المدرسة البوعنانية (فاس)

( Bou Inania Madrasa )

The Bou Inania Madrasa or Bu 'Inaniya Madrasa (Arabic: المدرسة البوعنانية, romanized: al-madrasa ʾabū ʿinānīya; Berber languages: ⴰⵙⵉⵏⴰⵏ ⴱⵓ ⵉⵏⴰⵏⵉⵢⴰ) is a madrasa in Fes, Morocco, built in 1350–55 CE by Abu Inan Faris. It is the only madrasa in Morocco which also functioned as a congregational mosque. It is widely acknowledged as a high point of Marinid architecture and of historic Moroccan architecture generally.

 The minaret of the madrasa, seen through Bab Bou JeloudFounder and patron: Sultan Abu Inan

The name Bou Inania (Bū 'Ināniya) is derived from the name of its founder, the Marinid sultan Faris ibn Ali Abu Inan al-Mutawakkil (generally Abou Inan or Abu Inan for short).[1][2] It was originally named the Madrasa al-Muttawakkiliya but the name Madrasa Bu Inania has been retained instead.[3] He was the son and successor of Sultan Abu al-Hasan, under whose reign the Marinid empire reached its apogee and expanded all the way to Tunis in the east.[4][2] Abu Inan, who rebelled against his father and declared himself sultan in 1348, did not manage to hold onto all these new eastern territories, but the Moroccan state was nonetheless prosperous during his reign.[5][4] He was assassinated by his vizier on January 10, 1358, at the age of 31.[4] His death marked the beginning of the dynasty's definitive decline, with subsequent Marinid rulers being mostly figureheads controlled by powerful viziers.[4]

Context: the role of Marinid madrasas

The Marinids were prolific builders of madrasas, a type of institution which originated in northeastern Iran by the early 11th century and was progressively adopted further west.[6] These establishments served to train Islamic scholars, particularly in Islamic law and jurisprudence (fiqh). The madrasa in the Sunni world was generally antithetical to more "heterodox" religious doctrines, including the doctrine espoused by the Almohad dynasty. As such, it only came to flourish in Morocco under the Marinid dynasty which succeeded the Almohads.[6] To the Marinids, madrasas played a part in bolstering the political legitimacy of their dynasty. They used this patronage to encourage the loyalty of Fes's influential but fiercely independent religious elites and also to portray themselves to the general population as protectors and promoters of orthodox Sunni Islam.[6][5] The madrasas also served to train the scholars and elites who operated their state's bureaucracy.[5]

The Bou Inania Madrasa was the largest and most important madrasa created by the Marinid dynasty and turned into one of the most important religious institutions of Fes and Morocco.[3][7] It was the only such madrasa to gain the status of congregational mosque or "Friday mosque", which meant that the Friday sermon (khutba) was delivered here like in the other most important mosques of the city.[6][5] As a result, it was fully equipped with all the facilities of a major mosque and religious complex, in addition to extensive decoration.[3] The architecture and decoration of the madrasa is also considered to be the culmination of this type of Marinid architecture.[5]

Foundation and construction  Entrance to one of the study rooms off the main courtyard, photographed in 1920

A number of apocryphal stories about the madrasa's creation exist. One reported story claims that Abu Inan felt guilt about his violent overthrow of his father (Sultan Abu al-Hasan) and gathered a number of religious scholars to advise him on how he could redeem himself and seek forgiveness from God (Allah). They advised him to choose a location in the upper city which then served as a garbage dump and to transform it into a site of religious learning; thus, by purifying and improving a part of the city, he would do the same for his conscience.[1]

The foundation inscription of the building, located inside the prayer hall, indicates that construction on the madrasa started on December 28, 1350, CE (28 Ramadan 751 AH), and finished in 1355 (756 AH).[5]: 474 [8]: 197  The inscription also notes an extensive list of mortmain-type endowments (i.e. properties and other sources of revenue) which were dedicated to funding the madrasa's operations and which were part of its habous or waqf (an Islamic charitable trust).[5]

The construction project was known to be highly expensive due to the scale and lavishness of the building. One apocryphal anecdote claims that the sultan, upon seeing the full cost of construction presented to him by nervous construction supervisors, ripped up the accounts book and threw it in the river, while proclaiming: "What is beautiful is not expensive, no matter how large the sum."[3][1]

Later history and restorations

Despite Sultan Abu Inan's significant investments in the madrasa's architecture and its waqf endowment, it does not appear to have successfully rivaled the prestige and importance of the larger and older Qarawiyyin as a center of learning. It operated autonomously for some time but it's likely that after a couple of centuries the privilege of higher education in Fes was de facto centralized through the Qarawiyyin.[9]

The madrasa building has undergone numerous restorations, particularly in the 17th century after a damaging earthquake.[10] During the reign of Sultan Mulay Sliman (1792-1822), entire wall sections were reconstructed.[1] In the 20th century restorations were carried out on the madrasa's decorations.[1]

^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference :1323 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ a b Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1996). New Islamic Dynasties. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 15–17. ^ a b c d Gaudio, Attilio (1982). Fès: Joyau de la civilisation islamique. Paris: Les Presse de l'UNESCO: Nouvelles Éditions Latines. p. 113. ISBN 2723301591. ^ a b c d Abun-Nasr, Jamil (1987). A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521337674. ^ a b c d e f g Cite error: The named reference :132 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference :02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Cite error: The named reference :12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Bloom, Jonathan M. (2020). Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300218701. ^ Le Tourneau, Roger (1949). Fès avant le protectorat: étude économique et sociale d'une ville de l'occident musulman. Casablanca: Société Marocaine de Librairie et d'Édition. pp. 71, 453–454. ^ Touri, Abdelaziz; Benaboud, Mhammad; Boujibar El-Khatib, Naïma; Lakhdar, Kamal; Mezzine, Mohamed (2010). Le Maroc andalou : à la découverte d'un art de vivre (2 ed.). Ministère des Affaires Culturelles du Royaume du Maroc & Museum With No Frontiers. ISBN 978-3902782311.
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