinid eras; at least three of which were made from bells (probably church bells) brought back from victories in Spain.
To the right of the ''mihrab'' is the ''minbar'' of the mosque, which could also be stored in a small room behind a door in the ''qibla'' wall. The ''minbar'' is most likely of similar origins as the Almoravid ''minbar'' of the Koutoubia Mosque, made by a workshop in Cordoba not long after the latter and installed in al-Qarawiyyin Mosque in 1144 (at the end of the Almoravid works on the mosque).
It is another exceptional work of marquetry and woodcarving, decorated with geometric compositions, inlaid materials, and
arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
s.
Aside from the embellishments of the central nave, the rest of the mosque is architecturally uniform, but there are some minor irregularities in the floor plan. For example, the arches in the western half of the prayer hall are shorter than those in the eastern half, and some of the transverse aisles are slightly wider than others. These anomalies have not been fully explained but they appear to have been present since the early centuries of the mosque; they may be due to early reconstructions or alterations which have gone unrecorded in historical chronicles.
''Sahn''
![University karawiyine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/University_karawiyine.jpg)
The ''sahn'' is rectangular, surrounded by the prayer hall on three sides and by a Gallery (architecture), gallery to the north. The floor is paved with typical Moroccan mosaic tiles (''Zellige, zellij'') and at the center is a fountain.
From outside the mosque, the courtyard is accessed by the main northern gate, called ''Bab al-Ward'', whose vestibule is covered by a Marinid-era white dome which is fluted on the outside and covered in painted and carved stucco on the inside.
Opposite this gate, situated on the mihrab axis, is the central entrance to the interior prayer hall, guarded by a carved and painted wooden screen called the ''anaza'' which also acted as a symbolic "outdoor" or "summer" mihrab for prayers taking place in the courtyard.
(These features are visible to visitors standing outside the gate.) Both this entrance to the prayer hall and the outer gate across from it have facades decorated with carved and painted stucco.
At the western and eastern ends of the courtyard stand two ornate Saadian pavilions each sheltering another fountain. The pavilions have pyramidal domes and emulate the pavilions in the Court of the Lions in the Alhambra (
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
).
They are decorated with carved wood and stucco, mosaic-tiled walls, and marble columns.
Behind these pavilions are extensions of the main prayer hall divided into four naves by rows of arches.
The gallery and arched hall on the northeastern sides of the courtyard are a prayer space reserved for women.
Minaret
![Qarawiyyin minaret DSCF2490](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Qarawiyyin_minaret_DSCF2490.jpg)
The minaret was constructed in the 10th century under the sponsorship of the Umayyad caliph of Cordoba, Abd al-Rahman III. It overlooks the courtyard from the west. Along with the contemporary minaret of the Andalusian Mosque, Mosque of the Andalusians, it is the oldest preserved minaret in Morocco.
It was constructed in local limestone of relatively poor quality and was covered in whitewash by the Marinids in the 13th century in order to protect it from deterioration. It has a square shaft and is topped by a dome, as well as a parapet from which the muezzin historically issued the call to prayer (''
adhan
Adhan ( ar, أَذَان ; also variously transliterated as athan, adhane (in French), azan/azaan (in South Asia), adzan (in Southeast Asia), and ezan (in Turkish), among other languages) is the Islamic call to public prayer ( salah) in a mo ...
''). The full structure is 26.75 meters tall.
One feature of the minaret is the lower window on its southern facade, which is shaped like a "triple" horseshoe arch, elongated vertically, which is unique to this structure.
On the minaret's southern side, just above the gallery of the courtyard, is the Dar al-Muwaqqit.
Funerary annex (''Jama' al-Gnaiz)''
A number of annexes are attached around the mosque, serving various functions. The northwestern edge of the building is occupied by latrines.
Behind the southern ''qibla'' wall, to the west of the ''mihrab'' axis, is the ''Jama' al-Gnaiz'', which served as a separate oratory reserved for funerary rites. This type of facility was not particularly common in the Islamic world but there are several examples in Fez, including at the Chrabliyine Mosque, Chrabliyine and Bab Guissa Mosques. It was kept separate from the main mosque to preserve the purity of the latter as a regular prayer space, which could be soiled by the presence of a dead body.
This oratory dates back to the Almoravid period and also features embellishments such as a muqarnas cupola and a number of ornate archways in varying forms.
Library
Behind the southern wall of the mosque and east of the ''mihrab'' axis is the historic library of the mosque and university.
It is sometimes cited as the world's oldest library that remains open.
The first purpose-built library structure was added to the mosque by the Marinid sultan Abu Inan Faris in 1349 CE, though it was located at the mosque's northeastern corner instead of to the south.
