Historical FigureFemale
Fatima al-Fihri
800 – 880
About this person
Wikipedia SummaryFatima bint Muhammad al-Fihriya al-Qurashiyya, known in shorter form as Fatima al-Fihriya or Fatima al-Fihri, 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. Al-Fihriya died around 880 CE. The al-Qarawiyyin Mosque subsequently developed into a teaching institution, which became the modern University of al-Qarawiyyin in 1963. Her story is told by Ibn Abi Zar' in The Garden of Pages as founder of the mosque. Since she was first mentioned many centuries after her death, her story has been hard to substantiate and some modern historians doubt her existence.
Biographical & Professional Details
Date of birth
November 30, 799
Kairouan
Date of death
January 1, 880
Fez
Citizenship
Abbasid Caliphate
Occupations & fields
patron of the artsdonor
Notable works
University of al-Qarawiyyin
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