The University of Al-Karaouine.
The University of Al-Karaouine or Al-Qarawiyyin (Arabic: جامعة
القرويين) (other transliterations of the name include Qarawiyin,
Kairouyine, Kairaouine, Qairawiyin, Qaraouyine, Quaraouiyine, Quarawin,
and Qaraouiyn) is a university located in Fes, Morocco. Founded in
859, universitas ini adalah satu pemimpin iman dan pendidikan
pusat dunia Muslim and is considered the oldest continuously
operating institution of pendidikan tinggi in the world by the Guinness
Book of World Records.
Universitas ini telah menghasilkan banyak sarjana yang sangat besar pengaruhnya dalam intellectual and academic history of the Muslim world.
Diantaranya adalah Abu Abdullah Al-Sati, Abu Al-Abbas al-Zwawi, Ibn
Rashid Al-Sabti (d.721 AH/1321 CE), Ibn Al-Haj Al-Fasi (d.737 AH/1336
CE) Abu Madhab Al-Fasi, seorang pemimpin teoritis dari kampus Maliki of
Islamic jurisprudence and Leo Africanus a renowed traveler and writer.
Al Karaouine University played a leading role in cultural and academic
relations between the Islamic world and Europe in the middle ages. The
greatest non-Muslim alumnus of the university was the Jewish
philosopher and theologian Maimonides (1135-1204), who studied under
Abdul Arab Ibn Muwashah.
The cartographer Mohammed al-Idrisi, whose
maps aided European exploration in the Renaissance is said to have
lived in Fes for some time, suggesting that he may have worked or
studied at Al Karaouine.
Architecture of the mosque
Successive dynasties expanded the Al Karaouine mosque until it became
the largest in North Africa, with a capacity of more than 20,000
worshipers. Compared with the great mosques of Isfahan or Istanbul,
the design is austere. The columns and arches are plain white; the
floors are covered in reed mats, permadani yang indah. Yet the seemingly
endless forest of arches creates a sense of infinite majesty and
intimate privacy, while the simplicity of the design compliments the
finely decorated niches, mimbar dan halaman luar, dengan ubin-ubinyang sangat menawan, plasterwork, woodcarvings and paintings.
HISTORY
The University of Al-Karaouine is part of a mosque, founded in 859 by Fatima Al-Fihri, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Mohammed Al-Fihri. The Al-Fihri family had migrated from Kairouan (hence the name of the university), Tunisia to Fes in the early 9th century, joining a community of other migrants from Kairouan who had settled in a western district of the city. Fatima and her sister Mariam, both of whom were well educated, inherited a large amount of money from their father. Fatima vowed to spend her entire inheritance on the construction of a mosque suitable for her community.
In addition to a place for worship, the mosque soon developed into a place for religious instruction and political discussion, gradually extending its education to a broad range of subjects, particularly the natural sciences. In 1957, King Mohammed V introduced math, physics, chemistry and foreign languages.
The university gained the patronage of politically powerful sultans. It compiled a large selection of manuscripts that were kept at a library founded by the Marinid Sultan Abu Inan Faris in 1349. Among the most precious manuscripts currently housed in the university library are volumes from the famous Al-Muwatta of Malik written on gazelle parchment, the Sirat Ibn Ishaq, a copy of the Qur'an given to the university by Sultan Ahmed Al-Mansur Al-Dhahabi in 1602, and the original copy of Ibn Khaldun's book Al-'Ibar. Among the subjects taught, alongside the Qur'an and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), are grammar, rhetoric, logic, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, history, geography and music.
Al-Karaouine played, in medieval times, a leading role in the cultural exchange and transfer of knowledge between Muslims and Europeans. Pioneer scholars such as Ibn Maimun (Maimonids, (1135-1204), Al-Idrissi (d.1166 CE), Ibn Al-'Arabi (1165-1240 CE), Ibn Khaldun (1332-1395 CE), Ibn Al-Khatib, Al-Bitruji (Alpetragius), Ibn Harazim, and Ibn Wazzan were all connected with the university either as students or lecturere. Among Christian scholars visiting Al-Karaouine were the Belgian Nichola Louvain and Deutch Golius. [5]. History reports on Lyautey, the French general who led the French "civilising Mission" in Morocco by calling al-Karaouine "the Dark House".
ARCHITECTURE and CONSTRUCTION
The present form of the mosque is the result of a long historical
evolution over the course of more than 1,000 years. Originally the
mosque was about 30 meters long with a courtyard and four transverse
aisles. The first expansion was undertaken in 956, by Umayyad Caliph
of C�rdoba, Abd-ar-Rahman III. The prayer hall was extended and the
minaret was relocated, taking on a square form that served as a model
for countless North African minarets. At this time it became a
tradition that other mosques of Fes would make the call to prayer only
after they heard Al Karaouine.
The most extensive reconstruction was carried out in 1135 under the
patronage of the Almoravid ruler sultan Ali Ibn Yusuf who ordered the
extension of the mosque from 18 to 21 aisles, expanding the structure
to more than 3,000 square meters. Some accounts suggest that Ali Ibn
Yusuf employed two Andalusian architects who also built the central
aisle of the Great Mosque of Tlemcen, Algeria, in 1136. The mosque
acquired its present, C�rdoban appearance at this time, featuring
horseshoe arches and ijmiz frames decorated with beautiful geometrical
and floral Andalusian art, bordered with Kufic calligraphy.
In the 16th century, the Saadis restored the mosque, adding two patios
to the northern and southern ends of the courtyard
View Al Kairaoine from above
