Women Scholars of Hadith - Muslim Public Affairs Centre · Women Scholars of Hadith ... received a...

Women Scholars of Hadith

Written by Dr. Muhammad Zubayr SiddiqiTuesday, 09 November 2010 19:24 - Last Updated Tuesday, 09 November 2010 19:50

History records few scholarly enterprises, at least before modern times, inwhich women have played an important and active role side by side withmen. The science of hadith forms an outstanding exception in this respect.

Islam, as a religion which (unlike Christianity) refused to attribute gender to theGodhead,1 and never appointed a male priestly elite to serve as an intermediarybetween creature and Creator, started life with the assurance that while men andwomen are equipped by nature for complementary rather than identical roles, nospiritual superiority inheres in the masculine principle. 2 As a result, theMuslim community was happy to entrust matters of equal worth in God's sight.Only this can explain why, uniquely among the classical Western religions, Islamproduced a large number of outstanding female scholars, on whose testimony andsound judgment much of the edifice of Islam depends.

Since Islam's earliest days, women had been taking a prominent part inthe preservation and cultivation of hadith, and this function continueddown the centuries. At every period in Muslim history, there livednumerous eminent women-traditionists, treated by their brethren withreverence and respect. Biographical notices on very large numbers ofthem are to be found in the biographical dictionaries.

During the lifetime of the Prophet, many women had been not only theinstance for the evolution of many traditions, but had also been theirtransmitters to their sisters and brethren in faith.3 After the Prophet'sdeath, many women Companions, particularly his wives, were lookedupon as vital custodians of knowledge, and were approached forinstruction by the other Companions, to whom they readily dispensed

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the rich store which they had gathered in the Prophet's company. Thenames of Hafsa, Umm Habiba, Maymuna, Umm Salama, and A'isha,are familiar to every student of hadithas being among its earliest and most distinguished transmitters.4

In particular, A'isha is one of the most important figures in the wholehistory of hadithliterature - not only as one of the earliest reporters of the largest numberof hadith, but also as one of their most careful interpreters.

In the period of the Successors, too, women held importantpositions as traditionists. Hafsa, the daughter of Ibn Sirin,5

Umm al-Darda the Younger (d.81/700), and 'Amra bin 'Abdal-Rahman, are only a few of the key women traditionists of thisperiod. Umm al-Darda' was held by Iyas ibn Mu'awiya, animportant traditionist of the time and a judge of undisputedability and merit, to be superior to all the other traditionists ofthe period, including the celebrated masters of hadithlike al-Hasan al-Basri and Ibn Sirin.6

'Amra was considered a great authority on traditions related byA'isha. Among her students, Abu Bakr ibn Hazm, the celebratedjudge of Medina, was ordered by the caliph Umar ibn Abdal-Aziz to write down all the traditions known on her authority.7

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After them, 'Abida al-Madaniyya, 'Abda bin Bishr, UmmUmar al-Thaqafiyya, Zaynab the granddaughter of Ali ibnAbd Allah ibn Abbas, Nafisa bint al-Hasan ibn Ziyad,Khadija Umm Muhammad, 'Abda bint Abd al-Rahman,and many other members of the fair sex excelled indelivering public lectures on hadith. These devoutwomen came from the most diverse backgrounds,indicating that neither class nor gender were obstacles torising through the ranks of Islamic scholarship. Forexample, Abida, who started life as a slave owned byMuhammad ibn Yazid, learnt a large number of hadiths with the teachers in Median. She was given by hermaster to Habib Dahhun, the great traditionist of Spain,when he visited the holy city on this way to the Hajj.Dahhun was so impressed by her learning that he freedher, married her, and brought her to Andalusia. It is saidthat she related ten thousand traditions on the authorityof her Medinan teachers.8

Zaynab bint Sulayman (d. 142/759), by contrast,was princess by birth. Her father was a cousin ofal-Saffah, the founder of the Abbasid dynasty, andhad been a governor of Basra, Oman and Bahrayn

