University of al-Karaouine

The University of al-Karaouine (or al-Qarawiyyin, Arabic: جامعة القرويين) is a university in Fes, Morocco. The mosque was founded by Fatima al-Fihri in 859. It had a school, or madrasa, that taught students about Islam. It later became one of the most important centres of learning in the Muslim world. It was made a part of Morocco's modern university system in 1963. It is the longest continually operating school in the world. It is sometimes also called the oldest university

University Of Al-Karaouine Media

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  View of the Qarawiyyin Mosque on the skyline of central Fes el-Bali: the green-tiled roofs of the prayer hall and the minaret (white tower on the left) are visible.

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  Reconstruction of the 14th-century water clock from the dar al-muwaqqit of the Qarawiyyin Mosque (on display at the Istanbul Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam)

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  The Al-Attarine Madrasa (founded in 1323), just north of the Qarawiyyin Mosque

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  A document from the Qarawiyyin's library which is claimed by some scholars to be the world's oldest surviving medical degree, issued in 1207 CE

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  View of the Qarawiyyin Mosque in 1916

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  The main entrance to the library and other southern annexes of the mosque today, off Place Seffarine

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  Scholar at the Al-Qarawiyyin library, c. 1953

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  Floor plan of the mosque and some of its annexes. (Based on an early 20th-century survey; since then the southern part of the complex, the library, has been modified.)

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  Al-Karaouine University (Al-Qarawiyyin) in the city of Fes, Morocco (Image 6 of 9)

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  The 12th-century muqarnas vault in the central nave of the mosque, made from plaster