Unveiling Christianity

Female Scholars in Islam

by Ibn Anwar and al-Jamalullail

The transmission of hadith collections and even the compilation of new ones with very elevated isnads in the post-canonical era was an area in which women could excel. Because they often lived longer than men, women could become the most sought after transmitters of books. Major hadith scholars like al-Khatib al-Baghdadi traveled to Mecca to read Sahih al-Bukhari in the presence of Karima al-Marwaziyya (d. 463/1071, who had an especially elevated elevated isnad in the book, and Fatima al-Juzdaniyya was the main transmitter of al-Tabarani’s works. Until her death in 2008, Muslims students flocked to a small village in Yemen’s Hadramawt Valley to receive a hadith ijaza from the 105-year-old woman Safiyya al-’Amdiyya.

Independent collections of hadiths by women were very rare; in the early period of hadith they were non-existent. But we know of at least two selections of hadiths from the post-canonical period compiled by women. A twelfth-century woman named Shuhda al-Katiba (d. 574/1178-9) put together a list of 115 hadiths that she picked from books she had been authorised to transmit, often with shorter isnads than the hadiths in the actual books themselves. The Musnad of Amat Allah Miryam al-Hanbaliyya of Nablus (d. 758/1357) has also survived until today.

(Jonathan A.C. Brown. Assistant Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle) [1]

In the time of the companions the beloved wife of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., Aishah r.a. soared prominently over both women and men as Cambridge scholar Timothy J. Winter(now Sheikh Dr. Abdul Hakim Murad) and John A. Williams of College of William and Mary cites a Sunni source that says, “‘A’isha was, of all the people, the one who had the most knowledge of law, the one who was most educated, and compared to those who surrounded her, the one whose judgment was the best.’” [2] Both men and women are obligated to search for and acquire knowledge as the hadith of the Prophet s.a.w. says:

في مسند أبي يعلى الموصلي عن أنس عن النبي (ص) :  طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم

 وهذا الحديث وإن لم يكن ثابتاً فمعناه صحيح  

“In the Musnad of Abu Ya’la al-Mawsuli, from anas who relates that the prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim.”

The meaning of this hadith, though the hadith itself is not well authenticated, is true.” [3]

Hence it is no surprise that many of the greatest minds in Muslim history were women. Winter and Williams make mention of Bint al-Kamal who lectured in Damascus to several leading scholars including the celebrated Muslim jurist/scholar and traveller Ibn Batuta whose journeys spanned more than 75, 000 miles (unsurpassed by any other until 450 years later in the Steam Age). Other reknown female scholars mentioned by Winter and Williams include Karima al-Marwaziyya (who was one of the most famous scholars during her time), Fatima bint al-Hasan, Shuhda the Scribe, Ajiba bint Abi Bakr (Bint al-Kamal’s teacher) and Umm hani who in Winter and Williams’ words “mastered all the great academic disciplines of her time including theology, law, history and grammar, before taking up senior lectuering positions in many of the great academies of Cairo.”[4]

One of the great scholars in the Shafi’i madhhab or school of thought is Imam Al-Suyuti who is described as “…one of the Friends of God and His Signs to creation, the Mujtahid Imam and Renewer of the ninth Islamic century, foremost hadith master, jurist, Sufi, philologist, Ash’ari theologian, and historian, he authored works in virtually every Islamic science.” [5] Among his numerous teachers and instructors were over thirty female scholars. [6]

The following is a rather long, yet non-exhaustive list of more than 259 Muslim female scholars excluding those from among the Prophet’s companions and their successors taken from the Oxford scholar Mohammad Akram Nadwi’s preface to his magnum opus Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam [7] *:

