Madrassas revive 'Golden Age' in Morocco's Fez - in pictures

Fez serves as a monument to a highpoint of Islamic civilisation

In Fez's Old City, Morocco's first capital, centuries-old places of learning – such as the Bou Inania Madrassa – are being revived to promote moderation in Islam, as their founders originally intended. All photos: AFP

The Bou Inania Madrassa is one of six institutions to be renovated since 2017, under a government programme to preserve the city's heritage and promote tourism.

Down an alley from Bou Inania, lined with stalls selling traditional wares, is Qarawiyyin Mosque, built when the city was founded in the ninth century.

It became the heart of the university of the same name - one of the oldest in the world.

The Qarawiyyin Mosque has a large courtyard surrounded by pillars, separating it from covered sections set aside for prayer and study.

Although off-limits to tourists, some take advantage of the doors being opened shortly before prayers to snap photos in the courtyard.

As well as preserving the city's architectural treasures, the renovations are part of Morocco's wider efforts to promote moderation in Islam.

Qarawiyyin University has a new programme for post-graduate students who have excelled in writing and memorising the Koran. Students cover "Islamic studies, comparative religion, French, English and Hebrew, allowing them to understand other cultures", said student Moaz Soueif.

"We should be a role model for tolerant Islam, at the same level of the great scholars who passed through here before us," he said.

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