Women are the counterparts of men in the science of transmission. Testimony and transmission both rest on reporting, yet testimony binds a specific person in a specific dispute, while transmission carries a general ruling and guidance that applies to all creation across times and lands, so transmission is accepted from a single reliable person, whether male or female, free or enslaved. (al Furuq, 1/4-5. Also see: Tadrib al Rawi, 1/332; Tawdih al Afkar, 2/114; al Risalah of al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH), paragraph 1003-1088.)

The Difference Between Testimony and Transmission

Al Qarafi (d. 684 AH) spent about 8 years seeking the separating line between testimony and transmission, because both appear as “a report”.

The need for a clear separation becomes urgent when a new incident occurs without an explicit text, since the rulings differ: testimony requires specific conditions such as number and male witnesses, while transmission does not. The distinction rests on whether the report is general and non personal, or whether it binds a specific person in a specific claim. (al Furuq, 1/4-5.)

Early Women Who Preceded Men in Faith

Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, the wife of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, preceded men in responding, believing, and strengthening the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at the beginning of revelation, and she took him to Waraqah.

Ibn Ishaq (d. 151 AH) said that she was the first to believe in Allah and His Messenger, and her support lightened the burden of rejection. After her came women such as Asma bint Abu Bakr, the mother of ʿAbd Allah ibn al Zubayr, and Fatimah bint al Khattab, the sister of ʿUmar.

A Specific Day for Women to Learn

Women asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for a day reserved for them, saying: “Men have taken your Prophetic reports, so set aside for us from yourself a day.” He set a day, gathered them, advised them, and gave them rulings, including the glad tidings about a woman whose 3 children die being protected from the Fire, and the same glad tidings for 2.

The Prophet ﷺ also reminded women on the day of al Fitr after the khutbah, with Bilal spreading his garment as women threw charity into it, and Ibn ʿAbbas mentioned concern that women may not have heard. Umm al Darda said: “I sought worship in everything, and I did not find anything for myself more healing than sitting with scholars and reviewing with them.”

Women in Hadith Science

Women share with men in receiving, learning, understanding, verifying, and transmitting the Prophetic reports. Qur’an verses were gathered in this context to show shared origin, shared duty, and shared reward, alongside the Prophetic report: “Women are the counterparts of men.” (Reported by Ahmad, 6/256; Abu Dawud, 236; al Bayhaqi, 1/168; Ibn ʿAbd al Barr, 8/337.)

Women as Narrators

The Ummah accepted many Sunnah matters from a single woman among the Companions, and no recognised scholar rejected a woman’s report merely because of her gender. (Nayl al Awtar, 8/22.)

Transmission differs from testimony, so the report of a just woman is accepted without a man accompanying her, unlike testimony. (Fath al Rahmut, Sharh Musallam al Thubut, 1/144.)

Major imams learned from female transmitters: ʿAli ibn Abi Talib received Prophetic reports from Maymunah bint Saʿd. Al Zuhri narrated from women such as ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al Rahman, Nadbah, and others unique to his chains. Imam Malik narrated from ʿAishah bint Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas, and Imam Ahmad narrated from Umm ʿUmar bint Hassan ibn Zayd. Abu Yaʿla heard from Amat al Salam bint Ahmad ibn Kamil, praised for religion and virtue. Abu Saʿd al Samʿani listed 69 women among those from whom he wrote and received authorisation, praising many for righteousness, worship, knowledge, and transmission.

Women received the call from the first day with personal responsibility before Allah, alongside men. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ called out noble women by name in the warning to near relatives, confirming that lineage does not benefit without faith and obedience. Women sought knowledge directly, questioned scholars, and carried Prophetic guidance into homes and communities, forming generations upon religion and character.

Greatness of Women in the Religion

Women sometimes preceded men in faith and became a reason for the Islam of others. Umm al Fadl, Lubabah bint al Harith, believed before her husband. A woman met on a journey became a cause for Allah guiding her people to Islam after witnessing the Prophet’s ﷺ conduct and the conduct of the Companions. The Mothers of the Believers became reference points for men seeking Sunnah and worship practice.

Scholars and Fuqaha

Women held authority in fiqh and hadith across regions and centuries. Asma bint Asad ibn al Furat grew up under her father, attended his gatherings, debated, and became known for virtue, narrating hadith and practising fiqh upon the view of the companions of Abu Hanifah.

She accompanied her father’s departure for the Sicily expedition, later married Muhammad ibn Abi al Jawwad, and showed firmness during his imprisonment by offering to pay the alleged entrusted wealth, while he refused admission. She remained honoured until her death around the year 250 AH.

The sister of Ismaʿil ibn Yahya al Muzani attended fiqh gatherings linked to Imam al Shafiʿi, transmitted a fiqh point on zakah of minerals, and remained unnamed by her brother out of dislike for naming her.

Zaynab bint Makki al Harraniyyah became known as a jurist whose students crowded around her, narrated hadith for more than 60 years, reached the highest remaining chain among women of her time, and combined poverty with worship, regular devotions, voluntary prayers, remembrances, and recitation.

Sitt al Wuzara bint ʿUmar al Tanukhiyyah was a jurist and hadith scholar, the musnidah of her time, heard Musnad al Shafiʿi and Sahih al Bukhari, taught in Damascus and Egypt, performed Hajj twice, and became a destination for travellers seeking her chains. Ummat al Rahim bint Muhammad al Qastallani was a jurist and scholar through whom portions of high chain narrations were read and heard, and her father Qutb al Din al Qastallani held the mashyakha of Dar al Hadith al Kamiliyyah and authored works in hadith and Qur’an explanation.

Their Precision and Care for Hadiths

Women preserved books, compared copies with originals, guarded accuracy, and refused careless writing. Karimah bint Ahmad al Marwaziyyah transmitted Sahih al Bukhari, preserved her copy, compared narrations with her original, and required direct comparison during writing, refusing private checking.

She narrated Sahih al Bukhari many times, and major imams read to her, including al Khatib. Praise for her teaching reached the point that Abu Dharr of Herat advised students not to take “al Jamiʿ al Sahih” except from her.

Precision also appears in early practice and legal guidance: women sent cloths with yellow traces to ʿAishah, and she instructed: “Do not rush until you see the white discharge.”

The daughter of Zayd ibn Thabit criticised women calling for lamps deep in the night to search for purity, showing attention to correct practice without excess. (Tahdhib al Tahdhib, by Ibn Hajar, 6/638. Sahih al Bukhari, 1/82.)

A Distinction for Female Transmitters Over Male Transmitters

Deliberate lying became common among many men who claimed hadith transmission, while deliberate lying did not occur among women despite their large number in transmission, due to a strong emotional barrier from daring to lie in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Al Dhahabi said at the start of the women’s section in Mizan al Iʿtidal: “I do not know, among women, anyone who was accused, nor anyone they abandoned.” (Mizan al Iʿtidal, 4/604.)

Which Female Scholars Were Teachers of Major Scholars

Karimah bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hatim al Marwaziyyah was a strong pillar in teaching “al Jamiʿ al Sahih” of al Bukhari in Makkah. Major ulama attended her lessons, including al Khatib al Baghdadi, al Samʿani, and others.

She guarded precision by keeping the copy beside her during reading, requiring direct comparison with her original, and refusing private comparison.

Abu al Ghanaʾim al Narsi wrote pages from her reading, then sought to compare alone, and she said: “No, not until you compare with me.” Those who narrated from her included al Khatib, Abu al Ghanaʾim, Abu Talib al Zaynabi, and al Samʿani, and Abu Dharr of Herat advised students not to take “al Jamiʿ al Sahih” except from her.

Among the women well known for teaching Sahih al Bukhari after that were Fatimah bint Muhammad, Shuhdah bint Ahmad, Zaynab bint ʿAbd al Rahman, Sharifah bint Ahmad al Nasawi, and Sitt al Wuzara bint ʿUmar. Fatimah bint Muhammad, daughter of Ibrahim ibn Mahmud ibn Jawhar al Bataʾihi, transmitted Sahih al Bukhari more than once, and Ibn Rajab and al Dawudi named her among the teachers from whom Ibn al Qayyim heard.

She was known for worship and righteousness, and she died in Safar, 711 AH. Shuhdah bint Ahmad was known for strong handwriting and high rank in hadith transmission, described with titles such as “the chain of hadith”, “the pride of women”, and “the musnid of Iraq”.

Zaynab bint Makki al Harraniyyah became a jurist whose students crowded around her, and she narrated hadith for more than sixty years, reaching the highest remaining chain among women of her time.

Among those who heard from her were Abu ʿAbd Allah al Barzali and his son, Abu ʿUmar ibn al Hajib, al Mizzi, and many others. She combined poverty with worship, regular devotions, voluntary prayers, remembrance, and recitation.

Sitt al Wuzara bint ʿUmar al Tanukhiyyah was a jurist and hadith scholar, the musnidah of her time, born and deceased in Damascus.

From Abu ʿAbd Allah Ibn al Zubaydi she heard the Musnad of al Shafiʿi and Sahih al Bukhari, then she taught hadith in Damascus, then in Egypt, and she performed Hajj twice. Ibn Taghri Bardi said she became the travel goal of her time, and people travelled to her from the regions.

In the later centuries, female shuyukh remained a clear presence even for the greatest huffaz. Al Sakhawi listed the shuyukh of Ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalani in three sections: those from whom he heard hadith, among them twenty women; those who granted him authorisation, among them thirty three women; and those from whom he took by reviewing or composing, naming Sitt al Rakb bint ʿAli ibn Hajar.

ʿInāyat al Nisāʾ bil Ḥadīth al Nabawī (The Noble Women Scholars of Hadith by Shaykh Mashhur Hasan Al-Salmān)

The first segment of this article is taken from the book ʿInāyat al Nisāʾ bi al Ḥadīth al Nabawī Ṣafaḥāt Muḍīʾah min Ḥayāt al Muḥaddithāt ḥattā al Qarn al Thālith ʿAshar al Hijrī (The Care of Women for the Prophetic Hadith Bright Pages from the Lives of Female Hadith Scholars up to the 13th Hijri Century) by Mashhūr Ḥasan Āl Salmān.

**https://archive.org/details/20210316_20210316_1937/page/n19/mode/2up**

Between Male and Female Transmitters

Women are the counterparts of men in the science of transmission.

If men have an advantage over women in testimony, then women are the counterparts of men in the science of transmission. It is worth noting here that the difference between transmission and testimony is a matter that troubled a brilliant scholar among the ulama for a long time. He spent a period searching for the difference between them, and that was al Qarafi (d. 684 AH). Listen to him as he said at the beginning of his valuable book al Furuq:

The Difference Between Testimony and Transmission

“The difference between testimony and transmission: I began with this difference between these 2 principles because I spent about 8 years seeking it, and I did not succeed. I asked the virtuous people about the difference between them and about clarifying the reality of each one, because each one of them is a report. So they would say: the difference between them is that testimony requires a number, being male, and being free, unlike transmission, because it is sound from 1 person, from a woman, and from a slave. So I say to them: requiring that in it depends on first understanding it and distinguishing it from transmission. If it were known through its rulings and effects, which are only known after knowing it, then circular reasoning would be necessary. And if an incident occurs for us that has no explicit text, then from where would we know that it is testimony, so that those conditions are required in it. Perhaps it is from the category of transmission, which does not require that. So the need makes distinguishing it necessary.” (al Furuq, 1/4–5, with slight adaptation. Also see: Tadrib al Rawi, 1/332; Tawdih al Afkar, 2/114; al Risalah of al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH), paragraph 1003–1088.)

The Aim of This Book

In this book, I will present the most well known female scholars and female transmitters of the Prophetic reports and its books in every era and every land, in a brief way that proves women’s care for this knowledge. Perhaps this message of mine will be a link between my believing sisters and the golden chain that contained those pearls from the female Companions and those who came after them, in the fields of knowledge, among the female transmitters. It will also be a cut off between them and the enemies of Islam, by alerting them to turn to Sharia knowledge, and by warning them against the poisons that the enemies spread in schools and universities, when they saw the field open with no resistance and no barrier filling it. So they devoted all their efforts to destroying the structure of the Ummah by influencing the woman, the maker of generations, until the orientalist Gibb said: “Girls’ schools are the pupil of my eye.”

Allah is behind the aim. May Allah send prayers upon our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and his family and his Companions, and grant them peace. The last of our supplication is that all praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all creation.

A Clarification from al Mazari

I did not stop being very anxious and eager to know that, until I read Sharh al Burhan by al Mazari (d. 536 AH), and I found that he mentioned this principle, confirmed it, and distinguished between the 2 matters in their essence.

He said: testimony and transmission are 2 reports, but if what is being reported is a general matter that does not apply to a specific person, then it is transmission, such as his saying, peace be upon him: “Actions are only by intentions”, and: “Preemption is in what is not divided.”

This does not apply to a specific person, rather it applies to all creation, in all eras and lands. In contrast, the statement of a just person to a judge: “This one has a dinar owed by that one”, is binding a specific person and does not go beyond him to anyone else. This is pure testimony, and the first is pure transmission.

Then mixtures come together after that, and so on.

Our point in saying that women are the counterparts of men in the science of transmission is matters that we will summarise as follows.

First: Women and Men Share in Receiving Knowledge

First: they are like men in receiving, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was eager to teach them and to make them hear his Prophetic reports. They are concerned with this religion, and they were commanded with it from the first moment the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called people.

In the 2 Sahihs, from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood when Allah revealed:

وَأَنْذِرْ عَشِيرَتَكَ الْأَقْرَبِينَ

“And warn your closest relatives.” (al Shuʿara 214)

He said: “O people of Quraysh, buy yourselves, I will not avail you against Allah at all. O Banu ʿAbd Manaf, I will not avail you against Allah at all. O ʿAbbas ibn ʿAbd al Muttalib, I will not avail you against Allah at all. O Safiyyah, the paternal aunt of the Messenger of Allah, I will not avail you against Allah at all. O Fatimah bint Muhammad, ask me whatever you wish of my wealth, I will not avail you against Allah at all.”

Just as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ singled out some noble men and leaders with his call, he singled out some noble women and leading women with it as well. This shows the independence of their personhood, and their receiving of this religion from the first day, the same as men, exactly.

A Comment from Muhammad al Muntasir al Kattani

Professor Muhammad al Muntasir al Kattani (d. 1420 AH) commented on the previous Prophetic report by saying:

As soon as the Arab woman heard her name being called out and raised, she responded to the call, hearing and obeying, light and joyful, all ears and attention. The Sunnah was answering: “Here I am, here I am, O caller from the sky, O trustworthy and truthful one. We knew you as a newborn, and the universe was created anew through you. We knew you as a nursing child, and blessing and goodness were with your wet nurses. We knew you as a young man, and we knew purity and chastity through you. Then you became a husband, and you were unique among your people, gentle and righteous. Then we knew you as a father, and we knew a righteous, noble fatherhood towards noble daughters, honoured and respected, with no equal we had known. A fatherhood for daughters like them, protected and cherished. So who is more fitting than you for truthful warning, joyful glad tidings, and sound leadership for this misguided humanity.” Then the Arab woman began to seek more from her guided warner, what she would know by it her reality and reach by it her aim in this life, and her duty in it, and the differences between her and those who enslaved her from among men. Then she understood, as long as she still had breath, that the origin is one, and rights and duties are shared, and that women and men are counterparts. So she believed in this beloved caller who warned her and her people:

Qur’an Verses Mentioned in This Context

يَأْمُرُهُمْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَاهُمْ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَائِثَ وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَالْأَغْلَالَ الَّتِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ “He commands them to what is right, forbids them from what is wrong, makes lawful for them the good things, forbids for them the foul things, and lifts from them their burden and the shackles that were on them.” (al Aʿraf 157)

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً “O people, fear your Lord, who created you from a single being, and created from it its mate, and spread from them both many men and women.” (al Nisa 1)

لِلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا اكْتَسَبُوا وَلِلنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا اكْتَسَبْنَ “For men is a share of what they earn, and for women is a share of what they earn.” (al Nisa 32)

مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا مِنْ ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنْثَى وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَيَاةً طَيِّبَةً وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُمْ بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ “Whoever does righteous deeds, male or female, while being a believer, We will surely give him a good life, and We will surely reward them according to the best of what they used to do.” (al Nahl 97)

الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ “The believing men and believing women are allies of one another.” (al Tawbah 71)

And: “Women are the counterparts of men.” (Reported by Ahmad, 6/256; Abu Dawud, 236; al Bayhaqi, 1/168; Ibn ʿAbd al Barr, 8/337, with a sound chain.)

Early Women Who Preceded Men in Faith

So the Arab woman was quick to the guidance of Prophethood and the religion of truth, and she preceded all men. Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, the wife of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, was the first to respond, believe, and encourage. She strengthened his heart to receive what Allah revealed to him. He said to her: “I feared for myself.” She said: “No, by Allah, Allah will never disgrace you,” and she mentioned his noble traits, and she took him to Waraqah.

Ibn Ishaq (d. 151 AH) said: “Khadijah was the first to believe in Allah and His Messenger and to confirm what came with him, so Allah lightened that for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He would not hear anything that he disliked, of rejection from people, then return to her, except that she strengthened him and made light for him the matter of people.”

Then women followed after her: Asma bint Abu Bakr, and the mother of the Commander of the Believers ʿAbd Allah ibn al Zubayr, and Fatimah bint al Khattab, the sister of ʿUmar, the Commander of the Believers, and so on. (From an article published in serial form in the magazine al Muslimun, volume 5, issues 4 and 5, and after them.)

A Specific Day for Women to Learn

It has already been mentioned that women asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for a day that would be for them, when they said to him: “O Messenger of Allah, men have taken your Prophetic reports, so set aside for us from yourself a day.”

He said to them: “Gather on such and such a day.” So they gathered, and he came to them, and he advised them and commanded them.

Among what he said to them was: “There is no woman among you who sends ahead 3 of her children except that they will be a barrier for her from the Fire.” A woman said: “And 2?” He said: “And 2.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was eager to make them hear goodness, so he would single them out with reminders.

From Ibn Jurayj, from ʿAta, from Jabir ibn ʿAbd Allah, he said: the Prophet ﷺ stood on the day of al Fitr, prayed, then began with the prayer, then he gave the sermon. When he finished, he came down, came to the women, reminded them, while he was leaning on the hand of Bilal, and Bilal was spreading his garment, and the women were throwing charity into it.

In another report from Ibn ʿAbbas: he thought that the women had not heard, so he admonished them and commanded them to give charity.

Ibn Jurayj said to ʿAta: do you see it as a duty upon the imam that he reminds them? He said: it is a duty upon them, and why would they not do it?

So the matter is not specific to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. It is necessary for the scholars and those in authority to care for women as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the righteous early generations cared for them, so that women take knowledge and transmission, and carry it as men carry it, so that they may be guided and guiding, keys for good, locks for evil.

No act of obedience is established in the correct way except with knowledge, and knowledge is among the best acts of obedience without exception. This is what a learned jurist and ascetic woman stated clearly, and that is Umm al Darda. She said: “I sought worship in everything, and I did not find anything for myself more healing than sitting with scholars and reviewing with them.”

How much the women of these days need women like her, among the educators, the learned, the virtuous, and the ascetic.

Second: Women May Surpass Men in Commitment and Knowledge

Second: rather, a woman may precede a man in commitment, surpass him in breadth of knowledge and awareness, be a reason to lead him to good, and be a reference point when dispute and difference occur.

Al Bukhari reported in his Sahih, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, he said: I and my mother were among the oppressed, I was among the children, and my mother was among the women.

He also mentioned before that: Ibn ʿAbbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, was among the oppressed with his mother, and he was not with his father upon the religion of his people.

So the mother of Ibn ʿAbbas preceded her husband in faith. Her name was Lubabah bint al Harith al Hilaliyyah, and her kunyah was Umm al Fadl. She responded to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and believed in his religion before her husband.

Some women were a reason for the Islam of their people.

In the 2 Sahihs, from ʿImran ibn Husayn, may Allah be pleased with him, that they were with the Prophet ﷺ on a journey. They travelled at the start of the night, then when dawn came they stopped for rest, and sleep overcame their eyes until the sun rose. The first to wake was Abu Bakr, and he did not wake the Messenger of Allah ﷺ until he woke. ʿUmar woke, and Abu Bakr sat by his head, making takbir and raising his voice until the Prophet ﷺ woke. He stood, prayed the morning prayer, then a man from the people stayed aside and did not pray with them. When he finished, he said: “O so and so, what prevented you from praying with us?” He said: I was in major impurity. He commanded him to do dry ablution on clean earth, then he prayed.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ placed me riding in front of him, and we were extremely thirsty. While we were travelling, we found a woman hanging down, her legs lowered between 2 waterskins. We said to her: where is water?

She said: no water. We said: how far is it between your people and water? She said: a day and a night. We said: go with us to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

She said: and what is the Messenger of Allah? We could not stop her until we brought her to the Prophet ﷺ, and she told him the same as she told us, except that she told him that she had orphans. He commanded that her 2 waterskins be brought. He wiped the openings, so we drank, 40 thirsty men, until we were satisfied.

We filled every waterskin we had and every small leather container, except that we did not water a camel. Her 2 waterskins were nearly bursting from being full.

Then he said: bring what you have. They gathered for her broken bread and dates, until she went to her people. She said: I met the most skilled magician, or he is a prophet as they claim. Allah guided that group through that woman, so she accepted Islam and they accepted Islam.

In another report: after that, the Muslims would raid the polytheists around her, but they would not harm the group she belonged to. So she said one day to her people: I do not think these people are leaving you by intention. Do you want Islam? They obeyed her and entered Islam.

So this woman guided her people to every good, and that was by the blessing of meeting the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and by his good treatment and the good treatment of his noble Companions. She accepted Islam, and her people accepted Islam with her.

As for the superiority of learned women over men in breadth of knowledge, and their being a reference point when dispute and difference occur, then examples are many, especially regarding the Mothers of the Believers, may Allah be pleased with them. An indication to some of that will come later. Here we will suffice with some examples.

Al Bukhari and Muslim reported in their Sahihs, from Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: 3 men came to the houses of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ asking about the worship of the Prophet ﷺ, and the report continues.

Muslim reported in his Sahih, from Thumamah ibn Hazn al Qushayri, he said: I met ʿAishah, and I asked her about fermented drink. She called an Ethiopian servant girl and said: ask this one, because she used to prepare it for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

These are 2 examples of men seeking the Sunnah from the wives of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Here are 2 other examples of turning to women when disagreement occurs, done by jurists from the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them.

Muslim reported in his Sahih, from Tawus, he said: I was with Ibn ʿAbbas when Zayd ibn Thabit said: you give verdict that a menstruating woman may depart, meaning: return, before the House is her last contact?

Ibn ʿAbbas said: if not, then ask that Ansari woman, did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ command her with that? Zayd ibn Thabit returned to Ibn ʿAbbas saying: I see that you spoke the truth.

Al Bukhari and Muslim reported in their Sahihs, from Abu Salamah, he said: a man came to Ibn ʿAbbas while Abu Hurayrah was sitting with him. He said: give me a verdict about a woman who gave birth 40 nights after her husband died. Ibn ʿAbbas said: the later of the 2 terms. I said: and:

وَأُولَاتُ الْأَحْمَالِ أَجَلُهُنَّ أَنْ يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ

“And those who are pregnant, their term is until they deliver their burden.” (al Talaq 4)

Abu Hurayrah said: I am with my nephew, meaning Abu Salamah. Ibn ʿAbbas sent his servant, Kurayb, to Umm Salamah to ask her. She said: the husband of Subayʿah al Aslamiyyah was killed while she was pregnant, and she delivered 40 nights after his death. Then she was proposed to, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ married her, and Abu al Sanabil was among those who proposed.

Third: Women Participate in Verifying Scholarly Matters

Third: women share with men in verifying scholarly matters through debate and discussion, in what is needed of knowing the rulings of religion and learning the Sunnah of the Master of the Messengers.

Umm al Fadl bint al Harith ended a disagreement that occurred among people about whether the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was fasting on the day of ʿArafah.

Al Bukhari and Muslim reported in their Sahihs, from Umm al Fadl bint al Harith: people argued with one another in her presence on the day of ʿArafah about the fasting of the Prophet ﷺ. Some said: he is fasting. Others said: he is not fasting. So she sent to him a cup of milk while he was standing on his camel, and he drank it.

Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH) said: among the benefits of the report is debate in knowledge between men and women.

A woman called Umm Yaʿqub sought clarification from Ibn Masʿud about something she heard from him, and she discussed and argued with him about it until the truth became clear to her.

Al Bukhari and Muslim reported in their Sahihs, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud: he said: “Allah cursed the tattooers and those who get tattooed, those who pluck eyebrows, and those who file their teeth for beauty, changing Allah’s creation.”

That reached a woman from Banu Asad called Umm Yaʿqub. She came and said: it reached me that you cursed such and such. He said: why would I not curse those whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ cursed, and those who are in the Book of Allah. She said: I read what is between the 2 covers and I did not find in it what you say. He said: if you read it, then you found it. Did you not read:

وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا

“And whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, stop.” (al Hashr 7)

She said: yes. He said: then he forbade it. She said: I see your family doing it. He said: go and look. She went and looked, and she did not see what she was looking for. He said: if she were like that, I would not have lived with her.

So there is nothing preventing a woman from seeking clarification about her religion, and from placing what she finds difficult from scholarly matters before scholars of the Lord who are known for righteousness, taqwa, and knowledge, seeking evidence and proof, while keeping to the rulings of the Sharia and its manners in what is needed for that.

Imam Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751 AH) said:

“Knowledge is: Allah said, the Messenger said, the Companions said, not deception. Knowledge is not setting up disagreement in foolishness between the Messenger and the view of a jurist.”

Fourth: Women Convey Knowledge and Transmit Hadith

Fourth: women are the counterparts of men in conveying knowledge, teaching writing, and transmitting Prophetic reports and passing them on, in addition to receiving them, seeking them, and studying them.

Al Shawkani (d. 1250 AH) said: It was not transmitted from any scholar that he rejected the report of a woman because she is a woman. How many Sunnah matters the Ummah accepted from 1 woman among the Companions. No one who has even a small share of knowledge of the Sunnah denies this. (Nayl al Awtar, 8/22.)

The commentator on Musallam al Thubut said: the report of a just woman is accepted without a man being with her, unlike testimony, because being male is required in it by text.

Then he supported that by saying:

Following the example of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and they are enough as an example. They accepted the report of Barirah before she was freed, and the report of ʿAishah, the truthful one, the Mother of the Believers, and Umm Salamah, the Mother of the Believers, and others. (Fath al Rahmut, Sharh Musallam al Thubut, 1/144, at the end of al Mustasfa.)

Major Companions, the imams of the hadith scholars, major scholars, and their leading imams, studied under many female transmitters, took from them, and accepted their reports. Here is an indication to famous examples of that.

The noble SahabiʿAli ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him.

Do you find a position more reliable, a rank higher, and a status more fitting than that ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, the towering banner, unmatched in action, wisdom, closeness to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and family ties to him, received Prophetic reports from a freed female servant of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who used to serve him, and she was Maymunah bint Saʿd. So what about those below ʿAli, may Allah be pleased with him. (See: the biography of Maymunah in al Isabah, 7/173; and ʿAwdah al Hijab, 2/286.)

Imam Muhammad ibn Shihab al Zuhri (d. 124 AH).

He reported from more than 1 woman. He reported from ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Saʿd ibn Zurarah al Ansariyyah al Madaniyyah, and she was among those who reported much from ʿAishah. She died before the year 100 AH, and al Zuhri took a lot from her. (Tahdhib al Tahdhib, 11/466.)

He also reported from Nadbah, the freed female servant of Maymunah, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ. (Tahdhib al Tahdhib, 11/482.)

He reported from 3 women that no one else reported from besides him: Fatimah al Khuzaʿiyyah, Hind bint al Harith al Farisiyyah, and Umm ʿAbd Allah al Dawsiyyah. (See: al Munfaridat wal Wuhdan by Imam Muslim, p 11.)

Imam Malik ibn Anas, the imam of the abode of Hijrah (d. 179 AH).

He reported from ʿAishah bint Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas al Zuhriyyah al Madaniyyah (d. 117 AH). She reported from her father and from Umm Dhar. It was said that she saw 6 of the Mothers of the Believers. A group of people of knowledge reported from her, including: al Juʿayd ibn ʿAbd al Rahman, Ayyub, al Hakam ibn ʿUtaybah, Abu al Zinad, Muhajir ibn Mismar, ʿUbaydah ibn Nabil, and others.

Al ʿIjli said: she was a trustworthy Madinan female Successor. Al Khalili said: “Malik did not report from any woman besides her.” (Tahdhib al Tahdhib, 12/464.)

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH), the imam of Ahl al Sunnah.

He reported from Umm ʿUmar bint Hassan ibn Zayd al Thaqafiyyah. (al Bidayah wal Nihayah, 10/328; she has a biography in al ʿIbar, 3/46; Tarikh Baghdad, 14/443; Shadharat al Dhahab, 3/132.)

The judge Abu Yaʿla al Farra (d. 458 AH).

He heard from Amat al Salam bint al Qadi Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Kamil ibn Khalaf ibn Shajarah al Baghdadiyyah, and her kunyah was Umm al Fath. A group heard from her. She heard from Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil al Baslani and others.

Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH) said, after mentioning Abu Yaʿla al Farra reporting from her: “More than 1 person praised her in her religion, virtue, and leadership. She was born in Rajab in the year 298 AH, and she died in Rajab in the year 390 AH.” (Manaqib al Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal by Ibn al Jawzi, p 54.)

Imam Abu Saʿd al Samʿani (d. 562 AH).

At the end of his shaykhs list titled al Tahbir fil Muʿjam al Kabir, he mentioned “the women from whom I wrote.” He arranged their names by the letters of the alphabet, and listed 69 female hadith scholars and female transmitters from whom he heard, or who gave him authorisation with their narrations. (al Tahbir, 2/396.)

He praised them, described them with good qualities and good traits in character, worship, knowledge, and transmission. For example, he said about Umm Salamah al Hasanabadhiyyah and Umm ʿAli al Turkiyyah (d. 539 AH): “a righteous woman.” (al Tahbir, entries 1125 and 1127.)

He said about Amat al Rahman al Tamimiyyah: “righteous, long lived, with good conduct.” (al Tahbir, entry 1131.)

He said about Amat al Qahir al Qushayriyyah (d. 530 AH): “a righteous woman, covered, with much worship and goodness.” (al Tahbir, entry 1132.) He said about Amat Allah al Qushayriyyah (d. 541 AH): “she was among the righteous worshippers.” (al Tahbir, entry 1133.) He said about Umm al Baha al Isfahaniyyah: “a righteous, good woman, from the people of the Qur’an, teaching children the Qur’an.” (al Tahbir, entry 1135.)

He said about Zaynab al Isfahaniyyah: “a righteous, chaste woman.” (al Tahbir, entry 1147.) He said about Umm Khalaf al Shahhamiyyah (d. 547 AH): “a chaste, covered, righteous, learned woman.” (al Tahbir, entry 1150.)

He said about Umm al Rida al Isfahaniyyah: “a righteous, chaste woman, with much goodness and worship.” (al Tahbir, entry 1162.)

He said about Umm al Fadl al Marwaziyyah (d. 545 AH): “a righteous, chaste woman, with much prayer.” (al Tahbir, entry 1172.) He said about Umm al Fadl al Kasmamiyyah (d. 529 AH): “a learned jurist, righteous, from the people of goodness and religion.” (al Tahbir, entry 1175.) He said about Umm al Banin al Zandakhaniyyah (d. 533 AH): “she was eager for goodness, with much kindness and good doing to people.” (al Tahbir, entry 1183.) He said about Umm al Khayr al Naysaburiyyah (d. 533 AH): “a righteous woman from the people of the Qur’an and goodness, and she used to teach the Qur’an to servant girls.” (al Tahbir, entry 1187.)

It is noticeable in most of these biographies that they were from households of knowledge and transmission, and that they had connections with major hadith scholars and scholars. For example, he mentioned Umm Khalaf al Shahhamiyyah, Saʿidah bint Zahir ibn Tahir al Shahhami, the well known hadith scholar.

He said: “She was the oldest shaykh of our shaykh Abu al Qasim.” He said: “She had become old and long lived until she became unique in her time for reporting a good portion of Prophetic reports. She heard her grandfather Abu ʿAbd al Rahman Tahir.” He said: “I wrote parts from her in Naysabur.” (al Tahbir, entry 1150.)

He also mentioned the wife of this hadith scholar’s son: Umm Anas Sutik, and it was said Suti, bint Abi al Hasan ʿAbd al Ghafir ibn Ismaʿil ibn ʿAbd al Ghafir al Farisi. He said: “a righteous, chaste woman.”

She was the wife of our shaykh ʿAbd al Khaliq ibn our shaykh Abu al Qasim al Shahhami. She heard her grandfather Ismaʿil ibn ʿAbd al Ghafir, and he mentioned others. He said: “I wrote from her in Naysabur.” (al Tahbir, entry 1158.)

He also wrote the biography of a relative of his: Umm al Karam Sharifah, the daughter of our shaykh, the imam Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn al Fadl al Saʿidi al Farawi. Then he said: “a righteous woman from the children of scholars.” She heard her maternal grandfather Abu ʿAbd al Rahman Tahir ibn Muhammad al Shahhami, and others. He said: “I wrote from her.” (al Tahbir, entry 1159.)

He also wrote the biography of another relative: Umm al Saʿd Fatimah bint Abi Nasr Khalaf ibn Tahir ibn Muhammad al Shahhami.

