Fatima al-Kabbaj (

Tamazight The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight,, ber, label=Tuareg Tifinagh, ⵜⵎⵣⵗⵜ, ) are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related languages spoken by Berber communi ...

: ⴼⴰⵜⵉⵎⴰ ⵍⵇⴱⴱⴰⵊ) was one of the first female students to attend the

University of al-Qarawiyyin The University of al-Qarawiyyin ( ar, جامعة القرويين; ber, ⵜⴰⵙⴷⴰⵡⵉⵜ ⵏ ⵍⵇⴰⵕⴰⵡⵉⵢⵉⵏ; french: Université Al Quaraouiyine), also written Al-Karaouine or Al Quaraouiyine, is a university located in ...

. She later became the sole female member of the Moroccan Supreme Council of Religious Knowledge.

Education

Fatima al-Kabbaj began her education at ''Dar al-Faqiha,'' a traditional Moroccan Islamic school for girls'','' where she learnt Quran. Then, she moved to ''Madrasa al-Najah'' for her elementary studies. After finishing her studies, al-Kabbaj and her family realized that there were limited opportunities for higher studies for women. After several discussions and debates about the introduction of women to the

, al-Kabbaj was admitted to the university along with nine other female students. She stayed there for 10 years and graduated in the mid-1950s. She would later provide education in '' sharia'' to the king and his family. She argued that women were often better able to engage the illiterate and poor than the state-appointed i mams. Her experience was said to "challenge assumptions about Moroccan women’s historical access to religious authority and their mobility within the male-dominated field of Islamic scholarship."

References

Moroccan Islamic religious leaders Women scholars of Islam 1932 births Living people {{Morocco-bio-stub Moroccan women Moroccan Muslims