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during the caliphate of al-Mansur.9 Zaynab, whoreceived a fine education, acquired a mastery of hadith, gained a reputation as one of the mostdistinguished women traditionists of the time, andcounted many important men among her pupils.10

This partnership of women with men in thecultivation of the Prophetic Tradition continuedin the period when the great anthologies of hadithwere compiled. A survey of the texts revealsthat all the important compilers of traditionsfrom the earliest period received many of themfrom women shuyukh: every major collection gives the names ofmany women as the immediate authorities ofthe author. And when these works had beencompiled, the women traditionists themselves

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mastered them, and delivered lectures to largeclasses of pupils, to whom they would issuetheir own ijazas.

In the fourth century, we find Fatima bint Abdal-Rahman (d. 312/924), known as al-Sufiyyaon account of her great piety; Fatima(granddaughter of Abu Daud of Sunan fame);Amat al-Wahid (d. 377/987), the daughter ofdistinguished jurist al-Muhamili; Umm al-FathAmat as-Salam (d. 390/999), the daughter ofthe judge Abu Bakr Ahmad (d.350/961); Jumuabint Ahmad, and many other women, whoseclasses were always attended by reverentialaudiences.11

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The Islamic tradition of female hadithscholarship continued in the fifth and sixthcenturies of hijra. Fatima bin al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn al-Daqqaqal-Qushayri, was celebrated not only for herpiety and her mastery of calligraphy, butalso for her knowledge of hadithand the quality of the isnadsshe knew.12

Even more distinguished was Karimaal-Marwaziyya (d.463/1070), who wasconsidered the best authority on the Sahihof al-Bukhari in her own time. Abu Dharr ofHerat, one of the leading scholars of theperiod, attached such great importance toher authority that he advised his students to

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study the Sahihunder no one else, because of the quality ofher scholarship. She thus figures as acentral point in the transmission of thisseminal text of Islam.13

As a matter of fact, writes Godziher, 'hername occurs with extraordinary frequencyof the ijazasfor narrating the text of this book.'14

Among her students were al-Khatibal-Baghdadi15

and al-Humaydi (428/1036-488/1095).16

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Aside from Karima, a number of otherwomen traditionists 'occupy an eminentplace in the history of the transmission ofthe text of the Sahih.'17 Among these,one might mention in particular Fatimabint Muhammad (d.539/1144; Shuhda'the Writer' (d.574/1178), and Sittal-Wuzara bint Umar (d.716/1316).18

Fatima narrated the book on theauthority of the great traditionist Saidal-Ayyar; she received from the hadithspecialists the proud tittle of Musnida Isfahan(the great hadithauthority of Isfahan). Shuhda was afamous calligrapher and a traditionist of

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great repute; the biographers describeher as 'the calligrapher, the greatauthority on hadith, and the pride of womanhood.' Hergreat-grandfather had been a dealer inneedles, and thus acquired the sobriquet'al-Ibri'. But her father, Abu Nasr (d.506/1112) had acquired a passion for hadith, and managed to study it with severalmasters of the subject.19

In obedience to the sunna, he gave his daughter a soundacademic education, ensuring that shestudied under many traditionists ofaccepted reputation.

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She married Ali ibn Muhammad, animportant figure with some literaryinterests, who later became a booncompanion of the caliph al-Muqtadi,and founded a college and a Sufilodge, which he endowed mostgenerously. His wife, however, wasbetter known: she gained herreputation in the field of hadithscholarship, and was noted for thequality of her isnads.20

Her lectures on Sahihal-Bukhari and other hadith

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collections were attended by largecrowds of students; and on account ofher great reputation, some peopleeven falsely claimed to have been herdisciples.21

Also known as an authority onBukhari was Sitt al-Wuzara, who,besides her acclaimed mastery ofIslamic law, was known as 'themusnida of her time', and deliveredlectures on the Sahih and otherworks in Damascus and Egypt. 22

