The student Moaz Al-Suweif is proud of his residence “in the arms of ancient scientific history” in one of the rooms of the Buanania Madrasah, built in the fourteenth century and recently restored, like other old schools in the Moroccan city of Fes.
The Bouanania Madrassah, named after Sultan Abu Inan al-Marini (1329-1358), is one of the most famous schools of ancient Fez. It is one of several schools built, among others, between the 13th and 14th centuries to educate and house students. Al-Suwaif, 25, shares rooms on the school’s top floor with about forty students from Al-Qarawiyyin University, which specializes in Islamic studies. They have a separate corridor to the left of the gate, decorated with Moroccan mosaics and Zellij inscriptions, as it was rehabilitated in 2017 by five ancient schools. from it a fountain.
The site testifies to a “golden age” in the history of the city, classified as World Heritage and taken by the Marinids, who ruled between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, again as the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco after three centuries during which Marrakech was the capital of the Almoravid and Almohad empires.
“I am the council of science”
Buanania Madrasah is located near Bab Bujlud, one of the walled entrances to the old city, which usually makes it the first stop on the tourist route, which also includes the Sharatin and Attarin schools, which have also been restored.
Tourist guide Sabah Alavi told AFP that tourists often describe their stay at the place as “spiritual” and authentic. In the language of the school: I am a scientific council, so analyze it, be as you wish, so that you are aware,” explains Haj Moussa Auni, professor of history and Islamic archeology at the University of Fez.
From the Buanania Madrasah and down a long winding alley lined with shops of traditional handicrafts and popular foodstuffs, the visitor enters the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque, which was built along with the construction of the city in the ninth century, and then turned into a university of the same name and is considered one of the oldest in the world. And the old Fess schools “were appendages to this university, in which I studied the sciences that were going on at that time, such as mathematics, medicine and the science of tricks, that is, mechanics and music … besides, of course, religious sciences and literature” , according to Avni.
In the middle of the mosque there is a courtyard open to the sky, separated by columns from the covered parts, where prayers are performed and lessons are held. But it is closed to tourists, and visitors to the city take the opportunity to open its doors before prayer to take a selfie in the courtyard. He passed through Al-Qarawiyyin University, “most of the great scholars of the time in the Islamic West, such as Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Al-Khatib, and Ibn Al-Banna … and students from Europe, such as Pope Sylvester II, studied there before how he rose to this position, ”says Avni. The historian notes that the cities of Andalusia and the Islamic West in general, such as Fez, Marrakesh, Tlemcen, Kairouan and Oran were generally culturally and economically prosperous between the 12th and 14th centuries.
“example”
In addition to preserving the city’s historical monuments, the restoration of its ancient schools has led to increased efforts to promote a “moderate-moderate” religious education that counters extremist currents. On this occasion, Al-Qarawiyyin University has established a new course for the “Higher International” certificate, which is open to students who have received a bachelor’s certificate after passing a written competition and another competition for memorizing the Qur’an.
His students study “various Islamic sciences, comparative religions, French, English and Hebrew, which allows us to open up to other cultures,” explains Moaz, originally from the city of Al-Qasr Al-Kabir (west).
He adds in his carefully furnished little room: “We must be an example of tolerant Islam, and on the level of the great scholars who have come through here.” Fez still holds the belongings of some of these scholars in the Al-Qarawiyyyin library, which contains some four thousand manuscripts, “some of the oldest in the Islamic world,” according to its manager, Abdel-Fattah Bokshof.
This library, built in the fourteenth century, is located in a square whose space is filled with the sounds of masters of copper and silver pots and artifacts, in a scene that completely contrasts with the tranquility of the library’s reading room, where its last expansion was during the reign of Sultan Mohammed V in 1940 . Among his valuables, kept in a separate room, are Ibn Tufail’s 12th-century manuscript of Larjoz on medicine and Ibn Khaldun’s Diwan al-Abr, which he himself donated to the treasury, adds Boxhof. In another corner of the library, one of the world’s oldest, women are meticulously retouching pages of manuscripts “to restore damaged parts and extend their lifespan,” says lab director Sabah Al-Bazi. In addition to the library and ancient madrasas, projects have been announced in recent years to restore several historical monuments in Fez and extend their lifespan.