Al-Quaraouiyine Mosque of Fez

The Al Quaraouiyine mosque in Fez, Al Quaraouiyine in Arabic (literally "the mosque of the Kairouan people") is one of the most important mosques in Morocco. Its construction began in 857 in Fez, during the reign of the Idrissid Dynasty.

Following a period of anarchy in Kairouan (between 818 and 825-826), Muhammad ibn ‘Abdallâh al-Fihri, a wealthy merchant, settled with his family in Fez. When he died, his two daughters Fatima and Maryam collected an important inheritance which they decided to devote to charitable works. In the Andalusian quarter, Maryam built the Andalusian mosque. Her sister Fatima bought a vegetable garden and obtained the agreement of the Idrisside prince Yahyâ ibn Idrîs to erect the first nucleus of the future al-Qarawiyyîn. To ensure the maintenance of the building and guarantee its functioning, she bequeathed in dead hands (waqf) all her treasures.

The first mosque was a simple oratory, Friday prayers continued to be preached at al-Shurafa mosque. It was not transferred there until 933. The mosque was then equipped with a minbar and called "Kairouan mosque". This was organized according to a quadrangular plan. A courtyard preceded the prayer hall divided into four naves parallel to the wall of the qibla. A minaret of which there is no longer any trace stood opposite the mihrâb, almost in the middle of the north facade of the building.

This mosque, whose boundaries are underlined in the current state of the building by cruciform pillars, remained unchanged until the middle of the 10th century. In 956 enlargement work was undertaken, to which the Umayyad Caliph of Andalusia, ‘Abd al-Rahmân al-Nasîr, contributed. The primitive courtyard and minaret were replaced and the area of the mosque doubled. The prayer hall thus had seven naves parallel to the wall of the qibla, each consisting of 21 spans supported by arched semicircular arches resting on square pillars built of baked bricks.

In 985, during a successful expedition to Fez, al-Mansûr had the dome built at the entrance to the axial nave built. Her son endowed the mosque with a minbar and a pool of which no trace remains. In the following century, the Almoravids (1056-1147) made it the largest mosque in Islamic Morocco. The space became too small was enlarged. The neighboring houses were destroyed, the qibla wall and the axial nave demolished. The oratory was extended by three naves on the side of the qibla and the axial nave, wider than the others, raised as in the great mosques of Kairouan and Cordoba and embellished with several domes. The mosque also had a beautiful mihrab and a minbar with a decor similar to that of the Kutubiyya. The different decorative combinations bear witness to an almost continuous exchange between the Muslim West and the East. It is likely that ‘Alî ibn Yûsuf brought the best Spanish artists to adorn its shrines and palaces. The mosque is characterized by its naves parallel to the qibla, like its contemporary, the Andalusian mosque. In form, it is inspired by the great Umayyad mosques of the East, notably that of Damascus.

Al-Quaraouiyine Mosque of Fez

Seventeen doors provide access to the mosque and its various annexes. Besides the ablution room and the depot, the Almohads (1130-1269) melted the old chandelier to redo that of the axial nave. The Marinids (1196-1549) built next to the minaret a room for the muwaqqit, which they endowed with ingenious instruments to fix the prayer times, the most famous of which is the hydraulic clock invented by Ibn al-Habbak in 1286. They replaced the old court mihrâb, restored its northern gallery and endowed the oratory with several bronze chandeliers. In 1350, they built the library on the orders of the sovereign Abû ‘Inân Fâris. The Saadians decorated the courtyard with two facing pavilions, inspired by those of the lions' court of the Alhambra in Granada.

Al-Quaraouiyine Mosque of Fez