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Classes on the Sahihwere likewise given by Ummal-Khayr Amat al-Khaliq(811/1408-911/1505), who isregarded as the last great hadithscholar of the Hijaz.23

Still another authority on Bukhariwas A'isha bint Abd al-Hadi.24

Apart from these women, whoseem to have specialized in the

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great Sahih of Imam al-Bukhari,there were others, whoseexpertise was centered on othertexts. Umm al-Khayr Fatima bintAli (d.532/1137), and Fatimaal-Shahrazuriyya, deliveredlectures on the Sahihof Muslim.25

Fatima al-Jawzdaniyya(d.524/1129) narrated to herstudents the three Mu'jamsof al-Tabarani.26

Zaynab of Harran (d.68/1289), 13 / 67



whose lectures attracted a largecrowd of students, taught themthe Musnadof Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the largestknown collection of hadiths.27

Juwayriya bint Umar(d.783/1381), and Zaynab bintAhmad ibn Umar (d.722/1322),who had travelled widely inpursuit of hadithand delivered lectures in Egypt

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as well as Medina, narrated toher students the collections ofal-Darimi and Abd ibn Humayd;and we are told that studentstravelled from far and wide toattend her discourses.28

Zaynab bint Ahmad (d.740/1339),usually known as Bint al-Kamal,acquired 'a camel load' ofdiplomas; she delivered lectureson the Musnadof Abu Hanifa, the Shamailof al-Tirmidhi, and the

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Sharh Ma'ani al-Atharof al-Tahawi, the last of whichshe read with another womantraditionist, Ajiba bin Abu Bakr(d.740/1339).29

'On her authority is based,' saysGoldziher, 'the authenticity of theGotha codex ... in the same isnada large number of learned womenare cited who had occupiedthemselves with this work."30

With her, and various otherwomen, the great traveller IbnBattuta studied traditions during

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his stay at Damascus.31

The famous historian ofDamascus, Ibn Asakir, who tellsus that he had studied undermore than 1,200 men and 80women, obtained the ijaza ofZaynab bint Abd al-Rahman forthe Muwattaof Imam Malik.32

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti studied theRisala of Imam Shafii with Hajarbint Muhammad.33

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Afif al-Din Junayd, a traditionist ofthe ninth century AH, read the Sunanof al-Darimi with Fatima binAhmad ibn Qasim.34

Other important traditionistsincluded Zaynab bint al-Sha'ri(d.524/615-1129/1218). Shestudied hadith under severalimportant traditionists, and inturn lectured to many students -

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some of who gained greatrepute - including Ibn Khallikan,author of the well-knownbiographical dictionary Wafayat al-Ayan.35

Another was Karima the Syrian(d.641/1218), described by thebiographers as the greatestauthority on hadithin Syria of her day. Shedelivered lectures on manyworks of

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hadithon the authority of numerousteachers.36

In his work al-Durar al-Karima,37

Ibn Hajar gives shortbiographical notices of about170 prominent women of theeighth century, most of whom

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are traditionists, and undermany of whom the authorhimself had studied.38

Some of these women wereacknowledged as the besttraditionists of the period. Forinstance, Juwayriya bintAhmad, to whom we havealready referred, studied arange of works on traditions,under scholars both male andfemale, who taught at thegreat colleges of the time, and

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then proceeded to givefamous lectures on theIslamic disciplines. 'Some ofmy own teachers,' says IbnHajar, 'and many of mycontemporaries, attended herdiscourses.'39

A'isha bin Abd al-Hadi(723-816), also mentionedabove, who for a considerabletime was one of Ibn Hajar'steachers, was considered tobe the finest traditionist of her

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time, and many studentsundertook long journeys inorder to sit at her feet andstudy the truths of religion.40

Sitt al-Arab (d.760-1358) hadbeen the teacher of thewell-known traditionist al-Iraqi(d.742/1341), and of manyothers who derived a goodproportion of their knowledgefrom her.41

Daqiqa bint Murshid

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(d.746/1345), anothercelebrated woman traditionist,received instruction from awhole range of other woman.