The first structure still exists embedded near the women's section of the mosque, and consists of a square chamber measuring 5.4 meters per side. Its entrance is covered by a wooden screen from the Marinid period which features an inscription carved in cursive Arabic above the doorway recording Abu Inan's foundation of the library.
The current library building dates in part from a Saadian construction by Ahmad al-Mansur (late 16th century), who built a chamber called ''al-Ahmadiyya'' behind the ''qibla'' wall.
Most of the building dates from a major 20th-century expansion commissioned by King Mohammed V of Morocco, Mohammed V that started in 1940. It included the current grand reading room, which measures 23 metres long and features an ornately-painted wooden ceiling, and also added an entrance outside the mosque which made it accessible to non-Muslims.
This new library expansion was inaugurated in 1949.
The library complex underwent another major restoration in recent years led by Aziza Chaouni and was set to reopen in 2016 or 2017.
Status as world's oldest university
Some sources, like
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
, consider al-Qarawiyyin to be the "oldest university in the world".
By comparison, UNESCO describes the University of Bologna (founded in 1088 and usually recognized as the oldest Medieval university, medieval European university) as the "oldest university of the Western world". Some historians and scholars also refer to al-Qarawiyyin as the world's oldest existing university.
The claim is also published by the
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
under its entry for "[o]ldest higher-learning institution, oldest university", where it describes al-Qarawiyyin as the "oldest existing, and continually operating educational institution in the world" while the University of Bologna is described as the "oldest one in Europe". Similarly, the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' dates al-Qarawiyyin University's foundation to the mosque's foundation in 859 and generally considers that "universities" existed outside Europe before the advent of the European university model.
[''Encyclopædia Britannica'']
"University"
2012, retrieved 26 July 2012 Other sources also refer to the historical or Pre-Modern, pre-modern al-Qarawiyyin as a "university" or an "Islamic university".
[Joseph, S, and Najmabadi, A. '' Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures: Economics, education, mobility, and space''. Brill, 2003, p. 314.]
Many scholars consider the term ''university'' to be applicable only to the educational institutions that initially took form in Medieval Europe, medieval Christian Europe, and argue that the first universities were located in Western Europe, with those of University of Paris, Paris and University of Bologna, Bologna often cited as the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, earliest examples.
[Makdisi, George: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", '' Studia Islamica'', No. 32 (1970), pp. 255–264] The modern Western world, Western university model is thus widely argued to descend from this European tradition, even if other models of higher education existed in other parts of the world.
Accordingly, some scholars consider that al-Qarawiyyin operated essentially as an Islamic madrasa until after World War II.
[Pedersen, J.; Rahman, Munibur; Hillenbrand, R.: "Madrasa", in ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', 2nd edition, Brill, 2010: ] Jacques Verger says that while the term ''university'' is occasionally applied by scholars to madrasas and other pre-modern higher learning institutions out of convenience, the European university marked a major disruption between earlier institutions of higher learning and was the earliest true modern university.
Many scholars consider that the university was only adopted outside Western world, the West, including into the Islamic world, in the course of modernization programs or under European Colonialism, colonial regimes since the beginning of the 19th century.
[Makdisi, George: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", '' Studia Islamica'', No. 32 (1970), pp. 255-264 (264): ][:de: Walter Rüegg, Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in Ridder-Symoens, Hilde de (ed.): ''A History of the University in Europe, A History of the University in Europe. Vol. I: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, , pp. XIX-XX: ][:fr:Jacques Verger, Verger, Jacques: "Patterns", in: Ridder-Symoens, Hilde de (ed.): ''A History of the University in Europe. Vol. I: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 2003, , pp. 35–76 (35): ] Organization at the pre-modern al-Qarawiyyin differed from European universities and other Muslim institutions at Al-Azhar University, al-Azhar (in Cairo) and Al-Zaytuna Mosque, al-Zaytouna (in Tunis) in that there was no defined scholastic year, registration was not imposed, study durations were not fixed, and there was no examination to ratify studies.
Students were expected to attend courses for a minimum of five years and would receive an ''ijazah'' if they were proven to have reached a high level of expertise.
These scholars date al-Qarawiyyin's transformation into a university to its modern reorganization in 1963.
In the wake of these reforms, al-Qarawiyyin was officially renamed "University of Al Quaraouiyine" two years later.
Among opposing views, Yahya Pallavicini claims that the university model did not spread in Europe until the 12th century and that it was found throughout the Muslim world from the founding of al-Qarawiyyin in the 9th century until at least European colonialism.
Some scholars, noting certain parallels between such madrasas and European medieval university, medieval universities, have proposed that the latter may have been influenced by the madrasas of the Muslim world, in particular via Al-Andalus, Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily.
