Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque… a historical and scientific landmark with many functions and many doors
The scientific fame of Al-Qarawiyyin University has hidden the social and economic aspects that it contributed to in its surroundings and away from its campus, a contribution that some of its effects still bear witness to these civilizational phenomena. https://gomarrakechdeserttrips.com/tours/desert-tour-5-days-from-marrakech-to-merzouga/ Al-Qarawiyyin University’s name is mentioned concerning its historical scientific role and the figures who studied or taught there from Morocco, the East, Andalusia, or West, and North Africa.
Pens have been filled with the names of these figures in many articles, books, and studies about this historical scientific landmark. Just as Moroccan and other students today go to European universities to seek knowledge, students from Europe used to go to Al-Qarawiyyin University for the same purpose.
Had history not preserved for us examples of students who came to it, such as Gerbert von Aurillac, who would later bear the name of Pope Sylvester II, this information would have been lost and we would not have known that Gerbert von Aurillac was only one of hundreds of students who received their scientific education at Al-Qarawiyyin. He was the only Pope who learned Arabic and mastered the sciences of Muslims. Europe owes it to him that Arabic numerals, arithmetic, mathematics, astronomy, and the astrolabe entered its scientific and practical system. His fascination with Arabic numerals made him metaphorically use them in his letter to Emperor Ton, his assistant in studying in the Islamic West when he wrote, “I liken you to the last number of the ten simple numbers, which increases in value by placing other numbers to its left” (i.e. zero).
Europe also owes him the introduction of Islamic jurisprudence into its legal procedures, relying on it to develop Roman legislation. The agreement that we see today between Islamic and European legislation in many articles did not come by chance and does not mean that Europeans influenced Islamic jurisprudence, or rather that Islamic jurisprudence was taken from the latter, as the Hungarian Jewish orientalist Goldziher (1850-1921) claims. “If Greek civilization was a civilization of reason and modernity was a civilization of material science, then Islamic civilization is a civilization of jurisprudence, that is, law,” says Muhammad Abed al-Jabri. No civilization before Islamic civilization had ever established a law with such precision that regulates human material and spiritual life from the cradle to the grave. The University of Al-Qarawiyyin knew immigrants from all religions and sects, such as the Jewish scholar, about whose knowledge the Jews say, “No one came in science after the Prophet Moses except Moses,” that is, Maimonides. In addition to scholars and philosophers such as Ibn Bajjah, Ibn Arabi, Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Arabi, Al-Idrisi, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Al-Khatib, and the Mujahid Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi and many others. Moreover, it is a female pride carved through its establishment by the Qairawani woman Al-Fihri, a statue of the immortality of the wise female glory.
The Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque has many faces other than those that pens have been repeating about the disagreement about the year of its establishment and the statistics that tourist guides repeat to foreign visitors, knowing that tourist guide books in Western countries include accurate information about this mosque that many tourist guides themselves are ignorant of, such as the monotonous and boring information that they repeat about the number of its 14 doors and the number of its 260 columns, and that it can accommodate 20,000 worshipers. Information that is not proven, as ancient historians such as Ibn Abi Al-Zar’, Al-Jazna’i, Ibn Al-Wazzan, and the author of “Al-Anis Al-Mutarrab” differed about the number of doors, columns, and the area of worshipers.
The religious and political history of Moroccans is linked to Medina. Their school of jurisprudence is that of the Imam of Medina, Malik ibn Anas, and their Quranic reading is from Warsh, from Nafi, the reader of Medina and the founder of the first independent state in Morocco from the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad, and the Umayyad Caliphate in Andalusia, and the founder of its capital, Fez, Idris, from the descendants of the Prophet.
The University of Al-Qarawiyyin was founded during the reign of Yahya, one of the sons of Idris. It was founded 100 years before Al-Azhar University and the oldest European university in Batalia, Bologna, by 300 years, and the Sorbonne and Oxford by 341 years. “The oldest college in the world,” says the Russian orientalist Jozy, “is not in Europe as we used to think, but in Africa in Fez, the capital of Morocco.”
This building has known additions and transformations throughout history, reflected in the facades of its 17 current doors. Most of these doors tell a part of the events and situations that this landmark experienced or were surrounded by social or official functions.
