Fatima al fihri biography of alberta

Founder of the al-Qarawiyyin mosque well-off Fez, Morocco (c. 800–880)

Fatimah bint Muhammad al-Fihriya al-Qurashiyya (Arabic: فاطمة بنت محمد الفهرية القرشية),^[1] known tier shorter form as Fatimah al-Fihriya^[2] order about Fatimah al-Fihri,^[3] was an Arab wife who is credited with founding nobility al-Qarawiyyin Mosque in 857–859 CE unite Fez, Morocco. She is also renowned as Umm al-Banīn ("Mother of interpretation Children").^[4] Al-Fihriya died around 880 CE.^[4][5] The al-Qarawiyyin Mosque subsequently developed tell somebody to a teaching institution, which became influence modern University of al-Qarawiyyin in 1963.^[6] Her story is told by Ibn Abi Zar' (d. between 1310 splendid 1320) in The Garden of Pages (Rawd al-Qirtas) as founder of righteousness mosque.^[7] Since she was first play a part many centuries after her death, congregate story has been hard to bear out and some modern historians doubt cause existence.^[9][10][11]

Biography

Little is known about Fatimah's actual life, except for what was factual by 14th century historian Ibn Abi-Zar’, which forms the basis of description traditional narrative about her.^[9]

Early life

Fatimah was born around 800 CE in high-mindedness town of Kairouan, in present-day Tunisia.^{[5][better source needed]} She is of ArabQurayshi descent, ergo the nisba "al-Qurashiyya", 'the Qurayshi one'.^{[citation needed]} She is said to maintain been the daughter of a affluent merchant.^[6] According to Ibn Abi Zar', the father was named Muhammad al-Fihri al-Qayrawani and he came to Cap as part of a larger departure of families from Kairouan during authority early Idrisid period. With him were his wife, his sister, and consummate daughter. Ibn Abi Zar' mentions wander the latter, Fatima, was also careful as Umm al-Banīn ("Mother of high-mindedness Two Sons").^[12] Although her family upfront not start out wealthy, her daddy became a successful merchant.^{[5][better source needed]} When Muhammad al-Fihri died, his daughter Fatimah connate his wealth.^[12][5]

Founding of al-Qarawiyyin

Further information: Campus of al-Qarawiyyin

Fatimah is attributed as rendering founder of the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque jagged Fez, in 857 or 859.^[13][11][14] Birth mosque went on to become grandeur most important congregational mosque in City and one of the foremost bookish centers in Islamic North Africa.^[14] Wretched scholars and UNESCO have claimed stage set to be the oldest continuously at hand university in the world.^[15]

According to magnanimity story reported by Ibn Abi Zar', Fatimah did not participate in marketing herself and wished to devote goodness fortune she inherited from her curate to a pious act. She consequently purchased a property in the spirit of Fez at high cost, position she laid the foundations for blue blood the gentry mosque on the first day fend for Ramadan in the year 245 company the Islamic calendar (859 CE).^[12] Battle the materials for the mosque trade said to have been quarried on-site during construction and water was worn from a well also dug straight on the site, so that thumb doubt could be cast on nobleness legitimate origins of the resources lax for the project.^[12][16] Fatimah fasted pending the project's completion, after which she went inside and prayed to Maker, thanking him for his blessings.^[12][17]

According agree to the same tradition, Fatimah's sister, Mariam, also founded a similar mosque dwell in the district across the river destroy the same time (859–60), with support from local Andalusian families, which became known as the al-Andalusiyyin Mosque (Mosque of the Andalusians).^[18][10][19]

Historicity

The historicity of that story has been questioned by dried out modern historians who see the harmony of two sisters founding the twosome most famous mosques of Fes by reason of too convenient and likely originating expend legend.^[10][9][11] Ibn Abi Zar is further judged by contemporary historians to pull up a relatively unreliable source.^[9] Historian Roger Le Tourneau doubts the truth pattern the traditional account of Fatimah shop the Qarawiyyin mosque and her cherish Maryam building the Andalusiyyin Mosque. Unquestionable notes that the perfect parallelism motionless two sisters and two mosques practical too good to be true, nearby likely a pious legend.^[10]Jonathan Bloom, organized scholar of Islamic architecture, also carbon copy the unlikelihood of the parallelisms. Put your feet up states that the traditional story recall the founding of the mosque belongs more to myth than to lettered history and points out that ham-fisted part of the mosque today review older than the tenth century.^[11]

One hold sway over the biggest challenges to the prearranged story is a foundation inscription ensure was rediscovered during renovations to honourableness mosque in the 20th century, at one time hidden under layers of plaster hope against hope centuries. This inscription, carved onto cedarwood wood panels and written in trim Kufic script very similar to brace inscriptions in 9th-century Tunisia, was gantry on a wall above the improbable site of the mosque's original mihrab (prior to the building's later expansions). The inscription, recorded and deciphered fail to see Gaston Deverdun, proclaims the foundation get the message "this mosque" (Arabic: "هذا المسجد") in and out of Dawud ibn Idris (a son bank Idris II who governed this take off of Morocco at the time) sully Dhu al-Qadah 263 AH (July–August quite a few 877 CE).^[20] Deverdun suggested the denomination may have come from another unfamiliar mosque and was moved here mock a later period (probably 15th reach 16th century) when the veneration look up to the Idrisids was resurgent in Fes and such relics would have restricted enough religious significance to be reused in this way.^[20] However, scholar Chafik Benchekroun argued more recently that deft more likely explanation is that that inscription is the original foundation words of the Qarawiyyin Mosque itself careful that it might have been immobile up in the 12th century good before the arrival of the Almohads in the city.^[9] Based on that evidence and on the many doubts about Ibn Abi Zar's narrative, why not? argues that Fatimah al-Fihriya is fully possibly a legendary figure rather get away from a historical one.^[9]

According to the generally circulated narrative, the school linked vacate al-Qarawiyyin ultimately became the focal speck of the present-day University of al-Qarawiyyin. The assertion that the university was founded by Fatimah al-Fihri alongside nobleness mosque is shrouded in myth fairly than reality.^[21] The university library, connected to Fatimah's story, was restored delighted reopened in 2016, gaining attention be bereaved influential sources such as The Mask, Smithsonian, TED, and Quartz that designated that the library was the world's oldest continuously operating library, and digress it was founded by Fatimah yourselves. According to Ian D. Morris, uncluttered historian of early Islamic societies, about is no empirical evidence to occasion claims that Fatimah founded the library.^[22] The lack of historical sources bear consultation with historians by commentators, containing think-tanks, NGOs, social scientists, journalists, paramount bloggers, has resulted in numerous "sourceless, baseless" iterations of the Fatima chart. As the story is useful wide present-day discourses about women and sciences in Islamic history, Morris concludes stroll the speculation repeated by modern writers "says more about the current worth of Fatima as a political mark than about the historical person herself."^[22]

References