He said about her: “a righteous woman.” She heard her grandfather Abu ʿAbd al Rahman al Shahhami, and he mentioned others. He said: “I heard a part from her.” (al Tahbir, entry 1184.)

He described many of them as being “from a household of hadith”, or “a household of knowledge.” Sometimes he extended the biography by mentioning their relatives among the scholars, such as a father, mother, or brother.

Sometimes he mentioned that the female transmitter is the wife of so and so. Sometimes he gathered all of that, for example, in his biography of Taqiyyah bint Abi al Qasim ibn ʿUmar al Isfahaniyyah (d. 541 AH), he said: “She is the daughter of our female shaykh Umm al Baha Fatimah bint Abi al Fadl ibn Abi Saʿd ibn al Baghdadi, the sister of Abu al Qasim Mahmud, and the wife of Ahmad ibn Abi al Futuh al Khurasani.” (al Tahbir, entry 1129.)

He wrote the biography of Umm Shammasah Jawhar Naz, the daughter of Abi al Qasim Zahir ibn Tahir al Shahhami. He said: “I heard from her, from her father, from her paternal uncle, from her husband, from her brothers, and from her relatives, around 20 people.” (al Tahbir, entry 1130.)

He said in the biographies of Umm Salamah Aminah bint Abi Tahir ʿAbd al Karim ibn ʿAbd al Razzaq al Hasanabadhiyyah, Amat al Rahman Jawhar Naz bint Abi Tahir Mudar ibn Ilyas al Tamimi, Umm al Ghafir Dardanah bint Abi ʿAbd Allah Ismaʿil ibn ʿAbd al Ghafir ibn Muhammad al Farisi (d. 530 AH), Umm al Khayr ʿAfiyah bint al Husayn ibn ʿAbd al Malik ibn Mandah al ʿAbari (d. 539 AH), and Umm al Najm Fatimah bint Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allah al Sawdharjaniyyah (d. 531 AH), that they were from “a household of hadith.” (al Tahbir, by order, entries 1125, 1131, 1143, 1177, 1181.)

He said in the biography of Amat al Qahir Jawhar bint Abi Saʿd ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Karim al Qushayri (d. 530 AH): “the granddaughter of Abu al Qasim al Qushayri, the sister of Abu al Makarim ʿAbd al Razzaq from whom we heard, and the mother of our shaykh Saʿid al Shujaʿi.” (al Tahbir, entry 1132.)

In the biography of Amat Allah Jalilah bint Abi Nasr ʿAbd al Rahim ibn ʿAbd al Karim al Qushayri (d. 541 AH): “the sister of Hurrah and Sarah”, and: “she was the wife of our shaykh ʿUmar al Saffar.” (al Tahbir, entry 1133.)

In the biography of Umm al Baha Jumʿah bint Abi al Raja Bashshar ibn Ahmad al Saffar: “a good woman from the children of hadith scholars.” She heard, and the leader Abu ʿAbd Allah al Qasim ibn al Fadl through her father. He was someone who travelled and sought Prophetic reports himself in Iraq and Khurasan. (al Tahbir, entry 1135.)

In the biography of Amat al Rahim Hurrah bint Abi Nasr ʿAbd al Rahim ibn ʿAbd al Karim al Qushayri (d. 534 AH): “ʿUmar ibn Abi Nasr al Saffar married her before her sister Jalilah”, and: “I heard from her and from her sister.” (al Tahbir, entry 1136.)

In the biography of Umm ʿAbd Allah Huwristi bint Abi al Fath Nasir ibn Ahmad al ʿIyadi al Sarkhasi (d. 542 AH): “from a household of knowledge and hadith, she heard her father Abu al Fath al ʿIyadi.” (al Tahbir, entry 1138.)

In the biography of Umm al Shams Khujastah bint Abi Ishaq Ibrahim ibn ʿAbd al Wahhab ibn Muhammad ibn Mandah: “deep rooted lineage in hadith.” (al Tahbir, entry 1139.)

In the biography of Khadijah bint Abi Saʿid Ismaʿil ibn ʿAmr ibn Muhammad al Buhayri: “from a household of knowledge, righteousness, and purification.” She heard her father Ismaʿil. (al Tahbir, entry 1142.)

In the biography of Umm al Ghafir al Naysaburiyyah (d. 530 AH): “the sister of Abu al Hasan ʿAbd al Ghafir, a righteous, covered woman from a household of hadith, and the mother of our shaykh Abu Hafs ʿUmar ibn Ahmad al Saffar.” She heard her highest grandfather ʿAbd al Karim ibn Hawzan. (al Tahbir, entry 1143.)

In the biography of Umm al Futuh Rabiʿah bint Abi Maʿmar ibn Ahmad al Lanbani (d. 534 AH): she was the wife of our shaykh Abu Saʿd Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al Baghdadi, the Hafiz, “from a household of goodness and its people.” (al Tahbir, entry 1144.)

In the biography of Umm al Diya Sit al Jalil bint Abi Muhammad ibn al Hasan ibn al Husayn al Wuthabi: the wife of our shaykh Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad, the Hafiz, “a righteous, covered woman from the people of goodness and knowledge.” (al Tahbir, entry 1153.)

In the biography of Umm Najm, and it was said Umm al Fakhr, Sit al ʿIraq bint Abi Mudar ʿAbd al Wahid ibn Mutahhar al Bazani: “from a household of hadith, and children of major and well known people.” She heard her grandfather Abu al Fadl al Mutahhar ibn ʿAbd al Wahid al Bazani. (al Tahbir, entry 1154.) He said in the biography of Umm al ʿAziz Shukr bint Abi al Faraj al Isfaraʾini: “a woman from the children of hadith scholars.” (al Tahbir, entry 1160.)

In the biography of Dawʾ al Nahar, the daughter of al Hafiz Abu al Fadl Muhammad ibn Tahir al Maqdisi: her father is someone used as an example in memorisation, collecting, travel, and meeting shaykhs. She was the wife of Abu al Fakhr Saʿd ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Wahid al ʿAdani. (al Tahbir, entry 1164.)

He said in the biography of Tahirah bint Abi Bakr ibn Abi al Qasim al Khushshab: “a righteous woman from the children of hadith scholars.” (al Tahbir, entry 1165.) In the biography of ʿAishah bint Abi Nasr Ahmad ibn Mansur al Saffar: “a righteous, chaste woman from a household of knowledge and its people.” (al Tahbir, entry 1170.)

In the biography of ʿAffaf bint Ahmad (d. 544 AH): “the daughter of our shaykh Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al Ukhuwwah, the sister of Abu al Fadl ʿAbd al Rahim and Abu al Fath ʿAbd al Rahman.” (al Tahbir, entry 1179.)

In the biography of Umm al Futuh ʿAyn al Shams bint al Mufaddal ibn al Mutahhar al Bazani: “from a household of hadith and precedence.” (al Tahbir, entry 1180.)

He said similarly in the biography of Umm al Karam, and it was said Umm al Khayr, Fakhr al Nisa bint Abi al Fadaʾil. (al Tahbir, entry 1192.)

Imam Abu Saʿd al Samʿani heard from these women across the vast Islamic lands at that time. He mentioned some of what he took from them of Prophetic reports and narrations. Sometimes he gave detail, and sometimes he left it general. He described some of them as transmitting a lot, and some as unique in what they transmitted.

He mentioned that the fathers of some of these female hadith scholars travelled with them so they could hear Prophetic reports. Some female hadith scholars in his time he did not meet, so he sufficed with taking authorisation from them. These are examples from his words showing what we said.

He mentioned that he heard from them in Isfahan, Herat, Naysabur, Sarakhs, Hamadhan, Fushanj, Mihanah, and Damascus. For example, in the biography of Umm Salamah Aminah bint Abi Tahir ʿAbd al Karim al Hasanabadhi, he said: I heard a little from her in Isfahan. (al Tahbir, entry 1125.)

In the biography of Taqiyyah bint Abi al Qasim al Isfahaniyyah (d. 541 AH), he said: “I heard from her in Isfahan, I think a part, and my hearing from her was lost, or I did not copy it, and Allah knows best.” (al Tahbir, entry 1129.)

In the biography of Umm al Najm al Fadlawi, the wife of Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ʿAli al Khatib, he said: I heard a little from her in Isfahan in her husband’s house. (al Tahbir, entry 1137.) In the biography of Umm al Rida Dawʾ bint Abi Shukr al Isfahaniyyah, he said: “I wrote from her in Isfahan.” (al Tahbir, entry 1162.)

In the biography of Umm al Baha Fatimah bint Abi al Fadl (d. 539 AH), he described her as a major transmitter who narrated much. He said she narrated from a group. He said: I wrote from her in Isfahan. She lived long until her peers died, and she became unique in reporting from some of those shaykhs.

Among what I heard from her were 3 parts of the hadith of Abu Zafar ibn Muhammad ibn al ʿAla, by her narration from Abu al Fadl al Razi, from Abu al Qasim ibn Fanaki, from him. I heard from her 8 parts of Fawaʾid al ʿAyyar, from the start of the 14th to the end of the 21st, and part 7 and part 10 of Fawaʾid Abi Bakr al Muqri, by her reading to Ibn Tahir al Thaqafi, from him. (al Tahbir, entry 1189.)

He heard in Sarakhs from Umm ʿAbd Allah Huwristi al ʿIyadiyyah, and he said: I wrote from her in Sarakhs. (al Tahbir, entry 1138.) In Herat, from Amat al Rahman al Tamimiyyah, he said: I wrote from her in Herat. (al Tahbir, entry 1131.) In Naysabur, from a group, such as Amat al Qahir al Qushayriyyah, and in her biography he said: I heard pages of Prophetic reports from her in Naysabur. (al Tahbir, entry 1132.)

Such as Umm al Ghafir al Naysaburiyyah, he said: I wrote from her in Naysabur. (al Tahbir, entry 1143.) Such as ʿAishah al Naysaburiyyah, he said: I wrote from her in the year 549 AH, and it is not known whether she was burned, or killed as punishment, or eaten by dogs. Allah, Most High, have mercy on her and repay the one who wronged her. (al Tahbir, entry 1177.)

Such as Umm al Khayr al Naysaburiyyah. He gave detail about taking from her. He said: her father lived in Khan al Furs, and the khan was connected to Abu al Husayn ʿAbd al Ghafir ibn Muhammad al Farisi. So she heard the books that he heard, such as the Sahih of Muslim, and Gharib al Hadith by Abu Sulayman al Khattabi.

I wrote from her in Naysabur. Among what I heard from her was Kitab al Arbaʿin by al Hasan ibn Sufyan, by her narration from ʿAbd al Ghafir, from Ibn Hamdan, from him; and a part of the dictations of al Hakim Abu Ahmad al Hafiz, by her narration from ʿAbd al Ghafir from him; and 2 parts from the hadith of ʿAbdan al Jawaliqi, the fourth and the fifth, by her narration from ʿAbd al Ghafir, from Ismaʿil ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Mikail, from him. (al Tahbir, entry 1187.)

He heard in Hamadhan from Dawʾ al Nahar al Maqdisiyyah, and he said: I heard pages of Prophetic reports from her in Hamadhan. (al Tahbir, entry 1164.) In Damascus from Umm al ʿAziz al Isfaraʾiniyyah, he said: she was born in Sur. When she became 2 years old, her father carried her to Damascus and she lived there. He said: I wrote from her in Damascus. (al Tahbir, entry 1160.)

In Mihanah from Umm al Rida Radiyyah bint Abi Saʿid. In her biography he said: her father travelled with her to Iraq and let her hear Prophetic reports. He mentioned that she heard in Isfaraʾin from Muhammad ibn al Husayn ibn Talhah al Maharjani, and in Sawah from Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al Kafhi, and others. He said: “I wrote from her in Mihanah.” (al Tahbir, entry 1145.) In Fushanj he wrote from Umm al Fadl al Balkhiyyah. (al Tahbir, entry 1171.)

More than 1 female transmitter gave him authorisation, such as Taqiyyah bint al Mufaddal. In her biography he said: it did not happen that I heard anything from her, and she wrote authorisation to me in the year 532 AH. (al Tahbir, entry 1128.)

Such as Umm al Fath Jalilah al Sijziyyah. He said: she wrote authorisation to me in the year 530 AH, and I did not catch up with her in the year 540 AH. (al Tahbir, entry 1134.)

Such as Khadijah bint Abi Saʿid al Naysaburiyyah. He said: she wrote authorisation to me in the year 512 AH. (al Tahbir, entry 1142.) Such as Umm Muhammad Zuleykha al Isfahaniyyah. He said: it did not happen that I heard anything from her, she gave authorisation to me. (al Tahbir, entry 1146.) Such as Umm al Fath Zaynab bint Abi Shujaʿ Shirawayh ibn Shahrdam, from the people of Hamadhan. He said: she wrote authorisation to me. (al Tahbir, entry 1148.)

Such as Umm Ahmad Tarfah bint ʿAbd Allah al Karjiyyah. He said: she gave authorisation to me in the year 529 AH, and I did not catch up with her in the year 537 AH. (al Tahbir, entry 1166.) Such as Umm al Fath Zafar bint Abi Nasr al Katib from Isfahan. He said: she wrote authorisation to me in the year 532 AH. (al Tahbir, entry 1168.)

Such as Umm al Futuh Zimyaʾ bint Ahmad ibn al Fadl from Isfahan. He said: she wrote authorisation to me in the year 532 AH. (al Tahbir, entry 1169.)

Such as Umm al Banin Fatimah bint ʿAbd Allah al Jawzdaniyyah from Isfahan. He said: she was unique in her time in narrating al Muʿjam al Kabir and al Muʿjam al Saghir by al Tabarani, by her narration from Ibn Ridah from him, and Kitab al Fitan by Nuʿaym ibn Hammad al Marwazi, by her narration from Ibn Ridah, from al Tabarani, from Abu Zayd ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Hatim al Muradi, from him. She wrote authorisation to me for all her heard books in the handwriting of someone else. (al Tahbir, entry 1185.)

Sometimes al Samʿani reported from some of them only a small number of Prophetic reports. For example, in the biography of Umm al Baha al Isfahaniyyah, he said: I wrote 3 Prophetic reports from her. (al Tahbir, entry 1135.) In the biography of Umm al Baha Khujastah al Tahraniyyah, he said: I wrote 1 Prophetic report from her. (al Tahbir, entry 1140.) In the biography of Umm Muhammad Zarifah bint Abi al Hasan ibn Abi al Qasim al Tabariyyah, he said: I heard 1 Prophetic report from her in Balkh. (al Tahbir, entry 1167.)

Sometimes he did not specify the amount and sufficed by saying: I heard a small amount. For example, in the biography of Umm Muhammad Aminah al Isfahaniyyah: “I heard a small amount from her.” (al Tahbir, entry 1124.) In the biography of Umm al Baha Khujastah al Isfahaniyyah: “I wrote a few Prophetic reports from her.” (al Tahbir, entry 1141.) In the biography of Umm al Raja Zubaydah bint Muhammad al Isfahaniyyah: “I wrote Prophetic reports from her.” (al Tahbir, entry 1149.)

In the biography of Sit Naz bint al Mufaddal al Isfahaniyyah: “I heard Prophetic reports from her.” (al Tahbir, entry 1155.) He said similarly in the biography of Umm al ʿIzz Stika bint Muhammad al Isfahaniyyah, and he added: a few. (al Tahbir, entry 1157.) In the biography before it, Sit al Nas bint ʿAli al Isfahaniyyah, he said: I heard about 2 pages from her in the year 531 AH. (al Tahbir, entry 1156.)

Sometimes he heard a specific part from a specific woman, sometimes he heard parts, and sometimes he wrote books and parts with detail, and sometimes he left it general.

Ibn ʿAsakir and Female Shaykhs

Al Hafiz Ibn ʿAsakir (d. 571 AH).

That Hafiz Ibn ʿAsakir was the most reliable transmitter of Prophetic reports and the broadest in transmission in his time, until he was given the title “Hafiz of the Ummah.” He took Prophetic reports from 1,200 hadith scholars, and from more than 80 women who were hadith scholars.

He authored a message on their biographies. Have people ever heard in any era, and has any nation ever heard, that a scholar takes 1 science from more than 80 women?

How many of them do you think he did not meet or take from, while the man did not go beyond the eastern part of the Islamic state and did not step into Egypt, the lands of the Maghrib, or al Andalus, and these are among the most full of learned women with knowledge and views.

Abu Tahir al Salafi and Women of Hadith

Al Hafiz Abu Tahir al Salafi (d. 576 AH).

He reported from tens of female hadith scholars, and he was among those who reported the most from transmitters. His shaykhs were more than 1,000. Al Safadi (d. 764 AH) نقل in al Wafi bil Wafayat that the number of his shaykhs exceeded 600 people in Isfahan alone. He stated that he reported from more than 1 woman, such as Taqiyyah bint Ghayth.

He said, may Allah have mercy on him: Taqiyyah bint Ghayth ibn ʿAli al Armanazi al Suri, called “Sitt al Niʿam”, recited poetry to me at the frontier. My eyes did not see a poetess besides her. (Muʿjam al Safar, entry 101.)

I say: she is Taqiyyah bint Abi al Faraj Ghayth ibn ʿAli ibn ʿAbd al Salam ibn Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar al Sulami al Armanazi al Suri. Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn al Mufaddal al Maqdisi and others heard from her. She is the mother of Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn Fadil ibn Hamdun al Suri.

Ibn Khallikan (d. 681 AH) said: I accompanied al Hafiz Abu Tahir Ahmad ibn Muhammad al Salafi for a time at the frontier of Alexandria.

He mentioned her in some of his writings, praised her, and wrote in his own handwriting: I passed by the home where I live, so the sole of my foot was wounded. A servant girl in the home tore a cloth from her veil and bandaged it. Then Taqiyyah recited, immediately, about herself, saying:

“If I found the way, I would give my cheek instead of that servant girl’s veil. How can I accept a man when she walked her whole life upon the excellent road?”

Ibn Khallikan said: I saw in the handwriting of al Hafiz al Salafi that she was born in Muharram in the year 505 AH, and she died at the beginning of Shawwal in the year 579 AH. (Wafayat al Aʿyan, 1/296.)

Al ʿImad al Isfahani (d. 597 AH) narrated in the biography of al Salafi and the following lines:

Some virtuous person wrote to her, after she had praised herself:

“And it is not honour that a woman praises herself, but actions are blamed and praised. Not every time a person’s heart is truthful, and not every traders make profit. Not everyone who is expected to guard the unseen will guard it, and not everyone who holds a deposit is fit.”

So she wrote back to him:

“You criticise a person for showing his knowledge. Is this serious from you, or are you only joking? My life be sacrificed for you, people before us already praised themselves and they spoke, and they spoke well. Al Mutanabbi has lines in praising himself with truth, and the truth is clear. Show me a girl in my time who surpasses me, rises above my knowledge, and attacks and praises.”

And from them is Tarfah bint Ahmad. He reported a narration from her, then said:

This Tarfah is the daughter of knowledge. In herself she was religious and had much good doing. She was also named ʿAishah and called Tarfah, may Allah have mercy on her.

We read to her in the year 534 AH, and she died a short time after that, may Allah have mercy on her. She was the wife of the shaykh Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn Abi Musa al Khawlani. After his death, I then married his daughter Sitt al Ahl, the righteous, religious woman, may Allah have mercy on her and have mercy on us when we reach what she reached. (Muʿjam al Safar, entry 102.)

From them is also al Khufrah bint al Mubashshir. He reported a narration from her, then said:

This Khufrah was called Jadidah. She heard, by the support of her father, a group of the shaykhs of Egypt. We read to her from Abu al Hasan ibn al Taffal al Naysaburi, and Abu Tahir ibn Saʿdun al Mawsili, and others. She died in Jumada al Ula in the year 528 AH. Abu al Husayn ibn al Sawwaf wrote to me with that from Egypt. (Muʿjam al Safar, entry 120.)

From them is also Khadijah bint Ahmad. He reported a narration from her, then said:

This Khadijah, her father was a hadith scholar, and her brother was a hadith scholar, and her sister transmitted as she transmitted. From her shaykhs were Ibn ʿAbd al Wali, Ibn al Dalil, and her father, and she had an authorisation from Abu al Walid. We read to her from all of these. As for her sister Tarfah, we did not find for her any hearing except from her father only.

Khadijah died in the month of Rabiʿ al Akhar in the year 526 AH. She was a virgin and never married. She advised that I should lead the prayer over her. May Allah have mercy on her and be pleased with her. (Muʿjam al Safar, entry 121.)

From them is also Rabiʿah bint Abi Hakim. He reported a narration from her, then said:

She was a righteous woman. Her father was Abu Hakim al Khabari, a jurist of inheritance, well known for precedence in the science of inheritance. Her son was Abu al Fadl Muhammad ibn Nasir ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAli, and he was from the people of knowledge and literature.

He heard much Prophetic reports with us from the shaykhs of both sides. His companion in hearing and reading was Abu Mansur ibn al Jawaliqi, and Abu Mansur was more distinct than him in literature. May Allah have mercy on them both. (Muʿjam al Safar, entry 145.)

These are some of those from whom al Hafiz al Salafi reported. He was described as “Hafiz of Islam, and the highest of the people of the earth in chains of narration in Prophetic reports and recitations, with religion, trustworthiness, and knowledge.” (Ghayat al Nihayah fi Tabaqat al Qurra, 1/103.) Otherwise, his female shaykhs were very many. Ibn al Abbar (d. 658 AH) mentioned in his biography that some of his companions gathered the names of women among them in alphabetical order. Al Dhahabi (d. 748 AH) said that he did not hear from women in Baghdad except 8 female shaykhs. (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 21/12.)

Ibn al Jawzi and His Female Shaykhs

Ibn al Jawzi (d. 597 AH).

At the end of his shaykhs list, he mentioned that he heard from 3 women, and he mentioned with his chain of narration from them 3 Prophetic reports, from each one 1 report.

The first: Fatimah bint Muhammad ibn al Husayn ibn Fadlawayh al Razi al Bazzaz.

He said about her: “Our female shaykh Fatimah was a preacher, a worshipper. She had a lodge where ascetic women gathered. She heard from Abu Jaʿfar ibn al Maslamah and Abu Bakr al Khatib and others. She died in Rabiʿ al Awwal in the year 521 AH.” (Mashyakhah Ibn al Jawzi, p 198. In al Muntazam, 10/7–8, he mentioned that he heard from her through the reading of his shaykh Nasir al Din, Dhamm al Ghibah by Ibrahim al Harbi, and from the gatherings of Ibn Samʿun, by her narration from Ibn al Nuqud, and Musnad al Shafiʿi, and other than that.)

The second: Fatimah bint Abi Hakim ʿAbd Allah ibn Ibrahim al Khabari.

He said about her: “This female shaykh of ours was the maternal aunt of our shaykh Abu al Fadl ibn Nasir. She was good. She died in Rajab in the year 534 AH.” (Mashyakhah Ibn al Jawzi, p 201. Also see: al Muntazam, 10/88.)

The last: Shahdah bint Ahmad ibn al Faraj ibn ʿUmar al Ibri.

He said: I heard Shahdah from Jaʿfar ibn al Siraj and Tarrad and others. She had good handwriting. She lived close to the house of the caliphate. She had good doing and kindness. She reached close to 100, and she died in Muharram in the year 574 AH. She was buried at the graveyard of Bab Birz. (Mashyakhah Ibn al Jawzi, p 202.)

I say: she was given the title “Pride of Women.” She heard a lot and lived long, and she became the highest in chain of narration in her time. Many heard from her, including well known imams such as al Samʿani, Ibn ʿAsakir, al Hafiz ʿAbd al Ghani, Ibn Qudamah, al Hafiz ʿAbd al Qadir al Rahawi, and others whose mention would be long. She has many narrations. (See the note on Takmilat Ikmal al Ikmal, p 84–85.)

Al Mundhiri and Female Shaykhs

Al Hafiz al Mundhiri (d. 656 AH).

Al Mundhiri did not limit himself to reporting from male shaykhs. He went beyond them to female shaykhs, and this shows the influence of the Muslim woman in scholarly life and her participation in this field, as already mentioned.

In Fustat of Egypt and Cairo, al Mundhiri heard from Safaʾ al ʿAysh bint ʿAbd Allah al Ashrafiyyah al Hamziyyah al Qusriyyah, known as Shamsah, the freed woman of the judge al Ashraf Abu al Qasim Hamzah ibn ʿAli ibn ʿUthman al Makhzumi (d. 627 AH). (al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2320.) He heard from the female shaykh Umm Hasan Ghadibah bint ʿAnan ibn Humayd al Saʿdiyyah (d. 635 AH). (al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2776.) He heard from the righteous female shaykh Umm al Fadl Karimah bint ʿAbd al Haqq ibn Hibat Allah ibn Zafir ibn Hamzah al Qudaʿiyyah al Tulaybiyyah al Shafiʿiyyah (d. 641 AH). (al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 3142.)

He took from Umm al Khayr Futuh bint Ibrahim ibn ʿUthman ibn Abi al Qasim al Shamiyyah al Misriyyah (d. 625 AH). (al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2202.) He wrote benefits from the female shaykh Umm Abi al ʿAbbas ʿAzizah bint ʿAbd al Malik ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman al Qurashiyyah al Hashimiyyah al Andalusiyyah, born in Murcia, raised in Cordoba, and she died in Egypt in the year 634 AH. (al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2747.)

He heard from the righteous female shaykh Umm Muhammad Khadijah bint al Mufaddal ibn ʿAli ibn Mufrij, originally from Jerusalem, born and raised in Alexandria (d. 618 AH). She was the sister of his shaykh Abu al Hasan al Maqdisi (d. 611 AH). Al Mundhiri said: I produced for her a part, from a group of her authorising shaykhs, and she transmitted it, and I heard it from her. (al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1803.)

In Damascus, he heard from the female shaykh Sitt al Katabah Niʿmah bint ʿAli ibn Yahya ibn al Tarrah al Baghdadi al Mudir (d. 604 AH). (al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1008. Also see: Dhayl al Rawdatayn, p 63.)

He heard from the female shaykh who was a major transmitter, Umm al Fadl Karimah bint ʿAbd al Wahhab ibn ʿAli ibn Khidr ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAli al Qurashiyyah al Asadiyyah al Zubayriyyah al Dimashqiyyah (d. 641 AH). Al Mundhiri said: she transmitted for a long time.

It was said that she transmitted for more than 60 years. I met her at Bayt Lahya outside Damascus on the second trip, and I heard from her. She had given authorisation to me in the year 595 AH. (al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 3125.)

In Cairo, the female shaykh Umm ʿAbd al Karim Fatimah, the daughter of the shaykh Abu al Hasan Saʿd al Khayr ibn Muhammad ibn Sahl al Ansari al Andalusi al Balansi (d. 600 AH), gave him authorisation.

What al Mundhiri Said About Those Who Granted Him Ijazah (Authorisation)

Al Mundhiri said: she transmitted a great deal in Damascus and Cairo. A group of our shaykhs and companions heard from her, and we have authorisation from her. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 773, and the sources for her biography will come later on p 92.)

He praised her with beautiful praise, and he said that she spread a great deal of knowledge. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 773, and the sources for her biography will come later on p 92.)

From Alexandria, the female shaykh Khadijah, the daughter of al Hafiz Abu Tahir Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al Salafi, Isfahani in origin, Alexandrian, granted him authorisation, and she died in 623 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2120.)

From Baghdad, Umm al Hayah Farhah bint Qaratash ibn Tantash al Zafari al ʿAwni granted him authorisation, and she died in 598 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 684.) Umm al ʿAla ʿAtikah, the daughter of al Hafiz Abu al ʿAla al Hasan ibn Ahmad al ʿAttar al Hamadhani, granted him authorisation, and she died in 609 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1253.) She was among the female hadith scholars who transmitted a great deal, and among those who transmitted the major books. (See p 89–90.) Umm ʿAbd al Rahman Sayyidat al Kutbah, the daughter of Abu al Baqa Yahya ibn ʿAli ibn al Hasan, Hamadhani in origin, Baghdadi, also granted him authorisation, and she died in 611 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1302.)

Umm al Hayah Hafsah bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Mansur ibn Thabit ibn al Harith ibn Mulaʿib, the Baghdadi from al Azaj, granted him authorisation, and she died in 612 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1382.)

The female shaykh Dawʾ al Sabah Lamiʿah, the daughter of the shaykh al Mufid Abu Bakr al Mubarak ibn Kamil, the Baghdadi al Khaffaf, granted him authorisation, and she died in 613 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1510.)

It is also said: Nur al ʿAyn. Umm al Qurrah, the daughter of Yaʿqub ibn Yusuf ibn ʿUmar ibn al Husayn, the Baghdadi, granted him authorisation, and she died in 624 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2146.)

Amat al Wahid Safiyyah bint ʿAbd al Jabbar ibn Hibat Allah ibn al Qasim ibn Mansur ibn al Bandar, the Baghdadi, granted him authorisation more than once, including once in Shaʿban in 610 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2148.)

Umm al Fadl Lubabah, the daughter of the shaykh Abu al ʿAbbas Ahmad ibn Abi al Fadl ibn Ahmad ibn Mazruʿ, the Baghdadi al Harbi, known as Ibn al Thalaji, granted him authorisation, and she died in 625 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2215.)

Sharaf al Nisa Amat Allah, and it is said she was called Aminah, the daughter of the imam Abu al Hasan Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al Ibnusi al Ansari al Shafiʿi, granted him authorisation more than once, including one in Dhu al Qiʿdah in 608 AH, and she died in 628 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2230.)

Umm ʿAli Farhah bint Abi Saʿd ibn Ahmad ibn Tamirah, the Baghdadi al Harbi, granted him authorisation, and she died in 629 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2378.) Fatimah bint Abi Bakr ibn Mawahib ibn ʿAbd al Malik, known as Ibn Zankiʿ al Bayyaʿ, granted him authorisation, and she died in 637 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2890.)

Umm ʿUthman Safiyyah bint ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Hibat Allah, known as Ibn Hadid al Daqqaq, the Baghdadi from al Azaj, the preacher, granted him authorisation. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2949.)

From Isfahan, the musnid female shaykh Umm Hani ʿAfifah bint Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad, the Isfahani al Farfaniyyah, granted him authorisation, and she died in 606 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1132, and her biography will come later on p 96–97.)

She was among the learned, virtuous women who transmitted the Sunan and the Musnads. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, and Ibn Nuqtah in al Taqyid, folio 232, and he may have heard from her.)

Al Dhahabi praised her with fragrant praise. (See p 96–97.)

From Isfahan as well, the female shaykh Umm Habibah ʿAishah, the daughter of al Hafiz Abu Ahmad Muʿammar ibn ʿAbd al Wahid ibn Rajaʾ ibn al Fakhir, granted him authorisation, and she died in 607 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1149.) She was a well known female hadith scholar from a well known household of hadith and transmission. (See p 89–90.)

Umm al Nur ʿAyn al Shams bint Ahmad ibn Abi al Faraj al Thaqafi granted him authorisation, and she died in 610 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1288, and her biography will come later on p 97.)

He said: “She granted us authorisation for all her heard books and her authorisations from Isfahan in Safar in the year 609 AH.” (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1288, and her biography will come later on p 97.)

From Naysabur, the female shaykh Umm al Muʾayyad Zaynab, the daughter of the shaykh ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Hasan Ahmad ibn Ahmad, Jurjani in origin, the Naysaburi of Dar al Shiʿr, granted him authorisation more than once, and she died in 615 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1648, and her biography will come later on p 86.) She was among the transmitters of the major books. Ibn Nuqtah heard from her. (See p 90–91.) Al Dhahabi said: a high chain ended with her death. (Tarikh al Islam, folio 217, Paris 1582.) Ibn Khallikan praised her. (Wafayat al Aʿyan, entry 237.) Al Safadi praised her. (Al Wafi, folio 106.)

From Hamadhan, the female shaykh Fatimah bint al Hasan ibn Ahmad al Hamadhani granted him authorisation more than once, and she died in 617 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1773.)

As for Damascus, the female shaykh Umm al Fadl Zaynab bint Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ismaʿil al Qaysi, the wife of the khatib ʿAbd al Malik ibn Zayd al Dawlaʿi, granted him authorisation from there in 595 AH, and she died in Damascus in 610 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1286.)

The female shaykh Umm Muhammad Rabiʿah bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Qudamah al Maqdisiyyah also granted him authorisation from there, and she died in 620 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 1951.)

Her niece, the ascetic female shaykh Amat bint Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Qudamah al Maqdisiyyah, granted him authorisation as well, and she died in 631 AH.

(Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2544, as it is written: “Ibn Maqdam”.) Umm al Fityan Juhmah bint al Mufarrij ibn ʿAli al Dimashqiyyah granted him authorisation, and she died in 638 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2962.)

The female shaykh Sittahum, the daughter of the musnid shaykh Abu Tahir Barakat ibn Ibrahim al Khashuʿi, granted him authorisation, and she died in 640 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 3112.)

From Harran, Umm al Karam Zahraʾ, the daughter of al Hafiz Abu Muhammad ʿAbd al Qadir ibn ʿAbd Allah al Rahawi, granted him authorisation, and she died in 632 AH. (Al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 2622, and what has already come from the book of al Mundhiri and his book al Takmilah, p 118–125, by Dr Bashshar ʿAwwad Maʿruf.)

So it is noticeable that women’s care for hadith and transmission had spread across all parts of the earth, and it was not limited to one town.