Bab al-Hafa
It is the oldest door of the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque, and it chronicles the relationship of the poor class with the Al-Qarawiyyin since the building was founded. The barefoot people who do not own shoes have a door named after them, through which they pass, where they wash their feet in the rectangular channel covered with lead, which is attributed to the additions of Al-Muzaffar Al-Amiri, the second prince of the Al-Amiri state in Andalusia so that they too have the right to enter this scientific edifice to witness worship or listen to lessons. This door has a counterpart in the Al-Andalus Mosque.
The Al-Qarawiyyin journey, through its endowments, has been concerned with the aspect of social solidarity. On the right side of this door, next to the water fountain, which was made so that its water would be common to everyone in Boutouil, there was a shop for the trade of pottery, which was prepared as an endowment for children or servants, whether those who work in craft workshops or homes. If one of them broke a vessel, this shop would provide them with a new vessel from the endowment money so that none of them would be punished by their guardians or teachers. There were a number of these shops in Fez. Next to it on the western side of the mosque was a small door called the door of the scientific council, which was dedicated to fatwas and testimonies.
The door of the notaries (the notaries)
It is one of the oldest doors after the door of the barefoot, and opposite it were the shops of the notaries. It is also called the door of witnesses because of the movement of documentation and judicial testimonies that were circulating it. This street was used by notaries to be close to the citizens and the judge.
The door of the candles
The establishment of this door dates back to the emirate of Ali bin Youssef bin Tashfin, and it is the main door of the Qarawiyyin Mosque. It has several names, including the door of the carpenters as the author of “Al-Istibsar” called it, and the door of the martyr, based on the incident of the martyrdom of Imam Abd al-Wahid al-Wansharisi (1475 – 1548) in this door, who led the movement to refuse to ratify the allegiance of the Saadians. Because it faces a market where candles were displayed in some of its shops and dried fruits in others, and the latter is still displayed there to this day, it was called Bab al-Shama’in. This door faces the astronomical tower, which contains mechanical water clocks and mechanisms for monitoring the movements of the stars and controlling the planetary cycle.
Bab al-Warraqeen
Dating back to the late days of the Almohads. It was also called Bab al-Kutubiyyin because all the shops facing it were dedicated to selling writing papers and books or copying them. The book and paper industry moved from the East via Tripoli to Fez in the 12th century and settled in the vicinity of al-Qarawiyyin, and from there it moved to Europe. Hassan al-Wazzan mentions that there were thirty shops specializing in selling books. This door was also called Bab al-Adoul because the shops that were previously for books later became notaries.
Among the social services of Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque is that opposite Bab Al-Kutubiyyin or Bab Al-Warraqin there was an Egyptian woman known as “Masriyat Al-Hajja”, which was a residence for many brilliant students, where found items were deposited throughout the week, and on Fridays after the prayer, they were called out at Bab Al-Salihin.
Bab Al-Awliya
This gate was named after the saints after it was noted in the past that many of the righteous men who used to come to Al-Qarawiyyin from its western side would enter through this gate, and if they came from the eastern side, they would enter through a gate opposite it, according to the account of Dr. Abdelhadi Tazi in the book “Al-Qarawiyyin”, who says: “I have no explanation for that”.
Bab Al-Nata’in
The na’ta’ is a leather rug, and this gate opens onto the leather market, and leather is related to bookmaking, binding, planning, and gilding, and hence large and valuable books are called volumes. It has another name, Bab Al-Sbitriyyin. It is a name that the immigrants from Andalusia brought with them from the Spanish language Zapatero, meaning shoemaker. Over time, the people of Al-Kharaza entered this market, so the place was called by their name Al-Sbitriyyin. It is also called Bab Al-Safra Al-Ala because it is one of the three gates of the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque covered with yellow brass.
Bab Al-Khulafa
This gate was opened in 531 AH / 1137 AD in the late Almoravid state. It represents the Royal Decrees Gate, through which the caliphs and their entourage would enter to perform Friday prayers. At this gate, the caliph would be greeted with dates and milk. This gate was chosen deliberately because it leads directly through the small courtyard to the imam’s chamber, where the caliph would wait for Friday prayers. This gate has a counterpart in the Great Mosque of Cordoba.
