9th century until at least European colonialism. Some scholars, noting certain parallels between such madrasas and European medieval universities, have proposed that the latter may have been influenced by the madrasas of the Muslim world, in particular via Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily. Other scholars have questioned this, citing the lack of evidence for an actual transmission from the Islamic world to Christian Europe and highlighting the differences in the structure, methodologies, procedures, curricula and legal status of the madrasa versus the European university. The earliest date of formal teaching at al-Qarawiyyin is also uncertain. The most relevant major historical texts like the Rawd al-Qirtas and the Zahrat al-As do not provide clear details on the history of teaching at the mosque. In the Rawd al-Qirtas, Ibn Abi Zar mentions the mosque but not its educational function. Al-Jazna'i, the 14th-century author of the Zahrat al-As, mentions that teaching had taken place there well before his time, but with no other details. Otherwise, the earliest mentions of halaqa for learning and teaching may not have been until the 10th or the 12th century. Moroccan historian Mohammed Al-Manouni believes that it was during the reign of the Almoravids (1040–1147) that the mosque acquired its function as a teaching institution. French historian Évariste Lévi-Provençal dates the beginning of the madrasa and teaching to the later Marinid period (1244–1465). Another Moroccan historian, Abdelhadi Tazi, indicated the earliest evidence of teaching at al-Qarawiyyin in 1121. Upon reviewing the evidence in Abdelhadi Tazi's work, Abdul Latif Tibawi states that: This is considerably later than the beginning of instruction at the al-Azhar under the Fatimids. So it is very difficult to sustain the claim that the University of Qarawiyyin is the "oldest university", and not only in the Muslim world! The mosque school or college did not assume the name of university until 1960 when in a ceremony Muhammad V invested it with that dignified title. Notable alumni A number of well-known philosophers, scholars, and politicians in the history of Morocco and the western Mediterranean have either studied or taught at the Qarawiyyin since its founding. Maimonides (1135/1138–1204), Jewish philosopher Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Sufi philosopher Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406), historian and philosopher Leo Africanus (1494–1554), author Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari (1632-1577), historian and theologian, appointed imam and mufti by the Saadi Sultan Zaydan Imam al-Bannani (1727–1780), faqīh (Muslim jurist) Ahmad ibn Idris (1760–1837), Moroccan Sufi scholar Muhammad