history records few scholarly enterprises, at least before modern times, in which women have played an important and active role side by side with men. the science of hadith forms an outstanding exception in this respect. islam, as a religion which (unlike christianity) refused to attribute gender to the godhead, and never appointed a male priestly elite to serve as an intermediary between creature and creator, started life with the assurance that while men and women are equipped by nature for complementary rather than identical roles, no spiritual superiority inheres in the masculine principle. as a result, the muslim community was happy to entrust matters of equal worth in god's sight to both men and women. only this can explain why, uniquely among the classical western religions, islam produced a large number of outstanding female scholars, on whose testimony and sound judgment much of the edifice of islam depends.
in the early days of islam
since islam's earliest days, women took a prominent part in the preservation and cultivation of hadith, and this function continued down the centuries. at every period in muslim history, there lived numerous eminent women scholars of hadith, treated by their brethren with reverence and respect. entries on very large numbers of them are to be found in the biographical dictionaries.
after the prophet's death, many women companions, particularly his wives, were looked upon as vital custodians of knowledge.
during the lifetime of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), many women were not only the instance for the evolution of many hadiths, but were also their transmitters to their sisters and brothers in faith. after the prophet's death, many women companions, particularly his wives, were looked upon as vital custodians of knowledge, and were approached for instruction by the other companions, to whom they readily dispensed the rich store which they had gathered in the prophet's company. the names of hafsah, umm habibah, maymunah, umm salamah, and `a'ishah, are familiar to every student of hadith as being among its earliest and most distinguished transmitters. in particular, `a'ishah is one of the most important figures in the whole history of hadith literature—not only as one of the earliest reporters of the largest number of hadith, but also as one of their most careful interpreters.
in the period of the successors
in the period of the successors, too, women held important positions as scholars of hadith. hafsah, the daughter of ibn sirin, umm ad-darda' the younger (d. ah 81/700 ce), and `amrah bint `abdur-rahman, are only a few of the key women scholars of hadith of this period. umm ad-darda' was held by iyas ibn mu`awiyah, an important scholar of hadith of the time and a judge of undisputed ability and merit, to be superior to all the other hadith scholars of the period, including the celebrated masters of hadith like al-hasan al-basri and ibn sirin. `amrah was considered a great authority on traditions related by `a'ishah. among her students, abu bakr ibn hazm, the celebrated judge of madinah, was ordered by the caliph `umar ibn `abdul-`aziz to write down all the traditions known on her authority.
these devout women came from the most diverse backgrounds, indicating that neither class nor gender were obstacles to rising through the ranks of islamic scholarship.
after them, `abidah al-madaniyyah, `abdah bint bishr, umm `umar ath-thaqafiyyah, zaynab the granddaughter of `ali ibn `abdullah ibn `abbas, nafisah bint al-hasan ibn ziyad, khadijah umm muhammad, `abdah bint `abdur-rahman, and many other women excelled in delivering public lectures on hadith. these devout women came from the most diverse backgrounds, indicating that neither class nor gender were obstacles to rising through the ranks of islamic scholarship. for example, `abidah, who started life as a slave owned by muhammad ibn yazid, learned a large number of hadiths with the teachers in madinah. she was given by her master to habib dahhun, the great hadith scholar of spain, when he visited the holy city jerusalem on his way to the hajj. dahhun was so impressed by her learning that he freed her, married her, and brought her to andalusia. it is said that she related 10,000 hadiths on the authority of her madinan teachers.
zaynab bint sulayman (d. ah 142/759 ce), by contrast, was princess by birth. her father was a cousin of as-saffah, the founder of the abbasid dynasty, and had been a governor of basrah, oman, and bahrain during the caliphate of al-mansur. zaynab, who received a fine education, acquired a mastery of hadith, gained a reputation as one of the most distinguished women scholars of hadith of the time, and counted many important men among her pupils.
the compilation of hadith
this partnership of women with men in the cultivation of the prophetic tradition continued in the period when the great anthologies of hadith were compiled. a survey of the texts reveals that all the important compilers of hadith from the earliest period received many of them from women teachers: every major collection gives the names of many women as the immediate authorities of the author. and when these works had been compiled, the women scholars themselves mastered them and delivered lectures to large classes of pupils, to whom they would issue their own ijazah (permission to transmit hadiths or a book of hadith).
in the fourth century we find fatimah bint `abdur-rahman (d. ah 312/924 ce), known as as-sufiyyah on account of her great piety; fatimah, granddaughter of abu dawud of sunan fame; amat al-wahid (d. ah 377/987 ce), the daughter of distinguished jurist al-muhamili; umm al-fath amat as-salam (d. ah 390/999 ce), the daughter of the judge abu bakr ahmad (d. ah 350/961 ce); jumu`ah bint ahmad, and many other women, whose classes were always attended by reverential audiences.
the islamic tradition of female hadith scholarship continued in the fifth and sixth centuries after hijrah.
the islamic tradition of female hadith scholarship continued in the fifth and sixth centuries after hijrah. fatimah bint al-hasan ibn `ali ibn ad-daqqaq al-qushayri, was celebrated not only for her piety and her mastery of calligraphy, but also for her knowledge of hadith and the quality of the isnads (chains of narrators) she knew. even more distinguished was karimah al-marwaziyyah (d. ah 463/1070 ce), who was considered the best authority on the sahih of al-bukhari in her own time. abu dharr of herat, one of the leading scholars of the period, attached such great importance to her authority that he advised his students to study the sahih under no one else because of the quality of her scholarship. she thus figures as a central point in the transmission of this seminal text of islam. as a matter of fact, writes goldziher, “her name occurs with extraordinary frequency of the ijazas for narrating the text of this book.” among her students were al-khatib al-baghdadi and al-humaydi (ah 428/1036 ce–ah 488/1095 ce). aside from karimah, a number of other women scholars of hadith occupy an eminent place in the history of the transmission of the text of the sahih. among these, one might mention in particular fatimah bint muhammad (d. ah 539/1144 ce; shahdah “the writer” (d. ah 574/1178 ce), and sitt al-wuzara bint `umar (d. ah 716/1316 ce). fatimah narrated the book on the authority of the great scholar of hadith sa`id al-`aiyar; she received from the hadith specialists the proud title of musnidat asfahan (the great hadith authority of asfahan).
shahdah was a famous calligrapher and a scholar of great repute; the biographers describe her as “the calligrapher, the great authority on hadith, and the pride of womanhood.” her great-grandfather had been a dealer in needles, and thus acquired the sobriquet “al-ibri” (needle-seller). but her father, abu nasr (d. ah 506/1112 ce) had acquired a passion for hadith and managed to study it with several masters of the subject. in obedience to the sunnah (the prophet's way and teachings), he gave his daughter a sound academic education, ensuring that she studied under many hadith scholars of accepted reputation.
she married `ali ibn muhammad, an important figure with some literary interests, who later became a boon companion of the caliph al-muqtadi, and founded a college and a sufi lodge, which he endowed most generously. his wife, however, was better known: she gained her reputation in the field of hadith scholarship, and was noted for the quality of her isnads. her lectures on sahih al-bukhari and other hadith collections were attended by large crowds of students; and on account of her great reputation, some people even falsely claimed to have been her disciples.
also known as an authority on al-bukhari was sitt al-wuzara, who, besides her acclaimed mastery of islamic law, was known as the musnidah (the great hadith authority) of her time, and delivered lectures on the sahih and other works in damascus and egypt. classes on the sahih were likewise given by umm al-khayr amatil-khaliq (ah 811/1408 ce–ah 911/1505 ce), who is regarded as the last great hadith scholar of the hijaz. still another authority on al-bukhari was `a'ishah bint `abdul-hadi.
the author highlighted the scholarly efforts of muslim women in learning and teaching hadith. he traced these efforts in the early days of islam, in the period of the successors, and in the period of hadith compilation. he cited many names of women who participated, side by side with men, in teaching hadith, especially the sahih of imam al-bukhari.
apart from these women, who seem to have specialized in the great sahih of imam al-bukhari, there were others, whose expertise were centered on other texts. umm al-khayr fatimah bint `ali (d. 532/1137) and fatimah ash-shahrazuriyah delivered lectures on the sahih of imam muslim (ibn al-`imad iv: 100). fatimah al-jawzdaniyyah (d. 524/1129) narrated to her students the three mu`jams of at-tabarani (ibn salim 16).
the lectures of zaynab of harran (d. 68/1289) attracted a large crowd of students. she taught them the musnad of ahmad ibn hanbal, the largest known collection of hadith (ibn salim 28f).
juwayriyah bint `umar (d. 783/1381), and zaynab bint ahmad ibn `umar (d. 722/1322), who had traveled widely in pursuit of hadiths and delivered lectures in egypt as well as madinah, narrated to her students the collections of ad-darimi and `abd ibn humayd. and we are told that students traveled from far and wide to attend her discourse (ibn al-`imad vi:56).