The Gate of the Judiciary Council
It is another work of the last Almoravid state after the expansion of the mosque and is known as the Gate of the Funeral Mosque because it leads to the mosque dedicated to funerals, and this mosque is an annex to the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque. This mosque was built to resolve the jurisprudential dispute over whether the dead were pure or not. Funeral mosques in Morocco are very few, and are almost unknown in the East, except for the Damascus Mosque. As for the Seville Mosque, it had a funeral mosque, as mentioned by Ibn Abdoun. This gate is also called the Gate of Books, as this mosque, until very late, witnessed a market for the sale and exchange of books every Sunday morning. The name of the door of the judiciary council goes back to the former judge’s box, which was to the left of the door.
Bab al-Farkha
It is a small door that the assistants in the mosque use when needed as a back entrance. Farkha means key, and it is located under a canopy between two walls called the Sabat. Another name for this door is the door of concealment. One of its social functions is to take into account people’s feelings, as it was a concealed entrance from the eyes of people for litigants, men and women, to take an oath.
Bab al-Hadoudi
It is located behind the Qarawiyyin Library and connects it to the mosque. The basement of this library, before it was built in 1349 by Abu Inan al-Marini, played an economic and banking role, as the first global bank in our modern sense was established here. The oldest bank in the world still operating today is the “Monte dei Paschi di Cessna” BMPS in Italy, which was founded in 1472 AD, the State Bank of Venice in 1587, and the Bank of Amsterdam, which was founded in 1609 to preserve all deposits, the administration of the Qarawiyyin Endowments established the first treasury (bank) in the world in the 12th century, as it had a great wealth of money donated by believers in the Qarawiyyin Mosque, to the point that it began to compete with the state treasury, which prompted officials to take all necessary precautions to protect this available wealth. From here came the idea of building a treasury in which to place the valuable deposits, and this treasury was under the portico in which the Abu Inan Library was later built. In addition to the solidity of the treasury’s floor and walls, three keys were given to each door, and the keys were assigned to three agents so that the doors could not be opened except in the presence of the three agents. Well-made boxes and locks were also made inside the treasury, and the money of the mosque’s endowments was placed inside it. Due to the security and tightness of this treasury, merchants and wealthy people would put their valuable money and deposits in it, feeling very secure about it. It continued to operate for some time. Among the early banking activities of the Qarawiyyin Mosque was that there were some shops at Bab al-Qaysariyyah directly opposite the Qarawiyyin Mosque, where part of the endowment money was placed to grant loans to the needy, as stated by the commentator of “Tuhfat Ibn Asim” when he said:
Entrustment is permissible in the original and the variety of the eye, meaning the advance
Not far from Bab al-Hadoudi and opposite the Seven Loyalties Road, there was a baker for baking bread, which also had an important social function. According to ancient transfers, the matter of this baker was entrusted to the judge, and his income was distributed to the poor and needy. He is the oldest baker in Fez, even older than al-Qarawiyyin itself.
A few meters away from this oven is the Darb al-Ratun, which contains three floors, one of which was equipped with all the furniture, bedding, and comfort requirements, and was prepared for those about to get married by the nobles and the poor, who could not afford the costs of the wedding ceremony, where they celebrated and stayed for free for two weeks after the wedding. It is called “Dar al-Afiya”, in optimism for those who marry there. Among such homes designated for brides were three of them in Adwat al-Qarawiyyin, and this is one of them, and it is from the endowment of the benefactor Abd al-Malik bin Hayoun who died in 599 AH / 1202 AD, and two in Adwat al-Andalus.
Bab al-Khalwa
It is a door higher than all the external doors of al-Qarawiyyin, as it is ascended by nine steps. It became known by this name because the Qur’anic corner was later built near it, and it was built during the Almoravid increase. Opposite this door, slightly deviating to the left, there is a large house known as “Dar al-Nisa”, which was reserved for women, who would resort to it if they were subjected to violence by their husbands. It was run by a female leader, and the woman seeking refuge there would not leave it unless she had a legal witness in which the husband promised not to use violence against his wife again. All the expenses of this house, including accommodation and supervision, were paid from the funds of the villagers’ endowments. This house preceded by hundreds of years the women’s houses that are widespread in European cities today.
