Al Qarawiyyin University, the globe’s oldest functioning educational institution–built in 859 by Fatima Al Fihria–still beckons students from all over the world, 12 centuries after its founding, reported Africa News on Monday.
Kamel Tahdhib, a 22-year-old Indonesian student at Al Qarawiyyin, for example, traveled thousands of kilometers to be among those who have the privilege of studying at this prestigious-yet-public university. He studies here for one reason…the university’s “widespread fame around the world.”
It began as a mosque and grew into a university in the tenth century when madrassas, or Islamic religious schools, were established around it.
Today, the university is home to 10 of these madrassas, and since 2015 it has concentrated on Islamic teaching and religious education.
In the past, universities have played an important role in the preservation and transfer of Islamic knowledge.
The University’s Vice President Driss Fassi Fihri stated to Africa News that the educational institution has not always been focused soley on Islamic instruction. “It was historically a university with specializations in all areas of education,” he added.
The institution houses one of the world’s oldest libraries, which in turn contains valuable Islamic manuscripts greatly prized by historians. Many of these manuscripts were produced by notable intellectuals in the region, including Ibn Khaldun’s “Muqadimmah.”
Other writings include a ninth century Quran inscribed in Kufi handwriting and a manuscript on the Maliki school of Islamic law by Ibn Rochd, also known as Averroes.
Fihri stated that the most difficult challenge for this university will be to strike a balance between maintaining its genuine, traditional message and implementing modern technology.