zaynab bint ahmad (d. 740/1339), usually known as bint al-kamal, acquired “a camel load” of diplomas; she delivered lectures on the musnad of abu hanifah, the shama’il of at-tirmidhi, and the sharh ma`ani al-athar of at-tahawi, the last of which she read with another woman traditionist, `ajibah bint abu bakr (d. 740/1339) (ibn al-`imad vi:126; ibn salim 14, 18; al-`umari 73). “on her authority is based,” says goldziher, “the authenticity of the gotha codex. ... in the same isnad a large number of learned women are cited who had occupied themselves with this work” (goldziher ii:407). with her, and various other women, the great traveler ibn battuta studied traditions during his stay at damascus (ibn battuta 253).
the famous historian of damascus ibn `asakir, who tells us that he studied under more than 1,200 men and 80 women, obtained the ijazah [a certificate of learning a number or a collection of hadiths from a certain traditionist, entitling its holder to teach these hadiths] of zaynab bint abdur-rahman for the muwatta’ of imam malik (yaqut, mu`jam al-buldan, v:140f). jalal ad-din as-suyuti studied the risalah of imam ash-shafi`i with hajar bint muhammad (yaqut, mu`jam al-udaba, 17f). `afif ad-din junayd, a traditionist of the ninth century after hijrah, read the sunan of ad-darimi with fatimah bint ahmad ibn qasim (copl, v/i, 175f).
other important traditionists included zaynab bint ash-sha`ri (d. 615/1218). she studied hadith under several important traditionists, and in turn, lectured to many students—some of whom gained great repute—including ibn khallikan, author of the well-known biographical dictionary wafayat al-a`yan (ibn khallikan, no. 250). another was karimah the syrian (d. 641/1218), who is described by biographers as the greatest authority on hadith in syria of her day. she delivered lectures on many works of hadith on the authority of numerous teachers (ibn al-`imad v: 212, 404).
in his work ad-durar al-karimah, ibn hajar gives short biographical notices of about 170 prominent women of the eighth century, most of whom are traditionists, and under many of whom the author himself studied. some of these women were acknowledged as the best traditionists of their period. for instance, juwayriyah bint ahmad, to whom we have already referred, studied a range of works on traditions, under both male and female scholars who taught at the great colleges of the time, and then proceeded to give famous lectures on the islamic disciplines. “some of my own teachers,” says ibn hajar, “and many of my contemporaries, attended her discourses” (ibn hajar i, no. 1472). `a’ishah bint `abdul-hadi (ah 723–816), who for a considerable time was one of ibn hajar’s teachers, was considered to be the finest traditionist of her time, and many students undertook long journeys in order to sit at her feet and study the truths of religion (ibn al-`imad viii: 120f).
sitt al-`arab (d. 760/1358) had been the teacher of the well-known traditionist al-`iraqi (d. 742/1341), and of many others who derived a good proportion of their knowledge from her (ibn al-`imad vi, 208).daqiqah bint murshid (d. 746/1345), another celebrated woman traditionist, received instruction from a whole range of other women.
information on women traditionists of the ninth century is given in a work by muhammad ibn `abdur-rahman as-sakhawi (830–897/1427–1489), called ad-daw’ al-lami`, which is a biographical dictionary of eminent persons of the ninth century. a further source is the mu`jam ash-shuyukh of `abdul-`aziz ibn `umar ibn fahd (812–871/1409–1466), compiled in ah 861 and devoted to the biographical notices of more than 1,100 of the author’s teachers, including over 130 women scholars under whom he had studied. some of these women were acclaimed as among the most precise and scholarly traditionists of their time, and trained many of the great scholars of the following generation.
umm hani maryam (778–871/1376–1466), for instance, learned the qur’an by heart when she was still a child, acquired all the islamic sciences that were being taught at the time—including theology, law, history, and grammar—and then traveled to pursue hadith with the best traditionists of her time in cairo and makkah. she was also celebrated for her mastery of calligraphy, her command of the arabic language, and her natural aptitude in poetry, as also her strict observance of the duties of religion (she performed the hajj no fewer than 13 times). her son, who became a noted scholar of the 10th century, showed the greatest veneration for her and constantly waited on her towards the end of her life. she pursued an intensive program of learning in the great college of cairo, giving ijazahs to many scholars. ibn fahd himself studied several technical works on hadith under her (as-sakhawi xii, no. 980).
her syrian contemporary, bai khatun (d. 864/1459), after having studied traditions with abu bakr al-mizzi and numerous other traditionalists, and having secured the ijazahs of a large number of masters of hadith, both men and women, delivered lectures on the subject in syria and cairo. we are told that she took special delight in teaching (as-sakhawi xii, no. 58).