Bab al-Salihin al-Sharqi
It faces Bab al-Awliya from the east and the west and leads to the Court of the Great Pyramid. Dr. Abdelhadi al-Tazi mentioned that he had seen some old judicial documents dating back to the era of Sultan Moulay Ismail, meaning that this gate was in the year 1115 AH, and it was still known until that time as Bab al-Salihin. The path very close to it is called Bab Sabaa Louayat.
Bab Ibn Hayoun
It was named after the Andalusian philanthropist Abdelmalek Ibn Hayoun, whose name the path opposite this gate still bears. There was a bathroom inside the path to make the place of purification very close to the mosque and within reach of the students who lived in the schools around the mosque or their teachers. Among the humanitarian works of this philanthropist is that he bequeathed two-thirds of his property to prisoners, and the remaining third to the poor, and when prices rose, the two-thirds allocated to prisoners were transferred to the poor to help them with the high prices. Opposite this door is a small hotel known as the Abdul Majid Hotel, where the scholar Abdul Majid Al Badisi, who died in 1004 AH, lived. This hotel also had a social function indicated by its second name: the breastfeeding hotel. It was designated for women who produced a lot of breast milk, and they were entrusted with the task of breastfeeding children whose mothers died when they were young or whose mothers stopped breastfeeding at an early stage in exchange for a fee they received from the Qarawiyyin Endowments Administration. Every breastfeeding that took place in this hotel was recorded by two notaries.
Bab Ibn Omar
This is a door from the Almohad era, renovated during the Marinid era. Opposite it is a hotel that belonged to the merchants of Tetouan and bears the name of the carpenter Omar, who made it and donated a large part of his work to this door. It was opened seventy years after the door opposite it on the western side.
Bab Al Sabat
A small door that does not attract attention, and is the first door on the northern side of the mosque. Women used to go up to their hallway from it. It rises above the warehouse and is located opposite the house dedicated to the imams.
Bab al-Khasa
It is one of the old gates and dates back to before the construction of al-Khasa, which was built in 599 AH / 1203 AD, i.e. to the era of the Zenata state.
Bab al-Safra al-Shamali
It was named thus because the gate is covered with yellow copper. It is also called Bab al-Amyan because of their frequent presence at this gate, and it was also known as Bab al-Ward because one of the prominent worshippers stopped his horse at this gate, and when he came out, he found people criticizing the owner of the horse and denouncing what he left of his waste at the gate of the mosque, so the owner of the horse vowed to rebuild this gate, and instead of mixing the building material of sand and lime with regular water, he used rose water to glorify this mosque, so it has been known since that event as Bab al-Ward.
In addition to these social and human landmarks that surrounded the Al-Qarawiyyin sanctuary, which cared about human life, there was an interest in birds and animals alike, represented by a property owned by the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque endowments that was dedicated to buying grains to feed birds during the days of scarcity of food and distributing them in the Birds’ Hill in Bab Ftouh and Bab Ajisa. Some endowments are still dedicated to some muezzins who comfort the sick and all those who cannot sleep at night through the chants and supplications that are recited from the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque minaret, and this work is called “the stranger’s companion”.
Among the interests in the comfort of worshipers inside the Al-Qarawiyyin courtyard exposed to the sun, history tells us about the creation of air conditioners, which are cloth umbrellas with holes and tied with ropes, whenever these ropes are pulled, they create a rush of air. The people of Baghdad also used these helicopters, as reported by historians.
From a social scientific perspective, Al-Qarawiyyin knew night classes before many institutes in Europe, as there were professors specialized in giving night classes to those who did not have time during the day to acquire knowledge. These classes were held after the Isha prayer until sunrise.
Among the nearby facilities connected to Al-Qarawiyyin scientifically and socially is a mosque in Rahbat Bani Qais called Al-Nabarin Mosque. Its meaning is derived from the word “nabra”, meaning to give it prominence and harmony. It is one of the oldest mosques in Adwa Al-Qarawiyyin, where an advisory body consisting of experts in some areas of life used to meet, and the residents would consult them on all social issues and problems that they encountered, such as marriages or resolving commercial disputes, except for jurisprudential issues.