1. ‘Aishah bt. ‘Abd al-Hadi
2. ‘Aishah bt. al-‘Ala’
3. ‘Aishah bt. ‘Abd al-Rahim al-Zujaj
4. ‘Aishah bt. ‘Ali al-Sinhajiyyah
5. ‘Aishah bt. Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi
6. ‘Aishah bt. Hasan al-Kinani
7. ‘Aishah bt. Hasan b.Ibrahim
8. ‘Aishah bt. Hasan al-Wa’izah
9. ‘Aishah bt. Al-Najm al-Balisiyyah
10. ‘Aishah bt. Ma’mar
11. ‘Aishah bt. Muhammad al-Hanbaliyyah
12. ‘Aishah bt. Sayf al-Din Qawaliji
13. ‘Aishah bt. Umar b.Rushayd
14. ‘Aishah bt. Al-Zayn
15. ‘Aishah bt. Al-Zubayr b. Hisham b. Urwah
16. Abidah al-Madaniyyah
17. Adliyyah bt. Abi Bakr b. ‘A’idh
18. Ajibah al-Baqdariyyah
19. Alti bt. Nasir al-Din
20. Amatullah ‘A’ishah
21. Amat al-Ghafur bt. Ishaq al-Dihlawi
22. Amat al-Khaliq bt. Zayn al-Din
23. Amat al-Rahim al-Yuniniyyah
24. Amat al-Salam bt. Al-Qadi Abi Bakr
25. Amatullah al-Dihlawiyyah
26. Amat al-Wahid bt. Al-Mahamili
27. ‘Aminah bt. Abi Sa’id al-Naysaburi
28. Aminah bt. Ahmad b. Rajih
29. Aminah bt. Al-Mu’ayyad
30. Aminah bt. Al-Habib al-Hibashi
31. Aminah bt. Muhammad b. Qudamah
32. Aminah bt.al-Wasitiyyah
33. Aminah bt. Muhammad b. al-Rar
34. As bt. Ahmad b. Hassan
35. Asma’ bt. Asad b. al-Furat
36. Asma’ bt. Abi Bakr b. Yunus al-Dimashqiyyah
37. Asiya bt. Jarullah al-Shaybani
38. Asma’ bt Kamal al-Din Musa al-Daja’i
39. Asiyah bt. Muhammad al-‘Irbili
40. Asiyah bt. Muhammad al-Iskaf
41. Asma’ bt. ‘Abdillah al-Mahraniyyah
42. Asma’ bt. Abi Bakr b. al-Khallal
43. Asma’ bt. Ahmad al-Bahraniyyah
44. Asma’ bt. Ahmad al-Harrani
45. Asma’ bt. Ibrahim b. Mandah
46. Asma’ bt. Al-Mardawi
47. Asma’ bt. Muhammad b. al-Hasan
48. Asma’ bt. Muhammad b. al-Kamal
49. Aymalik bt. Ahmad
50. ‘Azizah bt. ‘Ali al-Tarrah
51. Bay Khatun
52. Biba
53. Buran
54. Bulbul
55. Dunya bt. Hasan b. Balban
56. Fatimah bt. ‘Abd al-Hadi
57. Fatimah bt. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Qazwini
58. Fatimah bt. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Harraniyyah
59. Fatimah bt. Ahmad al-‘Anazi
60. Fatimah bt. ‘Ali b. al-Husayn
61. Fatimah bt. ‘Ali b. Musa al-Rida
62. Fatimah al-Bata’ihiyyah
63. Fatimah bt. Sl-Daqqaq
64. Fatimah bt. Al-Tawusiyyah
65. Fatimah bt. Ibrahim al-Ba’labakkiyyah
66. Fatimah bt. al-Juzdaniyyah
67. Fatimah (Sutaytah) bt. Kamal al-Din Mahmud b. Shirin al-Hanafi
68. Fatimah bt. Al-Samarqandiyyah
69. Fatimah bt. Al-Manshawiyyah
70. Fatimah bt. Al-Aqra’
71. Fatimah bt. Al-Malik al-Muhsin Ahmad b. al-Sultan Salah al-Din
72. Fatimah bt. Al-Mubarak
73. Fatimah bt. Al-Munajja
74. Fatimah bt. Al-Hasan b. ‘Ali al-Mu’addib
75. Fatimah bt. Al-Zayyat
76. Fatimah bt. Ishaq al-Wasiti
77. Fatimah bt. Ja’far b. Muhammad al-Sadiq