`a’ishah bint ibrahim (760–842/1358–1438), known in academic circles as ibnat ash-sharaihi, also studied traditions in damascus and cairo (and elsewhere), and delivered lectures which eminent scholars of the day spared no efforts to attend (as-sakhawi xii, no. 450). umm al-khayr saida of makkah (d. 850/1446) received instruction in hadith from numerous traditionists in different cities, gaining an equally enviable reputation as a scholar (as-sakhawi xii, no. 901).
so far as may be gathered from the sources, the involvement of women in hadith scholarship, and in the islamic disciplines generally, seems to have declined considerably from the 10th century after hijrah. books such as an-nur as-safir of al-`aydarus, the khulasat al-akhbar of al-muhibbi, and the as-suhub al-wabilah of muhammad ibn `abdullah (which are biographical dictionaries of eminent persons of the 10th, 11th, and 12th hijri centuries respectively) contain the names of barely a dozen eminent women traditionists. but it would be wrong to conclude from this that after the 10th century women lost interest in the subject. some women traditionists, who gained good reputations in the 9th century, lived well into the 10th and continued their services to the sunnah. asma’ bint kamal ad-din (d. 904/1498) wielded great influence with the sultans and their officials, to whom she often made recommendations which, we are told, they always accepted. she lectured on hadith and trained women in various islamic sciences (al-`aydarus 49).
`a’ishah bint muhammad (d. 906/1500), who married the famous judge muslih ad-din, taught traditions to many students and was appointed professor at the salihiyah college in damascus (ibn abi tahir; see copl, xii, no. 665ff.). fatimah bint yusuf of aleppo (870–925/1465–1519) was known as one of the excellent scholars of her time (ibn abi tahir, see copl, xii, no.665ff.). umm al-khayr granted an ijazah to a pilgrim at makkah in the year 938/1531 (goldziher ii:407).
the last woman traditionist of the first rank who is known to us was fatimah al-fudayliyah, also known as ash-shaykhah al-fudayliyah. she was born before the end of the 12th hijri century and soon excelled in the art of calligraphy and the various islamic sciences. she had a special interest in hadith, read a good deal on the subject, received the diplomas of a good many scholars, and acquired a reputation as an important traditionist in her own right. towards the end of her life, she settled at makkah, where she founded a rich public library. in the holy city she was attended by many eminent traditionists, who attended her lectures and received certificates from her. among them, one could mention in particular sheikh `umar al-hanafi and sheikh muhammad sali. she died in 1247/1831 (ibn humaid. see copl, xii, no. 758).
throughout the history of feminine scholarship in islam it is clear that the women involved did not confine their study to a personal interest in traditions, or to the private coaching of a few individuals, but took their seats as students as well as teachers in pubic educational institutions, alongside their brothers in faith. the colophons of many manuscripts show them both as students attending large general classes, and also as teachers delivering regular courses of lectures. for instance, the certificate on folios 238-40 of the al-mashikhat ma at-tarikh of ibn al-bukhari, shows that numerous women attended a regular course of 11 lectures that was delivered before a class consisting of more than 500 students in the `umar mosque at damascus in the year 687/1288. another certificate, on folio 40 of the same manuscript, shows that many female students, whose names are specified, attended another course of six lectures on the book, which was delivered by ibn as-sayrafi to a class of more than 200 students at aleppo in the year 736/1336. and on folio 250, we discover that a famous woman traditionist, umm `abdullah, delivered a course of five lectures on the book to a mixed class of more than 50 students at damascus in the year 837/1433 (copl, v/ii, 54).
various notes on the manuscript of the kitab al-kifayah of al-khatib al-baghdadi, and of a collection of various treatises on hadith, show ni`mah bint `ali, umm ahmad zaynab bint al-makki, and other women traditionists delivering lectures on these two books, sometimes independently, and sometimes jointly with male traditionists, in major colleges such as the `aziziyah madrasa and the diy’aiyah madrasa, to regular classes of students. some of these lectures were attended by ahmad, son of the famous general salah ad-din (saladin).
