The University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco, began as a mosque founded by Fatima al-Fihri, a wealthy woman from Kairouan in Tunisia, who used her inheritance to build it. Over time it developed into a major centre of learning in the Islamic world, teaching theology and law, as well as grammar, mathematics, astronomy and medicine, and attracting scholars such as Ibn Khaldun and Maimonides, according to tradition. Its library is one of the oldest in the world. UNESCO and the Guinness Book of Records have called it the oldest continuously operating degree-granting institution, although this claim is contested, because it only became a modern state university in the twentieth century. It was restored in recent years.
Before and after
- 850 CEConstruction of Prambanan Temple
- 850 CEDeath of Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
- from c. 850s to 950sThe Classic Maya collapse
- c. 850sGunpowder is invented in China
- 859 CEFounding of University of al-Qarawiyyin
- 860 CEConstruction of Alamut Castle
- from 861 CE to 1003Saffarid dynasty
- from 862 CE to 1598Rurikids
- from 865 CE to 866 CECaliphal Civil War
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The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 9th century.