Fihri

Fihri

Fatima Muhammad Al-Fihri (? – 880) (فاطمة محمد الفهري, nicknamed Oum al Banine, meaning the mother of the kids) was a Muslim woman chiefly known as the founder of the world's first academic degree-granting institution of higher education, which is still in operation today as the University of Qarawiyyin in Fes, Morroco.

Fatima Al-Fihri was the child of Muhammad Al-Fihri, a wealthy businessman from the Fihrids family. She migrated along with her father from the city Kairouan located in present-day Tunisia to Fes located in current day Morocco. She also had a sister named Mariam.

After Fatima and Mariam inherited their deceased father's fortune, they decided to support the construction of mosques or educational institutions such as the Qarwiyyin mosque as a Waqf  (a religious endowment) or Sadaqah Jariya (voluntary charity) for their deceased father. In 859, Fatima founded the world's first academic degree-granting institution of higher education, which is still in operation today as the University of Qarawiyyin in Fes, Morroco. The University of Qarawiyyin was regarded as being a major intellectual center in the Mediterranean and its excellent reputation even led Gerber of Auvergne to go there to study. Auvergne later went on to become Pope Sylvester II and has been given the credit of introducing Arabic numerals and the concept of "zero" to the rest of Europe.

Her sister Mariam is said to have been responsible for the construction of the Al-Andalus (Andalusian) Mosque in Fes .