Born: 800 (circa), Tunisia
Died: 880 (circa)
Country most active: Morocco
Also known as: فاطمة بنت محمد الفهرية القرشية ,Umm al-Banayn
Also known as Umm al-Banayn, Fatima bint Muhammad Al-Fihriyya is credited with founding the al-Qarawiyyin mosque in 859 AD in Fez, Morocco. The mosque later developed a teaching institution, which became the University of al-Qarawiyyin in 1963.
The first written record of her story by Ibn Abi Zar’ (d. between 1310 and 1320) in The Garden of Pages (Rawd al-Qirtas). Because this was centuries after her death, her story has been difficult to substantiate and she may have been a legendary figure, rather than a historical one.
According to traditional accounts, Fatima was born around 800 AD in Kairouan, in present-day Tunisia. She was of Arab Qurayshi descent, hence the nisba “al-Qurashiyya” (“the Qurayshi one”). Her family joined a large migration to Fez from Kairouan and her father, Mohammed al-Fihri, became a successful merchant. When he died, Fatima and her sister Maryam inherited his wealth, as his only children. Other than what Ibn Abi-Zar’ recorded, little is known about her personal life, which may be partly due to a 1323 fire in the Al-Qarawiyyin’s archives. Fatima and Maryam were well-educated and studied the Islamic jurisprudence Fiqh and the Hadith, the records of the prophet Muhammed. Both sisters used their wealth to found mosques in Fez: Fatima founded Al-Qarawiyyin and Maryam founded Al-Andalus. The mosques would be a meeting place for Mulsim immigrants like their family, devout worshippers who wanted to learn and study their faith. Due to the many immigrants in Fez at the time, there was not enough space, resources or teachers to accommodate them.
Fatima’s Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque was named for the immigrants from her hometown of Kairouan. Maryam’s mosque in the district across the river, built with help from local families who had emigrated from Andalusia in Spain, became known as the Al-Andalusiyyin Mosque (Mosque of the Andalusians). Fatima used her inheritance to purchase a mosque that was built around 845 AD, rebuilt it and bought the surrounding land, doubling its size.
The mosque took 18 years to construct, and Fatima supervised the project herself. Tunisian historian Hassan Hosni Abdelwahab wrote in his book Famous Tunisian Women: “She committed to only using the land she had purchased. She dug deep into the land, unearthing yellow sand, plaster, and stone to use, so as not to draw suspicion from others [for using too many resources].” According to Moroccan historian Abdelhadi Tazi, Fatima fasted until the project’s completion. When it was finished, she went inside and prayed to God, thanking him for his blessings.