Fatima al-Fihriya
Founder of the al-Qarawiyyin mosque in Fez, Morocco (c. 800–880) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fatima bint Muhammad al-Fihriya al-Qurashiyya (Arabic: فاطمة بنت محمد الفهرية القرشية),[1] known in shorter form as Fatima al-Fihriya[2] or Fatima al-Fihri,[3] was an Arab woman who is credited with founding the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque in 857–859 CE in Fez, Morocco. She is also known as Umm al-Banīn ("Mother of the Children").[4] Al-Fihriya died around 880 CE.[4][5] The al-Qarawiyyin Mosque subsequently developed into a teaching institution, which became the modern University of al-Qarawiyyin in 1963.[6] Her story is told by Ibn Abi Zar' (d. between 1310 and 1320) in The Garden of Pages (Rawd al-Qirtas) as founder of the mosque.[7] Since she was first mentioned many centuries after her death, her story has been hard to substantiate and some modern historians doubt her existence.[8][9][10][11]
Fatima al-Fihriya | |
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فاطمة الفهرية | |
Born | c. 800 CE Kairouan (present-day Tunisia) |
Died | c. 880 CE Fez (present-day Morocco) |
Known for | Sponsoring construction of the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque |