The world’s oldest university, founded over 200 years earlier than its first European counterpart, stands almost lost and forgotten amid the tourist shops, leather tanneries and daily noise in the labyrinthine, walled medina of Fez. The future of Al Quaraouiyine looks bright, however, since Morocco designated it as the pinnacle of a broad religious reform programme designed to present an alternative to the radical versions of Islam now challenging the traditional faith.