Imam al Dhahabi

Imam al Dhahabi died in 748 AH.

Imam al Dhahabi took from a group of shaykhs, and he was eager, especially in the science of transmitting hadith. Among those he took from were a group of women. He mentioned many of them in Muʿjam al Shuyukh. We will limit ourselves to mentioning one woman he did not manage to hear from, and he used to regret not meeting her, and that is Umm Muhammad Sayyidah bint Musa ibn ʿUthman al Maraniyyah al Misriyyah, and she died in 695 AH.

He said, may Allah have mercy on him, in her biography: “I travelled to meet her, but she died while I was in Palestine in Rajab in the year 695 AH.” (Muʿjam al Shuyukh, entry 325.)

He also said: “I was full of longing to meet her. I travelled to Egypt while I knew she was still alive, then I entered and I found that she had died 10 days earlier. She died on Friday, the sixth of Rajab, while I was in Wadi Fahmah.” (Tarikh al Islam, folio 246.)

It is enough honour for women that one woman lived with an imam like this in her care, and she shared in teaching him, and she fed him transmission with milk, and that is Sitt al Ahl bint ʿUthman.

She had gained authorisation from Ibn Abi al Yusr, and Jamal al Din ibn Malik, and Zuhayr ibn ʿUmar al Zurʿi, and a group of others. Al Dhahabi reported from her, as he stated. (Muʿjam al Shuyukh, entry 311. Also see: Imam al Dhahabi and his method in his book Tarikh al Islam, p 79–80.)

In Chapter Three of this book, Allah willing, there will come what is surprising and pleasing from reports about the female hadith scholars that al Dhahabi said he benefited from, or took from, or listed something of their circumstances.

Imam Ibn al Qayyim

Imam Ibn al Qayyim died in 751 AH.

Ibn Rajab and al Dawudi mentioned that Ibn al Qayyim heard from Fatimah bint Muhammad, the daughter of the shaykh Ibrahim ibn Mahmud ibn Jawhar al Bataʾihi.

She was a female hadith scholar who transmitted Sahih al Bukhari from Ibn al Zabidi more than once. She heard Sahih Muslim from Ibn al Husayri, the shaykh of the Hanafis. She heard from Ibn Rawahah. She was religious, devoted in worship, righteous, and a musnid. She died at the age of 86. She died in Safar in the year 711 AH. (See: Shadharat al Dhahab, 6/28.)

Ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalani

Ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalani died in 852 AH.

Al Sakhawi mentioned in the biography of his shaykh, the seal of the Commanders of the Believers in hadith, al Hafiz Ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalani, the names of his shaykhs, and he arranged them into 3 sections.

The first: those from whom he heard hadith, and he mentioned among them 20 women.

The second: those who granted him authorisation, and he mentioned among them 33 women.

The last: those from whom he took by reviewing or composing, and he mentioned only Sitt al Rakb, the daughter of ʿAli ibn Hajar, the sister of al Hafiz. (See: Al Jawahir wal Durar fi Tarjamat Shaykh al Islam Ibn Hajar, 1/128, 139, 140, 143, 144, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 157, 158, 163, 164, 169.)

Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar himself mentioned a group of his female shaykhs who granted him authorisation, or to whom he read some of the books of earlier ulama. There is not enough space to list their names here, but this indicates the continuation of women’s participation in transmission in the ninth Hijri century.

There will come, Allah willing, signals of that in Chapter Three and Chapter Four of this book. (See: Al Muʿjam al Muʾassis, 1/468, 470, 471, 559, 571, 572, 588, 589, 590, 592, 593, 595, 596, 597, 610, 615, 616, 617.)

These are many examples that are hard to count and hard to cover fully, and all of them show that the leading ulama, across lands and through ages, benefited from women’s knowledge in hadith.

In the coming lines there are hints, brief signs, and clear statements like this, and Allah is the One who grants success, and there is no Lord besides Him.

A Distinction for Female Transmitters Over Male Transmitters

We end this chapter by mentioning a distinction for female transmitters that they had uniquely over male transmitters. Lying occurred often in the hadith of many men who claimed hadith transmission.

As for women, despite their large number in transmission, deliberate lying in hadith did not occur from them, because they have a strong emotion that prevents them from daring to lie in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

This is the testimony of the imam of criticism and verification in his era, the Hafiz, the critic, the imam, the leading expert, Shams al Din al Dhahabi, when he says at the start of the women’s section in his book Mizan al Iʿtidal fi Naqd al Rijal: “I do not know, among women, anyone who was accused, nor anyone they abandoned.” (4/604.) Meaning: accused of lying.

In this testimony there is a noble moral sign about the female hadith scholars in knowledge and teaching. They were known for truthfulness, religion, uprightness, and trust in knowledge and transmission. That is enough honour for them.

We did not find, despite long searching and checking, any woman among the female transmitters described as practising concealment, mixing, or being fed prompts, and no one who authored in this field mentioned a single woman.

(4/604.)

Chapter Two

Female transmitters in the virtuous centuries, explaining the status of the woman in the Prophetic era, and mentioning brief points about the condition of the woman in the pre Islamic era, in the past and in the present.

Through searching the books of biographies and history, we found that the noble and refined women did not only have a share in studying the Prophetic hadith, rather they went further, entering into its depth and teaching it. They had a strong share with men, and no small effort.

It becomes clear, at first glance, for whoever looks through the history of the science of hadith, that hundreds, rather thousands, of women did not only have the honour of studying hadith, rather there was among them a large number with great skill, wide fame, and a flying reputation in teaching it too, because of their mastery and their strong grasp.

Muslim women in the earlier centuries used to bear the hardship and difficulty of seeking knowledge and teaching it with firm determination, sharp awareness, and high ambition.

They would attend the lessons of the leading masters, and they would gain certificates of merit and praise from the ulama, rather even the sharp eyed masters of hadith, and some of the Commanders of the Believers among them attended their lessons and counted that as an honour.

These virtuous noble women, time still repeats the echo of their great works and the abundance of their noble knowledge openly. If their tongues became silent, then the tongues of their condition spoke quietly and loudly, and the universe listened to them, all of it.

“Our traces point to us, so look after us at the traces.”

So which book among the books of hadith is free from mention of them. Which library did not have its pages adorned with their biographies.

“How many a living person is like a dead one, with no hope in him for benefit or harm. Bones under soil, and above the earth are traces of praise and thanks.”

The books of hadith, with what they contain of hearings, authorisations, and handovers, are a witness to the strong grasp of many women in hadith knowledge and its transmission, and they overflow with testimony to their virtue in teaching.

So much so that whoever has even a small reading and awareness of the 2 Sahihs and their commentaries sees that some of them are mentioned in their chains. Rather some of them, like Karimah and others, entered them like a necklace of fine jewels. Rather say: they became the main focus in them. (From an article written by Muhammad Zubayr al Siddiqi in 1939 CE titled “Al Sayr al Hathith fi Tarikh Tadwin al Hadith”, printed within the book “Al Mabahith al ʿIlmiyyah min al Maqalat al Sunniyyah”, p 244–245.)

Female Transmitters in the Virtuous Centuries

We have already hinted in Chapter One that women are the counterparts of men in the science of transmission. We gave examples of their sharing with men in transmitting the Prophetic hadith, and that men used to refer to the noble gifted women among them when disagreement happened.

The books of biographies in general, and the books of classes and the Companions in particular, are full of biographies of female transmitters in the virtuous centuries.

These are the Mothers of the Believers, all of them, after the end of the Prophetic era, then the female Successors. Their share in transmitting hadith, and their effort in keeping it, is more well known than to be mentioned, and more than to be counted and gathered. Hadith books such as the 2 Sahihs and the 4 Sunan contain hundreds of female transmitters in their chains.

Their names can be found at the end of Tahdhib al Kamal by al Mizzi, and at the end of Tahdhib al Tahdhib and al Taqrib by Ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalani, and at the end of al Kashif by al Dhahabi.

A researcher will find, in the early volumes of Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, and in the major books of the Companions such as Asad al Ghabah, al Istiʿab, Tajrid Asmaʾ al Sahabah, and al Isabah, and in the books of classes such as al Tabaqat al Kubra by Ibn Saʿd, and al Tabaqat by Imam Muslim, and al Tabaqat by Khalifah ibn Khayyat, and in the histories of cities such as Tarikh Dimashq, and the part that is focused on women has been printed, and Tarikh Baghdad, and others, thousands of female transmitters from the early virtuous centuries, and the same is said about hadith books of many types: Musnads, Muʿjams, Sunans, hadith parts, and others. (With the notice that some of the books mentioned above were not limited to biographies of female transmitters in the early virtuous centuries, even if that is what dominates them.)

These books differed in how they arranged the female hadith scholars, and in what they included under each biography. Some gave detail and expanded, some shortened and were brief, and some limited themselves to mentioning female Companions and putting them together as one level, as Khalifah and Muslim did in al Tabaqat, since they did not mention other than the female Companions.

Khalifah separated them in his book and arranged them by their lineages, unlike Muslim, who mentioned them after the Companions directly, and he said: naming the women of the people of Madinah who narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Then he said: “The first of them are his 9 wives, the Mothers of the Believers who remained after him.” (Al Tabaqat, 1/211, in my editing, by Imam Muslim.)

Then he mentioned after them: “Those from the Companions who preserved hadith from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and died before him.” (Al Tabaqat, 1/225, in my editing.)

Then Muslim mentioned the female Successors and arranged them by their lands. Muslim gave more care to the female hadith scholars and transmitters than others, such as Khalifah and Ibn Saʿd. Muslim began with the women of Madinah and listed 69 of them, then the women of Makkah and listed 8, then the women of Kufah and listed 11, then the women of Basrah and listed 4, and he ended with the women of al Sham and listed 3. Ibn Saʿd, however, devoted the last volume of his Tabaqat to women, keeping lineages in arranging them, as Khalifah did.

He began with the biographies of the household of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so he put Khadijah first, then the daughters of the Messenger ﷺ, then his paternal aunts, then the daughters of his paternal uncles, then his wives, with Khadijah again at the start, then those he married but did not live with, and those he separated from and divorced, and those he proposed to but did not marry, then the Muslim women who gave the pledge from Quraysh and their allies and freed people, then the migrant women from other Arab tribes who gave the pledge, then the women of the Ansar, putting al Aws before al Khazraj, and he ended with the names of women who did not narrate from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ but narrated from their husbands and from other Companions.

From what has come, it is clear that Ibn Saʿd’s biographies are not limited to female transmitters, even if transmission occurred for many of them. He arranged women by how close their kinship was to the Messenger ﷺ and by narration from him, and he did not arrange them by one country or town. Khalifah did the same, unlike Muslim. May Allah have mercy on them all. (See my introduction to al Tabaqat by Imam Muslim, 1/1140.)

Lady ʿAishah and Her Status in the Science of Transmission

It should not be missed here that I single out the most well known woman in transmission, and the most deserving of mention and care, and that is Lady ʿAishah, may Allah be pleased with her. She is counted among those who narrated a great deal from the Master of the Messengers ﷺ. Some made the frequent narrators 7, and recited lines about them:

“Seven among the Companions, above 1,000, transmitted hadith from the chosen one, the best of Mudar. Abu Hurayrah, Saʿd, Jabir, Anas, the truthful woman, and Ibn ʿAbbas, and Ibn ʿUmar.”

There is no surprise in that. She has a firm place in transmission. She narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and from Abu Bakr, and from ʿUmar ibn al Khattab, and from Fatimah al Zahra, and from Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas, and from Hamzah ibn ʿAmr al Aslami, and from Judhamah bint Wahb.

She narrated 2,210 hadith. From them, the 2 Sahihs reported 297. The number agreed upon between them is 174. Al Bukhari alone reported 54, and it is said 70. Muslim alone reported 69, and it is said 68.

Al Mayanshi said in his book “Ma La Yasaʿ al Muhaddith Jahluhu”: “The book of al Bukhari and Muslim contains 1,200 hadith of rulings. ʿAishah narrated, from the total of the 2 books, 290 and some more, and there did not go out from the rulings of them except a small amount.” (See: Talqih Fuhum Ahl al Athar, p 363, and Jawamiʿ al Sirah, p 275–276, and Muhadarat fi ʿUlum al Hadith, 1/160.)

Al Hakim Abu ʿAbd Allah said: “So she carried a quarter of the Sharia.” (See: Al Ijabah, p 59, by al Zarkashi.)

So she, may Allah be pleased with her, was the greatest female hadith scholar of her era, and its gifted one in intelligence, eloquence, and clear speech. She was a great factor, with deep effect, in spreading the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. She carried the banner of knowledge and understanding in her era, and she was a shining lamp that lit for the people of knowledge and its students.

Elder shaykhs and major Companions used to come to her and ask her about difficult knowledge and its problems, and she would answer them with an answer full of careful thought and verification. This can only be from someone who reached a high rank in knowledge.

Abu Burdah ibn Abi Musa al Ashʿari reported from his father, may Allah be pleased with him: “No matter ever became unclear to us, the Companions of Muhammad ﷺ, then we asked ʿAishah about it, except that we found with her knowledge of it.”

Masruq said: “I saw the elder shaykhs of the major Companions of Muhammad ﷺ asking her about inheritance shares.”

ʿAishah was among the most skilled people in the Qur’an, hadith, fiqh, poetry, and the reports, days, and lineages of the Arabs.

ʿUrwah ibn al Zubayr, her sister’s son, said: “I did not see anyone more knowing of the Qur’an, nor its obligations, nor what is lawful, nor what is unlawful, nor poetry, nor the hadith of the Arabs, nor lineage, than ʿAishah.”

He also said: “I did not see anyone more knowing of fiqh, nor medicine, nor poetry, than ʿAishah.”

Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said: “ʿAishah was unique in her era in 3 sciences: the science of fiqh, the science of medicine, and the science of poetry.”

Al Zuhri said: “If the knowledge of ʿAishah were gathered with the knowledge of all the wives of the Prophet ﷺ and all women, the knowledge of ʿAishah would be more.” In another report: “better.”

Yes, knowledge of many kinds and forms gathered for her. In the words of her sister’s son ʿUrwah there is more light on that. He said that one day he said to her: “My mother, I am not surprised by your fiqh, I say: the wife of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the daughter of Abu Bakr.

I am not surprised by your knowledge of poetry and the days of people, I say: the daughter of Abu Bakr, and he was among the most knowing people.

But I am surprised by your knowledge of medicine. How is it, and from where is it?” ʿAishah struck his shoulder and said: “O ʿUrayyah, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to become ill at the end of his life, and the delegations of the Arabs used to come from every direction, and they would describe remedies to him, and I would treat him with them, so from there.”

Women used to visit her in her house and she would teach them. This Makhzumi woman whose hand was cut says about her, as in some reports of her hadith: “Then after that she became frequent in going to the house of ʿAishah to learn fiqh in her religion.”

There is not enough space here to list her virtues and her rank in knowledge and fiqh, but it is enough to point out. She, may Allah be pleased with her, was among the female transmitters, jurists, and frequent narrators.

Ibn Hazm mentioned her in his treatise “Asmaʾ al Sahabah al Ruwah wa Ma Li Kull Wahid min al ʿAdad” (Names of the Companions who narrated, and the number that each one has) among those with 2,000 and more.

He said: “ʿAishah, the Mother of the Believers: 2,000 hadith, 200 hadith, and 10 hadith.” (p 279, printed at the end of Jawamiʿ al Sirah, first edition.)

He also mentioned her in his treatise “Bab fi Tasmiyat Man Ruwaya ʿAnhum min Ashab Rasul Allah ﷺ ʿala Maratibihim fi Kathrat al Futya Faqat”, and he began with her. He noted that his basis of arrangement is the amount of legal verdicts, and he said: “The frequent muftis are 7.” Then he said: “We mentioned them first in order.” (p 319, printed at the end of Jawamiʿ al Sirah, first edition.)

So he put her, may Allah be pleased with her, ahead of the rest of the Companions of the Messenger ﷺ. In his book al Ihkam, he divided the muftis into 3 groups: those who issued many verdicts, those who issued an average amount, and those who issued few. He placed ʿAishah in the first group.

All of this shows her great status and her unique rank, which necks could not reach. She even became a teacher for the elder shaykhs of the noble Companions in many matters of knowledge and religion.

The rightly guided caliphs continued to respect her rank, consult her, ask her questions, and return to her view. She stood alert to the great ones among them, correcting them whenever she saw an error in a hadith they narrated, or a ruling they issued.

Al Zarkashi authored a full book about the matters she corrected from the major Companions. It is fine to give one correction as an example, on ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al ʿAs, and it holds a sharp point that she often used in her corrections.

It reached her that Ibn ʿAmr used to command women, when they bathe, to undo their hair. She said: “How amazing is Ibn ʿAmr, he commands women, when they bathe, to undo their hair. Why does he not command them to shave their heads.” “I used to bathe, me and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, from one vessel, and I would not do more than pour over my head 3 pours.” (Al Ijabah, p 123, by al Zarkashi. Islam and Women, p 51, by Saʿid al Afghani.)

There is a list of the names of female transmitters from the female Companions and the number of hadith each one has.

Transmission was not limited to Lady ʿAishah among the female Companions. She, may Allah be pleased with her, gained a well known place that no one else reached, but Ibn Hazm, for example, mentioned

• Umm Salamah, the Mother of the Believers counted 378 hadith

among those with 100s, and he counted 378 hadith for her. He mentioned among those with tens and some, and tens without more,

• Asmaʾ bint Yazid ibn al Sakan counted 81 hadith

• Maymunah, the Mother of the Believers counted 76 hadith

• Umm Habibah, the Mother of the Believers counted 65 hadith

• Hafsah, the Mother of the Believers counted 60 hadith

• Asmaʾ bint ʿUmays counted 60

• Asmaʾ bint Abi Bakr counted 58 hadith

• Umm Hani bint Abi Talib counted 46 hadith

• Umm ʿAtiyyah counted 40 hadith

• Fatimah bint Qays counted 34 hadith

• Umm al Fadl bint al Harith counted 30 hadith

• Umm Qays bint Mihsan counted 24 hadith

• al Rabiʿ bint Muʿawwidh counted 21 hadith

• Fatimah bint the Messenger of Allah ﷺ under “Those with 18”

• Khawlah bint Hakim under “Those with 15”

• Umm Sulaym bint Milhan under “Those with 14”

• al Shifaʾ bint ʿAbd Allah al ʿAdawiyyah

• Subayʿah al Aslamiyyah under “Those with 12”

• Zaynab bint Jahsh, the Mother of the Believers

• Dubaaʿah bint al Zubayr ibn ʿAbd al Muttalib

• Bushrah bint Safwan under “Those with 11”

• Safiyyah, the Mother of the Believers

• Umm Mubashshir

• Umm Kurz

• Umm Hisham bint Harithah al Ansariyyah

• Umm Kulthum

• Umm Maʿqil al Asadiyyah under “Those with 10”

• Umm al Husayn

• Khawlah bint Qays

• Zaynab, the wife of Ibn Masʿud

• Khansaʾ bint Khidam

• al Furayʿah bint Malik

• Umaymah bint Raqiqah under “Those with 8”

• Amat bint Khalid

• Umm Khalid

• Umm Haram bint Milhan

• Juwayriyyah, the Mother of the Believers

• Zaynab bint Umm Salamah, the Mother of the Believers

• Salma, the freed woman of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ under “Those with 7”

• Umm Jundub, the mother of Sulaym, or Sulayman, ibn ʿAmr

• Umm al ʿAla under “Those with 6”

• Umm Bujayd

• Umm al Darda

• Sawdah, the Mother of the Believers

• Safiyyah bint Shaybah

• Umm Ayman under “Those with 5”

• Umm Dabbah

• Bint Layla

• Umm al Mundhir

• Bint Kurdum

• Umm Habibah bint Sahl under “Those with 4”

• Umm Ayyub

• Umm Jamil, the mother of Muhammad ibn Hatib

• Umm Farwah

• al Sammaʾ bint Bishr

• Fatimah bint Abi Hubaysh

• Unaysah

• Durrah bint Abi Lahab

• Umm Saʿd

• Salamah

• Maymunah bint Saʿd under “Those with 3”

• Umm Tariq

• Khawlah bint Ilyas

• Sahlah bint Suhayl

• Umm ʿUmarah

• Umm ʿAbd Allah bint Aws

• Umm al Hakam

• ʿAishah bint Qudamah

• Umm Waraqah

• al Sawdaʾ

• Judhamah bint Wahb

• Maymunah, the freed woman of the Prophet ﷺ

• Umm Bashir bint al Baraʾ ibn Maʿrur

• Umm Ziyad

• Umm ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Tariq

• Umm Maʿbad

• Mariyah, his freed woman

• Umaymah under “Those with 2”

• Saniyyah, the freed woman of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ

• Jamilah bint Ubayy ibn Salul

• Khadijah, the Mother of the Believers

• Umm Sharik

• Umm Malik al Bahziyyah

• Yuqayrah, the wife of al Qaʿqaʿ

• Khawlah bint al Samit

• Umm Nasr

• Salamah bint Maʿqil

• Umm Kabshah

• Kabshah

• Jumrah bint ʿAbd Allah al Yarbuʿiyyah

• Umm ʿUthman bint Sufyan

• al Shumus bint al Nuʿman

• Sarraʾ bint Nabhan

• Layla bint Qaʾif al Thaqafiyyah

• Umm Sunbulah

• Barirah, the freed woman of ʿAishah, the Mother of the Believers

• Umm Jamilah

• Nadbah

• ʿAzzah bint Khaʾil

• Umm Sulayman bint Hakim

• Qutaylah

• Umm Anas

• Umm Khalid bint al Aswad

• Umm Haniʾ al Ansariyyah

• Umm Humayd

• Qilah, another

• Umm Farwah

• Yarawʿ bint Washiq

• Salma

• Khayrah, the wife of Kaʿb ibn Malik

• Umm Ishaq

• Habibah bint Abi Sabrah

• Umm Saʿd Khalidah bint Anas

• Tuʿmah, or Tuʿaymah, bint Juzʾ, or Jar

• Umm Malik al Bahziyyah

• Umm Hilal bint Bilal al Aslami

• Umm al Hajjaj, the concubine of Usamah

• Umm Ruman

• Umm al Sahbaʾ

• Umm al Tufayl, the wife of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb

• Hamnah bint Jahsh

• Umm ʿAmir

• Habibah bint Abi Tujarriʾah

• Raqiqah

• the daughter of Hamzah ibn ʿAbd al Muttalib under “Those with singular reports”(From the treatise of Ibn Hazm, “Asmaʾ al Sahabah al Ruwah wa Ma Li Kull Wahid min al ʿAdad”, printed at the end of Jawamiʿ al Sirah, and likewise in the book “Baqi ibn Makhlad wa Muqaddimat Musnadih”, by Akram al ʿUmari, and Ibn al Jawzi نقل it in “Talqih Fuhum Ahl al Athar”.)

So these female Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, shared with ʿAishah in spreading knowledge and pouring religion upon the Muslims. This is confirmed by the fact that they have many hadith raised to the Prophet ﷺ.

There are also many statements attributed to them in tafsir, fiqh, and hadith. All of this shows that the Muslim woman turned to knowledge from the time Allah honoured her with Islam, and that sometimes she went beyond personal obligations of knowledge into communal obligations.

The Woman in the Prophetic Era, and a Comparison Between Her and the Pre Islamic Era, in the Past and in the Present

This is the woman in the virtuous centuries. She was considered after neglect, guided after being left, honoured after humiliation, taught after ignorance. She fulfilled what was required of her, and she began to look to her rights, studying the Great Qur’an and the teachings of the noble Prophet ﷺ.

Whoever takes them does not go astray, and whoever is lit by their light is guided. They remove darkness, light minds and thoughts, and remove dirt and sins. When Muslim women turned to them, their minds were lit and their hearts became clear. How could it be otherwise when they recited the words of Allah Most High:

وَلَهُنَّ مِثْلُ الَّذِي عَلَيْهِنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ
“And for them is the like of what is upon them, in what is right.” (al Baqarah 228)

And they recited the words of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “Women are the counterparts of men.” So it is no surprise that they competed with men in the Book and the Sunnah, learning and teaching, memorising and understanding and making others understand, in an astonishing way that amazed souls, and historians and biographers praised the woman in a way that would not have entered the mind, even in thought.

How not, when Allah Most High placed her sometimes in a rank where she stood with the truthful ones among the masters of creation and guides of the universe. He made the angels speak to them, His glad tidings come to them, and revelation from the sky bind their hearts and strengthen them.

Qur’an Verses About the Honour of Women

وَإِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللهَ اصْطَفَاكِ وَطَهَّرَكِ وَاصْطَفَاكِ عَلَى نِسَاءِ الْعَالَمِينَ
“And when the angels said: O Maryam, Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of creation.” (Al ʿImran 42)

إِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِنْهُ اسْمُهُ الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ
“When the angels said: O Maryam, Allah gives you glad tidings of a word from Him, his name is al Masih ʿIsa ibn Maryam.” (Al ʿImran 45)

إِنَّمَا أَنَا رَسُولُ رَبِّكِ لِأَهَبَ لَكِ غُلَامًا زَكِيًّا
“I am only a messenger of your Lord, to grant you a pure boy.” (Maryam 19)

وَبَشَّرُوهُ بِغُلَامٍ عَلِيمٍ فَأَقْبَلَتِ امْرَأَتُهُ فِي صُرَّةٍ فَصَكَّتْ وَجْهَهَا وَقَالَتْ عَجُوزٌ عَقِيمٌ قَالُوا كَذَلِكَ قَالَ رَبُّكِ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْحَكِيمُ الْعَلِيمُ
“And they gave him glad tidings of a knowing boy. Then his wife came with a loud cry and struck her face and said: an old, barren woman. They said: thus your Lord has said. He is the Wise, the Knowing.” (al Dhariyat 28–30)

وَامْرَأَتُهُ قَائِمَةً فَضَحِكَتْ فَبَشَّرْنَاهَا بِإِسْحَاقَ وَمِنْ وَرَاءِ إِسْحَاقَ يَعْقُوبَ قَالَتْ يَا وَيْلَتَى أَأَلِدُ وَأَنَا عَجُوزٌ وَهَذَا بَعْلِي شَيْخًا إِنَّ هَذَا لَشَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ قَالُوا أَتَعْجَبِينَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللهِ
“And his wife was standing and she laughed, so We gave her glad tidings of Ishaq, and after Ishaq, Yaʿqub. She said: woe to me, shall I give birth while I am an old woman, and this is my husband, an old man. This is something strange. They said: do you wonder at the command of Allah.” (Hud 71–73)

وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى أُمِّ مُوسَى أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ وَلَا تَخَافِي وَلَا تَحْزَنِي إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ
“And We revealed to the mother of Musa: nurse him, then if you fear for him, cast him into the sea, and do not fear and do not grieve. We will return him to you and make him among the messengers.” (al Qasas 7)

وَلَقَدْ مَنَنَّا عَلَيْكَ مَرَّةً أُخْرَى إِذْ أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى أُمِّكَ مَا يُوحَى أَنِ اقْذِفِيهِ فِي التَّابُوتِ فَاقْذِفِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ
“And We favoured you another time, when We revealed to your mother what was revealed: cast him into the chest, then cast it into the sea.” (Ta Ha 37–39)

The woman in the era of the Messenger ﷺ and after him recited these verses, hearing them, reading them, and reflecting on their meanings and what they contain of a noble rank for the woman, in the persons of Maryam, the mother of ʿIsa, and the wife of Ibrahim, and the mother of Musa.

So she knew her worth and she remembered her rank before the era of Prophethood. She praised Islam for honouring her and raising her, and she thanked its first caller for speaking about her and guiding her.

So she did not leave men alone with anything without her. Just as she followed the new religion through all its stages, with faith and suffering for it, and migration for it, and calling to it with the tongue and the sword, in herself and among her family, husband, children, and people, with zeal and strength and devotion, day and night, in travel and in staying, as an unmarried girl, a wife, and a mother, she surpassed men and preceded them sometimes.

So among women was the first believer, and among women was the first martyr in the path of Allah. She was the same in spreading the religion, guarding it, turning to it, and conveying it. So among women were those with thousands, hundreds, and tens of hadith from the Master of the Messengers ﷺ. With time, the Muslim woman increased in confidence, pride in her rank, and joy in Islam.

So among women were preachers, learned women, jurists, and female hadith scholars through the ages and across eras, in all regions. She found herself after wandering and loss, moving from one state to another. She had been in a state of humiliation in the family and society, as a child and as a young woman, with no right and no honour, not counted in opinion or presence.

Men enslaved her in humiliation and abuse. If she asked, she was not answered. If she was needed, it was for bringing water, gathering firewood, collecting date pits for camels, and feeding dogs.

If she rose, it was for satisfying desires, in turning away and harsh looks. The day she came to this life, it was a day in which faces darkened, and souls were filled with anger, in confusion and unrest. Should she be kept in humiliation, or buried in the soil.

Qur’an Verses About the Pre Islamic Treatment of Girls

وَإِذَا بُشِّرَ أَحَدُهُمْ بِالْأُنْثَى ظَلَّ وَجْهُهُ مُسْوَدًّا وَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ يَتَوَارَى مِنَ الْقَوْمِ مِنْ سُوءِ مَا بُشِّرَ بِهِ أَيُمْسِكُهُ عَلَى هُونٍ أَمْ يَدُسُّهُ فِي التُّرَابِ
“And when one of them is given glad tidings of a female, his face becomes dark and he is filled with grief. He hides himself from the people because of the bad news he received. Should he keep her in humiliation, or bury her in the soil.” (al Nahl 58–59)

وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ
“And when the buried alive girl is asked: for what sin was she killed.” (al Takwir 8–9)

Ibn ʿAbbas said: in the pre Islamic era, when a woman became pregnant and her time of birth came, she would dig a hole. She would give birth at the edge of the hole. If she gave birth to a girl, she would throw her into the hole. If she gave birth to a boy, she would keep him. (Zad al Masir, 9/40.)

The commentators said about the first 2 verses: this was the practice of the polytheists of the Arabs. When labour came to one of them, he would hide until he knew what was born for him. If it was a boy, he was pleased. If it was a girl, he would not appear for days, thinking what he would do with her. “Should he keep her in humiliation, or bury her in the soil.” (Zad al Masir, 4/458, and what has already come in the previous verses in al Durr al Manthur, 4/121, and Kanz al ʿUmmal, 4674, 4679.)

Qatadah said: one of them, meaning the people of the pre Islamic era, would feed his dog and bury his daughter alive. (And how similar that is to the action of Westerners today. When a person goes far from the way of Allah Most High, the religious ties between him and the dearest people to him disappear.

So he began to seek ties with animals, bringing them into his care and home, giving them the finest kinds of food and drink. At the same time, he buried his daughter alive, in the earlier pre Islamic era, and he takes his father and mother to homes for the elderly, in the present pre Islamic era.

How sad for the one who leaves human beings and takes a dog or a cat instead. While these people call for kindness to animals, they despise human beings. Black people in America and in South Africa are treated as lower than animals. So when a person goes far from the way of Allah Most High, he becomes full of contradictions in his actions.)

Al Suddi said: the Arabs used to kill what was born to them of a girl, burying her in soil while she was alive.

ʿUmar ibn al Khattab described his people with sadness and heaviness: “In the pre Islamic era we did not count women, and we did not bring them into anything of our affairs. When we were in Makkah, one of us would not speak to his wife. If he had a need, he would strike her with his legs and fulfil his need from her. When Allah brought Islam, Allah placed them where He placed them, and He made for them a right.” (See the previous verses in al Durr al Manthur, 4/121, and Kanz al ʿUmmal, 4674, 4679.)

Women moved from that state to a state where they became lamps of guidance, centres of light and brightness, teachers and educators, righteous and reforming, callers, people returned to them in difficult matters and problems, and heroes, scholars, and wise people were raised under their hands. Here are examples of that. (These examples are taken from the biography books of the women mentioned: al Isabah, Asad al Ghabah, al Istiʿab, and Tahdhib. They are arranged in alphabetical order.)

Al Tabarani reported, with a sound chain, that Saʿda, the wife of Talhah ibn ʿUbayd Allah, said: “I entered upon Talhah one day and I saw heaviness in him. I said to him: what is wrong with you. Has something from us upset you, so we can make you pleased. He said: no, and you are the best wife of a Muslim man. But wealth has gathered with me and I do not know what I should do with it. She said: what troubles you about it. Call your people and divide it among them. He said: O servant boy, bring my people to me. I asked the treasurer: how much did he distribute. He said: 400,000.” (As in Sahih al Targhib wal Tarhib, 912.)

ʿAbd Allah ibn al Zubayr consulted his mother Asmaʾ about fighting al Hajjaj and his commander ʿAbd al Malik, after these people called him to surrender with safety. She answered: “If you went out to revive the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ, then the sheep is not hurt by being skinned. So die upon the truth. If you only went out seeking this life, then there is no good in you alive or dead. My son, die with honour and do not surrender.” (Al Mustadrak, 4/525.)

Al Khansaʾ bint ʿAmr al Sulamiyyah, the well known Muslim poet, attended the battle of al Qadisiyyah with her sons, 4 men. She urged them to fight and help Islam until they were killed. When the news reached her, she said: “All praise belongs to Allah who honoured me by their killing, and I hope that my Lord will gather me with them in His Garden.”

ʿAfraʾ bint ʿUbayd al Najariyyah had 7 sons, all men, and all of them attended Badr with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Hawwaʾ bint Yazid al Ansariyyah. Her husband Qays ibn al Hutaym, the poet, used to stop her from Islam, harm her, and mock her. He would come to her while she was bowing and uncover her. He would place her clothes over her head. He would come to her while she was in prostration and flip her onto her head, and say: you believe in a religion and it is not known what it is.