78. Fatimah bt. Maik b. Anas
79. Fatimah bt. Musa b. Ja’far
80. Fatimah bt. Muhammad al-Dimashqiyyah
81. Fatimah bt. ‘Abd al-Hadi
82. Fatimah bt. Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Sharik
83. Fatimah bt. Muhammad b. ‘Ali
84. Fatimah bt. Muhammad al-Samarqandi
85. Fatimah bt. Salim
86. Fatimah bt. Sa’d al-Khayr
87. Fatimah bt. Shams al-Sa’igh
88. Fatimah bt. Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Dayruti
89. Fatimah bt. Shukrullah al-Kuraniyyah
90. Fatimah bt. Hamad al-Fudayli
91. Fatimah Shams Jahan al-Jarkasiyyah
92. Fatimah bt. Ibrahim b. ‘Abdullah b. Abi ‘Umar
93. Fatimah bt. Al-Munajja
94. Fawz bt. Muhammad
95. Ghazal(slave of al-Qalqashandi)
96. Ghazal al-Nubiyyah
97. Ghufayrah bt. Waqid
98. Habibah bt. ‘Abd al-Haqq al-Sanbati
99. Habibah bt. Ibrahim b. Abi ‘Umar
100. Habibah bt. al-Zayn
101. Hadiyyah bt. ‘Ali b. ‘Askar
102. Hafsah bt. Mula’ib
103. Hajir bt. al-Sharaf al-Maqdisi
104. Hasanah bt. Muhammad b. Kamil
105. Hasnah bt. Abi l-Yumn al-Makkiyyah
106. Hind bt. Ja’far b. ‘Abd al-Razzaq
107. Hind bt. Muhammad b. ‘Ali al-Urmawi
108. Humaydah al-Asbahaniyyah
109. Husn(slave of Ahmad b. Hanbal)
110. Husn al-Makkiyyah
111. Ishraq al-Suwayda’
112. Jahan Ara Begum
113. Jumu’ah bt. Ahmad al-Mahmiyyah
114. Juwayriyah bt. al-Hakkari
115. Juwayriyah bt. al-Hafiz ‘Abd al-Rahim al-Iraqi
116. Karimah al-Marwaziyyah
117. Karimah bt. ‘Abd al-Wahhab
118. Karimah bt. Hashas al-Muzaniyyah
119. Khadijah bt. Abi ‘Abdillah al-Harraniyyah
120. Khadijah bt. Nur al-Din ‘Ali al-Ansari
121. Khadijah bt. Yusuf b. Ghunaymah
122. Khadijah al-Dihlawiyyah
123. Khadijah bt. ‘Abd al-Hamid b. ‘Uthman
124. Khadijah bt. ‘Umar b. Abi Bakr
125. Khadijah bt. Ahmad b. ‘Azzuz al-Fasiyyah
126. Khadijah bt. Ahmad b. Jandan
127. Khadijah bt. Abi Bakr al-Hamawi
128. Khadijah bt. Abi Bakr b. ‘Ali
129. Khadijah bt. Abi Muhammad al-Shatiyali
130. Khadijah bt. Abi l-‘Abbas al-Razi
131. Khadijah bt. Abi Ghanim
132. Khadijah bt. Sahnun
133. Khadijah bt. al-Mufaddal b. ‘Ali al-Maqdisi
134. Khadijah bt. Abi Tahir al-Silafi
135. Khadijah bt. Ibrahim al-Ba’labakkiyyah
136. Khadijah bt. Muhammad b. Sa’d b. ‘Abdillah al-Maqdisiyyah
137. Khadijah bt. Muhammad b. Abi Bakr b. ‘Abd al-Da’im
138. Khadijah bt. Muhammad al-Wa’izah
139. Khadijah bt. Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Muqri al-Hanafi
140. Khadijah bt. Ibrahim b. ‘Abd al-Wahid al-Maqdisiyyah
141. Khatun bt. ‘Abdillah
142. Khayr al-Nisa’
143. Khunathah bt. Bakkar b. ‘Ali al-Ma’afiri
144. Lihaz al-Nisa’
145. Lu’lu’ah
146. Malikah bt. al-Jamal b. ‘Ali
147. Maryam al-Adhra’iyyah
148. Maryam al-Kashmiriyyah