Information on womentraditionists of the ninthcentury is given in a work byMuhammad ibn Abdal-Rahman al-Sakhawi(830-897/1427-1489), calledal-Daw al-Lami, which is a

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biographical dictionary ofeminent persons of the ninthcentury. 42 Afurther source is the Mu'jam al-Shuyukhof Abd al-Aziz ibn Umar ibnFahd (812-871/1409-1466),compiled in 861 AH anddevoted to the biographicalnotices of more than 1,100of the author's teachers,including over 130 womenscholars under whom he

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had studied.43

Some of these women wereacclaimed as among themost precise and scholarlytraditionists of their time,and trained many of thegreat scholars of thefollowing generation. UmmHani Maryam(778-871/1376-1466), forinstance, learnt the Qur'anby heart when still a child,

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acquired all the Islamicsciences then being taught,including theology, law,history, and grammar, andthen travelled to pursue hadithwith the best traditionists ofher time in Cairo andMecca. She was alsocelebrated for her masteryof calligraphy, her commandof the Arabic language, andher natural aptitude in

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poetry, as also her strictobservance of the duties ofreligion (she performed thehajj no fewer than thirteentimes). Her son, whobecame a noted scholar ofthe tenth century, showedthe greatest veneration forher, and constantly waitedon her towards the end ofher life. She pursued anintensive program oflearning in the great college

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of Cairo, giving ijazasto many scholars, Ibn Fahdhimself studied severaltechnical works on hadithunder her.44

Her Syrian contemporary,Bai Khatun (d.864/1459),

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having studied traditionswith Abu Bakr al-Mizzi andnumerous othertraditionalists, and havingsecured the ijazas of alarge number of masters of

hadith,both men and women,delivered lectures on thesubject in Syria and Cairo.We are told that she tookespecial delight inteaching.

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45

A'isha bin Ibrahim(760/1358-842/1438),known in academic circlesas Ibnat al-Sharaihi, alsostudied traditions inDamascus and Cairo (andelsewhere), and deliveredlectures which eminentscholars of the day sparedno efforts to attend.46

Umm al-Khayr Saida of 31 / 67



Mecca (d.850/1446)received instruction in hadithfrom numerous traditionistsin different cities, gainingan equally enviablereputation as a scholar.47

So far as may begathered from the

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sources, the involvementof women in hadithscholarships, and in theIslamic disciplinesgenerally, seems to havedeclined considerablyfrom the tenth century ofthe hijra .Books such as al-Nur al-Safirof al-Aydarus, the

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Khulasat al-Akhbarof al-Muhibbi, and the al-Suluh al-Wabilaof Muhammad ibn AbdAllah (which arebiographical dictionariesof eminent persons of thetenth, eleventh andtwelfth centuries of the hijrarespectively) contain thenames of barely a dozen

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eminent womentraditionists. But it wouldbe wrong to concludefrom this that after thetenth century, women lostinterest in the subject.Some womentraditionists, who gainedgood reputations in theninth century, lived wellinto the tenth, andcontinued their services

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to the sunna. Asma bintKamal al-Din(d.904/1498) wieldedgreat influence with thesultans and their officials,to whom she often maderecommendations -which, we are told, theyalways accepted. Shelectured on hadith, and trained women in

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various Islamic sciences.48

A'isha bint Muhammad(d.906/1500), whomarried the famous judgeMuslih al-Din, taughttraditions to manystudents, and wasappointed professor atthe Salihiyya College inDamascus.49

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Fatima bint Yusuf ofAleppo(870/1465-925/1519),was known as one of theexcellent scholars of hertime.50

Umm al-Khayr granted anijaza to a pilgrim at Meccain the year 938/1531.51

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The last womantraditionist of the firstrank who is known to uswas Fatima al-Fudayliya,also known asal-Shaykha al-Fudayliya.She was born before theend of the twelfth Islamiccentury, and soonexcelled in the art ofcalligraphy and thevarious Islamic sciences.