Umm Sharik al Qurashiyyah accepted Islam. She began to enter upon the women of Quraysh secretly, calling them and encouraging them to Islam, until her matter became known to the people of Makkah. They took her and punished her by hunger and thirst for days. They left her under the heat of midday and the sun, then they said: were it not for your people, we would do to you and do.

These are examples of the Muslim woman calling to her religion in the virtuous centuries, and her patience upon it, and her raising her children with righteous upbringing in the virtuous centuries. All of that was only because of knowledge and leaving ignorance.

In that there is a lesson.

In the year 1567 CE, a decision was issued by the Scottish parliament that a woman is not permitted to be given any authority over anything at all.

Even stranger than that, the English parliament issued a decision in the era of Henry the Eighth, the king of England, that forbade a woman from reading the New Testament, meaning it forbade her from reading the gospels and the letters of the messengers of Christianity.

Where is that compared to the Companions placing the first copy of the Qur’an, written in the caliphate of Abu Bakr, with a woman, and that was Hafsah, the Mother of the Believers. (See: al Masahif by Ibn Abi Dawud.)

Where is that compared to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanding al Shifaʾ bint ʿAbd Allah to teach writing to Hafsah. (Al Hakim reported this in al Mustadrak, 4/56–57, from a man of the Ansar. It has a supporting report from al Shifaʾ, reported by al Nasaʾi in al Kubra, as in Tuhfat al Ashraf, 11/336, and Abu Dawud in al Sunan, 3887, and Ahmad in al Musnad, 6/372, and al Tahawi in Sharh Maʿani al Athar, 2/388, and another supporting report from Hafsah, reported by Ahmad in al Musnad, 6/286, and al Tahawi and al Hakim in al Mustadrak, 4/414, and it is sound. See: al Silsilah al Sahihah, 178.)

Where is that compared to ʿAishah bint Talhah writing to people in the lands while the Mother of the Believers ʿAishah, may Allah be pleased with her, was hearing and seeing it.

Al Bukhari reported in al Adab al Mufrad, with his sound chain, from Musa ibn ʿAbd Allah, he said: ʿAishah bint Talhah told us, she said: “I said to ʿAishah while I was in her care, and people used to come to her from every land. Elder shaykhs used to come to me because of my place with her.

Young men used to treat me like a sister and give gifts to me. They would write to me from the lands, and I would say to ʿAishah: my maternal aunt, this is the letter of so and so and his gift. ʿAishah would say to me: my daughter, reply to him and repay him, and if you do not have something to repay, I will give you. She said: so she would give me.” (Al Adab al Mufrad, 1118.)

While the woman in the West was in humiliation and abuse, the Christian religion that the Western universe follows sees the woman as a source of sins, and the root of evil and corruption. It sees the woman as a gate of Hell for the man, because she moves him and carries him to sins.

From her the springs of human misfortunes burst out. Christianity sees the relationship with a woman as filth in itself, and it sees that rising in rank only happens by staying away from marriage. A society that follows this hateful view cannot give justice to women or place them in the fitting place, and it cannot look to them with honour. (Women Between the Callers of Islam and the Claimers of Progress, p 31.)

While the woman in the West was like that, the woman in the lands of Islam and the Muslims, by the guidance of the Lord of all creation and the direction of the Master of the Messengers ﷺ, was protected and honoured.

She preceded all men to the religion of truth. Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, the wife of the Messenger ﷺ, was the first to respond, believe, and encourage. She strengthened his heart to receive what Allah revealed to him and to make light for him the matter of people.

Then women followed after her: Asmaʾ bint Abi Bakr, Fatimah bint al Khattab, Asmaʾ bint Mukhrabah al Tamimiyyah, the wife of ʿAyyash ibn Abi Rabiʿah, Fatimah bint al Mujallal, the wife of Hatib ibn al Harith, Fakhihah bint Yasar, the wife of Talib ibn al Harith, Ramlah bint Abi ʿAwf, the wife of al Muttalib ibn Azhar, Aminah bint Khalaf, the wife of Khalid ibn Saʿid. All of these accepted Islam before the Commander of the Believers ʿUmar ibn al Khattab, and with his Islam the number of believers became 40. (Sirat Ibn Hisham, p 47–51.)

In that there is a sign of the status of the woman in Islam from its earliest appearance. She has a precedence that many men did not reach, and she has in it a rank and standing that ink and fingers cannot give its due.

It is enough praise for the status of the woman in Islam, and her standing in it, that she shared in leading one of its greatest acts of worship, the leadership of prayer, its obligatory prayers and its people, in the life of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, with his knowledge, and at the front of these are the Mothers of the Believers.

Raytah al Hanafiyyah said: “ʿAishah, the Mother of the Believers, led them in an obligatory prayer.”

Tamimah bint Salamah said: “ʿAishah led women in an obligatory prayer, in Maghrib. She stood in the middle of them and recited aloud.”

Yahya ibn Saʿid said: “ʿAishah used to lead women in voluntary prayer and stand in the middle of them in the row.”

Hujayrah bint Husayn said: “Umm Salamah, the Mother of the Believers, led us in ʿAsr prayer. She stood in the middle of us.”

Khayrah bint Abi al Hasan said: “Umm Salamah used to lead them in Ramadan and stand with them in the row.”

Ibn ʿUmar used to command a female servant of his to lead his women in the nights of Ramadan.

Ibn ʿAbbas said: “A woman leads women in voluntary prayer, standing in the middle of them.” (See these reports and others in al Muhalla, 3/126–128, and Sunan al Daraqutni, 1/403–405.)

In these reports, and many like them, about the permissibility of women leading prayer, led by some of the Mothers of the Believers, and commanded by 2 Companions among the major imams of the Prophetic era, there is a sign of the right of the woman to share in teaching and guiding.

There is no comparison between the rights of the woman in Islam and in other than Islam. Islam raised her and benefited her. Other principles and civilisations harmed her and lowered her, and they became skilled at exploiting her and taking cheap pleasure from her in many ways.

While men in Britain, for example, in the 18th century, meaning around 200 years ago, used to sell their wives, until a law was issued forbidding that in 1930 CE. Men in rural parts of England also used to sell their women for a very low price. This is what the English philosopher Herbert Spencer testified in his book “The Descriptive Science of Sociology”. (See details in Nidaʾ lil Jins al Latif by Muhammad Rashid Rida, p 26, and Women Between Fiqh and Law, p 211.)

Among strange reports is what the journal Hadharat al Islam نقل from a news agency in Reggio Calabria in Italy. Its meaning is that a man killed another man. When he was asked in investigation about the reason, he said that he had agreed with the killed man to sell him his wife for 570 pounds sterling. He paid 400 pounds, and a long time passed without paying the rest. When he demanded it, he avoided paying, so he killed him. (Hadharat al Islam, volume 2, p 1078, year 1962 CE.)

The disbelieving West, after years and decades, began to use the woman as a trap to gather money and a ride to gain pleasure and enjoyment. All of that is done in the name of “women’s freedom” and “women’s liberation”.

The woman in the universe of disbelief is poor. She moves from enslavement to enslavement, and from oppression to oppression.

Yesterday she was bought and sold as a cheap commodity. Today she is exploited in advertising products and different goods. Yet some sensible women among them have begun to sense their fall beneath the feet of men and their greedy nature.

The newspapers of the world published last year that a French actress, while acting a naked scene in front of the camera, rose with strong anger and shouted in the face of the actor and the director: “You dogs. You men do not want anything from us women except our bodies, so you become millionaires on our account.” Then she burst into tears.

Her natural character woke up in one moment, despite the corrupt life she is drowning in. It is the clear proof of the major tragedy that the woman they said is advanced, civilised, and modern is living in. (Women Between the Callers of Islam and the Claimers of Progress, p 32–33.)

Chapter Three

The Well Known Female Transmitters and Female Hadith Scholars

It has already been said earlier that a list and register of the names of the female transmitters from the female Companions in the virtuous centuries has been presented.

In this chapter, Allah willing, the aim is to briefly present the well known female transmitters and female hadith scholars after that, arranged by centuries, and to clarify the qualities and features that distinguished them in every century. Allah is the One relied upon.

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters From the Female Successors

From the teaching circle of the Mothers of the Believers, and other noble female Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, came a notable group of female students of Prophetic hadith. Later, they shared in transmitting hadith, and the leading hadith scholars took from them. Among the most well known are:

ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Saʿd ibn Zurarah ibn ʿAdas al Ansariyyah al Najjariyyah al Madaniyyah, the jurist, raised by ʿAishah and her student. She was a learned jurist, an authority, with abundant knowledge. She narrated from ʿAishah, Umm Salamah, Rafiʿ ibn Khadij, and her sister Umm Hisham bint Harithah. Those who narrated from her include her son Abu al Rijal Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman, his 2 sons Harithah and Malik, her sister’s son, the judge Abu Bakr ibn Hazm, and his 2 sons ʿAbd Allah and Muhammad, al Zuhri, and others.

Al Qasim ibn Muhammad said to Ibn Shihab: “Young man, I see that you are keen in seeking knowledge. Shall I guide you to its vessel.” I said: “Yes.” He said: “Stick to ʿAmrah, for she was in the care of ʿAishah.” He said: “So I came to her and I found her a sea that cannot be exhausted.”

A group of ulama graded her reliable. Ibn Maʿin said about her: “Reliable, an authority.” Al ʿIjli said: “A Madinan female Successor, reliable.”

Ibn al Madini mentioned her and made her rank great, and said: “ʿAmrah is among the reliable, learned, firmly established transmitters from ʿAishah.” Ibn Hibban mentioned her in “Al Thiqat”, and said: “She was among the most knowledgeable people in the hadith of ʿAishah.” Ibn Saʿd described her as “the learned woman.” ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz said: “No one remains more knowledgeable in the hadith of ʿAishah than ʿAmrah.”

Her hadith are many in the collections of Sunnah. They differed about her death. It was said: she died in 98 AH. It was also said: she died in 106 AH. (Her biography is in Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd, 8/480, Tahdhib al Kamal, folio 1697, al ʿIbar, 1/117, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 4/507, Tahdhib al Tahdhib, 12/438, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 1/114.)

Hafsah bint Sirin, Umm al Hudhayl, the jurist, the Ansariyyah, a noble lady from the leading female Successors, known for worship, fiqh, recitation of the Qur’an, and hadith.

Iyas ibn Muʿawiyah said: “I did not meet anyone more excellent than her.” They mentioned to him al Hasan and Ibn Sirin, so he said: “As for me, I do not see anyone more excellent than her.”

As for the leading female Successors, according to Ibn Abi Dawud, they are: Hafsah bint Sirin, ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al Rahman, and after them Umm al Darda al Sughra.

Hafsah narrated from Umm ʿAtiyyah, Umm al Raih, her patron Anas ibn Malik, and Abu al ʿAliyah. Those who narrated from her include her brother Muhammad, Qatadah, Ayyub, Khalid al Hadhdhaʾ, Ibn ʿAwn, and Hisham ibn Hassan.

She completed the Qur’an while she was 12 years old. She lived 70 years. She used to advise the youth. From her words: “People of youth, take from yourselves while you are young, for I have seen work in youth.” This is what she did, may Allah have mercy on her. She stayed 30 years, not leaving her prayer place except for the midday rest, or to fulfil a need. She died after 100 AH. (Her biography is in Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd, 8/484, Tahdhib al Kamal, folio 1679, al ʿIbar, 1/123, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 4/507, Tahdhib al Tahdhib, 12/40, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 1/122.)

Muʿadhah bint ʿAbd Allah, Umm al Sahbaʾ, al ʿAdawiyyah al Basriyyah, the devoted worshipper, the wife of the master and exemplar Silah ibn Ashyam.

She was among the women of eloquence, clarity, deep understanding of religion, and transmitting the hadith of the Master of the Messengers ﷺ, and she was an ascetic devoted worshipper. Al Dhahabi described her as: “The learned lady.”

She narrated from ʿAli, ʿAishah, and Hisham ibn ʿAmir. Those who narrated from her include Abu Qilabah, Yazid al Rishk, ʿAsim al Ahwal, Ayyub al Sakhtiyani, and others.

Ibn Maʿin graded her reliable and said: “Reliable, an authority.” Her hadith are used as proof in the Sahih works. She used to spend the night in worship, and she used to say: “I am amazed at an eye that sleeps, when it knows the length of lying in the darkness of graves.”

The woman who nursed her when she grew old said: “My daughter, be cautious and hopeful regarding meeting Allah Most High, for I have seen the hopeful one surrounded by good closeness with Him on the day he meets Him, and I have seen the fearful one hoping for Him on the day people stand for the Lord of all creation.”

Then she cried. She used to say: “I accompanied this life for 70 years and I did not see in it any comfort at all.” She died in 83 AH, and it was said otherwise. (Her biography is in Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd, 8/483, Thiqat Ibn Hibban, 5/466, Tahdhib al Kamal, folio 1705, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 4/508, Tahdhib al Tahdhib, 12/452, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 1/122.)

Umm al Darda al Sughra, Hujaymah, and it is said: Juhaymah, al Awsabiyyah al Himyariyyah al Dimashqiyyah.

A major jurist, a learned practicing woman with wide knowledge, abundant transmission, strong intellect and sharp awareness, with beauty and charm. Al Dhahabi described her as: “The learned, jurist lady.”

She narrated abundant knowledge from her husband Abu al Darda, from Salman al Farisi, Kaʿb ibn ʿAsim al Ashʿari, ʿAishah, Abu Hurayrah, and a group.

She reviewed the Qur’an while she was young with Abu al Darda. She lived long, and became well known for knowledge, practice, and asceticism.

A group of famous transmitters narrated from her, such as Jubayr ibn Nufayr, Abu Qilabah al Jarmi, Salim ibn Abi al Jaʿd, Mak hul, and Zayd ibn Aslam.

Mak hul said: “Umm al Darda was a jurist.” Abu Ahmad al ʿAssal said: “Much hadith is narrated from her.” It is narrated from her that she said: “The best knowledge is true recognition.” It is narrated from her that she said: “Learn wisdom while young so that you act upon it while older, for every planter harvests what he planted, whether good or evil.”

A man said to her: “I find in my heart a sickness and I do not find a cure for it, and I find severe hardness and far reaching hopes.” She said: “Look into the graves and witness the dead.” She died after the year 81 AH, may Allah have mercy on her. (Her biography is in al Maʿrifah wal Tarikh, 2/327, Thiqat Ibn Hibban, 5/517, Tahdhib al Kamal, folio 1709, Tadhkirat al Huffaz, 1/50, al ʿIbar, 1/93, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 11/277, al Bidayah wal Nihayah, 9/47, and Ghayat al Nihayah, entry 3783.)

And there are many others. Ibn Hibban took care in mentioning them, coming close to covering them and pointing to those from whom narration occurred, in his book “Al Thiqat”, so refer to it. (In the following locations: 4/63–64, 121, 194–196, 215–219, 221, 224, 244–245, 271–272, 351–352, 385–386, 399, and 5/343–344, 346, 465–466, 486, 328–329, 300–301, 288–289, 517, 593–594.)

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters During the Second and Third Century

More than one woman became well known for transmitting hadith in the second and third century of the Hijrah. Al Khatib al Baghdadi mentioned some of them in his work “Tarikh Baghdad”, and Ibn Hibban attempted to cover them in “Al Thiqat”. Among the most well known are:

ʿAbidah al Madaniyyah.

She was among the women who transmitted hadith abundantly. She narrated from Malik ibn Anas and others from the ulama of Madinah. She narrated so much that some huffaz said: “She is the most transmitting of 10,000 hadith.” Ibn al Abbar said: “She transmits many hadith.” (See: Aʿlam al Nisa, 3/199.)

Among them also:

ʿAliyyah bint Hassan.

She was a noble, intelligent woman. She had a house in al ʿUqah known by her. Salih al Murri and other leading people of Basrah, its jurists, and its ulama used to enter upon her, and she would come out to them and they would speak and ask one another. (From her the well known hadith scholar Ismaʿil ibn ʿAliyyah is linked. Among the honours and merits of women is that many famous hadith scholars, poets, and others were linked to them. Al Fayruzabadi gathered names of those linked to their mothers in Tuhfat al Abiyyah fi Man Nusiba ila Ghayr Abih.

Muhammad ibn Habib gathered those linked to their mothers among poets in “Man Nusiba ila Ummih”. Both are printed in the first volume of Nawadir al Makhtutat. The first of them missed a group according to his condition, such as al Hasan ibn Dinarah, Ziyad ibn Sumayyah, Saʿid ibn Marjanah, Sulayman ibn Fiʾah, ʿAbd al Malik ibn Buhayr, Yazid ibn Diyyah, and Yuhanna ibn ʿAlbaʾ.

Some of them use the words of Allah Most High:“On the day We call every people by their leader.” (Al Isra: 71)

He said: this is an error caused by ignorance of morphology, for “mother” is not pluralised as “imam”. See: al Kashshaf, 2/369, and al Itqan, 2/181. Some of them cling to a false hadith: “People on the Day of Judgement will be called by their mothers, not by their fathers.” See: al Asrar al Marfuʿah, p 473.

It is very weak, as has been clarified in the editing of Tadhkirat al Qurtubi. Some of them add a ruling for that, such as: because of ʿIsa عليه السلام, or because of the honour of al Hasan and al Husayn, or so that children of adultery are not exposed.

All of this is false. What refutes it is what is in the 2 Sahihs from the hadith of Ibn ʿUmar, raised: “For the treacherous one, a banner will be raised for him on the Day of Judgement, and it will be said: this is the treachery of so and so son of so and so.” Ibn Battal said: “In this hadith is a refutation of the claim of whoever claims that they will not be called on the Day of Judgement except by their mothers, to conceal their fathers.”)

Also, the honoured righteous lady

Nafisah bint al Hasan ibn Zayd

A descendant of the Prophet’s grandson al Hasan ibn ʿAli, may Allah be pleased with them both, (d. 208 AH), used to memorise the Noble Qur’an, and she was knowledgeable in tafsir and hadith. Ibn Khallikan mentioned that when Imam al Shafiʿi died, his funeral was brought into her, and she prayed over him in her house.

Imam al Dhahabi said: nothing major from her reports has reached us. He said: the ignorant people of Egypt have a belief about her that goes beyond description, and it is not permissible, because of what is in it of shirk, and they prostrate to her, and they seek forgiveness from her. He said: this was from the plots of the callers of the ʿUbaydiyyah.

Ibn Kathir said: to this day the common people have gone too far in their belief about her and about many others, especially the common people of Egypt.

They use foul phrases of reckless exaggeration that lead to disbelief and shirk, and many expressions that they must know are not permissible. Some may attribute her to Zayn al ʿAbidin, and she is not from his lineage.

What should be believed about her is what suits women like her among the righteous women. The origin of idol worship is exaggeration in graves and their people. The Prophet ﷺ commanded graves to be levelled and erased.

Exaggeration regarding human beings is forbidden. Whoever claims that she frees from hardship, or that she benefits or harms without the will of Allah, then he is a mushrik. May Allah have mercy on her and honour her. (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 10/106. al Bidayah wal Nihayah, 10/274.)

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters During the Fourth Century

After the important books were authored in this period, many female hadith scholars became deeply skilled in these books and mastered them.

They had a strong share in teaching them as well. Among the most well known who were distinguished by that are: Fatimah bint ʿAbd al Rahman (d. 312 AH), Fatimah bint Abi Dawud, Amat al Wahid bint al Muhamili al Husayn ibn Ismaʿil (d. 377 AH), and she was the mother of the judge Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al Qasim al Muhamili, and Jumʿah bint Ahmad, and Amat al Salam bint al Qadi Abi Bakr. They gave benefit by teaching hadith and became well known for it.

Amat al Wahid, whose name was Sititah

Alongside transmitting hadith, was a learned jurist and mufti. Al Khatib described her by saying: “She was virtuous in herself, abundant in charity, quick in good deeds. She transmitted and hadith was written from her.”

She studied fiqh with her father, and narrated from him, and from Ismaʿil al Warraq and ʿAbd al Ghafir al Himsi. She memorised the Qur’an and Shafiʿi fiqh, and mastered inheritance, issues of cycles, Arabic, and other than that.

Al Barqani said: “She used to issue verdicts along with Abu ʿAli ibn Abi Hurayrah.” Someone else said: “She was among the most memorising people of fiqh.” Al Hasan ibn Muhammad al Khallal narrated from her. (Her biography is in Tarikh Baghdad, 14/442, al Muntazam, 7/138, al ʿIbar, 3/4, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 15/264, Mirʾat al Jinan, 2/407, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 3/88.)

Jumʿah bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ʿUbayd Allah al Muhamiyyah

She was from Naysabur. She came to Baghdad and transmitted there from Abu ʿAmr ibn Hamdan, Abu Ahmad al Hafiz, Abu Bakr al Tarazi, ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Wahhab al Razi, and Bishr ibn Muhammad ibn Yasin.

Al Khatib al Baghdadi said: “Abu Muhammad al Khallal narrated to me from her, and ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn ʿAli al Azaji, and Abu al Husayn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Shuruti.” He said: “Al Shuruti mentioned to me that he heard from her in Baghdad in the year 396 AH.” He said: “Al Khallal said to me: Abu Hamid al Isfaraʾini used to honour her greatly and treat her generously.” (Tarikh Baghdad, 14/444.)

Amat al Salam bint al Qadi Abi Bakr Ahmad

She heard from Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil al Baslani and Muhammad ibn al Husayn ibn Humayd ibn al Rabiʿ.

Al Khatib said: al Azhari narrated to us from her, and al Tanukhi, and al Husayn ibn Jaʿfar al Sulamasi, and Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hassunun al Narsi, and Abu Khazim, and Abu Yaʿla Muhammad, the 2 sons of al Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn al Farraʾ. She had transmitted in Baghdad in the year 309 AH.

Al Khatib said: I heard al Azhari and al Tanukhi mention Amat al Salam bint Ahmad ibn Kamil, so they praised her with good praise and described her with religion, intellect, and virtue. She died in 390 AH. (Tarikh Baghdad, 14/443.)

Some female hadith scholars used to mention the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ in dictation sittings from their memorisation, as Fatimah bint Abi Bakr ibn Abi Dawud al Sijistani used to do. (Refer to: Tarikh Baghdad, 14/442.)

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters During the Fifth Century

During the fifth century there were women of virtue who were female hadith scholars. The skilled masters among the hadith scholars acknowledged their virtue. The people of knowledge wrote their biographies. Among them are:

Fatimah, the daughter of the ascetic teacher Abu ʿAli al Hasan ibn ʿAli al Daqqaq.

She was the wife of Abu al Qasim al Qushayri, the author of “al Risalah”, the well known work. (It contains much good speech, and it also contains much corrupt speech regarding creed. Ustadh Zuhayr al Shawish said: one of our virtuous ulama used to say: it is the end of good and the beginning of evil. After following its harmful effect in the Ummah, it is good to advise staying away from it, or that it should be edited by a scholar with sound creed and sound reason. Refer to: al Nukhbah al Bahiyyah fil Ahadith al Makdhubah ʿala Khayr al Bariyyah, p 54, footnote.)

She was among the most well known female hadith scholars and male hadith scholars in the fifth century of the Hijrah. She heard from Abu Nuʿaym al Isfaraʾini, Abu al Hasan al ʿAlawi, ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf, Abu ʿAbd Allah al Hakim, al Sulami, and a group.

She had a large share in the Islamic sciences, attached herself to the great masters among the hadith scholars, and stood uniquely in hadith. She was counted among the most well known female hadith scholars and surpassed the people of her era in the elevation of chains. Al Dhahabi described her by saying: “The devoted worshipper, learned female shaykh.” He also said: “She was a devoted worshipper, obedient, one who stood in night prayer, great in rank.”

Those who narrated from her include ʿAbd Allah al Farawi, Zahhir al Shahhami, her grandson Abu al Asʿad Hibat al Rahman ibn ʿAbd al Wahid, and others. She died in Dhu al Qiʿdah in 480 AH. She was 90 years old, may Allah have mercy on her.

ʿAishah bint Hasan ibn Ibrahim, Umm al Fath al Isfahaniyyah al Warkaniyyah.

She wrote dictations from Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn Mandah, in her own handwriting. She heard from Muhammad ibn Jashnas, the narrator from Ibn Saʿid, and from ʿAbd al Wahid ibn Shah, and a group.

Those who wrote her biography praised her. Al Dhahabi said: “The preacher, the learned one, the musnid.” She was the first female shaykh of al Hafiz Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad.

Al Samʿani said: “I asked al Hafiz Ismaʿil about her, so he said: a righteous learned woman, she preaches to women, and she wrote the dictations of Ibn Mandah from him. She is the first one I heard hadith from. My father sent me to her, and she was an ascetic.”

Those who narrated from her include al Husayn ibn ʿAbd al Malik al Khallal, Saʿid ibn Abi al Rajaʾ, Muhammad ibn Hamd al Kabriti, and Ismaʿil al Hammami, the one who lived long, and he was the last of her companions. She remained until the year 466 AH. (Her biography is in al Ansab, folio 581, Muʿjam al Buldan, 5/373, al Lubab, 3/361, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 18/302, al ʿIbar, 3/247, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 3/308.)

ʿAishah bint Muhammad ibn al Husayn al Bustami.

She narrated from Abu al Husayn al Khafaf and others. Those who narrated from her include Ismaʿil ibn al Muʾadhdhin, Zahhir al Shahhami, his brother Wajih, and Muhammad ibn Hamawayh al Juwayni al Zahid. She was from a family of knowledge and virtue. Her father was among the major ulama. Her brother Abu al Maʿali ʿUmar and al Muwaffaq Hibat Allah were among the major ulama. Her brother’s son Abu Sahl Muhammad ibn al Muwaffaq was great in rank. She died around 465 AH. (Her biography is in Takmilat Ikmal al Kamal by Ibn Nuqtah, and Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 18/425, and Aʿlam al Nisa, 18/425.)

Among the female hadith scholars of this century is Bibi bint ʿAbd al Samad ibn ʿAli al Harthamiyyah, Umm al Fadl, (d. 477 AH), the long lived female shaykh, the musnid, the female hadith scholar, the virtuous one, the one who had “the Juzʾ” for which she became well known in narrating it from ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Abi Shurayh from his shaykhs. She was unique in it. It was heard from her by countless people. Al Dhahabi included her among the famous bearers of Prophetic reports whose mention spread through lands and ages. (Her biography is in Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 19/403, al ʿIbar, 3/287, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 3/354. The Juzʾ is printed with the editing of Shaykh ʿAbd al Rahman al Faryuwai. al Muʿin fi Tabaqat al Muhaddithin, p 137.)

It is not permissible, while speaking about this period, to skip:

Karimah bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hatim al Marwaziyyah.

She was a strong pillar of hadith. The major ulama attended her lessons, such as the well known hadith scholar and jurist al Khatib al Baghdadi, and the famous hadith scholar Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn Nasr, known as al Humaydi al Azdi, and the famous historian Abu al Mahasin al Misri, and the genealogist and hadith scholar al Samʿani. All of them harvested from her knowledge. The ulama acknowledged her virtue and her precedence in teaching “al Jamiʿ al Sahih” by al Bukhari, to the point that the hadith scholar of Herat, Abu Dharr, advised students not to take “al Jamiʿ al Sahih” except from her.

Ibn Nuqtah wrote her biography and said:

She transmitted Sahih al Bukhari in Makkah from Abu al Haytham Muhammad ibn al Makki al Kushmihini.

She also heard from Zahhir ibn Ahmad al Sarkhasi. She was learned, and she preserved her books as far as we have been informed. Al Hafiz Abu Bakr al Khatib heard Sahih al Bukhari from her, and Abu Talib al Husayn ibn Muhammad al Zaynabi. (Al Taqyid li Maʿrifat al Ruwat wal Sunan wal Masanid, 2/324.)

Al Hafiz Ibn al Jawzi wrote her biography under the events of the year 463 AH, and he said, may Allah have mercy on him:

Karimah bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim al Marwaziyyah died in Makkah in this year. She was from Kushmihin, a village from the villages of Marw. She was a learned righteous woman. She heard Abu al Haytham al Kushmihini and others. The imams read to her, such as al Khatib, Ibn al Muttalib, al Samʿani, and Abu Talib al Zaynabi. (Al Muntazam, 8/270.)

Al Hafiz al Dhahabi said in “al ʿIbar” under the events of the year 463 AH as well: “In it died Karimah bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hatim, Umm al Karam, al Marwaziyyah, the neighbour in Makkah. She narrated al Sahih, meaning Sahih al Bukhari, from al Kushmihini, and she narrated from Zahhir al Sarkhasi. She used to preserve her book and compare her copies. She had understanding and sharpness. She never married. It was said: she reached 100. A creation heard from her.” (Al ʿIbar, 3/254.)

He described her in “Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala” by saying: “The learned, virtuous female shaykh, the musnid.” He said: she heard Sahih al Bukhari from Abu al Haytham al Kushmihini. She heard from Zahhir ibn Ahmad al Sarkhasi and ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf ibn Bamawayh al Isfahani.

He said: when she narrated, she would compare with her original. She had understanding and knowledge, with goodness and devotion in worship. She narrated al Sahih many times.

One time was by the reading of Abu Bakr al Khatib in the days of the season. She died as a virgin and never married. Those who narrated from her include al Khatib, Abu al Ghanaʾim al Narsi, Abu Talib al Husayn ibn Muhammad al Zaynabi, Muhammad ibn Barakat al Saʿidi, ʿAli ibn al Husayn al Farraʾ, ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Sadaqah ibn al Ghazzal, Abu al Qasim ʿAli ibn Ibrahim al Nasib, Abu al Muzaffar Mansur ibn al Samʿani, and others.

Abu al Ghanaʾim al Narsi said: “Karimah brought out the copy of al Sahih, and she sat next to it, and I wrote 7 pages and read them. I wanted to compare alone, so she said: no, not until you compare with me. So I compared with her.” He said: “I also read to her from the hadith of Zahhir.”

Abu Shamah al Maqdisi heard from Karimah al Shamiyyah, whose name appears without qualification in his biography in Tadhkirat al Huffaz by al Dhahabi, 4/1461, and in Tabaqat al Huffaz by al Suyuti, p 507.

The editor of this Tabaqat made a clear major mistake and named in the indexes, p 638, that Karimah from whom Abu Shamah heard is “Karimah bint Ahmad al Rawaziyyah”. This is a clear error, since Karimah al Marwaziyyah died in 463 AH, while Abu Shamah was born in 599 AH, so how could he hear from someone who died around a century and a half before him. (From al ʿUlamaʾ al ʿUzzab, p 127–128.)

Abu Bakr ibn Mansur al Samʿani said: “I heard my father mention Karimah and say: has anyone seen anyone like Karimah.”

Women’s Care for Transmitting and Teaching Sahih al Bukhari in This Century and After It

The truth is that women had a strong share and a major portion in the history of teaching “al Jamiʿ al Sahih” by Imam al Bukhari. Among those who became well known for that, besides Karimah, are: Fatimah bint Muhammad (d. 539 AH), Shuhdah bint Ahmad (d. 574 AH), Zaynab bint ʿAbd al Rahman (d. 615 AH), Sharifah bint Ahmad al Nasawi, and Sitt al Wuzaraʾ bint ʿUmar (d. 716 AH). They are among those who deserve to be mentioned.

As for Fatimah, she took hadith from the famous hadith scholar Saʿid ibn Abi Saʿid al ʿAyyar. The hadith scholars used to mention her as “the musnid of Isfahan”, and they used to say about her: “She lived long and became unique in things.” Ibn Nuqtah said in her biography: she heard Sahih al Bukhari from Saʿid ibn Abi Saʿid al ʿAyyar. He transmitted from Abu Ghanim al Muhadhdhab ibn al Husayn that he said about her: “The transmitter of al Bukhari from Saʿid al ʿAyyar.”

As for Shuhdah, she had strong skill in handwriting, and in hadith she was a chain. The biographers mention her as “the skilled writer”, and “the chain of hadith”, and “the pride of women”, and “the musnid of Iraq”.

Her grandfather worked with needles, so he became known as al Ibri. Her father was given a love for hadith, so he took it from its masters in his era, and he ensured in teaching her firm grounding and abundance. Her husband was a generous man who loved the sciences.

His name was ʿAli ibn Muhammad, and he was among the notables. He was close to Imam al Muqtadi li Amr Allah. Perhaps out of care for his wife, he built a school for the companions of al Shafiʿi on the bank of the Tigris, and next to it a lodge for ascetics, and he endowed it with a major endowment.

Shaykh al Muwaffaq, one of those who narrated from her, said: “The chain of Baghdad ended with her. She lived long until she connected the young with the old. She used to write good handwriting, but it changed due to her old age.” (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 20/543.)

The conclusion is that Shuhdah, may Allah have mercy on her, was given a wide fame in hadith, and she was distinguished by the elevation of her chain, especially. A large number of students used to attend her teaching circle. Because of her fame, some people claimed they studied under her, by fabrication and falsehood. (Refer to: Wafayat al Aʿyan, entry 295. Nafh al Tib, 2/96, and what has already come earlier from Ibn al Jawzi about her.)

As for Zaynab bint ʿAbd al Rahman, a high chain ended with her death, as Ibn al ʿImad said. She heard Sahih al Bukhari from Wajih ibn Tahir al Shahhami and Abu al Futuh ibn Shah al Shadhiyakhi. She had authorisations from the shaykhs of Naysabur and other than it. Her hearing was sound. (Refer to: Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/63. al Taqyid, 2/326.)

