Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
Cyberspace is becoming a dominant player in modern communication. Muslims are also having their shares through Islam-related newsgroups such as soc.religion.islam or alt.religion.islam. One special importance of Cyberspace is that ordinary people can bring their dish of ideas and opinions to the feast of communication involving a global community of readership. On Cyberspace, just as right ideas about Islam can be made available in the form of Da'wah to a vast number of people, it is also important to recognize that our biases, prejudices, and misinterpretations can also reach the same people instantly.
The case in point is an interesting posting that recently I came across on an Internet by a Muslim author on "Does Qur'an State Men are Superior to Women?". He basically quoted a verse [4: an-Nisa'a: 34], an often quoted one, using translation and commentary of one of the leading Muslim personalities of this century, Sayyid Abul A'la Maudoodi. The author seems to affirm the title of his posting, which is a common view, deeply rooted in Muslim culture and tradition. Realizing that an interpretive bias of some is being attributed to Qur'an, I decided to engage in a dialogue. The author's view supported by the commentary of a noted scholar is the traditional view, but - putting modestly - can be quite contrary to the Islamic vision contained in the Qur'an.
I responded to the posting by stating a categorical and definitive Qur'anic position, the scope of which is general, and covers gender too. "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (the person who is) the most Allah-conscious. And Allah has full knowledge and is well-acquainted (with all things)." [49: al-Hujurat: 13]
Thus, Taqwa (Allah- consciousness) is the only Islamic criteria of superiority. The author basically added the commentary of Maulana Maudoodi on the verse [4: an-Nisa'a: 34] in The Meaning of the Qur'an (Tafhimul Qur'an). Assuming that the quotation from the commentary indicated the author's concurrence with the commentary, it was an unfortunate posting.
Maulana Maudoodi's commentary says: "Men are superior to women ... not in the sense that they are above them in honor and excellence..."1 But, if honor and excellence are excluded from the scope of "superiority," what exactly is the meaning and basis of superiority then?
Like many other commentators, the Arabic word "faddala" has been translated in the quoted commentary as "superior." There are other notable translators and/or commentators who never employed the word "superior" or anything close to it in their translations. For example, A. Yusuf Ali translated the same verse as: "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more (strength) than the other ...." T.B. Irving, et al. in The Qur'an: Basic Teachings, Fathi Osman in Muslim Women in the Family and many others have not translated the verse in terms of "superiority." Their translation shows no sense of superiority of men over women, which is also consistent with the verse [49: al-Hujurat: 13 quoted earlier]. This led to a discussion on whether the word "faddala" is a neutral word or does it necessarily imply superiority?
In addition to the verse [4: an-Nisa'a: 34], there are three more places in the Qur'an in which exactly the word "faddala" has been used. Variation of this word, such as "faddaltukum," "faddalkum," "faddalna," has been used in many other places in the Qur'an.
In [4: an-Nisa'a: 32]: "And in no wise covet those things in which God has bestowed His gifts more freely on some of you than on others: to men is allotted what they earn, and to women what they earn: But ask God of His bounty, for God has full knowledge of all things." In this verse, bestowing His gifts "more freely" does not imply any superiority. Unless, we accept such implication that those who are rich are superior to those who are poor. Indeed, Allah very clearly points out that what men and women will get is based on what they earn. They should not be judging themselves in comparison to others as to who has "superior" provisions. Such would be a perversion of the very fundamental precepts of Islam, indeed.
In [4: an-Nisa'a: 95]: "Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of God with their goods and their persons. God has granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with goods and persons than to those who sit (at home): to all (in faith) has God promised good: but those who strive and fight has He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward." In this verse, a sense of superiority is implied by the word "faddala," but not on the basis of any "inherent distinction". Rather it is an "earned" distinction. Also noticeable is that "ba'dukum ala ba'd" (one over the other) clause is absent in this verse.
Lastly, in [16: an-Nahl: 71]: "God has bestowed His gifts of sustenance more freely on some of you than on others: those more favored are not going to throw back their gifts to those whom their right hands possess, so as to be equal in that respect. Will they then deny the favors of God?" Once again, unless we accept the implication that the rich are better than or "superior" to the poor, one needs to treat the word "faddala" in a neutral sense. Allah has not created men as "superior" to women! Translating the verse [4: an-Nisa'a: 34] with "superiority" simply indicates a person's interpretive bias. It should not be attributed to the Qur'an either, as it is a gross injustice to the Qur'an.
