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Women
Scholars of Hadith*
(Part 2)
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By
Dr. Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi
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November
30, 2005
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In
part
1, 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.2
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).3
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.4
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).5
(Part
1)
Sources:
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Al-`Aydarus.
An-Nur As-Safir.
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Goldziher.
Muslim Studies.
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Ibn
Battuta. Rihlah.
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Ibn
Hajar Al-`Asqalani. Ad-Durar Al-Karimah fi A`yan al-Mi'ah
Ath-Thaminah.
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Ibn
Al-`Imad. Shadharat Adh-Dhahab fi Akhbar man Dhahab.
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Ibn
Khallikan. Wafayat Al-A`yan.
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Ibn
Salim. Al-Imdad.
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Ibn
Humaid, Muhammad ibn `Abdullah. As-Suhub Al-Wabilah `Ala
Dara’ih Al-Hanabilah.
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As-Sakhawi.
Ad-Daw’ Al-Lami` li Ahl Al-Qarn At-Tasi`.
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Al-`Umari.
Qitf Ath-Thamar.
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Yaqut.
Mu`jam Al-Buldan.
-
Yaqut.
Mu'jam Al-Udaba’.
*
Excerpted with some
modifications from: www.studyislam.com.
1-
Various manuscripts of this work have been preserved in libraries, and
it has been published in Hyderabad in 348-50. Volume VI of Ibn Al-`Imad's
Shadharat Adh-Dhahab, a large biographical dictionary of
prominent Muslim scholars from the first to the tenth centuries of the
Hijrah, is largely based on this work.
2-
Goldziher, accustomed to the exclusively male environment of
19th-century European universities, was taken aback by the scene
depicted by Ibn Hajar. Cf. Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 367:
“When reading the great biographical work of Ibn Hajar Al-`Asqalani
on the scholars of the eighth century, we may marvel at the number of
women to whom the author has to dedicate articles.”
3-
We are told that Al-`Iraqi (the best known authority on the hadiths of
Ghazali's Ihya’ `Ulum Ad-Din) ensured that his son also
studied under her.
4-
A summary by `Abdus-Salam and `Umar ibn Ash-Shamma` exists (C.
Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, second ed. (Leiden,
1943-49CE), II, 34), and a defective manuscript of the work of the
latter is preserved in the O.P. Library at Patna (COPL, XII, no. 727).
5-
For some particularly instructive annotated manuscripts preserved at
the Zahiriya Library at Damascus, see the article of `Abd Al-`Aziz Al-Maymani
in Al-Mabahith al-`Ilmiyah (Hyderabad: Da’irat Al-Ma`arif,
1358), 1-14.
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