As for Sharifah bint Ahmad, she heard al Bukhari from al Kushmihini, as Ibn Nuqtah mentioned, and he said: her hearing is sound. (Al Taqyid, 2/325.)

Sitt al Wuzaraʾ was also known as a musnid. She taught “al Jamiʿ al Sahih” in Egypt and Damascus many times. Ibn al ʿImad described her as “the musnid of her time”. She is among those al Dhahabi studied under.

He said: “A religious female shaykh, an ascetic, of good character. She narrated much and lived long. She heard from her father and from Ibn al Zabidi. She was the last one to transmit Musnad al Shafiʿi.” “I read to her al Sahih and Musnad al Shafiʿi.” “Ibn al Khabbaz narrated from her in his mashyakha.” He said: “She narrated on the day of her death, then death took her by surprise.” (Muʿjam al Shuyukh, entry 323. Her biography is in al Durar al Kaminah, 2/129, Dhayl Tabaqat al Hanabilah, 2/429, al Wafi bil Wafayat, 15/117, and al Dalil al Shafi, 1/312.)

After that, a group of women took care of Sahih al Bukhari. For example, Zaynab bint Muzaffar (d. 709 AH) compared “Sahih al Bukhari” with her husband. (Muʿjam al Shuyukh by al Dhahabi, entry 28.) Umm al Khayr Amat al Khaliq, the rooted female shaykh, the one who lived long (d. 902 AH), was the last person who narrated Sahih al Bukhari from the companions of al Hajjar. The people of the earth descended a level in narrating this Sahih with her death, may Allah have mercy on her, so she was known as “the seal of the female hadith scholars of al Hijaz”. (Shadharat al Dhahab, 8/14.)

Women’s Care for Other Hadith Books

By looking into the books of narrators and examining chains and the marginal notes of manuscripts in hadith knowledge, and the authorisations of hadith scholars and chains, it can be said that women did not only study “al Jamiʿ al Sahih” with a method that deserves praise and recognition, rather they also studied other books such as the Sahih works, the Sunan works, the Musnads, the Muʿjams, and the hadith parts. Their share in that reached a great extent.

Umm al Khayr Fatimah bint ʿAli (d. 532 AH), and Fatimah al Shahrzuriyyah studied Sahih Muslim.

Safiyyah bint Ahmad (d. 741 AH) heard, by the reading of her brother to their mother al Shams ʿUbayd Allah, Sahih Muslim from Ibn ʿAbd al Daʾim. (Muʿjam al Shuyukh, entry 337, and al Durar al Kaminah, 2/207.)

Fatimah al Jawzdaniyyah (d. 524 AH) was the last person in the universe to narrate from Ibn Ridah. She narrated much from him. She became unique in her time in narrating Kitab al Muʿjam al Kabir by al Tabarani and al Muʿjam al Saghir by al Tabarani from him.

Al Wadi Ashi heard “al Muʿjam al Saghir” from Shaykh Zayn al Din Abu Bakr ibn Yusuf al Mizzi, by the reading of al Hafiz al Dhahabi. He transmitted it from the 2 shaykhs Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil ibn Ahmad al Maqdisi and Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Khalil al Admi, by their hearing from Abu al Faraj Yahya ibn Mahmud ibn Saʿd al Thaqafi. He informed us: Abu ʿAdnan Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al Mutahhar and Umm Ibrahim Fatimah bint ʿAbd Allah al Jawzdaniyyah, both said: Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Ridah al Dubbi informed us from its author al Tabarani. (See: Barnamaj al Wadi Ashi, p 208, and the hearings written in the first volume of al Muʿjam al Kabir.)

She also heard from Ibn Ridah the book “al Fitan” by Nuʿaym ibn Hammad. (See the sources of her biography.)

ʿAfifah bint Ahmad al Farfani (d. 606 AH) heard from Fatimah al Jawzdaniyyah al Muʿjam al Kabir and al Muʿjam al Saghir by al Tabarani, and Kitab al Fitan by Nuʿaym ibn Hammad. Ibn Nuqtah heard from ʿAfifah some of her narrations.

He said, after mentioning that she had authorisation from Abu ʿAli al Haddad and Abu Talib ibn Yusuf and a group from Isfahan and Baghdad, the following: she died in Isfahan in Rabiʿ al Akhir or Jumada al Ula of the year 606 AH, shortly after we left the city. We heard from her al Muʿjam al Kabir, and al Fitan by Nuʿaym, and other than that. (Al Taqyid, 2/326. Also see: Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/19.)

Fatimah, the daughter of the teacher Abu ʿAli al Daqqaq (d. 524 AH), Abu al Barakat ʿAbd Allah al Farawi heard from her some of Musnad Abi ʿAwanah, from the start of the chapter “Fadaʾil al Qur’an” to the end of the book. (Al Taqyid, 2/321–322.)

ʿAishah bint Muʿammar (d. 607 AH) heard from Saʿid ibn Abi al Rajaʾ al Sayrafi Musnad Abi Yaʿla al Mawsili, and she taught it.

Ibn Nuqtah said: we heard from her in Isfahan Musnad Abi Yaʿla, and parts from al Fawaʾid, and her hearing was sound by the teaching of her father. (Al Taqyid, 2/325.)

ʿAtikah bint al Hafiz Abu al ʿAla al Hasan ibn Ahmad al ʿAttar al Hamadhani (d. 609 AH) heard from Abu Bakr Hibat Allah ibn al Faraj, the son of the sister of al Tawil, Kitab al Sunan by Abu Dawud al Sijistani. She also heard Kitab Makarim al Akhlaq by Abu Bakr ibn Lal.

Ibn Nuqtah said in her biography: as for Kitab Makarim al Akhlaq by Abu Bakr ibn Lal, Ishaq ibn Muhammad al Muʾayyad al Hamadhani told me that he saw her hearing in all of it. He said: ʿAtikah transmitted the book, meaning al Sunan, all of it in Baghdad. (Al Taqyid, 2/325.)

Zaynab bint Makki al Harraniyyah (d. 688 AH) used to have a large number of students attend her lessons. She, may Allah have mercy on her, delivered dictation sittings on the large “Musnad” of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him. (Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/404, and al Mabahith al ʿIlmiyyah, p 248.)

Amat al Rahim bint Muhammad al Yunin iyyah (d. 729 AH), one of the female shaykhs of al Dhahabi, was described by her student: “She heard Musnad al Nisa from Musnad Ahmad from her father. She used to write and teach. She was the wife of ʿAla al Din ibn ʿUmarun. She was described with intellect and religion, with few equals among women.” (Muʿjam al Shuyukh, entry 198.)

Juwayriyyah bint ʿAmr (d. 783 AH), and Zaynab bint Ahmad ibn ʿUmar (d. 722 AH), bore the hardship of long travel in seeking hadith. They held hadith dictation sittings in al Madinah al Munawwarah and Egypt. They taught Sunan al Darimi and Musnad ʿAbd ibn Humayd. Students used to come to them from wide lands and far distances to satisfy their strong desire for seeking. (Refer to: al Umam li Iqaz al Himam, p 28–29, Muʿjam al Shuyukh, entry 268, al Durar al Kaminah, 2/118, Shadharat al Dhahab, 6/56, Aʿlam al Nisa, 2/51, and al Mabahith al ʿIlmiyyah, p 248.)

Zaynab bint Ahmad al Kamal (d. 740 AH) received authorisation from a group from Baghdad and others. She became unique, lived long, and her mention became famous. Al Dhahabi described her as: “A righteous female shaykh, humble, virtuous, friendly, with much chivalry.” He said: she died at 94 years of age, and they descended a level at her death. (Muʿjam al Shuyukh, entry 267. Her biography is in Wafayat Ibn Rafiʿ, 1/316, al Durar al Kaminah, 2/209, al Jawhar al Munaddad, entry 49, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 6/126.)

This Zaynab taught Musnad Abi Hanifah, al Shamaʾil by al Tirmidhi, and Sharh Maʿani al Athar by al Tahawi. She took “Maʿani al Athar” from a female hadith scholar known as ʿAjibah bint Abi Bakr.

This ʿAjibah, the female shaykh who lived long, the musnid, took from many people. A mashyakha in 10 parts was compiled for her. She became unique in the universe. From what she heard: the second part of the hadith of Abu Ahmad Husaynak from Yahya ibn Thabit al Baqqal, Mukhtalif al Hadith by al Shafiʿi from ʿAbd al Haqq al Yusufi, and Tarikh al Bukhari al Kabir from ʿAbd al Haqq as well. (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 23/232–233, al ʿIbar, 5/194, al Masjid al Masbuk, p 573, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/238.)

Ibn Battutah, the famous Muslim traveller, read some hadith books to her and to other female hadith scholars when he was in Damascus. (Rihlat Ibn Battutah, 1/253.)

Ibn ʿAsakir, the hadith scholar of Damascus and its unique master in the science of biography, who narrated hadith from 1,200 male hadith scholars and 80 female hadith scholars, took from the female hadith scholar Zaynab bint ʿAbd al Rahman “al Muwattaʾ” by Imam Malik. (Muʿjam al Udaba, 5/40–41.)

Al Suyuti read “al Risalah” by al Shafiʿi to Hajir bint Muhammad, the female hadith scholar. (Al Umam li Iqaz al Himam, p 17–18, and al Mabahith al ʿIlmiyyah, p 249.)

It is difficult for a researcher to count the books and hadith parts that women took or narrated. In Muʿjam al Shuyukh by al Dhahabi there are dozens, if not hundreds, of these books that al Dhahabi alone read, or received authorisation in, from female hadith scholars.

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters During the Sixth Century

Earlier, in Chapter One, during the discussion of the shaykhs of al Samʿani, Ibn al Jawzi, and al Salafi, and also in the lines written above about women’s care for hadith books, there were clear hints about the female transmitters and female hadith scholars in this century.

Among the most prominent and most well known female hadith scholars in this era were: Fatimah bint ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad al Jawzdaniyyah (d. 524 AH), Fatimah bint Muhammad ibn Abi Saʿid (d. 539 AH), Fatimah bint Abi al Hasan ʿAli ibn al Muzaffar ibn Zaʿbal (d. 533 AH), Fatimah bint Saʿd al Khayr (d. 600 AH), Shuhdah bint Ahmad (d. 574 AH), Tujni bint ʿAbd Allah al Wahbaniyyah (d. 575 AH), Khadijah bint Ahmad al Nahrawaniyyah (d. 570 AH), and Nafisah, also called Fatimah, bint Muhammad ibn ʿAli al Bazzazah (d. 563 AH), and many others.

Some of their biographies have already been presented, and the ways in which they cared for hadith, transmission, and the books of the imams in this field have been clarified, so there is no need to repeat it.

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters After the Sixth Century

After the sixth century of the Hijrah, 2 overwhelming floods surged. On one side, the Crusader wars shook the structure of the lands of Islam. On the other side, the Tatars pulled down its tents and turned the earth, the earth of peace, upside down.

The armies of thirsty Christians in the west used to drink from the blood of Muslims and shake the structure of honour and leadership. In the east, Hulagu, a major disaster, used to spill blood, trample lands, and corrupt among creation.

In the seventh century, oppression reached a great extent. The flood of tyranny, with its crashing waves and its frightening astonishing current, spread across the lands of Islam, pouring from here and there, until the lands of Islam overflowed with it and choked with the blood of their noble children.

The high palace of Islamic civilisation could be seen as if it fell from a far place, with no one to weep for it and no companion.

Yet in those days, days of raids and violation of sanctities, these women of knowledge, with their zealous emotions, were striving for the survival of knowledge like heroes strive in the arenas of battle. Wars did not crush their resolve. Disasters and hardships did not terrify them. Their striving caused springs of knowledge to flow with sweet, clear water, like the clear mirror of a stranger.

Where are the men, men. Women of veils and adornment, in those days, days of dark tribulations, days of misery and stillness, their strong effort and firm seriousness with complete courage remained fresh.

How many women travelled in those days of tribulations as full moons, leaving the echo of their virtue to ring for ages. Is there any man, even if he is truly learned, who mentions their names, let alone their achievements.

No. Tongues became silent, hearts became blind, and hardship became widespread. There is no complaint except to Allah, and there is no power and no strength except with Allah.

Yet despite extinction, the pages of books preserved them. So how great the regret and shame. From the female hadith scholars of this era that deserve mention is the noble female shaykh, the musnid of Khurasan, Zaynab bint al Shaʿra (d. 615 AH). She was righteous, long lived, and narrated much. She heard al Sahih from al Farisi and Wajih ibn Tahir.

The musnid of al Sham, the righteous female shaykh, the one who lived long, Karimah. Al Dhahabi described her and said: “She was a righteous, noble woman, with a long patience with students. She does not become bored of narration.”

He said she narrated al Sahih more than once. He said: Zaki al Din al Barzali compiled for her a mashyakha in 8 parts, and we heard it. Safiyyah (d. 646 AH), the daughters of ʿAbd al Wahhab, and Zaynab bint al Makki (d. 688 AH).

As for Zaynab bint al Shaʿra, it is enough virtue for her that the likes of the well known virtuous Ibn Khallikan studied under her. Karimah was known as the musnid of al Sham, and Zaynab was distinguished by groups of students attending her teaching circle. (Al Mabahith al ʿIlmiyyah min al Maqalat al Sunniyyah, from the article of Ustadh Muhammad Zubayr al Siddiqi, al Sayr al Hathith fi Tarikh Tadwin al Hadith, p 249–250, with adjustment and addition.)

Among the most well known female hadith scholars of this era also are:

Umm ʿAbd al Karim Fatimah

She is the daughter of the hadith scholar and merchant Abu al Hasan Saʿd al Khayr ibn Muhammad ibn Sahl al Ansari al Balansi, (d. 600 AH).

Al Dhahabi described her as: “The noble female shaykh, the musnid.” He said: “I heard, in attendance in the third year, from Fatimah al Jawzdaniyyah, a portion of al Muʿjam al Kabir.” She attended in Baghdad in the year 525 AH with Hibat Allah ibn al Husayn, Zahhir ibn Tahir, and Abu Ghalib ibn al Bannaʾ.

She later heard from her father, from Hibat Allah ibn al Tabr, the judge Abu Bakr, Yahya ibn Hubaysh al Fariqi, Yahya ibn al Bannaʾ, Abu Mansur al Qazzāz, and others. A large group gave her authorisation.

She transmitted in Damascus and in Egypt. The leader Zayn al Din ibn Nujayyah, the preacher, married her. She lived with him in Damascus, then in Egypt. She saw honour and status.

A group narrated from her, including al Hafiz al Diyaʾ, the khatib of Marda, Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al Wazzan al Hanafi, and Muhammad ibn al Shaykh al Shatibi.

Al Mundhiri narrated from her by authorisation. The last person in the universe to narrate from her by authorisation was the shaykh of al Dhahabi, Ahmad ibn Abi al Khayr Salamah. (Her biography is in al Takmilah li Wafayat al Naqalah, entry 773, al ʿIbar, 4/314, al Nujum al Zahira, 6/187, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 4/347.)

From the female hadith scholars of the seventh century is Sitt al Kutbah Nuʿmah bint ʿAli ibn Yahya ibn ʿAli ibn al Tarrah (d. 604 AH). Her grandfather cared for her well. She heard from him many of the books of al Khatib al Baghdadi, such as: al Kifayah, al Bukhalaʾ, al Jamiʿ, al Sabiq wal Lahiq, al Qunut, and other things.

She heard from Abu Shujaʿ al Bustami. Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Dharr al Salihani and al Farawi gave her authorisation.

More than one hadith scholar narrated from her, such as al Diyaʾ, Ibn Khalil, al Yildani, al Mundhiri, and Ibn Abi ʿUmar. Fakhr al Din ibn al Bukhari narrated from her in his mashyakha, which was compiled by Ibn al Zahiri al Hanafi, in the year 601 AH in Damascus. He described her as “the musnid female shaykh”. (Refer to: Mashyakhah al Fakhr Ibn al Bukhari, folio 124. Her biography is in al Takmilah, entry 1008, al ʿIbar, 5/10, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 21/434, Dhayl al Rawdatayn, p 63, and al Nujum al Zahira, 6/195. Also see what has already come earlier, p 40.)

Among those mentioned for knowledge and transmission, and among those who had care for the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, is

ʿAfifah bint Abi Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah, Umm Hani al Farfaniyyah, (d. 606 AH).

She heard al Muʿjam al Kabir in full, and al Muʿjam al Saghir, both by al Tabarani, and al Fitan by Nuʿaym ibn Hammad. A group from Baghdad gave her authorisation.

Ibn Nuqtah heard from her al Muʿjam al Kabir and al Fitan. Al Dhahabi described her as: “The noble female shaykh, the one who lived long, the musnid of Isfahan.” (Her biography is in al Takmilah, entry 1132, al ʿIbar, 5/17, al Nujum al Zahira, 6/200, Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/19, and Aʿlam al Nisa, 3/299.)

Among them also is

ʿAyn al Shams bint Ahmad ibn Abi al Faraj, Umm al Nur al Thaqafiyyah al Isfahaniyyah, the musnid of her time, (d. 610 AH).

She became unique in the universe in narrating from Ismaʿil ibn al Ikhshidh and Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Dharr al Salihani. She heard from him Juzʾ Abi al Shaykh.

She had many narrations, including: al Diyat by Ibn Abi ʿAsim, al Tawbah, ʿAwali al Qubab, Ahadith Bakr ibn Bakkar, Juzʾ Abi al Zubayr ʿan Ghayr Jabir, and other things. (Her biography is in al Takmilah, entry 1288, al ʿIbar, 5/36, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 22/23, al Nujum al Zahira, 6/209, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/42.)

Among them also is

Umm ʿAbd Allah Yasmin bint Salim ibn ʿAli ibn Salamah ibn al Baytar al Harimiyyah (d. 634 AH).

Those who wrote her biography described her as “the blessed female shaykh who lived long”.

She narrated a Juzʾ from Abu al Muzaffar Hibat Allah ibn al Shibli, and she became unique in it. (Her biography is in al Takmilah, entry 2689, al ʿIbar, 5/141, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 23/13, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/169.)

There were many women in this era with strong skill in knowledge. For example, Umm al ʿIzz bint Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Ghalib al ʿAbdari al Dani (d. 610 AH) combined, with mastery in hadith and teaching it, mastery of recitations. She mastered the 7 recitations. She heard Sahih al Bukhari, by her reading, 2 times from her father. (Aʿlam al Nisa, 3/269.)

Amat al Latif bint ʿAbd al Rahman, who died after 640 AH, was among the skilled authors. ʿAbd al Qadir Badran regretted not finding a detailed biography for her. He described her as “the learned woman”, “the virtuous one”, and “the one with authored works”. He mentioned that among her works are: al Tasdid fi Shahadat al Tawhid, and Birr al Walidayn. She established a dar for hadith and she taught in it. (Aʿlam al Nisa, 3/269.)

The number of female hadith scholars in the eighth and ninth century increased clearly, as shown by what al Hafiz, the authority, Ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalani, may Allah have mercy on him, listed from the biographies of 170 female hadith scholars in his work “al Durar al Kaminah fi Ahwal Rijal al Miʾah al Thaminah”. He mentioned many other virtuous women in his other work “Inbaʾ al Ghumr”. Among them are many whose lessons he attended and benefited from, such as this imam.

He narrated hundreds of books, parts, musnads, and sahih works through women, with his chain from them to their authors. This is clear to whoever reviews his book al Muʿjam al Muʾassis lil Muʿjam al Mufahras.

The situation reached the point that he singled out the shaykhs of some women from whom he took, because of the wide extent of their narration and the number of their shaykhs. He wrote 2 books about that:

The first: al Muʿjam lil Hurrah Maryam, or Muʿjam al Shaykhah Maryam.

In it, he extracted the shaykhs of the female hadith scholar Maryam bint al Adhraʿi (d. 805 AH), and he pointed to her narrations from them. This female shaykh lived until she became unique in narrating the hadith of al Salafi by connected hearing. She was the last person to narrate from al Dabbusi by connected hearing.

The second: al Mashyakhah al Basimah lil Qubbabi wa Fatimah.

In it, al Hafiz Ibn Hajar extracted the names of the shaykhs of the musnid Najm al Din ʿAbd al Rahman ibn ʿUmar al Qubbabi al Maqdisi (d. 838 AH), adding to that the shaykhs of the musnidah who lived long, Fatimah bint Khalil ibn Ahmad al Maqdisi al Kinani (d. 838 AH), the one who kept company with the traces. (Munadamat al At lal, p 238.)

Those who gave her authorisation, with their narrations. (See: Ibn Hajar and a study of his works, 1/494–496.)

From the female hadith scholars of the ninth century are those that the student of al Hafiz Ibn Hajar, the scholar al Sakhawi, mentioned in his work al Dawʾ al Lamiʿ. He singled out their biographies in volume 12. In this bright era, Ibn Fahd had the honour of taking from 130 female hadith scholars, whom he mentioned in his work, the excellent Muʿjam al Shuyukh. (It is printed by Dar al Yamamah, edited by Muhammad Zahi.)

Many female hadith scholars of the eighth and ninth century were counted among the major hadith scholars, such as:

The righteous musnidah who narrated abundantly, Sitt al ʿArab bint Muhammad ibn the shaykh Fakhr al Din Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al Wahid, whose grandfather was well known as Ibn al Bukhari, al Maqdisiyyah al Salihiyyah, (d. 767 AH). She attended with her grandfather, so she narrated much. She transmitted, so she expanded. Much hadith spread from her.

Imams and travellers heard from her. She lived long and people benefited from her. (Her biography is in Wafayat Ibn Rafiʿ, entry 835, al Durar al Kaminah, 2/220, al Qalaʾid al Jawhariyyah, 2/307, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 6/208.)

Wali al Din Abu Zurʿah al ʿIraqi said: “I attended with her many of her narrations. My father and al Haythami narrated to us from her many times.” (Al Dhayl ʿala al ʿIbar, 1/199.)

By her father’s teaching, she heard from Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn Nasr Allah ibn al Sawwaf his heard portion of Sunan al Nasaʾi, most of it, and Musnad al Humaydi. She heard from Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn ʿIsa ibn al Qayyim a portion of Sahih al Ismaʿili, and the first part of the hadith of Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah. She heard from Wazirah bint ʿUmar al Tanukhiyyah and Abu al ʿAbbas al Hajjar Sahih al Bukhari.

She heard from Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn Harun al Thaʿlabi a sitting from the dictations of Nasr al Maqdisi, and other than that. In the third year, she attended with al Sharif ʿIzz al Din Musa ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Talib al Husayni “Mashyakhah al Irbili”.

She heard from Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn ʿIsa al Tabbakh al Faraj baʿd al Shiddah by Ibn Abi al Dunya. She heard from Zaynab bint Shukr the second part of the hadith of Ibn al Sammak.

She heard from Mithqal al Ashrafi a Juzʾ containing 2 sittings, al Buhayri and al Shafiʿi. She heard from Hasan ibn ʿUmar al Kurdi the 2 Musnads of al Darimi and ʿAbd ibn Humayd. She heard from the imam Kamal al Din Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Sharishi “Juzʾ al Hasan ibn ʿArafah”.

Abu Zurʿah Wali al Din al ʿIraqi said: I heard all that I mentioned from her. I heard other than that from others besides these. Hadith scholars heard from her abundantly. She lived long, and benefit was gained from her in that. She was good and righteous, may Allah have mercy on her. (Al Dhayl ʿala al ʿIbar, 2/514. Her biography is in Inbaʾ al Ghumr, 2/68, al Durar al Kaminah, 2/81, al Nujum al Zahira, 11/221, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 6/280.)

Among the female hadith scholars of this era also is:

The musnidah, Umm al Hasan Fatimah bint the imam Shihab al Din Ahmad ibn Qasim ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Abi Bakr al ʿUmari al Harazi, Umm Najm al Din al Makkiyyah, (d. 783 AH). (Her biography is in al ʿIqd al Thamin, 8/295, Inbaʾ al Ghumr, 2/77, al Durar al Kaminah, 3/302, al Dhayl ʿala al ʿIbar, 2/526, Shadharat al Dhahab, 6/280, and Aʿlam al Nisa, 4/21.)

Chapter Three

The Well Known Female Transmitters and Female Hadith Scholars

It has already been said earlier that a list and register of the names of the female transmitters from the female Companions in the virtuous centuries has been presented.

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters From the Female Successors

ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Saʿd ibn Zurarah ibn ʿAdas al Ansariyyah al Najjariyyah al Madaniyyah, the jurist

She was raised by ʿAishah and her student. She was a learned jurist, an authority, with abundant knowledge.

She narrated from ʿAishah, Umm Salamah, Rafiʿ ibn Khadij, and her sister Umm Hisham bint Harithah. Those who narrated from her include her son Abu al Rijal Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman, his 2 sons Harithah and Malik, her sister’s son, the judge Abu Bakr ibn Hazm, and his 2 sons ʿAbd Allah and Muhammad, al Zuhri, and others.

A group of ulama graded her reliable. Ibn Maʿin said about her: “Reliable, an authority.” Al ʿIjli said: “A Madinan female Successor, reliable.” Ibn al Madini mentioned her and made her rank great, and said: “ʿAmrah is among the reliable, learned, firmly established transmitters from ʿAishah.”

Ibn Hibban mentioned her in “Al Thiqat”, and said: “She was among the most knowledgeable people in the hadith of ʿAishah.” Ibn Saʿd described her as “the learned woman.” ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz said: “No one remains more knowledgeable in the hadith of ʿAishah than ʿAmrah.”

Hafsah bint Sirin

The jurist, the Ansariyyah, a noble lady from the leading female Successors, known for worship, fiqh, recitation of the Qur’an, and hadith.

Iyas ibn Muʿawiyah said: “I did not meet anyone more excellent than her.” They mentioned to him al Hasan and Ibn Sirin, so he said: “As for me, I do not see anyone more excellent than her.”

As for the leading female Successors, according to Ibn Abi Dawud, they are: Hafsah bint Sirin, ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al Rahman, and after them Umm al Darda al Sughra.

This is what she did, may Allah have mercy on her. She stayed 30 years, not leaving her prayer place except for the midday rest, or to fulfil a need. She died after 100 AH. (Her biography is in Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd, 8/484, Tahdhib al Kamal, folio 1679, al ʿIbar, 1/123, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 4/507, Tahdhib al Tahdhib, 12/40, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 1/122.)

Muʿadhah bint ʿAbd Allah, Umm al Sahbaʾ

The devoted worshipper, the wife of the master and exemplar Silah ibn Ashyam.

She narrated from ʿAli, ʿAishah, and Hisham ibn ʿAmir. Those who narrated from her include Abu Qilabah, Yazid al Rishk, ʿAsim al Ahwal, Ayyub al Sakhtiyani, and others.

Umm al Darda al Sughra, Hujaymah

And it is said: Juhaymah, al Awsabiyyah al Himyariyyah al Dimashqiyyah.

She narrated abundant knowledge from her husband Abu al Darda, from Salman al Farisi, Kaʿb ibn ʿAsim al Ashʿari, ʿAishah, Abu Hurayrah, and a group.

She reviewed the Qur’an while she was young with Abu al Darda. She lived long, and became well known for knowledge, practice, and asceticism.

A group of famous transmitters narrated from her, such as Jubayr ibn Nufayr, Abu Qilabah al Jarmi, Salim ibn Abi al Jaʿd, Mak hul, and Zayd ibn Aslam.

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters During the Second and Third Century

ʿAbidah al Madaniyyah.

Among them also:

ʿAliyyah bint Hassan

The editor, ʿAbd al Salam Harun, may Allah have mercy on him, did not point this out. It is useful here to point out an error that many common people fall into, which is believing that people will be called on the Day of Judgement by the names of their mothers. Some of them use the words of Allah Most High: “On the day We call every people by their leader.” (Al Isra: 71)

Al Zamakhshari said: it is among the innovations of tafsir that someone says that “imam” in the verse is the plural of “mother”, and that people will be called by their mothers rather than their fathers. He said: this is an error caused by ignorance of morphology, for “mother” is not pluralised as “imam”.

See: al Kashshaf, 2/369, and al Itqan, 2/181. Some of them cling to a false hadith: “People on the Day of Judgement will be called by their mothers, not by their fathers.” See: al Asrar al Marfuʿah, p 473.

Some of them cling to what is in al Tabarani from the hadith of Abu Umamah, and it is long about prompting, and in it: “Let one of you stand at the head of his grave, then let him say: O so and so son of so and so woman.” It is very weak, as has been clarified in the editing of Tadhkirat al Qurtubi. Some of them add a ruling for that, such as: because of ʿIsa عليه السلام, or because of the honour of al Hasan and al Husayn, or so that children of adultery are not exposed. All of this is false.

What refutes it is what is in the 2 Sahihs from the hadith of Ibn ʿUmar, raised: “For the treacherous one, a banner will be raised for him on the Day of Judgement, and it will be said: this is the treachery of so and so son of so and so.” Ibn Battal said: “In this hadith is a refutation of the claim of whoever claims that they will not be called on the Day of Judgement except by their mothers, to conceal their fathers.”)

Also, the honoured righteous lady

Nafisah bint al Hasan ibn Zayd

Ibn Kathir said: to this day the common people have gone too far in their belief about her and about many others, especially the common people of Egypt. They use foul phrases of reckless exaggeration that lead to disbelief and shirk, and many expressions that they must know are not permissible.

Some may attribute her to Zayn al ʿAbidin, and she is not from his lineage. What should be believed about her is what suits women like her among the righteous women. The origin of idol worship is exaggeration in graves and their people. The Prophet ﷺ commanded graves to be levelled and erased.

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters During the Fourth Century

After the important books were authored in this period, many female hadith scholars became deeply skilled in these books and mastered them.

Amat al Wahid

Whose name was Sititah, alongside transmitting hadith, was a learned jurist and mufti. Al Khatib described her by saying: “She was virtuous in herself, abundant in charity, quick in good deeds. She transmitted and hadith was written from her.”

Jumʿah bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ʿUbayd Allah al Muhamiyyah

As for

Amat al Salam bint al Qadi Abi Bakr Ahmad ibn Kamil ibn Khalaf ibn Shajarah

She heard from Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil al Baslani and Muhammad ibn al Husayn ibn Humayd ibn al Rabiʿ.

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters During the Fifth Century

Fatimah, the daughter of the ascetic teacher Abu ʿAli al Hasan ibn ʿAli al Daqqaq.

She had a large share in the Islamic sciences, attached herself to the great masters among the hadith scholars, and stood uniquely in hadith.

She was counted among the most well known female hadith scholars and surpassed the people of her era in the elevation of chains. Al Dhahabi described her by saying: “The devoted worshipper, learned female shaykh.” He also said: “She was a devoted worshipper, obedient, one who stood in night prayer, great in rank.”

ʿAishah bint Hasan ibn Ibrahim, Umm al Fath al Isfahaniyyah al Warkaniyyah.

She wrote dictations from Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn Mandah, in her own handwriting. She heard from Muhammad ibn Jashnas, the narrator from Ibn Saʿid, and from ʿAbd al Wahid ibn Shah, and a group.

Those who wrote her biography praised her. Al Dhahabi said: “The preacher, the learned one, the musnid.” She was the first female shaykh of al Hafiz Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad.

ʿAishah bint Muhammad ibn al Husayn al Bustami.

Her brother Abu al Maʿali ʿUmar and al Muwaffaq Hibat Allah were among the major ulama. Her brother’s son Abu Sahl Muhammad ibn al Muwaffaq was great in rank. She died around 465 AH. (Her biography is in Takmilat Ikmal al Kamal by Ibn Nuqtah, and Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 18/425, and Aʿlam al Nisa, 18/425.)

Among the female hadith scholars of this century is

Bibi bint ʿAbd al Samad ibn ʿAli al Harthamiyyah, Umm al Fadl, (d. 477 AH)

The long lived female shaykh, the musnid, the female hadith scholar, the virtuous one, the one who had “the Juzʾ” for which she became well known in narrating it from ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Abi Shurayh from his shaykhs.

She was unique in it. It was heard from her by countless people. Al Dhahabi included her among the famous bearers of Prophetic reports whose mention spread through lands and ages. (Her biography is in Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 19/403, al ʿIbar, 3/287, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 3/354. The Juzʾ is printed with the editing of Shaykh ʿAbd al Rahman al Faryuwai. al Muʿin fi Tabaqat al Muhaddithin, p 137.)

It is not permissible, while speaking about this period, to skip:

Karimah bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hatim al Marwaziyyah.

All of them harvested from her knowledge. The ulama acknowledged her virtue and her precedence in teaching “al Jamiʿ al Sahih” by al Bukhari, to the point that the hadith scholar of Herat, Abu Dharr, advised students not to take “al Jamiʿ al Sahih” except from her.

Ibn Nuqtah wrote her biography and said:

She transmitted Sahih al Bukhari in Makkah from Abu al Haytham Muhammad ibn al Makki al Kushmihini. She also heard from Zahhir ibn Ahmad al Sarkhasi. She was learned, and she preserved her books as far as we have been informed. Al Hafiz Abu Bakr al Khatib heard Sahih al Bukhari from her, and Abu Talib al Husayn ibn Muhammad al Zaynabi. (Al Taqyid li Maʿrifat al Ruwat wal Sunan wal Masanid, 2/324.)

