Fes, Morocco
Coordinates: 34.064938, -4.973371
The University of al-Qarawiyyin is a university located in Fes, Morocco.
It was founded as a mosque by Fatima al-Fihri in 859 and subsequently became one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the historic Muslim world.
The world’s oldest university is not in Europe, as most people would assume; it is in Morocco and was founded by a Muslim woman over two centuries before its more widely known predecessors
When thinking of the oldest universities in the world, probably the first ones that come to most people’s minds are Oxford and Bologna, but according to UNESCO and the Guinness World Records, Al-Qarawiyyin University is the “oldest existing, and continually operating educational institution in the world.
The mosque building itself is also a significant complex of historical Moroccan and Islamic architecture encompassing elements from many different periods of Moroccan history.
This university produced some of the best minds in the world. This university not only taught Islam religion but also science, medicines etc. Many comments by non-Muslims regretted that they cannot enter. I think this is for security.
Islam always welcome non Muslim into mosque so that they can understand Islam. But unfortunately there were incidents in the past that mosques being burnt down by crazy non Muslim visitors, hence the government can’t afford to lost this prestigious mosque and university.
Scholars consider that the Qarawiyyin was effectively run as a madrasa until after World War II and distinguish this status from the status of “university” (similiar to how Christian seminaries are not classified as a university), which many view as a distinctly European invention.
Education at al-Qarawiyyin University concentrates on the Islamic religious and legal sciences with a heavy emphasis on, and particular strengths in, Classical Arabic grammar/linguistics and Maliki Sharia, although lessons on other non-Islamic subjects are also offered to students.
Teaching is still delivered in the traditional methods.
Students are seated in a semi-circle (halqa) around a sheikh who prompts them to read certain texts, asks them questions, and explains difficult points to them.
The university is attended by students from all over Morocco and Muslim West Africa, with some also coming from further abroad.
Know This
Non-muslims can enter the main forum and some of the halls but the mosque is out of bounds.
