Oxford? Bologna? Morocco Al-Qarawiyyin?
Yayın Tarihi :
A bilateral cooperation agreement was signed between
Kırıkkale University and Al-Qarawiyyin University in Morocco, which is older
than Oxford, founded in 1096, and the University of Bologna, founded in 1088
and is the oldest university in the world.
Our Rector Prof. Dr. Ersan Aslan, Necmettin Bilal
Erdoğan, Member of Board of Trustees of Fuat Sezgin Research Foundation for the
History of Science in Islam, Assist. Prof. Dr. Şevket Evci, Secretary General,
Assist. Prof. Dr. Zeynep Başer, Head of International Office, Tuğba Altınışık,
French Lecturer, visited the University of Al-Qarawiyyin, the oldest university
in the world, founded by Fatima al-Fihri in 859. Our university delegation was
hosted by Prof. Dr. Amal Jellal, Rector of Al-Qarawiyyin University, Idris el
Fıhri, Vice Rector and Bennani Zoubir Mohammed, Secretary General.
Prof. Dr. Amal Jellal, Rector of Al-Qarawiyyin
University expressed his satisfaction with this visit. Prof. Dr. Amal Jellal
said that Al-Qarawiyyin University was founded in 859 thanks to the inheritance
of Fatima al-Fihri from her father and added that the university was the first
university in the world that continues to actively provide education. He
mentioned that Al-Qarawiyyin University had campuses in Fez, Rabat and
Casablanca and the studies carried out there. He stated that Al-Qarawiyyin
University was used for both worship and education purposes and provided education
in many fields such as mathematics, philosophy and medicine. He added that the
first degree in the field of Medicine in the world were given at Al-Qarawiyyin
University and Papa II. Silvester, who was sent from France to Al-Qarawiyyin
University to receive education and worked there, was the first mathematician
to bring the number zero (0) and Arabic numerals to Europe and mentioned that
receiving education at Al-Qarawiyyin University was an important criteria to
assign people to government positions in Morocco.
"We hope it will lead to the strong cooperation
between our institutions."
Necmettin Bilal Erdoğan, Member of Board of Trustees
of Fuat Sezgin Research Foundation for the History of Science in Islam, gave
information about Fuat Sezgin. Mr. Erdoğan stated that Fuat Sezgin had an
important place in the field of History of Science and for the continuity of
Fuat Sezgin's work, a library, museum and institute were established by IBTAV
with the support of our President. He mentioned that the conferences on the
History of Science in Islam were given in Türkiye and in many countries from
Chile to Indonesia and in these conferences, they also talked about Al-Qarawiyyin
University, the oldest university in the world, which trained many scholars
such as Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Rushd. He expressed his gratitude to be here and,
wished that this visit would lead to strong cooperation with both the
foundation and Kırıkkale University and Al-Qarawiyyin University.
“We Should Implement Project-Based Bilateral
Cooperation"
Prof. Dr. Ersan Aslan thanked to the Rector Jellal for
hosting them. He stated that they aimed to raise awareness about the
contributions of Turkish and Muslim scientists to world civilization by going
to all provinces in the country and to different countries around the world and
that 2019 was declared as the Year of Prof. Dr. Fuat Sezgin by our President,
and that they explained the work of these scientists in 26 different scientific
disciplines to thousands of young people through more than 1000 events. He
added: “While doing all of this, we had two dreams. The first
of these was that young people gain self-confidence, have self-confidence and
know their own past well. The second was to see the UNESCO heritage Al-Qarawiyyin
University, which has contribution on raising many scholars whom we mentioned
in the conferences. We realized a dream today. We
see that you have departments directly related to all our faculties, except the
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. We can work with
all related departments. We should work on mutual collaboration by meeting our faculty
members and lecturers with yours for dynamic and project-based studies.” He stated that they would like to host Rector
of Al-Qarawiyyin University and his delegation at Kırıkkale University.
After the speech, Prof. Dr. Amal Jellal presented his
gifts with the Al-Qarawiyyin University logo, a book about the history of
Morocco, and a 3-volume work about the Al-Qarawiyyin University. Necmeddin
Bilal Erdoğan thanked Prof. Dr. Amal Jellal and presented him with the 5-volume
book called Science and Technology in Islam prepared by Prof. Dr. Fuat Sezgin
and an astrolabe. Our Rector Prof. Dr. Ersan Aslan thanked to Rector Amal
Jellal and presented a tile painting featuring the Çeşnigir Bridge, one of the
symbols of Kırıkkale.
The delegation went to the newly built senate hall at Al-Qarawiyyin
University to sign bilateral cooperation. Prof. Dr. Amal Jellal emphasised that
this agreement was very important as the first signature in the new senate hall.
After the signing ceremony, Al-Qarawiyyin University Library, Madrasa and
Mosque were visited. During the library visit, samples of manuscripts and
studies were shown. Officers gave information about important works in the
library. Then, the laboratory where the restoration work of manuscripts was
carried out was visited. Necmettin Bilal Erdoğan said that cooperation could be
made with İstanbul Suleymaniye Library regarding these studies.
After visiting Al-Qarawiyyin University, our University delegation visited the Türkiye Embassy in Rabat. Ambassador Mustafa İlker Kılıç thanked our Rector and his accompanying delegation for their visit. Prof. Dr. Ersan Aslan gave information to Ambassador Mustafa İlker Kılıç about the bilateral cooperation agreement with Al-Qarawiyyin University and the studies about Prof. Dr. Fuat Sezgin and history of science in Islam in different geographies of the world. Ambassador Mustafa İlker Kılıç: “Establishing a Turcology Department in Moroccan universities and providing Turkish education to Moroccan students will be an important work.” Rector Prof. Dr. Ersan Aslan thanked to Ambassador and presented a tile painting featuring the Çeşnigir Bridge, one of the symbols of Kırıkkale, to Mustafa İlker Kılıç.