Al Hafiz Ibn al Jawzi wrote her biography under the events of the year 463 AH, and he said, may Allah have mercy on him:

She narrated al Sahih, meaning Sahih al Bukhari, from al Kushmihini, and she narrated from Zahhir al Sarkhasi. She used to preserve her book and compare her copies. She had understanding and sharpness. She never married. It was said: she reached 100. A creation heard from her.” (Al ʿIbar, 3/254.)

He described her in “Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala” by saying: “The learned, virtuous female shaykh, the musnid.”

He said: she heard Sahih al Bukhari from Abu al Haytham al Kushmihini. She heard from Zahhir ibn Ahmad al Sarkhasi and ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf ibn Bamawayh al Isfahani. He said: when she narrated, she would compare with her original. She had understanding and knowledge, with goodness and devotion in worship.

She narrated al Sahih many times. One time was by the reading of Abu Bakr al Khatib in the days of the season. She died as a virgin and never married.

Those who narrated from her include al Khatib, Abu al Ghanaʾim al Narsi, Abu Talib al Husayn ibn Muhammad al Zaynabi, Muhammad ibn Barakat al Saʿidi, ʿAli ibn al Husayn al Farraʾ, ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Sadaqah ibn al Ghazzal, Abu al Qasim ʿAli ibn Ibrahim al Nasib, Abu al Muzaffar Mansur ibn al Samʿani, and others.

Abu Bakr ibn Mansur al Samʿani said: “I heard my father mention Karimah and say: has anyone seen anyone like Karimah.”

Women’s Care for Transmitting and Teaching Sahih al Bukhari in This Century and After It

He transmitted from Abu Ghanim al Muhadhdhab ibn al Husayn that he said about her: “The transmitter of al Bukhari from Saʿid al ʿAyyar.”

Her father was given a love for hadith, so he took it from its masters in his era, and he ensured in teaching her firm grounding and abundance. Her husband was a generous man who loved the sciences.

The conclusion is that Shuhdah, may Allah have mercy on her, was given fame in hadith, and she was distinguished by the elevation of her chain, especially. A large number of students used to attend her teaching circle. Because of her fame, some people claimed they studied under her, by fabrication and falsehood. (Refer to: Wafayat al Aʿyan, entry 295. Nafh al Tib, 2/96, and what has already come earlier from Ibn al Jawzi about her.)

Sharifah bint Ahmad

She heard al Bukhari from al Kushmihini, as Ibn Nuqtah mentioned, and he said: her hearing is sound. (Al Taqyid, 2/325.)

“I read to her al Sahih and Musnad al Shafiʿi.” “Ibn al Khabbaz narrated from her in his mashyakha.” He said: “She narrated on the day of her death, then death took her by surprise.” (Muʿjam al Shuyukh, entry 323. Her biography is in al Durar al Kaminah, 2/129, Dhayl Tabaqat al Hanabilah, 2/429, al Wafi bil Wafayat, 15/117, and al Dalil al Shafi, 1/312.)

Umm al Khayr Amat al Khaliq, the rooted female shaykh, the one who lived long (d. 902 AH), was the last person who narrated Sahih al Bukhari from the companions of al Hajjar. The people of the earth descended a level in narrating this Sahih with her death, may Allah have mercy on her, so she was known as “the seal of the female hadith scholars of al Hijaz”. (Shadharat al Dhahab, 8/14.)

Women’s Care for Other Hadith Books

Umm al Khayr Fatimah bint ʿAli (d. 532 AH), and Fatimah al Shahrzuriyyah studied Sahih Muslim.

He informed us: Abu ʿAdnan Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al Mutahhar and Umm Ibrahim Fatimah bint ʿAbd Allah al Jawzdaniyyah, both said: Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Ridah al Dubbi informed us from its author al Tabarani. (See: Barnamaj al Wadi Ashi, p 208, and the hearings written in the first volume of al Muʿjam al Kabir.)

She also heard from Ibn Ridah the book “al Fitan” by Nuʿaym ibn Hammad. (See the sources of her biography.)

ʿAishah bint Muʿammar (d. 607 AH) heard from Saʿid ibn Abi al Rajaʾ al Sayrafi Musnad Abi Yaʿla al Mawsili, and she taught it.

Ibn Nuqtah said: we heard from her in Isfahan Musnad Abi Yaʿla, and parts from al Fawaʾid, and her hearing was sound by the teaching of her father. (Al Taqyid, 2/325.)

Ibn Battutah, the famous Muslim traveller, read some hadith books to her and to other female hadith scholars when he was in Damascus. (Rihlat Ibn Battutah, 1/253.)

Al Suyuti read “al Risalah” by al Shafiʿi to Hajir bint Muhammad, the female hadith scholar. (Al Umam li Iqaz al Himam, p 17–18, and al Mabahith al ʿIlmiyyah, p 249.)

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters During the Sixth Century

Female Hadith Scholars and Female Transmitters After the Sixth Century

After the sixth century of the Hijrah, 2 overwhelming floods surged. On one side, the Crusader wars shook the structure of the lands of Islam.

On the other side, the Tatars pulled down its tents and turned the earth, the earth of peace, upside down. The armies of thirsty Christians in the west used to drink from the blood of Muslims and shake the structure of honour and leadership.

In the east, Hulagu, a major disaster, used to spill blood, trample lands, and corrupt among creation. In the seventh century, oppression reached a great extent. The flood of tyranny, with its crashing waves and its frightening astonishing current, spread across the lands of Islam, pouring from here and there, until the lands of Islam overflowed with it and choked with the blood of their noble children.

The high palace of Islamic civilisation could be seen as if it fell from a far place, with no one to weep for it and no companion. Yet in those days, days of raids and violation of sanctities, these women of knowledge, with their zealous emotions, were striving for the survival of knowledge like heroes strive in the arenas of battle.

Wars did not crush their resolve. Disasters and hardships did not terrify them. Their striving caused springs of knowledge to flow with sweet, clear water, like the clear mirror of a stranger. Where are the men, men.

Women of veils and adornment, in those days, days of dark tribulations, days of misery and stillness, their strong effort and firm seriousness with complete courage remained fresh. How many women travelled in those days of tribulations as full moons, leaving the echo of their virtue to ring for ages.

Is there any man, even if he is truly learned, who mentions their names, let alone their achievements. No. Tongues became silent, hearts became blind, and hardship became widespread. There is no complaint except to Allah, and there is no power and no strength except with Allah.

Zaynab bint al Shaʿra (d. 615 AH).

She was righteous, long lived, and narrated much. She heard al Sahih from al Farisi and Wajih ibn Tahir.

He said: Zaki al Din al Barzali compiled for her a mashyakha in 8 parts, and we heard it. Safiyyah (d. 646 AH), the daughters of ʿAbd al Wahhab, and Zaynab bint al Makki (d. 688 AH). As for Zaynab bint al Shaʿra, it is enough virtue for her that the likes of the well known virtuous Ibn Khallikan studied under her. Karimah was known as the musnid of al Sham, and Zaynab was distinguished by groups of students attending her teaching circle. (Al Mabahith al ʿIlmiyyah min al Maqalat al Sunniyyah, from the article of Ustadh Muhammad Zubayr al Siddiqi, al Sayr al Hathith fi Tarikh Tadwin al Hadith, p 249–250, with adjustment and addition.)

Among the most well known female hadith scholars of this era also are:

Umm ʿAbd al Karim Fatimah bint the hadith scholar and merchant Abu al Hasan Saʿd al Khayr ibn Muhammad ibn Sahl al Ansari al Balansi, (d. 600 AH).

Al Dhahabi described her as: “The noble female shaykh, the musnid.” He said: “I heard, in attendance in the third year, from Fatimah al Jawzdaniyyah, a portion of al Muʿjam al Kabir.”

She attended in Baghdad in the year 525 AH with Hibat Allah ibn al Husayn, Zahhir ibn Tahir, and Abu Ghalib ibn al Bannaʾ. She later heard from her father, from Hibat Allah ibn al Tabr, the judge Abu Bakr, Yahya ibn Hubaysh al Fariqi, Yahya ibn al Bannaʾ, Abu Mansur al Qazzāz, and others. A large group gave her authorisation.

She transmitted in Damascus and in Egypt. The leader Zayn al Din ibn Nujayyah, the preacher, married her. She lived with him in Damascus, then in Egypt. She saw honour and status.

A group narrated from her, including al Hafiz al Diyaʾ, the khatib of Marda, Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al Wazzan al Hanafi, and Muhammad ibn al Shaykh al Shatibi.

From the female hadith scholars of the seventh century is

Sitt al Kutbah Nuʿmah bint ʿAli ibn Yahya ibn ʿAli ibn al Tarrah (d. 604 AH).

Her grandfather cared for her well. She heard from him many of the books of al Khatib al Baghdadi, such as: al Kifayah, al Bukhalaʾ, al Jamiʿ, al Sabiq wal Lahiq, al Qunut, and other things.

She heard from Abu Shujaʿ al Bustami. Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Dharr al Salihani and al Farawi gave her authorisation. More than one hadith scholar narrated from her, such as al Diyaʾ, Ibn Khalil, al Yildani, al Mundhiri, and Ibn Abi ʿUmar. Fakhr al Din ibn al Bukhari narrated from her in his mashyakha, which was compiled by Ibn al Zahiri al Hanafi, in the year 601 AH in Damascus. He described her as “the musnid female shaykh”. (Refer to: Mashyakhah al Fakhr Ibn al Bukhari, folio 124. Her biography is in al Takmilah, entry 1008, al ʿIbar, 5/10, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 21/434, Dhayl al Rawdatayn, p 63, and al Nujum al Zahira, 6/195. Also see what has already come earlier, p 40.)

Among those mentioned for knowledge and transmission, and among those who had care for the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, is

ʿAfifah bint Abi Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah, Umm Hani al Farfaniyyah, (d. 606 AH).

She heard al Muʿjam al Kabir in full, and al Muʿjam al Saghir, both by al Tabarani, and al Fitan by Nuʿaym ibn Hammad. A group from Baghdad gave her authorisation. Ibn Nuqtah heard from her al Muʿjam al Kabir and al Fitan. Al Dhahabi described her as: “The noble female shaykh, the one who lived long, the musnid of Isfahan.” (Her biography is in al Takmilah, entry 1132, al ʿIbar, 5/17, al Nujum al Zahira, 6/200, Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/19, and Aʿlam al Nisa, 3/299.)

Among them also is

ʿAyn al Shams bint Ahmad ibn Abi al Faraj, Umm al Nur al Thaqafiyyah al Isfahaniyyah (d. 610 AH).

The musnid of her time, she became unique in the universe in narrating from Ismaʿil ibn al Ikhshidh and Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Dharr al Salihani. She heard from him Juzʾ Abi al Shaykh. She had many narrations, including: al Diyat by Ibn Abi ʿAsim, al Tawbah, ʿAwali al Qubab, Ahadith Bakr ibn Bakkar, Juzʾ Abi al Zubayr ʿan Ghayr Jabir, and other things. (Her biography is in al Takmilah, entry 1288, al ʿIbar, 5/36, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 22/23, al Nujum al Zahira, 6/209, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/42.)

Among them also is

Umm ʿAbd Allah Yasmin bint Salim ibn ʿAli ibn Salamah ibn al Baytar al Harimiyyah (d. 634 AH).

Those who wrote her biography described her as “the blessed female shaykh who lived long”. She narrated a Juzʾ from Abu al Muzaffar Hibat Allah ibn al Shibli, and she became unique in it. (Her biography is in al Takmilah, entry 2689, al ʿIbar, 5/141, Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 23/13, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/169.)

The number of female hadith scholars in the eighth and ninth century increased clearly, as shown by what al Hafiz, the authority, Imam Ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalani, may Allah have mercy on him, listed from the biographies of 170 female hadith scholars in his work “al Durar al Kaminah fi Ahwal Rijal al Miʾah al Thaminah”. He mentioned many other virtuous women in his other work “Inbaʾ al Ghumr”. Among them are many whose lessons he attended and benefited from, such as this imam.

The first: al Muʿjam lil Hurrah Maryam, or Muʿjam al Shaykhah Maryam.

The second: al Mashyakhah al Basimah lil Qubbabi wa Fatimah.

Those who gave her authorisation, with their narrations. (See: Ibn Hajar and a study of his works, 1/494–496.)

From the female hadith scholars of the ninth century are those that the student of al Hafiz Ibn Hajar, the scholar Imam al Sakhawi, mentioned in his work al Dawʾ al Lamiʿ. He singled out their biographies in volume 12. In this bright era, Ibn Fahd had the honour of taking from 130 female hadith scholars, whom he mentioned in his work, the excellent Muʿjam al Shuyukh. (It is printed by Dar al Yamamah, edited by Muhammad Zahi.)

Many female hadith scholars of the eighth and ninth century were counted among the major hadith scholars, such as:

She attended with her grandfather, so she narrated much. She transmitted, so she expanded. Much hadith spread from her. Imams and travellers heard from her. She lived long and people benefited from her. (Her biography is in Wafayat Ibn Rafiʿ, entry 835, al Durar al Kaminah, 2/220, al Qalaʾid al Jawhariyyah, 2/307, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 6/208.)

Wali al Din Abu Zurʿah al ʿIraqi said: “I attended with her many of her narrations. My father and al Haythami narrated to us from her many times.” (Al Dhayl ʿala al ʿIbar, 1/199.)

And like the righteous musnidah, the rooted one, Umm Abiha, this is how her father gave her kunyah, and some give her the kunyah Umm al Barr, Juwayriyyah bint the shaykh, the imam, the hadith scholar Shihab al Din Ahmad ibn Ahmad ibn al Husayn al Hakkari, (d. 783 AH). By her father’s teaching, she heard from Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn Nasr Allah ibn al Sawwaf his heard portion of Sunan al Nasaʾi, most of it, and Musnad al Humaydi.

She heard from Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn ʿIsa ibn al Qayyim a portion of Sahih al Ismaʿili, and the first part of the hadith of Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah. She heard from Wazirah bint ʿUmar al Tanukhiyyah and Abu al ʿAbbas al Hajjar Sahih al Bukhari.

She heard from Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn ʿIsa al Tabbakh al Faraj baʿd al Shiddah by Ibn Abi al Dunya. She heard from Zaynab bint Shukr the second part of the hadith of Ibn al Sammak.

Among the female hadith scholars of this era also is:

A Scholar’s Advice Concerning the Guardian

Some of the people of knowledge said about the guardian:

“He should check on his household regarding matters of knowledge that they need, because he came from teaching others seeking the reward of guiding them. So his close family, and those under his care, are more emphatic, because they are his flock, and they are the closest to him. This is as in the hadith: “Each of you is a shepherd, and each of you is responsible for his flock.” (Reported by al Bukhari, 3/111, hadith 7138, and Muslim, hadith 1829.)

So he gives them their share, and he hastens to teach them the most emphatic matters in the religion first, and the most beneficial and the greatest. So he teaches them iman (faith) and Islam, and he renews their knowledge of that, even if they have already learned it. He teaches them ihsan (excellence).

He teaches them wudu, ghusl and their descriptions, tayammum, prayer, and everything within all of that from obligations, sunnahs, and virtues, and everything they need from the matters of their religion, the most important, then the next most important.” (al Madkhal, 1/209, by Ibn al Hajj.)

Al Alusi (d. 1270 AH), when explaining the Qur’an verse:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنْفُسَكُم وَأَهْلِيكُم ناراً وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالحِجَارَةُ

“O believers, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones.” (al Tahrim 6.)

He used it as proof that it is obligatory on a man to learn what is obligatory from the obligations, and to teach it to these people. Some included children within “yourselves”, because a child is part of his father. (Ruh al Maʿani, 28/156.)

I said: his words “children” include males and females.

A Picture of a Scholar’s Care for His Wife

Ibn al Hajj (d. 737 AH) said: “I heard my master Abu Muhammad say, may Allah have mercy on him, when I married: I said to the wife: do not move, and do not speak a single word in my absence, except that you present it to me when I come, because I am responsible for all your conduct.

I used to be responsible only for myself, and now I am responsible for myself and for you, so I will be asked about 10 prayers. Then likewise in all commands, and everything I am required to do from virtues and other than that.

He went so far with her that he said to her: if you move the jug from one place to another, then tell me about it. He said: that was out of fear that she might do something she thinks has no Sharia ruling attached to it, yet there may be a ruling in it.

So she kept informing me of every action, until that became hard for her, so she remained informing me of what appeared to her that there was a benefit in mentioning it, and she stayed silent about the rest.

Then I found myself uneasy, fearing that what did not appear to have a benefit might have that. So whenever I entered the house, Allah caused the wall of the house to speak to me when I entered, and it would tell me all her actions. Then I would sit, and she would present to me everything she wanted from what appeared to her that there was a benefit in mentioning it, as mentioned earlier.

Then I would say to her: has anything remained. She would say, according to what appeared to her: that is it.

Then I would say to her: and you did such and such. I would mention to her the rest of her actions.

Then she would say: “Revelation after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The door was closed on me, and I found no one with me in the house, and all of that I did, so who informed you.”

After that, she did not move with a single movement until she told me.” Then he commented on it by saying: “So look, may Allah have mercy on you and on us, at how they looked at clearing their responsibility. These are the ones who understood the meaning of his words: “Each of you is a shepherd, and each of you is responsible for his flock,” and they acted upon it.” (al Madkhal, 2/210.)

Pictures of the Salaf’s Care for Their Families

Ibn al Hajj said, after detailing what is obligatory upon those in authority to teach the women they support, from Sharia rulings connected to purification, prayer, fasting, and other than that, he said:

“A scholar needs to devote himself to teaching these rulings to the old and the young, the male and the female. Allah Most High said:

إِنَّ المُسْلِمِينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتِ وَالْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالمُؤْمِنَاتِ إِلَى قَوْلِهِ وَالذَّاكِرِينَ اللهَ كَثِيراً وَالذَّاكِرَاتِ

“Indeed, the Muslim men and the Muslim women, and the believing men and the believing women,” up to His words, “and the men who remember Allah often, and the women who remember.” (al Ahzab 35.)

And he ﷺ said: “Women are the counterparts of men.” (Its grading has already been mentioned earlier, p 12.) So he made the husband and wife, the child, the male slave, and the female slave equal in these fine qualities.

The Salaf, may Allah be pleased with them, remained upon this path. One finds their children, their male slaves, and their female slaves, in most of their affairs, sharing in all these virtues.

Do you not see the daughter of Saʿid ibn al Musayyib, may Allah be pleased with them both, when her husband entered upon her, and he was one of her father’s students. When morning came, he took his cloak wanting to leave, so his wife said to him: where do you intend to go.

He said: to the gathering of Saʿid, to learn knowledge. She said to him: sit, I will teach you the knowledge of Saʿid.” (Abu Nuʿaym mentioned a similar report in al Hilyah, 2/167–168, and al Dhahabi mentioned it in al Siyar, 4/233–234, and he said: “Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Wahb was alone in reporting this story, and despite his weakness Muslim used him as proof.”)

Likewise, what is narrated about Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, when al Muwattaʾ was being read to him. If the reader made a grammatical mistake in a letter, or added, or omitted, his daughter would knock on the door, then her father would say to the reader: go back, the mistake is with you. So the reader would go back and find the mistake. (Al Qadi ʿIyad detailed this report in Tartib al Madarik, 1/109–110, Dar al Hayah edition, and he said: al Zubayr said: Malik had a daughter who memorised his knowledge, meaning al Muwattaʾ, and she would stand behind the door.

If the reader made a mistake, she would knock the door, and Malik would notice and correct him. His son Muhammad would come while he was narrating, holding a falcon and a sandal with writing on it, and his trousers were hanging low. Malik would turn to his companions and say: “Adab is only with Allah.

This is my son, and this is my daughter.” Al Farawi said: we used to sit with him, and his son would go in and out and not sit, and Malik would turn to us and say: “Among what makes it easy for me is that this matter is not inherited.”)

Likewise, what is narrated about Ashhab: that he was in al Madinah, may the best prayer and السلام be upon its resident, and that he bought vegetables from a slave girl. They would not sell vegetables except for bread. He said to her: when evening comes, when bread comes to us, then come to us and we will give you the price.

She said: that is not permissible. He said to her: why. She said: because it is the sale of food for food, not hand to hand. He asked about the slave girl, and it was said to him that she was the slave girl of the daughter of Malik ibn Anas, may Allah have mercy on him.

This was their condition in this manner. I only specified whom I specified as an alert to those besides them.

In our time as well, my master Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, existed. His wife read the khatmah to him, and she memorised it. Also the Risalah of Shaykh Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, may Allah have mercy on him, and half of al Muwattaʾ of Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him.

Also his 2 daughters were close to her. So if this was in our time, what about the time of the Salaf, may Allah be pleased with them all.

The scholar is more worthy than anyone to carry his household, and those who seek shelter with him, towards seeking lofty ranks. So he strives in that with his utmost effort, because they are the most emphatic of his flock, the most obligatory upon him, and the most deserving of him.” (al Madkhal, 2/215.)

The matter did not stop at this limit. Some ulama and people of virtue also took care of their granddaughters, and some of them of the daughters of their brothers and sisters.

A Woman Offers Herself to a Scholar in Order to Serve Him

Al Hafiz al Dhahabi (d. 748 AH) said in the biography of Abu Nasr al Sijzi (d. 444 AH): he is the hafiz, the imam, the signpost of the Sunnah, ʿUbayd Allah ibn Saʿid ibn Hatim, Abu Nasr al Sijzi, among the strongest memorizers of his time in hadith. He travelled the horizons seeking hadith.

Al Hafiz Abu Ishaq al Hibali said: I was one day with Abu Nasr al Sijzi. Then the door was knocked. I stood and opened it. A woman entered and brought out a bag containing 1,000 dinars. She placed it before the shaykh and said: spend it as you see fit. He said: what is the aim. She said: marry me. I have no need of marriage, but so that I may serve you. So he ordered her to take the bag and to leave.

When she left, he said: I left Sijistan with the intention of seeking knowledge, and if I marry, this name will fall from me. I do not prefer anything over the reward of seeking knowledge. (Tadhkirat al Huffaz, 3/1119.)

A Father’s Supplication That Allah Marry a Scholar to His Daughter, and That Happened After a Long Time

Al Hafiz Ibn Rajab (d. 795 AH) said in the biography of the judge Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Baqi al Baghdadi al Bazzaz al Ansari (d. 535 AH in Baghdad): “The righteous shaykh Abu al Qasim al Khazzaz, the Sufi of Baghdad, said: I heard the judge Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Baqi ibn Muhammad al Bazzaz al Ansari say:

I was staying near Makkah, may Allah Most High protect it. One day I was struck by severe hunger, and I did not find anything to push away hunger from me. Then I found a bag of silk, tied with a silk tassel as well. I took it and brought it to my house. I opened it and found inside it a necklace of pearls like I had never seen.

Then I went out, and there was a shaykh calling out about it, holding a cloth in which there were 500 dinars, saying: this is for whoever returns to us the bag that has the pearls. I said: I am in need, and I am hungry. I will take this gold to benefit from it, and I will return the bag to him.

I said to him: come with me. I took him and brought him to my house. He gave me the identifying signs of the bag, the identifying signs of the tassel, the identifying signs of the pearls and their number, and the thread by which it was tied. I brought it out and handed it to him. Then he handed to me the 500 dinars.

I did not take them, and I said: it is obligatory upon me to return it to you, and I take no reward for it. He said: you must take it. He insisted upon me greatly, and I did not accept that from him. So he left me and went away.

As for what happened to me, I left Makkah and boarded the sea. The ship broke apart, people drowned, and their wealth was lost.

I was saved on a piece of the ship, and I remained for a time on the sea, not knowing where to go. Then I reached an island that had people. I sat in one of the masjids. They heard me reciting, and no one remained on that island except that he came to me and said: teach me the Qur’an. So I gained from those people much wealth.

Then I saw pages of a mushaf in that masjid. I took them and recited from them. They said to me: do you write well. I said: yes. They said: teach us writing. They brought their children from the young and the youths, and I taught them. So I gained from that also much.

Then they said to me after that: we have an orphan girl who has some wealth. We want you to marry her. I refused. They said: you must, and they compelled me. So I accepted.

When they brought her to me, I stretched my eyes to look at her, and I found that very necklace, hanging on her neck.

Then I had no concern at that moment except looking at it. They said: shaykh, you broke the heart of this orphan by looking at this necklace, and you did not look at her. So I told them the story of the necklace. They cried out and raised voices with tahlil and takbir until it reached all the people of the island. I said: what is with you.

They said: that shaykh who took the necklace from you is the father of this girl. He used to say: I did not find in the universe a Muslim except this one who returned the necklace to me.

He used to make dua and say: O Allah, bring me together with him so that I can marry him to my daughter. Now it has happened. I remained with her for a time, and I was granted 2 sons from her.

Then she died, and the necklace was inherited by me and my 2 sons. Then the 2 sons died, so the necklace came to me. I sold it for 100,000 dinars. This wealth that you see with me is from what remains of that wealth.” (Dhayl Tabaqat al Hanabilah, 1/196.)

He Explained His Book, and He Married Him to His Daughter

The ulama mentioned in the biography of Abu Bakr al Kashani a good story that points to the strong skill of some women in knowledge. They said:

Imam Abu Bakr al Samarqandi studied fiqh under him and read most of his authored works to him, such as al Tuhfah in fiqh and other books of usul.

His shaykh married him to his daughter Fatimah, the jurist and practicing woman. It was said that the reason he married him to his daughter is that she was among the most beautiful women, and she had memorised al Tuhfah, the authored work of her father.

A group of kings of the lands of the Romans sought her, and her father refused. Then al Kashani came, stayed with her father, studied under him, and became skilled in usul and furuʿ. He authored the book al Badaʾiʿ, which is an explanation of al Tuhfah, and he presented it to his shaykh.

His shaykh became even more pleased with it, and he married him to his daughter, and he made her dowry that book. So the jurists in his time said: “He explained his Tuhfah, and he married him to his daughter, and he made her dowry that.” (See: Tabaqat al Fuqaha, p 102, by Tash Kubra Zadah, Aʿlam al Nubala, 4/250 and 286, and al Fawaʾid al Bahiyyah, p 158.)

Al Laknawi added in the biography of al Samarqandi that her husband used to make mistakes and she would return him to what is correct. Legal questions would come, and the answer would go out with her handwriting and the handwriting of her father. When she married the author of al Badaʾiʿ, it would go out with her handwriting, the handwriting of her father, and the handwriting of her husband. (al Fawaʾid al Bahiyyah, p 158.)

The Family of Ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalani Contains Many Female Students of Prophetic Hadith

Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalani (d. 852 AH), the seal of the Commanders of the Believers in hadith, is a famous name to whoever has the slightest care for Prophetic hadith. His book Fath al Bari, by which a debt was removed from the Muhammadan Ummah, is among the beneficial, enjoyable, comprehensive books. It is rightly graded as an explanation of the 6 books, the 2 Sahihs and the 4 Sunan. It was said about it: “No migration after the conquest.” (See: Muʿjam al Musannafat al Waridah fi Fath al Bari, p 6–16.)

This imam and major scholar had strong care in teaching his wives and daughters Prophetic hadith. More than one woman in his family became skilled in this knowledge and became well known for transmission. Here is that in detail:

His sister, Sitt al Rakb bint ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalaniyyah, (d. 798 AH). (Her biography is in Inbaʾ al Ghumr, 1/517, al Jawhar wal Durar, 1, folio 14, al Muʿjam al Muʾassis, folio 391–392, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 6/354.)

She was a reader and a writer, astonishing in intelligence. He praised her and said: “She was my mother after my mother.”

He mentioned her shaykhs and her authorisations from Makkah, Damascus, Baʿlabakk, and Egypt.

He said: “She learned handwriting, memorised much of the Qur’an, and read books a great deal, so she became highly skilled in that.” She had a good effect on him. He said: she was kind to me, a companion, a doer of good. He elegised her with a poem when she died.

Al Sakhawi mentioned her learning, her authorisations, her marriage, and her children. He said she had a daughter named Muz (d. 850 AH), who took from her maternal uncle Ibn Hajar, and al Sakhawi took from her. She did not live long, and she died in the life of her maternal uncle. May Allah have mercy on her.

His wife, Anas, the daughter of the judge Karim al Din ʿAbd al Karim ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz, the supervisor of the army. (Her biography is in Inbaʾ al Ghumr, 1/394 and 513, and al Jawhar wal Durar, folio 281.)

Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar was extremely eager to spread knowledge among his household and relatives, like his eagerness to spread knowledge among people. Among those he was eager regarding was this wife, Anas.

He let her hear from his shaykh, Hafiz of the era, ʿAbd al Rahim al ʿIraqi (d. 806 AH), the musalsal hadith of al Awwaliyyah, and he also let her hear it from the wording of the scholar Ibn al Kuwayk. He sought authorisation for her by requesting a number of huffaz, among them Abu al Khayr, son of al Hafiz al ʿAlaʾi, and Abu Hurayrah ʿAbd al Rahman, son of al Hafiz al Dhahabi. The requests for authorisation for her did not remain limited to Egyptians only, but also from people of al Sham, Makkah, and Yemen.

Anas became well known in transmission while her husband was alive. At times, he would playfully say to her: “You have become a female shaykh.” Her husband used to treat her with great respect, and she was greatly caring towards him.

She narrated in the presence of her husband, and people of virtue read to her. She used to honour that and treat the attendees generously.

Al Sakhawi compiled for her 40 hadith from 40 shaykhs and read them to her in the presence of her husband. She used to provide much support to the scholar Ibrahim ibn Khidr ibn Ahmad al ʿUthmani (d. 852 AH), the skilled scholar who used to read Sahih al Bukhari to her in Rajab and Shaʿban every year.

She would celebrate the day of completion with types of sweets and fruits. The young and old would rush to attend that day before Ramadan in front of her husband al Hafiz. When Ibn Khidr died, her grandson Yusuf ibn Shahin read to her, and not a single slip or mistake was recorded against her.

His daughter Zayn Khatun, (d. 833 AH). (Her biography is in al Dawʾ al Lamiʿ, 12/51, and Inbaʾ al Ghumr, 8/212.)

Her father cared for her and sought authorisation for her in the year of her birth, 802 AH, and after that. He let her hear from his shaykhs such as al ʿIraqi and al Haythami (d. 807 AH), and he brought her to Ibn Khatib Dariyya. She learned reading and writing. She gave birth to Yusuf ibn Shahin, known as the grandson of Ibn Hajar, who took care of the books of his grandfather, wrote from his dictations, authored, and copied books of Ibn Hajar.

No clear narration became known from Zayn Khatun, and she did not become well known for that, because she died young, in the year 833 AH, at around 30 years of age, pregnant with the plague. May Allah have mercy on her.

His daughter Farhah, (d. 828 AH).

Her father sought authorisation for her along with her mother, cared for her, and let her hear from his shaykhs.

His 2 daughters, Fatimah and ʿAliyyah, both died in 819 AH from the plague. Their father Ibn Hajar sought authorisation for them from a group.

His daughter Rabiʿah, (d. 832 AH).

Her father let her hear from al Maraghi in Makkah in 815 AH. A group of people of al Sham and Egypt gave her authorisation.

Most of the daughters of al Hafiz Ibn Hajar did not become well known for transmission, as their father and mother became well known for it, because most of them died at an early age in the plague. (See: Ibn Hajar al ʿAsqalani and a study of his works, 1/96 and what follows.)

These are the daughters of al Hafiz Ibn Hajar, and this is his wife. All of them, may Allah have mercy on them, had care for Prophetic hadith. Some of them shared in teaching and transmission, due to the eagerness of al Hafiz towards them. Despite his many occupations, his many gatherings, and the value of his authored works, all of that did not make him negligent in teaching his family and guiding them to Prophetic hadith.

A Hadith Scholar’s Care for His Daughter

A daughter was born to the hadith scholar Abu al ʿAbbas Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allah al Lakhmi al Maghribi al Fasi (d. 560 AH). When she grew older, he taught her the 7 recitations. She read the 2 Sahihs and other than that to him, wrote much, and learned much knowledge under him. He never looked at her at all.

That happened at the start of life by coincidence, because he used to be busy in teaching recitation until sunset. Then he would enter his house while she was in her cradle, and the situation continued until she grew older, until it became a habit. She married and entered her husband’s house, and the matter remained like that, and he never looked at her at all. (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 20/347–348.)

I said: his care in teaching his daughter is very good, but not looking at her is not good. So al Dhahabi commented on it by saying:

“I said: there is no blame in this, but the Sunnah is the opposite. The Master of humanity used to carry Umamah, the daughter of his daughter, while he was in prayer.”

I said: this hadith is authentic in Sahih al Bukhari, hadith 516 and 5996, and in Sahih Muslim, hadith 543.

A Woman Praises Her Husband’s Book

In Masalik al Hidayah by Abu Salim al ʿAyyashi, he said: some brothers in Cairo recited to me for the daughter of al Baʿuni, the wife of al Qastallani, about his book al Mawahib:

“The book al Mawahib, there is no book like it, a magnificent book, and how much it has gathered. If an unlearned person says it has a similar, creation says: from you, it is not heard.” (Fihris al Faharis wal Athbat, 2/968. Also see the biography of Ibn al Baʿuni and samples of her poetry in al Kawakib al Saʾirah, 1/287.)

The Wife of al Salafi Intercedes So That Her Husband Allows Some Hadith Scholars to Hear From Him

Al Sayf Ahmad ibn al Majd, the hafiz, said: I heard Ahmad ibn Salamah al Najjar say: ʿAbd al Ghani al Maqdisi and ʿAbd al Qadir al Rahawi, the 2 huffaz, wanted to hear the book of al Lalikāʾi, Sharh Usul Iʿtiqad Ahl al Sunnah, from al Salafi. He kept making excuses to them at one time, and pushing them away from it at another time, due to the original hearing, until his wife spoke to him about that. (al Siyar, 21/28. He commented on that by saying: “I do not think he narrated the book. Rather, he narrated from it the miracles of the saints.”)

