Fatima al-Fihri

c. 800–880 CE Fez, Morocco Education

Key Contribution: Founded the University of Al-Qarawiyyin (859 CE), the world's oldest existing university.

Preceded the West: Founded a university 229 years before the University of Oxford (1096) and 350 years before the University of Paris.

Fatima bint Muhammad al-Fihri was a Muslim woman who founded the Al-Qarawiyyin mosque and university in Fez, Morocco in 859 CE. Recognized by UNESCO and the Guinness World Records as the oldest existing, continuously operating educational institution in the world, Al-Qarawiyyin predates the University of Bologna (1088), Oxford (1096), and Paris (1150). Fatima inherited her father's wealth and devoted it entirely to building this institution. Al-Qarawiyyin grew from a mosque with an educational program into a full university with faculties in religious studies, grammar, rhetoric, logic, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, and Sufism. Notable alumni include the Jewish philosopher Maimonides, the geographer Al-Idrisi, and the historian Ibn Khaldun. Fatima al-Fihri's legacy demonstrates the central role that women and education played in Islamic civilization.