Fatima Al-Fihri: Beyond the Eurocentric Lens

I first heard about the University of Al-Qarawiyyin in a podcast about Morocco. They described Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 CE in the heart of Fez, as the oldest continually operating higher education institution in the world, recognized by UNESCO and the Guinness World Records. I was quite surprised to hear about this university, but even more astonishing was to learn about Fatima Al-Fihri, a woman of remarkable vision who used her inheritance to create a center of learning that would attract scholars for over a millennium. Her story left me in awe - a woman breaking societal norms over 1,200 years ago to establish such a legacy that still remains an extraordinary achievement. I found myself eager to know more about Fatima Al-Fihri’s life, her motivations, and the enduring impact of her dedication to education.

Al-Qarawiyyin and Fatima Al-Fihri, illustrative representations

However, that was not an easy Google search, as details about her remain scarce and elusive. Much of what we know about Fatima comes not from contemporary sources but from a 14th-century text written long after her death. This lack of firsthand accounts adds a lot of uncertainty to the details of her life, including the fact that whether she was indeed the founder of Al-Qarawiyyin. Yet I found a narrative that is widely repeated across many sources. Born in 800 CE in Kairouan (modern-day Tunisia), Fatima migrated to Fez with her family in the aftermath of regional conflicts. After the deaths of her merchant father and husband, she and her sister, Maryam, inherited substantial wealth. Instead of pursuing personal luxury, they chose to invest in their community—Fatima founding Al-Qarawiyyin and Maryam establishing the Al-Andalus Mosque. The story goes that Fatima chose the land for the university by herself and she fasted throughout the years of the university's construction.

Fatima's efforts focused on creating spaces for worship, learning, and community-building, particularly for Muslim immigrants in Fez. It began as a madrasa and mosque before evolving into a renowned centre for advanced learning. With a curriculum spanning religious studies, logic, medicine, mathematics, and astronomy, Al-Qarawiyyin attracted scholars from across the Muslim world. High academic standards required students to memorize the Quran and demonstrate proficiency in Arabic and general sciences.

Over the centuries, endowments from sultans enabled Al-Qarawiyyin to amass an extensive collection of books and manuscripts, forming one of the oldest libraries in the world. Among its holdings are rare works like Ibn Khaldun’s 'Al-Muqaddimah' and early hadith collections, making it a hub for intellectual exchange that profoundly influenced European academia. Figures such as Pope Sylvester II, who studied at Al-Qarawiyyin, played a key role in introducing Arabic numerals and astronomical knowledge to Europe. Fatima Al-Fihri was evidently a scholar, and a degree attributed to her is preserved at the university as a testament to her intellectual achievements. Beyond being a center of learning, Al-Qarawiyyin established a structured model of higher education that emphasized advanced philosophical and scientific discourse. The university's model—rooted in rigorous scholarship, standardized curricula, and the preservation and transmission of knowledge—laid the groundwork for European institutions and likely influenced the structures of Bologna (1088) and Oxford (1096) by setting a precedent for a formalized system of higher learning, challenging Eurocentric perceptions of educational history.

Even with the scarcity of primary resources, relative obscurity of Fatima Al-Fihri and Al-Qarawiyyin is part of a broader historical pattern —the erasure of intellectual legacies that exist outside dominant Eurocentric historical frameworks. The claim that Al-Qarawiyyin was the “first degree-awarding university” is debated. The concept of a degree as understood today is a relatively modern phenomenon. Traditional Islamic education granted ijazah (authorizations to teach specific texts), but this differs from the structured degree programs of Western universities. Under colonial rule, institutions like Al-Qarawiyyin were often sidelined in favor of Westernized education models, complicating their historical recognition. The fusion of religious doctrine into Islamic scholarly traditions further complicates historical narratives. This duality—Western dismissal and internal theological overlay—obscures figures like Fatima Al-Fihri, making it extremely difficult to place her within the political and historical context of her time.

The erasure of Fatima Al-Fihri’s legacy reflects a broader pattern in which intellectual progress is framed through a Eurocentric lens. One example of this is the way European history is often divided into the ‘Dark Ages’ and the ‘Renaissance,’ sidelining the contributions of scholars from the Islamic world, who played a crucial role in preserving and advancing knowledge during this period. Similarly, beyond the Islamic intellectual tradition, other non-European knowledge systems—including indigenous medical and ecological sciences—have been dismissed or appropriated without proper recognition. By systematically portraying non-European societies as stagnant or primitive, dominant narratives have shaped a skewed perception of history that continues to influence how knowledge is valued today. These systems, developed through centuries of observation and practice, are frequently undervalued in mainstream historical narratives, reinforcing the idea that meaningful intellectual progress has primarily been a European endeavor.

Whether fully rooted in historical fact or shaped by centuries of retelling, Fatima Al-Fihri’s story endures as a symbol of intellectual ambition and cultural resilience. Her legacy reminds us that knowledge has always flourished in diverse traditions beyond the Eurocentric lens. By acknowledging figures like Fatima and institutions like Al-Qarawiyyin, we expand our understanding of global intellectual history—not as a linear path dominated by the West, but as a vast and interconnected exchange of ideas. In revisiting these histories, we do not merely recover lost narratives; we challenge the way we define knowledge itself.

Written by Janaky Sunil and edited by Paravathy Ramachandran @ThinkHer

References:

1. https://www.culturefrontier.com/fatima-al-fihri/

2. https://www.academia.edu/download/108949434/5063.pdf

3. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/oldest-university

4. R. Saoud : http://muslimheritage.com/article/al-qarawiyyin-mosque-and-university

5. Shillington, Kevin: Encyclopedia of African History, Vol. 2, Fitzroy Dearborn, 2005, ISBN 978-1-57958-245-6, p. 1025.