She Chose a Madhhab Different From the Madhhab of Her Family

Those who wrote the biography of the righteous, jurist, Hanafi woman, Khadijah bint Muhammad ibn Hasan al Halabi (d. 930 AH), mentioned that she had care for Prophetic hadith. Al Kamal Ibn al Nasikh al Atrabulsi and others gave her authorisation to transmit Sahih al Bukhari. She chose the madhhab of Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, even though her father and her brothers were Shafiʿi, in order to preserve her purification from being nullified by what might occur of a husband touching her. (al Kawakib al Saʾirah, 1/192. The truth is that touching a woman does not nullify wudu. This issue has been discussed in detail in the notes on al Khilafiyyat by al Bayhaqi.)

A Judge’s Care for His Daughters and Granddaughters

It came in the introduction of the book al Muʿallimin by Ibn Sahnun that the pious judge ʿIsa ibn Miskin used to teach his daughters and his granddaughters. ʿIyad said: when it was after ʿAsr, he would call his 2 daughters and the daughters of his brother to teach them the Qur’an and knowledge. Asad ibn al Furat, the conqueror of Sicily, did the same before him with his daughter Asmaʾ, who reached a great rank in knowledge.

Al Khushani narrated that there was a teacher in the palace of the amir Muhammad ibn al Aghlab. He used to teach the children by day, and the girls by night. (al Ukht al Muslimah, p 64.)

A Subtle Point About the Mother of Imam al Shafiʿi

Al Subki (d. 756 AH) mentioned a subtle report about the mother of Imam al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH), showing sharp understanding and strong reasoning, such that she understood a Qur’an verse in a way that she argued with a judge. He said, may Allah have mercy on him:

His mother, may Allah be pleased with her, by the agreement of transmitters, was among the devoted worshippers, the obedient, and among the most intelligent by natural disposition. She is the one who, she and Umm Bishr al Muraysi, testified in Makkah before the judge. He wanted to separate them to ask them separately about what they testified to, seeking clarification. The mother of al Shafiʿi said to him: judge, you do not have that, because Allah Most High says:

أَنْ تَضِلَّ إِحْدَاهُمَا فَتُذَكِّرَ إِحْدَاهُمَا الأُخْرَى

“So that if one of them forgets, the other may remind her.” (al Baqarah 282.)

So he did not separate them.

Al Subki commented on this report by saying:

I said: this is a fine branch, a strong meaning, a good extraction, and an unusual path. What is well known in the madhhab of her son, may Allah be pleased with him, is the unrestricted statement that if the judge doubts the witnesses, it is recommended that he separates them. Her words, may Allah be pleased with them both, are explicit in excluding women due to the path she mentioned, and there is no harm in it. (Tabaqat al Shafiʿiyyah al Kubra, 2/179–180.)

Andalusian Women Authors

The Andalusian woman also has good, righteous contributions, and participation in all sciences and types of disciplines, but much of their work and authorship was lost. Where is the book Qiyan al Andalus by Fathunah bint Jaʿfar al Mursiyyah, by which she opposed the book al Aghani by Abu al Faraj al Isfahani. Where is the book al Qubur by Umm al Hanaʾ Karimah, the daughter of the judge ʿAbd al Haqq ibn ʿAtiyyah.

Women Who Participated in Knowledge and Had Links to Famous Scholars

In closing, the aim here is to list the names of women who had participation in knowledge and had links to well known ulama, clarifying that link, uncovering that participation, giving examples from some of them, without fully covering their conditions. Allah is the One whose help is sought, there is no lord besides Him.

The righteous female shaykh, Umm Muhammad ʿAishah bint Ibrahim ibn Siddiq al Sulami al Dimashqi (d. 741 AH). (Her biography is in al Durar al Kaminah, 2/339, al Wafayat by Ibn Rafiʿ al Sulami, entry 797, and al Dhayl ʿala al ʿIbar, 1/138.)

She was the wife of the hadith scholar of al Sham Abu al Hajjaj al Mizzi (d. 742 AH). Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH) was the husband of her daughter.

She heard from Ahmad ibn Hibat Allah ibn ʿAsakir, and from Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al Hamid ibn ʿAbd al Hadi the seventh part of the hadith of Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Harun, and Ibn Tughril heard it from her. She memorised the Noble Qur’an and taught it to women. She taught a number of women, and they completed recitation with her and benefited from her. She narrated Prophetic hadith.

Ibn Kathir, the husband of her daughter, praised her and said: she was without equal due to her abundant worship and her excellent fulfilment of the Qur’an. She surpassed many men in that. She was abstaining from the life of this universe, taking little from it.

Among those who had care for this knowledge, and Ibn Kathir had a link to her, is:

Sitt al Qudat bint ʿAbd al Wahhab ibn ʿUmar ibn Kathir (d. 801 AH), she is his niece. (Her biography is in Inbaʾ al Ghumr, 4/60, and al Muʿjam al Muʾassis, 1/615, and al Dawʾ al Lamiʿ, 12/57, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 7/7.)

Al Qasim ibn ʿAsakir, al Hajjar, al Wani, al Mizzi, and others gave her authorisation. Salah al Din al Aqfahsi compiled for her 40 hadith from them. Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar said: “She gave me authorisation.”

Sarah, the daughter of the judge ʿIzz al Din ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Muhammad ibn Jamaʿah (d. 763 AH), and the wife of the judge Fakhr al Din Abu Jaʿfar Ibn al Kuwayk. (Her biography is in al Dhayl ʿala al ʿIbar, 1/84.) She heard hadith from her grandfather mentioned above, and from al Wani and al Dabbusi. She attended with Hasan al Kurdi and narrated.

Khadijah, the daughter of the hadith scholar ʿAbd al Rahim ibn al Husayn al ʿIraqi, and the wife of the hadith scholar Nur al Din ʿAli ibn Abi Bakr al Haythami, used to help her husband in reviewing hadith books. (Tamam al Minnah bi Bayan al Khisal al Mujibah lil Jannah, p 39.) Her father had taught her husband the method of extracting references, and he used to ask him to compile al Zawaʾid upon the well known books of Sunnah. Her husband al Haythami used to honour him greatly. He said about him at the opening of his book Majmaʿ al Zawaʾid:

“My master and my shaykh, the scholar, the shaykh of the huffaz in the East and the West, and the one who benefits the elders and those below them, Shaykh Zayn al Din Abu al Fadl ʿAbd al Rahim ibn al ʿIraqi, may Allah be pleased with him and please him, and may He make Jannah our home and his home, said to me: gather these compilations and remove their chains, so that the hadith of every chapter from them are gathered into a single chapter.

When I saw his indication to that, I turned my concern to it, and I asked Allah Most High for ease and help in it, and I ask Allah Most High for benefit through it, for He is near and responds.” (Majmaʿ al Zawaʾid, 1/7.)

Al Sakhawi (d. 902 AH), clarifying al Haythami’s benefit from his shaykh and the father of his wife, al ʿIraqi, said:

He, meaning al ʿIraqi, is the one who trained him, meaning al Haythami, and taught him how to extract references and author, rather he was the one who would prepare the introductions of his books for him and name them for him. (al Dawʾ al Lamiʿ, 4/175.)

It is also worth mentioning that al ʿIraqi, just as he took care of his daughter so that she could assist the student of her father and the dutiful one towards him, he also took care of his wife. His son Ahmad, Wali al Din, wrote her biography and said under the deaths of the year 783 AH:

“My mother, Umm Ahmad, ʿAishah bint Tughāy al ʿAlaʾi, died outside Cairo on Friday, the 21 of Safar. May Allah cover her with His mercy and gather us with her in His home of honour. She was stabbed by the plague while pregnant, so she gained martyrdom from 2 ways.

My father, may Allah have mercy on him, taught her the master supplication for forgiveness, and she said it, then she died straight after it. She was buried before the Friday prayer behind the Khanqah al Dawudariyyah. She was a young woman, just beyond 30. She remained with my father for more than 20 years.

She was pure hearted, good in companionship, good in character, abundant in kindness. She went with my father to al Sham in his last journey there in the year 765 AH. In Damascus she heard from Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al Shirji a portion of al Ansari, and from others, but she did not narrate. She performed Hajj 4 times and stayed near the 2 sanctuaries more than once.

Her father was among the soldiers of Arghun the deputy, and he died while she was small, so my father married her while she was an orphan.” (al Dhayl ʿala al ʿIbar, 2/511–512.)

ʿAishah, the daughter of Imam Muhammad ibn al Hadi (d. 816 AH). (Her biography is in Inbaʾ al Ghumr, 3/25, al Dawʾ al Lamiʿ, 12/81, al Jawhar al Munaddad, entry 125, al Manhaj al Ahmad, 2/137, Shadharat al Dhahab, 7/120, and al Suhub al Wabilah, p 334.)

Ibn Qadi Shuhbah said about her: the musnidah, the one who lived long, the traveller. She has many heard works. She became unique in narration from al Hajjar and others. Her affair is well known.

Al ʿAlimi said in her biography: the virtuous female shaykh, the traveller of the universe. He said: at the start of her 4th year of age, she attended all of Sahih al Bukhari with the musnid of the horizons Abu al ʿAbbas Ahmad ibn Abi Talib ibn Abi al Niʿam al Salihi al Hajjar. She narrated from a group.

Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar narrated from her, read to her many books, and she is repeatedly mentioned in Muʿjam Shuyukh Ibn Fahd and others. Most of the people of her era narrated from her. People travelled to hear from her. By the end of her life, she became the highest of the people of her time in chain.

Sarah, the daughter of Imam, the major scholar, Taqi al Din ʿAli ibn ʿAbd al Kafi al Subki (d. 756 AH), and the sister of Shaykh Taj al Din al Subki (d. 771 AH). (Her biography is in Inbaʾ al Ghumr, 5/102, al Dawʾ al Lamiʿ, 12/51, Dhayl al Taqyid, 2/373, al Muʿjam al Muʾassis, 1/610, and Shadharat al Dhahab, 7/50.)

She was made to hear hadith while she was young from Zaynab bint al Kamal, al Jazari, and her father. She had authorisation from al Mizzi, al Dhahabi, ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Taymiyyah, and others from al Sham.

She gave (ijazah) authorisation to the daughter of Ibn Hajar, Khatun. Ibn Hajar met her and read to her Mashyakhah of her father, compiled by Abu al Husayn ibn Aybak, and the fourth part of Tarikh Abi Zurʿah al Dimashqi, and Mashyakhah Ibn Shadhan, and a portion containing 5 selected hadith from the seventh part of Fadaʾil al Sahabah by Ibn al Muhandis, and a portion containing Masāʾil al Barqani by al Daruqutni.

Finally, these are scholarly examples and practical pictures showing the reality of women and their rank in Islam. It is the right of the people of the earth, all the earth, and the women of the universe, all the universe, to take pride in them, to set them before their eyes, and to cut the road through them against the helpers of devils, from humans before jinn, lying in wait for them, attacking them, and claiming, falsely, that they work to “free them” and to give them the rank that suits them. Unless they mean freeing them from obligations and excusing them from Sharia responsibility.

What a horror. Is there any rank higher or more valuable for women than this rank that has been written in these lines, and recorded in this beneficial work, Allah willing. Did a woman ever find herself outside Islam. Yes, she found herself when she knew her Lord. May Allah have mercy on the one who said: “Whoever finds Allah, what has he lost, and whoever loses Allah, what has he found.”

O Allah, do not punish a tongue that speaks about You, or a hand that writes the hadith of Your Messenger, or a foot that walks in Your service, or an eye that looks into sciences that point to You.

May Allah send prayers and السلام upon Muhammad ﷺ, his family, and his Companions. The last of our call is that praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all creation.

Faqīhāt ʿĀlimāt (Biographies of Female Fuqaha and Scholars)

The second segment is taken from the book Faqīhāt ʿĀlimāt (Female Jurists and Scholars) by Muḥammad Khayr Ramaḍān Yūsuf.

**https://books.islamway.net/1/82/woman.pdf**

Asma bint Asad ibn al Furat (d. about 250 AH)

Asma was Asma bint Asad ibn al Furat, from Qayrawan. (Famous Tunisian Women, by Hasan Husni ʿAbd al Wahhab, p 45–47. Also see the biography of her father in al Dibaj al Mudhhab fi Maʿrifat Aʿyan ʿUlama al Madhhab, by Ibn Farhun al Maliki, p 305–306.) She was the daughter of the scholar of Ifriqiyah, its judge, and a companion of the 2 imams Abu Yusuf and Malik ibn Anas.

Asma grew up under her father, and he had no child besides her, so he refined her well, and shaped her mind with knowledge and wisdom. She used to attend his scholarly gatherings in his home, and she took part in asking and debating, until she became known for virtue, for narrating hadith, and for fiqh, upon the view of the people of Iraq, the companions of Abu Hanifah.

When Asad took command of the army that was prepared to open the island of Sicily in the time of Ziyad the First, and people hurried to escort him, with banners and flags raised and drums struck, Asma came out to bid her father farewell. She reached Sousse with him, and she remained with him until the troops boarded the fleets, and the ships left the harbour.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مَجْرَاهَا وَمُرْسَاهَا

“In the name of Allah is its sailing and its anchoring.” (Hud 41)

Allah granted the judge and commander Asad a mighty victory and a clear opening in the fortresses and strongholds of that island, in a way that history preserved. He was martyred in the year 213 AH, while besieging the city of Syracuse, the capital of the Romans in Sicily, with the banner in his left hand and the drawn sword in his right, while reciting the words of Allah Most High:

إِذَا جَاءَ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ وَالْفَتْحُ

“When the help of Allah comes, and the opening.” (al Nasr 1)

After Asad’s death, Asma married one of her father’s students, Muhammad ibn Abi al Jawwad, who succeeded his teacher in the post of judge, and took leadership of the Hanafi mashyakha in the lands of Ifriqiyah in the year 225 AH. Then he left the judiciary, and he was struck by a trial from his successor, who accused him concerning entrusted wealth and imprisoned him.

While Ibn Abi al Jawwad was in prison, his wife Asma came to the new judge and said: “I will make this alleged wealth that my husband must pay, paid from him.”

The judge said to her: “If he admits that it is that wealth, or something replacing it, I will release him.”

Ibn Abi al Jawwad refused to admit, and the judge refused to release him.

After some time, that judge was removed, and the husband of Asma returned to his post, and he did not take his predecessor to account for what he had done to him, as a favour from him and generosity.

Asma al Asadiyyah remained honoured and respected among the elite and common people of her time, until she died around the year 250 AH.

The Sister of Ismaʿil ibn Yahya al Muzani (d. 264 AH)

She was the sister of al Muzani, the companion of Imam al Shafiʿi.

Her name is not known.

It appears that she used to attend the gatherings of Imam al Shafiʿi in lessons of fiqh.

Al Rafiʿi نقل that from her concerning zakah on minerals, and he affirmed that a full year is not required for it. Then he said: there is another view, that it must be required. Al Buwayti also transmitted it.

Al Muzani narrated it in “al Mukhtasar” from someone he trusted, from al Shafiʿi, and he chose it.

He said: “Some commentators mentioned that his sister narrated that to him, and he did not like to name her.”

Al Isnawi said: “I do not know the date of her death.”

As for her brother, he is the imam of the Shafiʿis, the companion of Imam al Shafiʿi, from the people of Egypt. He was ascetic, a scholar, a mujtahid, and strong in proof. His attribution is to Muzaynah, from Mudar. Al Shafiʿi said: “Al Muzani is the helper of my madhhab.” He also said about the strength of his proof: “If he debated Iblis, he would defeat him.” He has several authored works, and he died in the year 264 AH. (Tabaqat al Shafiʿiyyah, by al Isnawi, 1/44. Also al Aʿlam, 1/327.)

Ummat al Rahim bint Muhammad al Qastallani

She was a jurist and a scholar.

Muhammad al Wani read and heard from her a portion that contained hadith from the high chains of what Abu al Mahasin Fadl Allah ibn ʿAbd al Razzaq ibn ʿAbd al Qadir al Jili heard, and a portion containing 3 gatherings from the dictated narrations of al Hasan ibn ʿAli al Jawhari, through her hearing it from Abu al ʿAla Majid Sulayman al Fihri, and a portion containing the 6 chain narrations of ʿAbd Allah al Dari, compiled by al Salafi, through her hearing it from Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al Iskandari in the year 715 AH.

Her father was the well known scholar Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ʿAli al Qastallani, Qutb al Din, a scholar of hadith and its narrators.

His origin was from Tozeur in Ifriqiyah, from the lands of Castile. He was born in Egypt and raised in Makkah. He travelled in the year 649 AH and took from the ulama of Baghdad, al Jazirah, al Sham, and Egypt, and he sought knowledge from Makkah.

He took the post of the mashyakha of Dar al Hadith al Kamiliyyah in Cairo until he died. He has many authored works, among them: “Clarifying the Lexicon of What Is Hidden and Unclear”, concerning the chains of the narrators of hadith, arranged by letters, “Following the Path of the Heedless by the Guidance of the Wise”, and a treatise, “Explaining Verses from the Noble Qur’an”. (Aʿlam al Nisaʾ, 1/86, quoting Ithbat Masmuʿat Muhammad al Wani. Also see his biography in al Aʿlam, 6/219.)

Bay Khatun bint Ibrahim al Halabiyyah al Shafiʿiyyah (d. 942 AH)

She was Bay Khatun bint Ibrahim ibn Ahmad al Halabiyyah, of the Shafiʿis, the niece of Imam Zayn al Din ʿUmar al Shammaʿ.

She read to her paternal uncle, mentioned above, “al Minhaj” by Imam al Nawawi, from its beginning and end, and something from “Reviving the Sciences of the Religion”.

Her paternal uncle used to visit her often, and he died with his head in her lap.

She gave about 200 mithqals of gold in charity.

She died in the year 942 AH, and she was buried beside her paternal uncle.

Her paternal uncle was Imam ʿUmar ibn Ahmad ibn ʿAli, known as Ibn al Shammaʿ, from Aleppo, a Shafiʿi. He took from the ulama of Aleppo, and travelled seeking hadith to Hamah, Hims, Damascus, Bayt al Maqdis, Safad, Cairo, Bilbays, Makkah, and al Madinah. In Cairo he took from Imam al Suyuti.

His shaykhs in hadith, by hearing and authorisation, and specific authorisation, exceeded 200, and by general authorisation without hearing and without specific authorisation, they exceeded 100. He used to command what is right and forbid what is wrong. He did not accept gifts of the people of this universe, and he did not take any official roles or positions.

Leadership of Prophetic hadith and knowledge of its field ended up with him.

He used to keep to the Sunnah and follow the path of the righteous Salaf.

He had many authored works, among them: “The Source of Thirst Concerning the Branches of Faith”, “The Chosen and Approved from the Musnad of al Shafiʿi”, “Gathering Pearls from the Musnad of al Nuʿman”, “A Gift to the Worshipping Devout One, Selected from the Muwattaʾ of Malik”, and “The Strung Pearl from the Musnad of Ahmad”.

He also had fine poetry, including:

“Be merciful to all creation, open toward them, and treat them with cheer and kindness.”

He died in the year 936 AH. (al Kawakib al Saʾirah bi Aʿyan al Miʾah al ʿAshirah, 2/128–129. Also the same source, 2/224–226.)

Hamdah bint Wathiq al Haytiyyah

Hamdah bint Wathiq ibn ʿAli al Haytiyyah was born in the year 466 AH. (Aʿlam al Nisaʾ, 1/294.)

She lived in al Madinah and Baghdad.

She held gatherings for preaching and guidance.

She heard hadith from Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn ʿAli ibn Badran al Halawani.

She took fiqh and hadith from Ibn al Samʿani.

Khadijah bint Sahnun al Tanukhi (d. about 270 AH)

She was Khadijah, from Qayrawan, the daughter of Imam Sahnun ibn Saʿid al Tanukhi, the carrier of the banner of the madhhab of Malik in the Maghrib. (Famous Tunisian Women, by Hasan Husni ʿAbd al Wahhab, p 47–48.)

Al Qadi ʿIyad said in Tartib al Madarik: Khadijah was intelligent, a scholar, and a woman of modesty and religion. Her father loved her strongly and consulted her in the important affairs of his matters. He did not accept the judiciary until after taking her view. Her brother Muhammad used to do the same after the death of their father.

Along with the soundness of her view, Khadijah also had knowledge, as al Qadi ʿIyad mentioned. It is natural that she took her learning from her father. The women of her time used to seek fatwa from her concerning matters of religion and difficult affairs, due to the strong intellectual ability and high understanding Allah granted her.

Abu Dawud al ʿAttar said: Abu Jaʿfar Ahmad ibn Labdah, the son of the brother of Sahnun, sent me to propose to him Khadijah from her father, and she was among the most beautiful women and the most intelligent. I mentioned that to Sahnun, and he remained silent. Then his son Muhammad came to him and consulted him, and he did not answer the proposal.

Sahnun died, so Ibn Labdah sent me to Muhammad. I mentioned that to him, and he said: “How can I dare do what my father did not do.”

He left it until he died. Then he sent me to her, and she said to me: “What my father and my brother did not do, I do.” “I will never do it.”

Modesty and shyness that she was created upon stopped her from marrying her knowledgeable relative.

It is as if she wanted to respect the intention of her father and her brother, even if that restraint led to sacrificing her youth, and limiting her life to what pleases her Lord, from prayer, worship, sincere advice, and benefit, until she died while unmarried, around the year 270 AH.

Her father is known as Sahnun. His name was ʿAbd al Salam ibn Saʿid ibn Habib al Tanukhi. His origin was from Hims, his birth was in Qayrawan, and he took the judiciary there in the year 234 AH and remained until he died. Leadership of knowledge in the Maghrib ended up with him. He was ascetic and did not fear any ruler concerning a truth he spoke. He was high in rank, chaste, and dignified. He died in the year 240 AH.

As for her brother Muhammad, he was a Maliki jurist, a debater, and abundant in authoring. In his time, there was no one who gathered the sciences like him. He travelled to the East in the year 235 AH. He died on the coast, then he was moved to Qayrawan and buried there. 300 elegies were written for him. He was generous, respected among kings, and high in ambition. He died in the year 256 AH. (See the biography of her father in al Aʿlam, 3/129, and the biography of her brother in the same source, 7/76.)

Khadijah bint ʿAli, Daughter of Ibn al Mulqin (d. 873 AH)

She was Khadijah bint ʿAli ibn ʿUmar al Ansari, the daughter of Ibn al Mulqin, the sister of al Jalal ʿAbd al Rahman, and the mother of al Nur ʿAli ibn al Bahaʾ Ahmad ibn ʿUthman. (al Dawʾ al Lamiʿ, by al Sakhawi, 12/29.)

Imam al Sakhawi said: when she was young, she read a small amount of the Qur’an and knowledge, and she learned handwriting. Rather, she used to benefit women concerning menstruation and similar matters, with regular reading, and skill in extracting different types of handwriting, as her son informed me. She was at the highest level of goodness and religion, keeping the prayers and night prayer.

She was brought on Tuesday, the 27 of Safar, which was followed by the completion of al Muwattaʾ, the narration of Yahya ibn Yahya from Malik, by the reading of her father to al ʿIzz ibn Abi al Yaman Ibn al Kuwayk. She narrated it more than once. People of virtue heard it from her, and Imam al Sakhawi took from her.

She was born during the year 788 AH, and she remained enjoying her hearing, her sight, and all her senses until she died in Shawwal of the year 873 AH.

Her father was ʿAli ibn ʿUmar al Qahiri. Like his father, he was known as Ibn al Mulqin. He grew up under his father, memorised the Qur’an and books, and a group gave him authorisation. He travelled with his father to Damascus and Hamah and he let him hear there. He served as deputy in the judiciary in Cairo, al Sharqiyyah, and other places. He abridged al Mubhamat by Ibn Bashkuwal with additions he made. He died in the year 806 AH. (The same source, 5/267 and 268.)

Her brother ʿAbd al Rahman ibn ʿAli ibn ʿUmar was also known as Ibn al Mulqin. He recited the Qur’an, memorised al ʿUmdah and al Minhaj and other works, narrated a small amount, the imams heard from him, and he served as deputy in the judiciary after al Shams al Akhnaʾi. Al Sakhawi described him by saying: he was a good man, with calmness, dignity, good bearing, good handwriting, humility, religion, chastity, good conduct, extra reason, affection, not expanding in his living, not entering into what does not concern him, and giving secret charity. He died in the year 870 AH. (The same source, 4/101 and 102.)

Her son ʿAli ibn Ahmad ibn ʿUthman, known as al Manawi, memorised the Qur’an, al ʿUmdah, al Minhaj in its original and branch forms, the Alfiyyah of Ibn Malik, al Burdah, and Banat Suʿad. He became known for extremely sharp intelligence, so that he used to memorise 100 lines every day. Al Shams al Barmawi and al Subki gave him permission for iftaʾ and teaching. He and his brother remained in the roles of their father after his death, and they were teaching. He died in the year 877 AH. (The same source, 5/169 and 170.)

Khadijah bint Muhammad al Bayluni (d. 930 AH)

She was Khadijah bint Muhammad ibn Hasan al Babi al Halabi, known as Ibn al Bayloni, the righteous female shaykh, the jurist Hanafi. (Shadharat al Dhahab fi Akhbar Man Dhahab, 8/172, and al Kawakib al Saʾirah bi Aʿyan al Miʾah al ʿAshirah, 1/192.)

Al Kamal Ibn al Nasikh al Tarabulsi and others gave her authorisation to transmit Sahih al Bukhari.

She chose the madhhab of Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, although her father and brothers were Shafiʿi, to preserve her purification from being broken by what might occur of a husband touching her.

She memorised a book in the Hanafi madhhab.

She was religious, modest, devoted, and turned to recitation, until she died in Ramadan of the year 930 AH.

Khadijah bint Muhammad al Jawzajani (d. 372 AH)

She was Khadijah bint Muhammad ibn Ahmad Abu Rajaʾ al Qadi, al Jawzajani. (al Jawahir al Mudiʾah fi Tabaqat al Hanafiyyah, 4/120.)

She studied fiqh under her father.

Al Hakim said in Tarikh Naysabur: she lived more than 100 years.

She used to do Arabic well, and handwriting.

She heard from Abu Yahya al Bazzar.

She died in the year 372 AH.

Her father was the judge of Naysabur. He studied fiqh under Abu Sulayman al Jawzajani, the companion of Muhammad ibn al Hasan, the well known imam. He died in Jawzajan in the year 285 AH. Al Hakim mentioned him in Tarikh Naysabur. (See his biography in the same source, 3/82.)

Khadijah bint Muhammad al ʿAmiri (d. 935 AH)

She was Khadijah bint Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al Muqriʾ al ʿAmiri al Hanafi. (al Kawakib al Saʾirah bi Aʿyan al Miʾah al ʿAshirah, by al Ghazzi, 2/141 and 142.)

She was righteous, virtuous, and a jurist.

She took from a group, among them Imam Radi al Din, the grandfather of Imam Najm al Din al Ghazzi, the author of “al Kawakib al Saʾirah”.

She also heard Sahih al Bukhari from his father, and she attended with him in fiqh.

She died in the month of Rajab in the year 935 AH.

Rabiʿah bint Mahmud al Isfahaniyyah (d. 507 AH)

She was Rabiʿah bint Mahmud ibn ʿAbd al Wahid ibn Mahmud, Umm al Mughith, from Isfahan.

She was the paternal aunt of Abu Nasr Mahmud ibn al Fadl.

She was a righteous, truthful scholar.

She heard from Saʿid ibn Ahmad al ʿAyyar, Ahmad ibn al Fadl al Batrqani, and ʿAishah bint al Hasan al Warkaniyyah. She came to Baghdad on her way to Hajj.

ʿAbd al Wahhab al Anmati heard from her, and Abu Mansur al Jawaliqi heard from her.

Muhammad ibn Nasir narrated from her, and ʿUmar ibn Zafar al Maghazili narrated from her.

She died in the year 507 AH.

Abu Nasr was Mahmud ibn ʿAbd al Wahid, the imam, the hafiz, the one who benefited students in Baghdad.

He is known as Mahmud ibn al Fadl, and he is Abu Nasr al Isfahani al Sabbagh. (al Wafi bil Wafayat, 14/53.)

The Daughter of Zayd ibn Thabit al Ansari

She was a jurist from al Madinah.

Al Bukhari used her as proof in the section on menstruation in his Sahih. Ibn Hajar said: Malik connected it in al Muwattaʾ, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Bakr ibn ʿAmr ibn Hazm, from his paternal uncles, from her.

The issue for which al Bukhari used her statement as proof is: “The beginning of menstruation and its ending.

Women used to send to ʿAishah a cloth that had cotton in it with yellow traces, and she would say: “Do not rush until you see the white discharge”, meaning by that purity from menstruation. It reached the daughter of Zayd ibn Thabit that women were calling for lamps in the depth of the night to look for purity, so she said: women did not used to do this, and she criticised them.” (Tahdhib al Tahdhib, by Ibn Hajar, 6/638. Also Sahih al Bukhari, 1/82.)

Her father was the noble Sahabi Zayd ibn Thabit al Khazraji al Ansari. He arrived when the Prophet ﷺ came to al Madinah, while he was 11 years old, and he used to write revelation for him. He was a leading authority in al Madinah in the judiciary, fatwa, recitation, and inheritance law.

Ibn ʿAbbas, despite his high rank and vast knowledge, used to come to him at his home to take from him, and he used to say: “Knowledge is approached, it does not come.”

He was among the Ansar who gathered the Qur’an in the time of the Prophet ﷺ and recited it to him. He is the one who wrote it into a single mushaf for Abu Bakr, then for ʿUthman when he prepared the copies to send to the regions.

Saʿid ibn al Musayyib said: I attended the funeral of Zayd ibn Thabit. When he was lowered into his grave, Ibn ʿAbbas said: whoever wants to know how knowledge goes away, this is how knowledge goes away. By Allah, much knowledge was buried today.

Abu Hurayrah said on the day he died: the scholar of the Ummah died today, and perhaps Allah will place in Ibn ʿAbbas a successor from him. (Tahdhib al Tahdhib, by Ibn Hajar, 2/233. Also al Aʿlam, 3/95 and 96.)

Zaynab bint ʿAbd al Rahman al Shiʿriyyah (d. 615 AH)

She was the noble female shaykh, the musnidah of Khurasan, Umm al Muʾayyid Hurrah Naz, Zaynab bint Abi al Qasim ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Hasan ibn Ahmad, originally al Jurjaniyyah, from Naysabur, al Shiʿriyyah. (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 22/85–86, al Wafi bil Wafayat, 15/65, and Wafayat al Aʿyan, 2/344 and 345.)

Ibn Khallikan said: al Shiʿriyyah is an attribution to الشعر and its making and selling, and I do not know who among her forefathers used to do that, so they attributed her to it.

She was a scholar, and she reached a group of the major ulama, and she took from them by narration and authorisation.

She heard from Ismaʿil ibn Abi al Qasim ibn Abi Bakr al Qariʾ, Fatimah bint Zaʿbal, ʿAbd al Munʿim ibn al Qushayri, Zahir ibn Tahir, his brother Wajih, Abu al Maʿali Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil al Farsi, ʿAbd al Jabbar ibn Muhammad al Khawari, ʿAbd al Wahhab ibn Shah, Fatimah bint Khalaf al Shahami, ʿAbd Allah ibn al Farawi, and ʿAbd al Razzaq al Tabsi.

ʿAbd al Ghafir ibn Ismaʿil al Farsi authorised her, and Abu al Qasim al Zamakhshari, the grammarian, the author of al Kashshaf, authorised her. She heard Sahih from al Farsi and Wajih.

Ibn Halalah narrated from her, and Ibn Nuqtah narrated from her, and al Barzali, al Diyaʾ, Ibn al Salah, al Mursi, Ibrahim al Sirfini, Muhammad ibn Saʿd al Hashimi, al Sadr al Bakri, and Ibn al Najjar narrated from her.

Ibn Khallikan had an authorisation from her that she wrote in some months of the year 610 AH, when he was 2 years old, as he stated in his Tarikh.

Imam al Dhahabi received her authorisation through a group. He said: she was righteous, long lived, and abundant in narration.

She was born in the year 524 AH, and she died in Jumada al Akhirah of the year 615 AH in Naysabur.

Zaynab bint Muhammad al Ghazzi (d. 980 AH)

She was among the most virtuous women in knowledge, religion, and righteousness, and she was Shafiʿiyyah.

She was born in Damascus, in Dhu al Qiʿdah, in the year 910 AH.

She read to her son “Tanqih al Lubab”, and a section of “al Manhaj”. She wrote books for him in her handwriting. She praised him with a poem, saying:

“Only the scholar is the one who gathers knowledge and becomes complete. He fulfils its right, and follows knowledge with action.

He stays awake the entire night with energy, without laziness. In Allah, his habit remains, the entire time, without stopping. He gained knowledge with fear of Allah, and he was not busy with his life of this universe.”

Her poetry in admonition and other matters was at the highest level of tenderness and firmness.

Her brother Najm al Din al Ghazzi said about her: she was among the wonders of the era and the unique ones of time. She died in the year 980 AH.

