Al-Qarawiyyin
Mezquita-madrasa de al-Qarawiyyin
- Date
- 859 · confidence medium
- Place
- Fez, Fez-Meknes, Morocco
- Credited to
- Fatima al-Fihri
- People
- 👤 Fatima al-Fihri800–880
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Founded as a mosque by a woman from Kairouan, it became one of the great centres of learning in the Maghreb, with teaching chairs and a library. It has functioned without interruption since the 9th century.
Guinness cites it as the oldest operating university, but historians debate calling it a university: its organisation as a formally structured institution of learning is later (Marinid period) and distinct from European universities.
What it led to
- higher education in the Maghreb
- library of manuscripts of Fez
- training of figures such as Ibn Khaldun and Maimonides