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She had a specialinterest in hadith, read agood deal on thesubject, received thediplomas of a goodmany scholars, andacquired a reputation asan important traditionistin her own right.Towards the end of herlife, she settled atMecca, where she

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founded a rich publiclibrary. In the Holy Cityshe was attended bymany eminenttraditionists, whoattended her lecturesand received certificatesfrom her. Among them,one could mention inparticular Shaykh Umaral-Hanafi and ShaykhMuhammad Sali. She

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died in 1247/1831.52

Throughout the historyof feminine scholarshipin Islam it is clear thatthe women involved didnot confine their studyto a personal interest in

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traditions, or to theprivate coaching of afew individuals, but tooktheir seats as studentsas well as teachers inpubic educationalinstitutions, side by sidewith their brothers infaith. The colophons ofmany manuscriptsshow them both as

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students attendinglarge general classes,and also as teachers,delivering regularcourses of lectures. Forinstance, the certificateon folios 238-40 of the al-Mashikhat maal-Tarikhof Ibn al-Bukhari,shows that numerous

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women attended aregular course ofeleven lectures whichwas delivered before aclass consisting ofmore than five hundredstudents in the UmarMosque at Damascusin the year 687/1288.Another certificate, onfolio 40 of the same

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manuscript, shows thatmany female students,whose names arespecified, attendedanother course of sixlectures on the book,which was delivered byIbn al-Sayrafi to a classof more than twohundred students atAleppo in the year

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736/1336. And on folio250, we discover that afamous womantraditionist, Umm AbdAllah, delivered acourse of five lectureson the book to a mixedclass of more than fiftystudents, at Damascusin the year 837/1433.53

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Various notes on themanuscript of the Kitab al-Kifayaof al-Khatibal-Baghdadi, and of acollection of varioustreatises on hadith, show Ni'ma bin Ali,Umm Ahmad Zaynabbint al-Makki, and

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other womentraditionists deliveringlectures on these twobooks, sometimesindependently, andsometimes jointly withmale traditionists, inmajor colleges such asthe Aziziyya Madrasa,and the DiyaiyyaMadrasa, to regular

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classes of students.Some of theselectures were attendedby Ahmad, son of thefamous general Salahal-Din.54

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The above articleoriginally appeared asChapter 6, pp.142-153, in HadithLiterature: Its Origin,Development, SpecialFeatures & Criticismby Dr. MuhammadZubayr Siddiqi (SirAshutosh Professor

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of Islamic Culture,Calcutta University;published by CalcuttaUniversity, 1961). Arevised edition is nowavailable, rearrangedand modified underthe title, HadithLiterature: Its Origins,Development &

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Special Featurespublished by IslamicTexts Society(Cambridge, 1993).The original edition isout of print.

Footnotes:

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1. Maura O'Neill, WomenSpeaking, Women Listening(Maryknoll, 1990CE), 31:"Muslims do not use amasculine God as either aconscious or unconscious tool inthe construction of gender roles." 2. For a general overview ofthe question of women'sstatus in Islam, see M. Boisers, L'Humanisme de l'Islam(3rd

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. ed., Paris, 1985CE), 104-10. 3. al-Khatib, Sunna, 53-4,69-70. 4. See above, 18, 21. 5. Ibn Sa'd, VIII, 355. 6. Suyuti, Tadrib, 215. 7. Ibn Sa'd, VIII, 353. 8. Maqqari, Nafh, II, 96. 9. Wustenfeld, Genealogische Tabellen , 403. 10. al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad

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, XIV, 434f. 11. Ibid., XIV, 441-44. 12. Ibn al-Imad, Shsadharatal-Dhahah fi Akhbar manDhahah(Cairo, 1351), V, 48; IbnKhallikan, no. 413. 13. Maqqari, Nafh, I, 876;cited in Goldziher, MuslimStudies, II, 366. 14. Goldziher, MuslimStudies, II, 366. "It is in fact

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very common in the ijaza ofthe transmission of the Bukhari text to find as middlemember of the long chain thename of Karima al-Marwaziyya," (ibid.). 15. Yaqut, Mu'jamal-Udaba' , I, 247. 16. COPL, V/i, 98f. 17. Goldziher, MuslimStudies , II,366.

