Sign-In
Cart
Rome and the Maghreb: Fatima al-Fihri and the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez
Paperback
Series: Tgsr Research Papers, Book 7
African HistoryGeneral Middle Eastern History
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jul 25 2026
Pages: 370
Weight: 1.09
Height: 0.77 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Abstract - Rome and the Maghreb (2.0), Second Edition
In the year 859, in the Moroccan city of Fez, a woman named Fatima al-Fihri founded, with her own fortune, a mosque that would in time become the University of al-Qarawiyyin -the oldest continuously operating institution of higher learning in the world, nearly two centuries before Bologna or Oxford. Rome and the Maghreb takes that founding as its starting point to reconstruct a broader question: what holds together, across the centuries, a system of knowledge transmission that crosses empires, conquests, and religious borders?
This revised and corrected second edition situates that question within the framework of the General Theory of Systems of Reality (GTSR), the philosophical theory developed by Mario Lavarello, which holds that the stability of any complex system -biological, institutional, historical- can be described through four fundamental dimensions of its state: Unity, Structure, Power, and Truth. The book traces the genealogy of a mathematical model born within these very pages -the coherence factor that later gave rise to the Rome-Maghreb Mini-Model and to the definitive formalization developed in the General Theory of Systems of Western Knowledge, Volume I- and reconstructs, through the nodes of Rome, Kairouan, Fez, Córdoba, and Sicily, the network of interfaces that sustained the continuity of Mediterranean knowledge between the ninth and eleventh centuries, in what the author called the knowledge triangle of the West, between Fez, Córdoba, and Sicily.
What distinguishes this edition is its methodological honesty. The Pre-Preface and Part XI openly document the mathematical errors detected in the original formalization -a circularity in the definition of the coherence index, notational ambiguities, an improperly normalized collapse probability- and show, with complete numerical examples, how they were corrected. The mathematical formalization is now explained step by step, with the connectivity and organizational-flow matrices illustrated using the study's real data, so that a reader with no prior mathematical training can follow the entire line of reasoning without needing advanced technical knowledge.
Rome and the Maghreb also recovers the historiographic research that anchors the model in verifiable evidence: the 818 CE revolt of the Suburb of Córdoba, the 827 CE Aghlabid conquest of Sicily, and the founding migration that brought Fatima al-Fihri's family from Kairouan to Fez -each stated with its corresponding level of confidence, following the principle that no historical claim should be presented with more certainty than the available evidence allows.
This book is, at once, a history of the founding of a university, a study of the architecture of medieval Mediterranean knowledge, and a transparent record of how a mathematical theory is built, tested, and corrected. It is aimed at readers interested in the history of the Islamic Maghreb and Al-Andalus, in the philosophy of history and systems theory, and in the question -as old as it is current- of what truly sustains the continuity of a civilization.
Also from
Lavarello, Mario
La Belleza como Principio de Poder: Plotino, los Médici y la Arquitectura Neoplatónica del Renacimiento Europeo
Lavarello, Mario
Paperback
El Árbol Sagrado del Tiempo: Atlántida, memoria perdida y el viaje de individuación de un linaje
Lavarello, Mario
Paperback
Línea de la Verdad: Una travesía filosófica entre razón, símbolo y libertad
Lavarello, Mario
Paperback
TEORIA GENERAL de SISTEMAS de REALIDAD: Unidad, Estructura, Poder y Verdad
Lavarello, Mario
Paperback
Also in
African History
Mountain Farmers: Moral Economies of Land & Agricultural Development in Arusha & Meru
Spear, Thomas
Paperback
Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland
Kahn, Ashley
Hardcover
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Hochschild, Adam
Paperback
We Are Heirs of the World's Revolutions: Speeches from the Burkina Faso Revolution 1983-87
Sankara, Thomas
Paperback
Sufferings in Africa: The Astonishing Account Of A New England Sea Captain Enslaved By North African Arabs
Riley, James
Paperback
Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
French, Howard W.
Paperback
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World
Lagnado, Lucette
Paperback
The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide
French, Howard W.
Hardcover
Slow Poison: IDI Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State
Mamdani, Mahmood
Hardcover
The Golden Trade of the Moors: West African Kingdoms in the Fourteenth Century
Bovill, E. W.
Bovill, Edward W.
Paperback
River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
Millard, Candice
Paperback
A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy of Apartheid
Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla
Paperback
Seeking Sexual Freedom: African Rites, Rituals, and Sankofa in the Bedroom
Sekyiamah, Nana Darkoa
Hardcover
Mdw Dtr: Divine Speech: A Historiographical Reflection of African Deep Thought from the Time of the Pharaohs to the Present Paperback
Carruthers, Jacob H.
