Fatima al-Fihri was a woman who founded the oldest university in the world, the University of al-Qarawiyyin, in Fez, Morocco in 859 AD.
Born in the early 9th century, around 800 AD, Fatima grew up with her sister, Maryam, in a well-off family in Kairouan, modern-day Tunisia. Her father, Mohammed al-Fihri, was a wealthy merchant who later moved the family to Fez, Morocco, which was a thriving intellectual and trade centre at the time.
Fatimah and Maryam grew up in a household that valued both faith and knowledge, receiving a good education in which they were taugh Islamic studies, mathematics and sciences.
When the sisters inherited their family wealth, they saw it as a blessing and chose to invest it in support of wider society. While Maryam funded the construction of Al-Andalusiyyin Mosque, Fatimah wanted to establish an institution for education and religious studies.
During the 9th century, the Islamic world was experiencing a golden age of learning and intellectual activity. The Abbasid Caliphate, centered in Baghdad, encouraged the translation of Greek, Persian and Indian texts into Arabic, and scholars were making advances in various disciplines incuding mathematics, astronomy, medicine and philosophy. Cities like Fez were becoming centres of trade, culture and scholarship, and it’s likely Fatimah was influenced by this culture of intellectual curiosity.
Fatima’s initial goal was likely to establish a mosque that would also serve as a place of learning. In early Islamic history, mosques weren’t just places of worship, but also centers of education where scholars would teach and discuss subjects ranging from theology and law to science and philosophy.
Fatima personally oversaw the mosque’s design and construction. Established in 859, it was named Al-Qarawiyyin after the immigrants from Kairouan (her birthplace) who had settled in Fez.
Over time, the mosque began to attract scholars and students from across the Muslim world and beyond, and it soon expanded into a formal educational institution offering structured courses and degrees. It became a center for advanced studies in subjects like astronomy, mathematics, medicine, religion and philosophy.
Over the years, Al-Qarawiyyin attracted some of the world’s greatest minds to learn, teach and research such as a Ibn Khaldun, a foundational figure in modern sociology and historiography; Averroes (also known as Ibn Rushd), an influential polymath whose works were instrumental in advancing the fields of philosophy, theology, medicine and law; and Al-Idrisi, considered one of the greatest geographers of the medieval period whose works paved the way for global exploration and influenced European cartography during the Renaissance.
Fatima al-Fihri’s university thrived for over a millennium, imparting knowledge to a diverse cohort of students and scholars, and was known for its inclusive and cosmopolitan environment where scholars of different faiths and backgrounds could study and exchange ideas.
