The First University of the World was Founded By A Muslim!

 Many of us Muslims know about the great women that lived during the time of RasuluAllah, such as Aisha (RA), and Fatima (RA). But, do we know about the great women who lived during the Golden Age of the Muslims? The time when Muslims were leaders in all fields of knowledge. During that time, a great women by the name of Fatima al Fihri, opened the first university in this world! It is named Al Qarawiyyin University and is still operating to this day!

          Fatima al Fihri was born in modern day Tunisia. As a young girl, her family moved to Fez, Morocco. Fez, at that time was a dream city where people would go to fulfill their dreams. Her family struggled a lot in the beginning but eventually her father, Mohammad ibn Abdullah, became a very successful business man. Eventually, Fatima’s father, brother, and husband passed away in a short period of time. Her only family member left was her sister, Maryam. They both acquired a sizable amount of what their family left behind. Instead of grieving over the death of their family members, Fatima and her sister decided to use what they had to benefit the generation they were living in and the generations to come.

          Fatima started to build the first university in the world with her own hands. She started the construction in the beginning of Ramadan. She vowed to fast from the day she started construction until the day she finished. The project took her two years to complete and she built the world’s first university and a mosque attached to it. Her sister, Maryam, built the magnificent Andalusian Mosque to house refugees from Spain. Many people, including pope Sylvester II, and prominent Muslim scholars including Ibn Khaldoun went to her university to study.

          As I said in my first article, Muslims are taken out of the picture. If you search on google, “first university in the world”, the first thing that comes up is, University of Bologna. The University of Bologna was the first university in Europe, not in the world. Muslim women are thought of being house wives and are not given credit for anything but that and we need to change that.

          From the character of this amazing women we learn that we should use the opportunities we have at the right moment instead of doing nothing. Fatima al Fihri used her inheritance wisely instead of mourning the loss of her family members. What did you learn from the character of this amazing women? Write it in the comments section for me to read! In Sha Allah you have been empowered and have benefited from this article!

For more information please read,

Fatima al Fihri: Founder of the World’s First University (available at, whyislam.org)