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.

History
The name Bou Inania is derived from the name of its founder, the Marinid sultan Faris ibn Ali Abu Inan al-Mutawakkil.

It was originally named the Madrasa al-Muttawakkiliya but the name Madrasa Bu Inania has been retained instead. 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.

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.

He was assassinated by his vizier on January 10, 1358, at the age of 31. His death marked the beginning of the dynasty’s definitive decline, with subsequent Marinid rulers being mostly figureheads controlled by powerful viziers.