149. Maryam bt. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Nabulsiyyah
150. Maryam bt. Ahmad al-Asadiyyah
151. Maryam bt. Jahsh
152. Mu’minah bt. Muhammad b. Abi zayd
153. Nafisah bt. al-Hasan b. Zayd
154. Nudar bt. Abi Hayyan
155. Nur Sitti bt. ‘Abd al-Karim al-Razi
156. Qatlu al-Rumiyyah
157. Quraysh al-Tabariyyah
158. Rahmah bt. al-Jinan al-Miknasiyyah
159. Rabi’ah bt. Sa’d al-Khayr
160. Rabi’ah ‘Ali b. Mahfuz b. Sasra
161. Rayhanah(wife of Ahmad b. Hanbal)
162. Ruqayyah bt. Dawud
163. Ruqayyah bt. ISma’il al-Anmati
164. Sabirin al-Nubiyyah
165. Safiyah bt. ‘Abd al-Rahman b. al-Farra’
166. Safiyyah bt. Ahmad b. Qudamah
167. Safiyyah al-Makhzumiyyah
168. Salihah bt. ‘Inayat Rasul
169. Samanah bt. Hamdan
170. Sarah bt. ‘Umar al-Hamawiyyah
171. Sarah bt Numayr
172. Sarah bt Taqi al-Din al-Subki
173. Sayyidah al-Maraniyyah
174. Sayyidah bt. ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Ghirnatiyyah
175. Sayyidah bt. Musa al-Maraniyyah
176. Shams al-Nisa’ bt. Amir Hasan al-Sahsawani
177. Shaqsiyyah
178. Sharaf al-Ashraf al-Tawusiyyah al-Hasaniyyah
179. Shuhdah al-Baghdadiyyah
180. Sitt al-‘Arab bt. Ibn al-Bukhari
181. Sitt al-‘Arab bt. al-Sulami
182. Sitt al-‘Arab bt. Yahya al-Kindi
183. Sitt al-‘Arab Zaynab bt. ‘Ali b. ‘Abd al-Rahman b. ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-Maqdisi
184. Sitt al-Ahl bin ‘Alwan
185. Sitt al-Fuqaha’ bt. Ibrahim al-Wasitiyyah
186. Sitt al-Jalil bt. Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-warkani
187. Sitt al-Katabah bt. ‘Ali
188. Sitt al-Muluk Fatimah bt. ‘Ali b. ‘Ali b. Abi l-Badr
189. Sitt al-Sham bt. Khalil b. Nasr
190. Sitt al-Taraf
191. Sitt al-Wuzara’
192. Sitt Fatimah
193. Sitt Khanum
194. Sitt Quraysh Fatimah bt. Taqi al-Din b. Fahd
195. Sutaytah bt. al-Zayn
196. Tajanni al-Wahbaniyyah
197. Taqiyyah bt. ‘Ali b. ‘Abdillah al-Qurashi
198. Taj-Khatun
199. Umm ‘Isa al-Jazzar
200. Umm ‘Abd al-Hakam Sitt al-‘Ibad
201. Umm ‘Abdillah Zaynab al-‘Ijiliyyah
202. Umm al-Baha’ Fatimah
203. Umm al-Dalal Amat al-Rahman
204. Umm al-Fadl Zaynab bt. Ibrahim al-Qaysi
205. Umm al-Fityan Hantamah
206. Umm al-Hana’ Asma’ bt. al-Muraghi
207. Umm al-Karim b. Ahmad al-Lakhami
208. Umm al-Khayr Amat al-Khaliq al-Dimashqiyyah
209. Umm al-Khayr bt. ‘Abdillah b. Zahirah
210. Umm al-Khayr Fatimah bt. Abi l-Hasan ‘Ali
211. Umm al-Khayr Jamal al-Nisa’
212. Umm al-Khayr Halimah
213. Umm al-Raja’ Zubaydah
214. Umm al-Hasan al-Harazi
215. Umm al-Hasan bt. Muhammad al-makhzumi
216. Umm al-Hasan Fatimah bt. Khalil al-Kinani
217. Umm al-Hasan Fatimah bt. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Farra’