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18. Ibn al-Imad, IV, 123. Sittal-Wuzara' was also aneminent jurist. She was onceinvited to Cairo to give her fatwa on a subject that hadperplexed the jurists there. 19. Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil(Cairo, 1301), X, 346. 20. Ibn Khallikan, no. 295. 21. Goldziher, MuslimStudies , II,

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367.

22. Ibn al-Imad, VI. 40. 23. Ibid., VIII, 14. 24. Ibn Salim, al-Imdad(Hyderabad, 1327), 36. 25. Ibn al-Imad, IV, 100. 26. Ibn Salim, 16. 27. Ibid., 28f. 28. Ibn al-Imad, VI 56. 29. ibid., 126; Ibn Salim, 14,18; al-Umari, Qitf al-Thamar(Hyderabad, 1328), 73.

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30. Goldziher, MuslimStudies , II,407.

31. Ibn Battuta, Rihla, 253.

32. Yaqut, Mu'jam al-Buldan, V, 140f. 33. Yaqut, Mu'jam al-Udaba, 17f. 34. COPL, V/i, 175f. 35. Ibn Khallikan, no.250.

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36. Ibn al-Imad, V, 212,404. 37. Various manuscripts ofthis work have been preserved in libraries, and ithas been published inHyderabad in 1348-50. Volume VI of Ibn al-Imad's Shadharat al-Dhahab, a large biographical dictionary of prominent Muslimscholars from the first to thetenth centuries of the hijra

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, is largely based on this work. 38. Goldziher, accustomedto the exclusively maleenvironment ofnineteenth-century Europeanuniversities, was taken aback by the scene depictedby Ibn Hajar. Cf. Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 367: "When reading thegreat biographical work of IbnHajar al-Asqalani on thescholars of the eighth century,

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we may marvel at the numberof women to whom theauthor has to dedicatearticles." 39. Ibn Hajar, al-Duraral-Karima fi Ayan al-Mi'a al-Thamina(Hyderabad, 1348-50), I, no.1472. 40. Ibn al-Imad, VIII, 120f. 41. Ibind., VI, 208. We aretold that al-Iraqi (the bestknow authority on the h

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adiths of Ghazali's Ihya Ulum al-Din) ensured that his son alsostudied under her. 42. A summary by Abdal-Salam and Umar ibnal-Shamma' exists (C.Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, second ed. (Leiden,1943-49CE), II, 34), and adefective manuscript of the

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work of the latter ispreserved in the O.P. Libraryat Patna (COPL, XII, no.727). 43. Ibid. 44. Sakhawi, al-Sawal-Lami li-Ahl al-Qarn al-Tasi (Cairo,1353-55), XII, no. 980. 45. Ibid., no. 58. 46. Ibid., no. 450. 47. Ibid., no. 901. 48. al-Aydarus, al-Nural-Safir

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(Baghdad, 1353), 49. 49. Ibn Abi Tahir, seeCOPL, XII, no. 665ff. 50. Ibid. 51. Goldziher, MuslimStudies, II, 407. 52. al-Suhuh al-Wabila, seeCOPL, XII, no. 785. 53. COPL, V/ii, 54. 54. Ibid., V/ii, 155-9,180-208. For some particularly instructiveannotated manuscriptspreserved at the Zahiriya

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Library at Damascus, see thearticle of Abd al-Azizal-Maymani in al-Mabahith al-Ilmiyya(Hyderabad: Da'irat al-Ma'arif,1358), 1-14.

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