Other scholars have questioned this, citing the lack of evidence for an actual transmission from the Islamic world to Christian Europe and highlighting the differences in the structure, methodologies, procedures, curricula and legal status of the madrasa versus the European university.
The earliest date of formal teaching at al-Qarawiyyin is also uncertain.
The most relevant major historical texts like the ''
Rawd al-Qirtas'' and the ''Zahrat al-As'' do not provide clear details on the history of teaching at the mosque.
In the ''Rawd al-Qirtas'',
Ibn Abi Zar mentions the mosque but not its educational function. Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Jaznai, Al-Jazna'i, the 14th-century author of the ''Zahrat al-As'', mentions that teaching had taken place there well before his time, but with no other details.
Otherwise, the earliest mentions of ''
halaqa'' for learning and teaching may not have been until the 10th or the 12th century.
Moroccan historian Mohammed Al-Manouni believes that it was during the reign of the Almoravids (1040–1147) that the mosque acquired its function as a teaching institution.
French historian
Évariste Lévi-Provençal dates the beginning of the madrasa and teaching to the later Marinid period (1244–1465).
Another Moroccan historian,
Abdelhadi Tazi, indicated the earliest evidence of teaching at al-Qarawiyyin in 1121.
Upon reviewing the evidence in Abdelhadi Tazi's work, Abdul Latif Tibawi states that:
This is considerably later than the beginning of instruction at the al-Azhar under the Fatimids. So it is very difficult to sustain the claim that the University of Qarawiyyin is the "oldest university", and not only in the Muslim world! The mosque school or college did not assume the name of university until 1960 when in a ceremony Muhammad V of Morocco, Muhammad V invested it with that dignified title.
Notable alumni
A number of well-known philosophers, scholars, and politicians in the history of Morocco and the western Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean have either studied or taught at the Qarawiyyin since its founding.
* Maimonides (1135/1138–1204), Jewish philosopher
* Ibn Arabi (1165–1240),
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
philosopher
*
Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab
The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, of ...
(1332–1406), historian and philosopher
*
Leo Africanus
Joannes Leo Africanus (born al-Hasan Muhammad al-Wazzan, ar, الحسن محمد الوزان ; c. 1494 – c. 1554) was an Andalusian diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later ...
(1494–1554), author
*Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari, Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari (1632-1577), historian and theologian, appointed imam and mufti by the Saadi Sultanate, Saadi Sultan Zidan Abu Maali, Zaydan
*Al-Bannani, Imam al-Bannani (1727–1780), faqīh (Muslim jurist)
*Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi, Ahmad ibn Idris (1760–1837), Moroccan Sufi scholar
* Muhammad al-Kattani (1873–1909), writer and political leader
*Abd el-Krim el-Khattabi (1882–1963), Moroccan political and military leader
*Allal al-Fassi (1910–1974), Moroccan politician
*Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali (1893–1987), translator
*Abdullah al-Ghumari (1910–1993), faqīh (Muslim jurist)
*Fatima al-Kabbaj (1932–), Member of (Islamic council) Notably, one of the first few women to be admitted.
See also
* List of universities in Morocco
* Education in Morocco
* History of medieval Arabic and Western European domes
Notes
References
Further reading
*
* Terrasse, Henri (1968). ''La Mosquée al-Qaraouiyin à Fès; avec une étude de Gaston Deverdun sur les inscriptions historiques de la mosquée''. Paris: Librairie C. Klincksieck. (In French; mainly about architecture)
* Le Tourneau, Roger (1949). ''Fès avant le protectorat: étude économique et sociale d'une ville de l'occident musulman''. Casablanca: Société Marocaine de Librairie et d'Édition. (In French; contains detailed discussion of the institution's operations prior to the French colonial period; in particular, see p. 453 and after)
External links
UNIVERSITE QUARAOUIYINE - Fes(French)
Al Qaraouiyine Rehabilitation at ArchNet(includes pictures of the interior, the minbar, and other architectural elements)
Manar al-Athar Digital Photo Archive(includes pictures of the interior, including the mihrab area)
The minbar of the al-Qarawīyīn Mosque at Qantara-Med(includes pictures of the minbar and the mihrab area)
360-degree view of the central nave of the mosque in front of the mihrab, posted on Google Maps
Virtual tour of the Qarawiyyin Mosque 360-degree views of the mosque's interior
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qarawiyyin, University of al
University of al-Qarawiyyin,
Buildings and structures completed in 1135
Madrasas in Morocco
Universities in Morocco
Islamic universities and colleges
Educational institutions established in the 9th century
859 establishments, Madrasa of Al-Karaouine
Mosques in Fez, Morocco
9th-century establishments in Morocco
9th-century establishments in Africa
Almoravid architecture
Marinid architecture
Saadian architecture