218. Umm al-Hasan Karimah bt. Ahmad al-Abiwardi
219. Umm al-Haya Zuhra bt. Muhammad al-Anbari
220. Umm al-Haya’ Umamah
221. Umm al-Husn Kamal
222. Umm al-Zayni b. Muzhir
223. Umm Janub bt. Numaylah
224. Umm Kulthum bt. Musa b. Ja’far
225. Umm Kulthum ‘A’ishah bt. Muhammad al-Murshidi
226. Umm Salamah Aminah
227. Umm al-Shafi’i
228. Umm Habib Safwah
229. Umm Zaynab Fatimah bt. ‘Abbas al-Baghdadiyyah
230. Umm a-Fadl Nafisah
231. Uns bt. ‘Abd al-Karim
232. Wajihah bt. ‘Ali al-Ansariyyah
233. Zahidah bt. Ibrahim al-Khabbaz
234. Zahidah bt. Muhammad al-Zahiri
235. Zahrah bt. Kamal al-Din al-Hanafi
236. Zayb al-Nisa’
237. Zayn al-‘Arab bt. Kamal al-Din
238. Zayn al-Sharaf bt. ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Tabari
239. Zaynab al-Shi’riyyah
240. Zaynab bt. ‘Abdillah b. ‘Abd al-Jabbar
241. Zaynab bt. ‘Abdillah al-Yafi’i
242. Zaynab bt. Ahmad b. Shukr al-Maqdisi
243. Zaynab bt. Akta
244. Zaynab bt. al-‘Alam ahmad b. Kamil
245. Zaynab bt. ‘Ali al-Wasiti
246. Zaynab bt. al-Is’ardi
247. Zaynab bt. Isma’il b. Ahmad
248. Zaynab bt. Isma’il b. Anmati
249. Zaynab bt. al-Kamal
250. Zaynab bt. al-Khatib al-Harastani
251. Zaynab bt. al-Khabbaz
252. Zaynab bt. al-Khatib Yahya al-Sulami
253. Zaynab bt. Makki
254. Zaynab bt. Muhammad al-Ghazzi
255. Zaynab bt. Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Mu’ayyadi
256. Zaynab  bt. Muwaffaq al-Din ‘Abd al-Latif
257. Zaynab bt.Muhibb al-Din Abu b. Zahrah
258. Zaynab  bt. Shukr
259. Zaynab bt. ‘Umar al-Kindi

*The above is a rather short list compared to the 8000 names listed alongside their biographies in Nadwi’s massively complete 40-volume Al-Muhaddithat whose title means ‘female scholars of hadith’.

References:

[1] Brown, J.A.C. (2009). Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. Oxford, England: Oneworld Publications. pp. 49

[2] Winter, T.J. & Williams, J.A. (2002). Understanding Islam and the Muslims. Louisville, Kentucky: Fons Vitae. pp. 36

[3] Ahmad Ibn Naqib Al-Misri (1994). Reliance of the Traveller (Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Trans.). Beltsville, Maryland: Amana Publications. (Original work published 1800). pp. 8-9

[4] Op. Cit. pp. 38-39

[5] Jalal al-din al-Suyuti (2008). The Remembrance of God (Sajeda Maryam Poswaal, Trans.). England: Amal Press. pp. 1

[6] http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/suyutis_teachers.htm

[7] Nadwi, M. A. (2007). Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam. Oxford, London: Interface Publications. pp. 305-308

Incoming search terms:

• hajir bint al-sharaf al-maqdisi
• torch bearers islam
• Torchbearers of Islam