Her father was Imam, the major scholar, Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Ghazzi al ʿAmiri al Dimashqi, Badr al Din, a Shafiʿi jurist, a scholar of usul, tafsir, and hadith.

He has 100 and some books, among them 3 tafsirs, and many marginal notes, explanations, and treatises, among them: “Jewels of Treasures Concerning the Major and Minor Sins”. His son Najm al Din gathered the names of his books in a separate book for that.

Badr al Din kept to seclusion in the middle of his life, so he did not visit any of the notable people or rulers. Rather, they used to come to him. He was generous and kind. He set stipends, clothing, and gifts for his students. He died in the year 984 AH. (al Aʿlam, by al Zurkali, 7/288.)

Her brother Najm al Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Ghazzi is the well known historian and man of letters. He became famous for his book “al Kawakib al Saʾirah bi Aʿyan al Miʾah al ʿAshirah” and “Lutf al Samar wa Qatf al Thamar min Tarajim Aʿyan al Tabaqah al Ula min al Qarn al Hadi ʿAshar”. He has other books. He died in the year 1061 AH. (The same source, 7/292.)

Zaynab bint Makki al Harraniyyah (d. 688 AH)

She was Zaynab bint Makki ibn ʿAli ibn Kamil al Harrani, Umm Ahmad.

She was a jurist. Students crowded around her, taking from her the sciences of the religion, so she became well known. She was among the righteous women.

She heard from Hanbal, Ibn Tabarzad, Abu al Majd al Karabis, al Shams al ʿAttar, and Sitt al Kutubah. Hearing from her occurred in the 5th century, in the year 598 AH.

Ibn Sukaynah authorised her, and Asʿad ibn Saʿid authorised her, and ʿAfifah al Fariqaniyyah authorised her, and Abu al Majd Zahir al Thaqafi authorised her.

She narrated much, and she lived long, and she was the highest in chain among the women who remained in the universe.

Abu ʿAbd Allah al Barzali heard from her, and his son Abu Muhammad, and Abu ʿUmar ibn al Hajjib, and Ibn al Shaqishiqah.

She narrated hadith for more than 60 years.

Al Dimyati narrated from her, and Saʿd al Din al Harithi, and Zayn al Din al Fariqi, and Ibn al Zarrad, and al Mizzi, and Qutb al Din ʿAbd al Karim, and many people.

She lived 94 years.

She was poor, a worshipper, righteous, with regular devotions, voluntary prayers, remembrances, and recitation.

She narrated the entire Musnad, and she narrated much from Ibn Tabarzad.

She was the sister, by nursing and by hearing, of al Fakhr ʿAli.

She died in the year 688 AH in Damascus. (al Wafi bil Wafayat, by al Safadi, 15/67 and 68, and al Aʿlam, 3/109.)

Sitt al Wuzara bint ʿUmar al Tanukhiyyah (d. 716 AH)

She was Sitt al Wuzara bint ʿUmar ibn Asʿad ibn al Munja al Tanukhiyyah al Dimashqiyyah, Hanbali, long lived, Umm ʿAbd Allah, and Umm Muhammad, and she was called Wazirah. (al Bidayah wa al Nihayah, by Ibn Kathir, 14/79. al Durar al Kaminah, by Ibn Hajar, 2/223 and 224. Shadharat al Dhahab, 6/40. al Nujum al Zahirah, 9/237.)

She was a jurist and a hadith scholar, the musnidah of her time, born and deceased in Damascus.

She was among the righteous women, and she was upon great goodness.

She was born in the year 624 AH, and she heard 2 portions from her father, and from Abu ʿAbd Allah Ibn al Zubaydi she heard the Musnad of al Shafiʿi and Sahih al Bukhari.

She taught hadith in Damascus, then in Egypt in the year 705 AH, and she performed Hajj 2 times.

Imam al Dhahabi said: she had patience and steadiness in hearing hadith, and she was the last one who narrated the Musnad by direct hearing with a high chain.

Ibn Taghri Bardi said: she became the travel goal of her time, and people travelled to her from the regions.

She died on the night of Thursday, on the 18 of Shaʿban in the year 716 AH, at Qasiyun in Damascus, at the age of 92 years.

Her father was the judge, the imam, Shams al Din Abu al Fath ʿUmar, the son of the great judge Wajih al Din. He was born in Harran while his father held its judiciary. He taught at al Musmariyyah, and he served as judge of Harran for a period. He died in the year 641 AH at the age of 84 years. (His biography is in Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 23/80–81.)

Saʿidah bint Zahir al Shahhami (d. 547 AH)

She was Saʿidah bint Zahir ibn Tahir al Shahhami.

Her kunyah was Umm Khalaf. She was from the people of Naysabur.

She was the oldest child of Shaykh Abu al Qasim Zahir, the shaykh of ʿAbd al Karim al Samʿani.

She was a chaste, modest, righteous, and scholarly woman.

She grew old and lived long until she became singular in narrating a good portion of hadith.

She heard her grandfather Abu ʿAbd al Rahman Tahir, Abu Saʿd ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Mansur, Abu ʿAmr ʿUthman al Mahmi, Abu Bakr al Shirazi, and others.

Al Samʿani wrote from her portions in Naysabur.

She died on the 7 of Ramadan in the year 547 AH. (al Tahbir fi al Muʿjam al Kabir, by al Samʿani, 2/411.)

Her father heard from a group of scholars. Mahmud ibn Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al Wahid al Isfahani narrated from him, and he was an imam, and he gave fatwa and taught hadith. (al Jawahir al Mudiʾah, by Ibn Abi al Wafaʾ al Qurashi, 3/433.) Zaynab bint ʿAbd al Rahman al Shiʿriyyah, whose biography has already been given, also narrated from him.

She also had a brother who heard as well. His name was ʿAbd al Khaliq, and his kunyah was Abu Mansur. (The same source, 2/357.)

Tahirah bint Ahmad al Tanukhiyyah (d. 378 AH)

She was Tahirah bint Ahmad ibn Yusuf al Azraq, al Tanukhiyyah.

She was from a household of knowledge, virtue, and religion, and this entire household were virtuous scholars.

Tahirah studied fiqh under her father, and she narrated from him. She heard from Abu Muhammad ibn Masi, Makhlad ibn Jaʿfar al Baqarhi, Abu al Hasan ibn Luʾluʾ, Abu Bakr ibn Ismaʿil al Warraq, Abu al Husayn ibn al Bawwab, and others.

Al Khatib al Baghdadi heard from her.

Her father was originally from al Anbar, and he was born in Baghdad in the year 297 AH. He narrated from Ibn Jarir al Tabari, and he studied fiqh under Abu al Hasan al Karkhi. He took from a group of the people of knowledge and literature, among them ʿAli ibn Sulayman al Akhfash, Ibn Durayd, and Naftawayh.

He memorised the Qur’an, and he read it all to Ibn Mujahid, with the recitation of Abu ʿAmr ibn al ʿAlaʾ. Al Khatib al Baghdadi said: his hearing was sound.

He died in the year 378 AH. (al Jawahir al Mudiʾah, 4/121. Aʿlam al Nisaʾ, 2/364. Also see his biography in al Tabaqat al Saniyyah fi Tarajim al Hanafiyyah, by al Taqi al Ghazzi, 2/131 and 132, and the same earlier source, 2/353 and 354.)

Her grandfather Yusuf ibn Yaʿqub al Azraq died in the year 322 AH at the age of 92 years, and he had blue eyes. (al Jawahir al Mudiʾah, 3/643.)

Zarifah bint Abi al Hasan al Tabari (d. 548 AH)

She was Zarifah bint Abi al Hasan ibn Abi al Qasim al Maʾmuni al Tabari.

Her kunyah was Umm Muhammad, and it was also said Umm al Karam.

She was the mother of Muhammad ibn Abi al Fawaris, the hafiz al Tabari.

She was a righteous, chaste, and scholarly woman, from a household of hadith.

She lived in Balkh.

She heard Imam Abu al Mahasin ʿAbd al Wahid ibn Ismaʿil al Ruwayani al Tabari.

ʿAbd al Karim al Samʿani heard 1 hadith from her in Balkh.

She died in the latter part of Rabiʿ al Akhir in the year 548 AH. (al Tahbir fi al Muʿjam al Kabir, by al Samʿani, 2/421.)

ʿAʾishah bint Abi al Fadl al Kumsani (d. 529 AH)

She was Umm al Fadl ʿAʾishah bint Abi al Fadl ibn Ahmad al Kumsani, from the people of Marw, from the village of Kumsan.

She was a scholarly, jurist, righteous woman, from the people of goodness and religion.

She heard her grandmother ʿAyni bint Zakariyya ibn Ahmad al Makki al Hilali.

Her birth was before the year 460 AH.

She died in Kumsan in the year 529 AH. (al Tahbir fi al Muʿjam al Kabir, by al Samʿani, 2/424.) (Kumsan is one of the villages of Marw, at 5 farsakhs. The Ghuzz ruined it in the year 548 AH.)

ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al Rahman al Najjariyyah

She was ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Saʿd ibn Zurarah ibn ʿAls al Ansariyyah, al Najjariyyah, al Madaniyyah, the jurist, raised by ʿAʾishah and her student.

It was said her father had companionship, and her grandfather Saʿd was among the early companions, and he was the brother of the great naqib Asʿad ibn Zurarah.

She narrated from ʿAʾishah, Umm Salamah, Rafiʿ ibn Khadij, and her maternal sister Umm Hisham bint Harithah ibn al Nuʿman.

Those who narrated from her included her son Abu al Rijal Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman, his 2 sons Harithah and Malik, her nephew the judge Abu Bakr ibn Hazm, his 2 sons ʿAbd Allah and Muhammad, al Zuhri, Yahya ibn Saʿid al Ansari, and others. (Tahdhib al Tahdhib, by Ibn Hajar, 5/607. Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, by al Dhahabi, 4/507–508. al Tabaqat al Kubra, by Ibn Saʿd, 2/487.)

Ibn Abi Maryam narrated from Ibn Maʿin: “Trustworthy, a proof.”

Al ʿIjli said: “A Madani tabiʿiyyah, trustworthy.”

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al Muqaddami said: I heard Ibn al Madini mention ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al Rahman, and he greatly raised her rank.

Ibn Hibban said: she was among the most knowledgeable people in the hadith of ʿAʾishah.

Ibn al Madini narrated from Sufyan: the strongest hadith of ʿAʾishah is the hadith of ʿAmrah.

From Ibn Shihab, from al Qasim ibn Muhammad, that he said to me: “Young man, I see you are eager to seek knowledge, so should I not direct you to its vessel.” I said: “Yes.” He said: “Stick to ʿAmrah, for she was under the care of ʿAʾishah.” He said: so I came to her and I found her a sea that does not run dry.

Ibn Saʿd narrated in his Tabaqat from ʿAbd Allah ibn Dinar who said: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz wrote to Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Hazm: “Look for whatever there is of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, or an established Sunnah, or the hadith of ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al Rahman, and write it down, for I fear the fading of knowledge and the loss of its people.”

He also narrated from Shuʿbah, from Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman, that he said: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz said to me: “No one remains more knowledgeable than her in the hadith of ʿAʾishah,” meaning ʿAmrah.

He said: ʿUmar used to ask her.

Imam al Dhahabi said: she was a scholar, a jurist, a proof, and abundant in knowledge.

Her hadith is plentiful in the collections of Islam.

They differed concerning her death, so it was said the year 98 AH, and it was said the year 106 AH.

Umm ʿIsa bint Ibrahim al Harbi (d. 328 AH)

She was a virtuous scholar, and she used to give fatwa in fiqh.

She died in Rajab of the year 328 AH, and she was buried beside her father Ibrahim.

Nothing is known from the biography of this scholar except what was mentioned.

As for her father, he was an imam in all sciences. His origin was from Marw, and he became well known and died in Baghdad. He memorised hadith, knew fiqh, understood rulings, and was ascetic. He studied fiqh under Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and he authored many books, among them “Gharib al Hadith”, “Sujud al Qur’an”, and “Dalaʾil al Nubuwwah”. He had 12,000 parts in language and gharib al hadith, written in his own handwriting. (Sifat al Safwah, by Ibn al Jawzi, 2/527. al Bidayah wa al Nihayah, by Ibn Kathir, 6/196. The part is what is between 5 and 6 pages.)

Thaʿlab, the imam of the Kufans in grammar and language, said: I did not miss Ibrahim al Harbi from a gathering of grammar or language for about 50 years.

He did not complain to anyone about anything. Among what was mentioned in his later life is his saying: I did not complain to my mother, nor to my sister, nor to my wife, nor to my daughters, ever, about a fever I felt.

He said: I had a headache for 45 years and I did not tell anyone about it. I have had 10 years where I see with one eye only, and I did not tell anyone about it.

With all this life filled with obedience, knowledge, and asceticism, people came to visit him and they said: how do you find yourself, O Abu Ishaq. He said: I find myself as the poet said:

“Affliction crept in me, low and high, and I see myself dying limb by limb. My strength has gone through obeying my Lord, and I remembered obeying Allah, worn and thin.”

He died in Baghdad in the year 285 AH. (See his biography in Sifat al Safwah, 2/404–410, and al Aʿlam, 1/24 and 25.)

ʿAyn al Shams bint Ahmad al Isfahaniyyah (d. 610 AH)

She was ʿAyn al Shams bint Ahmad ibn Abi al Faraj, Umm al Nur, al Thaqafiyyah, al Isfahaniyyah, the jurist, the musnidah of her time. (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 23/22–24. Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/42.)

She heard in attendance in the year 524 AH from Ismaʿil ibn al Ikhshid.

She heard the “Juzʾ Abi al Shaykh” from Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Dhar al Salihani, and she became singular in the universe in narrating from the 2 of them.

From her hearing from Abu Dhar was the book “al Diyat” by Ibn Abi ʿAsim, “al Tawbah”, “ʿAwali al Qubab”, “Ahadith Bakr ibn Bakkar”, and “the Juzʾ of Abu al Zubayr from other than Jabir”.

She was righteous and chaste, from a household of narration and chains.

Those who narrated from her include al Diyaʾ Muhammad, al Zaki al Barzali, al Taqi ibn al ʿIzz, and a group.

By authorisation: al Shams ʿAbd al Wasiʿ al Abhari, al Fakhr ʿAli, al Shams ibn al Zayn, and a group.

She died in the year 610 AH, and she lived 90 years.

ʿAfifah bint Ahmad al Farfaniyyah (d. 606 AH)

She was ʿAfifah bint Abi Bakr Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad, Umm Haniʾ, al Isfahaniyyah, al Farfaniyyah. (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 21/481–483. Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/19–20. al Nujum al Zahirah, 6/200. al Aʿlam, 5/35.) (It is a village from the villages of Isfahan. In Shadharat al Dhahab it is “al Fariqaniyyah”.)

She was the noble female shaykh, long lived, the musnidah of Isfahan. She had fame in hadith and fiqh.

She was born in the year 520 AH.

She was the last one who narrated by direct hearing from ʿAbd al Wahid ibn Muhammad al Dashtaj, who died in the year 518 AH, and from Fatimah al Jawzdaniyyah. She heard from Fatimah al Jawzdaniyyah al Muʿjam al Kabir in full completion, and al Muʿjam al Saghir, both by al Tabarani, and “al Fitan” by Nuʿaym ibn Hammad. Abu ʿAli al Haddad, who died in the year 515 AH, gave her authorisation.

She also heard from Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd al Wahid al Thaqafi, and high chains ended up with her.

From Baghdad, Abu ʿAli ibn al Mahdi authorised her, al Ghanaʾim ibn al Muhtadi Billah authorised her, Abu Saʿd ibn al Tuyuri authorised her, Abu Talib al Yusufi authorised her, and a group.

Those who narrated from her include Abu Musa ibn ʿAbd al Ghani, Shaykh al Diyaʾ, al Rafiʿ Ishaq al Abrquhi, and Abu Bakr ibn Nuqtah, and he said: I heard from her al Muʿjam al Kabir and “al Fitan” by Nuʿaym and other than that.

Imam al Dhahabi said: Ahmad ibn Salamah narrated from her by authorisation, and al Burhan ibn al Darji, and Ibn Shayban, and al Fakhr ʿAli, and Khadijah bint al Shihab ibn Rajih.

She died in Rabiʿ al Akhir of the year 606 AH.

Fatimah bint Ahmad ibn al Saʿati

She studied fiqh under her father, and she took from him “Majmaʿ al Bahrayn” in fiqh.

Ibn Abi al Wafaʾ al Qurashi said: I saw it in her handwriting, and it is a fine writing.

Her father was Ahmad ibn ʿAli ibn Taghlib, Muzaffar al Din, Ibn al Saʿati, originally from Baghdad, from Baʿlabakk. He lived in Baghdad and grew up there. He became skilled in fiqh, and he authored the book “Majmaʿ al Bahrayn”, in which he combined between the “Mukhtasar” of al Quduri in fiqh and the “Manzumah” of al Nasafi in al Khilaf, with fine additions.

Ibn Qutlubugha said: he excelled in his abridgement, and he explained it in 2 volumes.

He has the book “al Durr al Mandud” in refuting the philosopher of the Jews, meaning Ibn Kammunah.

He also has the book “al Badiʿ” in usul al fiqh, and he combined in it between the Usul of Fakhr al Islam al Bazdawi and “al Ihkam” by al Amidi. In the opening of that book he said:

“I have granted you, O student seeking the farthest limit in the knowledge of usul, this book, unique in its meaning, matching its name to what it is, I have summarised it for you from the book al Ihkam, and I have adorned it with precious jewels from Usul Fakhr al Islam, for they are the 2 seas that surround the comprehensive principles, gathering the foundations of what is transmitted and what is reasoned. This contains the universal foundational rules, and that is filled with detailed branch examples.”

His death was set as the year 694 AH, and he was buried near al Junayd.

His father is the one who made the well known clocks over the gate of al Mustansiriyyah in Baghdad. (al Jawahir al Mudiʾah, by Ibn Abi al Wafaʾ al Qurashi, 4/122. Also see the biography of her father in Taj al Tarajim, by Ibn Qutlubugha, p 95, and al Jawahir al Mudiʾah, 3/208–212.)

Fatimah bint Ahmad, the Daughter of al Mahdi li Din Allah (d. 840 AH)

She was well known for knowledge, and she had discussions with her father on issues, like the issue of dyeing with safflower.

Her husband, Imam al Muzhir, used to return to her when issues were difficult for him. When students pressed him in discussion, he would enter to her, and she would give him the correct answer. He would then come out with that to them, and they would say: this is not from you, it is from behind the curtain.

She died in the year 840 AH. (al Badr al Taliʿ, by al Shawkani, 2/24 and 25.)

Her father was Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn al Murtada, from the imams of the Zaydis in Yemen. He was given the bayʿah for leadership after the death of al Nasir in the year 793 AH in Sanaʿa, and he was titled al Mahdi li Din Allah. He devoted himself to authoring after leaving prison secretly, until he died in Jabal Hajjah west of Sanaʿa. From his works are “al Azhar fi Fiqh al Aʾimmah al Akhyar” and its explanation “al Ghayth al Midrar”, “Shifaʾ al Asqam” as an explanation of “al Takmilah lil Ahkam”, and “al Shafiyyah Sharh al Kafiyyah”, and other than that. (See his biography in al Aʿlam, 1/255.)

Her paternal aunt Dahmaʾ was a virtuous scholar. She taught students in the city of Thula, and she has authored works, and Imam al Shawkani mentioned her. (al Badr al Taliʿ, 1/248.)

Fatimah bint Abi al Hasan al Naysaburi (d. 538 AH)

She was Fatimah bint Abi al Hasan ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad al Naysaburi.

She was a righteous, chaste, scholarly woman, abundant in goodness, from the children of scholars and imams.

She heard the judge Abu Muhammad ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAli al Tamimi.

Her birth was on the road of Hajj before the year 460 AH.

She died in Isfahan in the month of Ramadan in the year 538 AH. (al Tahbir fi al Muʿjam al Kabir, by al Samʿani, 2/429–430.)

Fatimah bint al Hasan al Naysaburiyyah (d. 480 AH)

She was the daughter of the teacher and ascetic Abu ʿAli al Hasan ibn ʿAli al Daqqaq.

She was the worshipping, scholarly female shaykh, Umm al Banin al Naysaburiyyah, the wife of the teacher Abu al Qasim al Qushayri, and the mother of his children. (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 18/479–480.)

She heard from Abu Nuʿaym al Isfaraʾini, Abu al Hasan al ʿAlawi, ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf, Abu ʿAli al Rawdhabari, Abu ʿAbd Allah al Hakim, al Sulami, and a group. She was a worshipper, devout, devoted in night prayer, and of high rank.

Those who narrated from her include ʿAbd Allah al Farawi, Zahir al Shahhami, Abu al Asʿad Hibah al Rahman ibn ʿAbd al Wahid, her grandson, and others.

She died in Dhu al Qiʿdah in the year 480 AH, and she was 90 years old.

Her husband was the well known ascetic and mufassir, the author of the Risalah al Qushayriyyah. He had gentle words and good character, and he was deep in meanings, and without equal in spiritual conduct and reminding.

Imam al Dhahabi said about him: he took on horsemanship and working with weapons until he became skilled in that, then he learned writing and Arabic and became excellent.

He quoted al Muʾayyid in Tarikh al Mukhtasar fi Akhbar al Bashar that a horse was gifted to Shaykh Abu al Qasim, and he rode it for about 20 years, then when the shaykh died the horse did not eat anything and died after a week, in the year 465 AH. (The same source, 18/227–233.)

Fatimah bint Saʿd al Khayr al Balansiyyah (d. 600 AH)

She was the noble female shaykh, the musnidah, Umm ʿAbd al Karim Fatimah, the daughter of the hadith scholar and merchant Abu al Hasan Saʿd al Khayr ibn Muhammad ibn Sahl al Ansari al Balansi. (She is from Balansiyyah in al Andalus.) (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 21/412–413. Shadharat al Dhahab, 4/347. al Nujum al Zahirah, 6/186. al Aʿlam, 5/328.)

She was knowledgeable in fiqh and hadith.

Her birth was in Isfahan in the year 522 AH. She travelled with her father to Baghdad, then to Damascus.

In her third year, she heard in attendance from Fatimah al Jawzdaniyyah a set of al Muʿjam al Kabir, and she attended in Baghdad in the year 525 AH with Hibah Allah ibn al Husayn, Zahir ibn Tahir, and Abu Ghalib ibn al Bannaʾ. After that she heard from her father, and from Hibah Allah ibn al Tabr, and the judge Abu Bakr, and Yahya ibn Hubaysh al Fariqi, and Yahya ibn al Bannaʾ, and Abu Mansur al Qazzaz, and Ismaʿil al Samarqandi, and others. A large group gave her authorisation.

She taught hadith in Damascus and Egypt.

The leader Zayn al Din ibn Nujayyah al Waʿiz married her, and he lived with her in Damascus, then in Egypt, and she saw honour and status.

Those who narrated from her include Abu Musa ibn al Hafiz, ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Muqarrib, Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al Wazzan al Hanafi, Muhammad ibn al Shaykh al Shatibi, al Hafiz al Diyaʾ, the khatib of Marda, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAllan, and many others.

Al Hafiz Zaki al Din ʿAbd al ʿAzim al Mundhiri narrated from her by authorisation.

She died on the 8 of Rabiʿ al Awwal in the year 600 AH, and she lived 78 years.

Her husband Ibn Nujayyah was Zayn al Din Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn Ibrahim ibn Naja ibn Ghanaʾim al Ansari al Dimashqi, the imam, the noble leader, the preaching jurist, originally from Damascus.

Imam al Dhahabi said about him: he was a leading man, dignified, noble, with status, leadership, honour, wealth, fine appearance, and connection to governments.

Ibn al Najjar said: he had pleasant preaching, a gentle nature, a sweet style of delivery, many meanings, religious, praiseworthy conduct, and high rank.

Abu Shamah said: he was of great rank, honoured with Salah al Din, and he used to write to him and bring him to his gathering, and likewise his son al Malik al ʿAziz after him. He died in the year 599 AH. (See his biography in Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 21/393–396.)

Fatimah bint ʿAbd al Qadir, Known as Bint Quraymizan (d. 966 AH)

She was Fatimah bint ʿAbd al Qadir ibn Muhammad ibn ʿUthman, well known as Bint Quraymizan.

She was the virtuous, righteous female shaykh, the Hanafi of Aleppo, the female shaykh of both al ʿAdiliyyah and al Dajajiyyah.

She had good handwriting, and she copied many books.

She had eloquent speech, modesty, austerity, and constant prayer, even in illness.

She was born on the 4 of Muharram in the year 898 AH. (This is in al Kawakib. In Shadharat al Dhahab it is 878 AH.)

Shaykh Kamal al Din Muhammad ibn Mir Jamal al Din ibn Qili Darwish al Ardabili al Shafiʿi married her, a resident of al Rawahiyyah school in Aleppo, and it was said his grandfather was the first to explain al Miftah. (This is in al Kawakib. In Shadharat al Dhahab it is al Misbah.)

She said: I took knowledge from this husband of mine, and he used to say: Allah Most High has given me 36 sciences.

She died in the year 966 AH, and she advised that her prayer mat be buried with her. (Shadharat al Dhahab, 8/347–348. al Kawakib al Saʾirah, 2/238.)

Fatimah bint ʿAli al Hanbaliyyah (d. 710 AH)

She was Fatimah bint ʿAli ibn al Husayn ibn Hamzah, titled Sitt al Muluk.

She was a Hanbali jurist.

She narrated hadith and taught hadith.

Musnad al Darimi and the works of al Baghawi were read to her.

Some of her contemporaries gave her authorisation.

Her origin was from Wasit, and her residence and death were in Baghdad.

She died in the year 710 AH. (al Aʿlam, by al Zurkali, 0/328, quoting ʿUlamaʾ Baghdad, p 242.)

Fatimah bint ʿAyyash al Baghdadiyyah (d. 714 AH)

She was Zaynab, Fatimah bint ʿAyyash ibn Abi al Fath al Baghdadiyyah, the Hanbali.

She was described as: “the preaching ascetic worshipper, the female shaykh, the jurist, the scholar, the musnidah, the mufti, the fearful, the humble, the noble devout woman, the one devoted to ribat, the humble, the religious, the chaste, the chosen, the righteous, the precise, the verifying, the virtuous, the multi skilled, the unique of her time, and the singular of her age, sought from every direction.” (al Durar al Kaminah, by Ibn Hajar, 3/307–308. Shadharat al Dhahab, 6/34. Dhayl Tabaqat al Hanabilah, by Ibn Rajab, appendix, 2/467–468.)

She was of great rank and abundant knowledge, asked about fine details of issues, and she mastered fiqh with great mastery.

She studied fiqh with the Maqadisah, and she took from Shaykh Shams al Din ibn Abi ʿUmar and others until she became skilled. When something was unclear to her, she would ask Ibn Taymiyyah, and he would give her fatwa, and he would be amazed at her and at her understanding, and he would greatly praise her.

She was striving, fasting, standing in prayer, speaking truth, living roughly, content with little, commanding right and forbidding wrong. Many people benefited from her, especially the women of Damascus, due to her truthfulness in her admonition and her contentment. Then she moved to Cairo, and benefit increased through her, her fame rose, and her rank became high. Few women gave birth to someone like her.

It was said she passed 80 years.

She died on the night of ʿArafah in the year 714 AH.

Fatimah bint Fakhrāwar al Kanji (d. 733 AH)

She was Fatimah bint Fakhrāwar al Kanji, the scholar.

Her kunyah was Umm al Hasan and Umm Mahmud.

She was born in the year 658 AH.

She heard from ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Yusuf al Manbiji the “Juzʾ Ibn Tartal”, and from Ibn ʿAlaq the “Juzʾ al Bitaqah”, and from Ibn ʿAzzun the “al Jumuʿah” by al Nasaʾi, and “al Nasikh” by Ibn Mirdas al Nahwi, and she heard from others.

She died in the middle of Shawwal in the year 733 AH. (al Durar al Kaminah, by Ibn Hajar, 3/308.)

Fatimah bint Yahya al Mughami (d. 319 AH)

She was Fatimah bint Yahya ibn Yusuf al Mughami, the sister of the jurist Yusuf ibn Yahya al Mughami.

She was chosen, virtuous, scholarly, and a jurist.

She lived in Cordoba, and she died in the year 319 AH. She was buried in al Rabad.

Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd and Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ʿAdl, the jurist and hadith scholar, prayed over her.

A report is narrated from her about a discussion between her and a woman who entered upon her, and she mentioned something to her, and that woman laughed. Makkah had been taken captive that year, so Fatimah said to her in surprise: you laugh, while Allah has lifted the Corner from the earth. That woman never laughed again until she died. (al Silah, by Ibn Bashkuwal, 3/991. al Hulal al Sundusiyyah fi al Akhbar wa al Athar al Andalusiyyah, by Shakib Arslan, 2/30–31.)

Quraysh bint ʿAbd al Qadir al Tabariyyah (d. 1107 AH)

She was Quraysh al Tabariyyah, the daughter of Imam ʿAbd al Qadir ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Mukram ibn al Muhibb al Tabari, from Makkah.

Her student al Shams al Budayri described her in his index as: “the scholar who understands, with pleasing qualities and accepted manners.” He said: I read to her in her house parts of the 6 books, parts of al Muwattaʾ, the Musnad of al Shafiʿi, Ahmad, and the rest of the masanid, and she authorised me with her pen and her tongue, according to her narration from her father ʿAbd al Qadir al Tabari, from the 2 shaykhs al Ramli and ʿAbd al Wahid al Hassari al Muʿammar, both from al Hafiz Ibn Hajar. She also narrates from al Hafiz al Babili. Rather, she narrates from the shaykh of her father, the hadith scholar, the musnid, the long lived shaykh ʿAbd al Wahid ibn Ibrahim al Hassari, an attribution to al Hassar, a great city in India, born in the year 910 AH, and he made his authorisation good for him and for his children.

Shaykh Falih ibn Muhammad al Zahiri al Madani made the mentioned Quraysh among the 7 musanid of al Hijaz, as he opened his book Anjah al Masaʿi fi al Jamʿ bayna Sifat al Samiʿ wa al Waʿi, and he said that due to them, hadith in the last 3 centuries became strong and rose in the horizons, and that she was the last of the jurists of the Tabari household.

Al Kattani replied to him that Muhammad ibn ʿAli al Tabari died after her, and that there was also another jurist after him, and he is ʿAbd al Wahhab ibn ʿAli al Tabarani, who is among the shaykhs of Murtada al Zabidi. He said: perhaps the correct phrase is: the last of the female jurists of the Tabari household.

Then he said: I searched strongly in Makkah in the days of my travel to it for the remaining male and female jurists of this great household, and I found that they entered under “was”, and all who are on it will pass away.

Her death was the year 1107 AH. (Fihris al Faharis wa al Athbat wa Muʿjam al Maʿajim wa al Mashayikhat wa al Musalsalat, by al Kattani, 2/941–944.)

Her father was virtuous from the ulama of al Hijaz, his birth and death in Makkah. He had good writing, and he had poetry. From his books is ʿUyun al Masaʾil min Aʿyan al Rasaʾil, in which he gathered the best of 40 sciences. He died in the year 1033 AH. (al Aʿlam, 4/168–169.)

Her student al Shams al Budayri was Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Budayri al Husayni, from the Shafiʿis. He knew hadith, and he was called “Ibn al Mayyit” and “al Burhan al Shami”. His origin was from Damietta, and his death was in it. He learned there and in Cairo. From his books is “Sharh Manzumah al Bayquni” in the terminology of hadith, and “al Jawahir al Ghawali fi Bayan al Asanid al ʿAwali”. He died in the year 1140 AH. (The same source, 7/295.)

Karimah bint ʿAbd al Wahhab, Known as Bint al Habqabq (d. 641 AH)

She was Karimah bint ʿAbd al Wahhab ibn ʿAli ibn al Khidr, Musnidat al Sham, Umm al Fadl, al Qurashiyyah al Zubayriyyah, and she was known as Bint al Habqabq. (Shadharat al Dhahab, 5/212. al Aʿlam, by al Zurkali, 6/079.)

She was knowledgeable in hadith and fiqh.

She narrated from Hassan al Zayyat and a group.

Abu al Waqt, Ibn al Baghiyan, Masʿud al Thaqafi, and a group gave her authorisation.

She narrated a great amount.

Al Mundhiri said after mentioning some of her shaykhs and those who took from her: “It was said: she narrated for about 60 years. I met her at Bayt Lahya, outside Damascus, and I heard from her, and she had already authorised me in the year 595 AH. Her birth is estimated around the year 545 AH in Damascus.”

She died in Jumada al Akhirah in her orchard at al Maytur, on Jabal Qasiyun, in the year 641 AH.

Her father was al ʿAdl Abu Muhammad ʿAbd al Wahhab ibn ʿAli ibn Khidr al Asadi, known as al Habqabq. He was the brother of al Hafiz Abu al Mahasin ʿUmar ibn ʿAli al Qurashi.

He gathered from Jamal al Islam ʿAli ibn al Muslim and a group, and his brother narrated from him, and his 2 sons ʿAli and Karimah, and others. He died in the year 590 AH. (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 21/230–231.)

Her paternal uncle ʿUmar was a jurist, a hafiz, and a scholar. He cared for hadith, and he heard in Damascus, Aleppo, Harran, al Mawṣil, al Kufah, Baghdad, and the 2 Harams, and he was given understanding. He died in the year 575 AH at the age of 50 years. (Siyar Aʿlam al Nubala, 21/105–106.)

Author

ISHAQ. K