Paperback
When The World Was Black, Part One: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations Prehistoric Culture
Understanding, Supreme
Hardcover
Jews Under Moroccan Skies: Two Thousand Years of Jewish Life
Elmaleh, Rapha'el
Ricketts, George
Paperback
Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith After Genocide in Rwanda
Wilson-Hartgrove, Jonathan
Katongole, Emmanuel M.
Paperback
Politically Unconscious: The Psychic Aftermath of the Sudanese Revolution
Khougali, Mohamed
Paperback
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
Gourevitch, Philip
Paperback
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill
Millard, Candice
Paperback
Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan
Childers, Sam
Paperback
Ancient African Empires: An Enthralling Guide to the Major Kingdoms and Civilizations of Africa
Wellman, Billy
Hardcover
The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave by Kofi Ghanaba and Oyafunmike Ogunlano
Lynch, Willie
Paperback
Cuba and the Independence War in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde: The Fall of the Last Colonial Empire in Africa
Dreke, Victor
Paperback
The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination
Reid, Stuart A.
Paperback
Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People
Evans-Pritchard, E. E.
Hardcover
Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youths Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa
Mathabane, Mark
Paperback
Algiers, Third World Capital: Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers
Mokhtefi, Elaine
Paperback
Kindezi: The Kongo Art of Babysitting
Lukondo-Wamba, A. M.
Fu-Kiau, Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki
Paperback
Hidden Treasures of the Ethiopian Bible in English Complete: Uncovering the Secrets of the Deuterocanonical Apocrypha, Enoch, and Lost Writings
Thornfield, Alexander J.
Paperback
Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers
Witton, Edward
Paperback
Three Sips of Gin: Dominating the Battlespace with Rhodesia's Famed Selous Scouts
Bax, Timothy
Paperback
Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa, and the Diaspora, 1919-1939
Adi, Hakim
Paperback
Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa
Krog, Antjie
Paperback
By Flesh and Toil: How Sex, Race, and Labor Shaped the Early French Empire
Lamotte, Mélanie
Hardcover
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
Stearns, Jason K.
Paperback
Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
French, Howard W.
Hardcover
Operation Legacy and Other Stories: Graphic Histories from Africa
Getz, Trevor R.
Diptée, Audra A.
Paperback
World History: A Visual Journey From The Dawn Of Civilization To The 21st Century
Alive, History Brought
Paperback
They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan
Deng, Benson
Ajak, Benjamin
Deng, Alephonsion
Paperback
A School for My Village: A Promise to the Orphans of Nyaka
Kaguri, Twesigye Jackson
Linville, Susan Urbanek
Paperback
African Saints Saints, Martyrs, and Holy People from the Continent of Africa
Quinn, Frederick
Paperback
This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President
Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson
Paperback
In the Company of Heroes: The Personal Story Behind Black Hawk Down
Durant, Michael J.
Hartov, Steven
Paperback
World History, Volume 2: from 1400 (paperback, b&w)
Lynch, Ryan J.
Nelson, Brooke
Kordas, Ann
Paperback
When The World Was Black, Part One: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations Prehistoric Culture
Understanding, Supreme
Paperback
When the World was Black Part Two: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations Ancient Civilizations
Understanding, Supreme
Paperback
People in Motion: Flexible States and Porous Boundaries in the History of Coastal West Africa
Barnes, Sandra T.
Hardcover
African History: Explore The Amazing Timeline of The World's Richest Continent - The History, Culture, Folklore, Mythology & More of Africa
Brought Alive, History
Paperback
The Kebra Nagast: King Solomon, The Queen of Sheba & Her Only Son Menyelek - Ethiopian Legends and Bible Folklore
Budge, E. a. Wallis
Paperback
The Kingdom of God in Africa: A History of African Christianity
Shaw, Mark
Gitau, Wanjiru M.
Paperback
When the World Was Black Part Two: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations - Ancient Civilizations
Understanding, Supreme
Hardcover
Ripples from the Zambezi: Passion, Entrepreneurship, and the Rebirth of Local Economies
Sirolli, Ernesto
Paperback
Mythology: Captivating Greek, Egyptian, Norse Celtic and Roman Myths of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters
Clayton, Matt
Hardcover
The Heretic of Cacheu: Crispina Peres and the Struggle Over Life in Seventeenth-Century West Africa
Green, Toby
Hardcover
Nineveh and Its Remains: With an account of a visit to the Chaldæan Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or devil-worshippers; and an enqu
Layard, Austen Henry
Paperback
Lessons From the Rhodesian Bush War: A Study in Survival, Rural Defense, and Collapse
Shift, Don
Paperback
The Hatata Inquiries: Two Texts of Seventeenth-Century African Philosophy from Ethiopia about Reason, the Creator, and Our Ethical Responsibilities
Yaqob, Zara
Heywat, Walda
Paperback
Mesoamerican History & Mythology: Aztec, Inca, Maya, Toltec, Zapotec & Central American Myths, Legends, Mysteries & History Uncovered
Brought Alive, History
Paperback