The author's posting involves a clear case of inconsistency that is simply a carryover from Maulana Maudoodi's translation and commentary. A verse in the Qur'an can be broadened or narrowed in scope by another verse in the Qur'an. That is why in translating the verse [4: an-Nisa'a: 34], one observes the phrase "beat them lightly." The word "lightly" is not implied by this verse itself. This limitation of meaning on "fadriboohoonna" is based on other verses in the Qur'an and authentic narrations from the Prophet. Otherwise, literal translation would be not "beat them lightly," but "beat them." But any knowledgeable Muslim would agree that Qur'anic interpretation should be based on the totality of the Qur'an and in light of the authenticated Prophetic narrations. [Note: In reality, the word "beating" is a complete misapplication. Rather, the sense in which "beating" is understood is not PERMISSIBLE in Islam at all. See my articles (Hostage Islam series), No wife-beating in Islam, Part I-IV]
There are other verses such as [24: an-Noor: 6-10] and [9: at-Tauba: 71] that delimit [4: an-Nisa'a: 34]. Both Surah an-Noor and at-Tauba contain verses that were revealed later than the ones revealed in Surah an-Nisa'a. The verses [24: an-Noor: 6-10] deal with spousal charge of infidelity and it contains no provision for "beating" - light or otherwise. The verse [9: at-Tauba: 71] describes the Islamic norm of gender relationship that they are Awliya (patron, guardian, protector) of "each other". Is this is not a case of the common inconsistency? The author used the word "lightly" drawing on other verses and the prophetic narrations. When it came to the common, traditional misperception of superiority, he used the verse [4: an-Nisa'a: 34] alone without regard to other verses.
Now a note on Maulana Maudoodi's views and Qur'anic commentary. He was an independent, path-breaking, trail-blazing revivalist Islamic thinker. Yet, there are some areas in which he has proven himself to be more conservative than most others. Gender issues would be among those areas. The author must have read his commentary on the verse [49: al-Hujurat: 13] in Maulana Maudoodi's The Meaning of the Qur'an. Completely discounting birth-related distinctions, Maulana Maudoodi commented on that verse: "... In that (Islamic) society there is no distinction based on color, race, language, or nationality. ..."
One should be impressed by Maulana Maudoodi's articulation of the sweeping implication of the verse that destroyed the foundation of any other concept of superiority. However, is it not proper to include gender in that list too? Once again, unless we are willing to accept the implication that this Qur'anic declaration - Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (the person who is) the most Allah-conscious. - applies to males only, it is only Islamic that Maulana Maudoodi's comment should have read, inclusive of gender, as following: "... In that society there is no distinction based on color, race, language, nationality or gender. ..."
Muslims, similar to the position of Maulana Maudoodi, routinely take the position that Islam does not recognize any unfair distinction based on color, race, language, or nationality. Unfortunately, however, even in this age of gender consciousness, we are failing to present Islam in consonance with the full scope of the Qur'anic vision and the Prophetic heritage. In this age of global communication through Cyberspace, our articulation of Islamic viewpoints has to be more careful.
Endnotes:
1. Mawdudi , S. A. A. (1992). The Meaning of the Qur?an (Markazi Maktaba Islami, Delhi, India), Vol. I, p. 325, n#57. A newer translation of Mawdudi? s same work by Islamic Foundation (Leicester, England) has a more nuanced rendition
[The author is an associate professor of economics and finance at the Upper Iowa University. This article was previously published in the Monthly Minaret, January 1996.]
Showing posts with label islamic views of women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label islamic views of women. Show all posts
Friday, 20 March 2009
Friday, 30 January 2009
The beauty of the Sunnah
“And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it)” [al-Hashr 59:7].
The Qur’aan speaks of the importance of the Sunnah
“He who obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allaah . . .” [al-Nisaa’ 4:80]
The Sunnah itself indicates the importance of the Sunnah
Abu Dawud also reported from al-’Irbaad ibn Saariyah, may Allaah be pleased with him, that “the Messenger of Allaah (peace be upon him) led us in prayer one day, then he turned to us and exhorted us strongly . . . (he said), ‘Pay attention to my sunnah (way) and the way of the Rightly-guided Khaleefahs after me, adhere to it and hold fast to it.’” (Saheeh Abi Dawud, Kitaab al-Sunnah).
The scholars’ consensus (ijmaa’) affirming the importance of the Sunnah
Al-Shaafi’i, may Allaah have mercy on him, said: “I do not know of anyone among the Sahaabah and Taabi’een who narrated a report from the Messenger of Allaah (peace be upon him) without accepting it, adhering to it and affirming that this was sunnah. Those who came after the Taabi’een, and those whom we met did likewise: they all accepted the reports and took them to be sunnah, praising those who followed them and criticizing those who went against them. Whoever deviated from this path would be regarded by us as having deviated from the way of the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the scholars who followed them, and would be considered as one of the ignorant
It is narrated in al-Saheehayn from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The best fasting is the fast of Dawood: he used to fast one day and not the next.”
Possible anticancer power in fasting every other day
ref: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/40242/title/Possible_anticancer_power_in_fasting_every_other_day?CFID=5390738&CFTOKEN=49313231
Fasting every other day reduces some hallmarks of cancer in mice, even when the mice voraciously consume high-fat food between fasts, a study in an upcoming Nutrition shows.
Scientists have known for decades that eating fewer calories — roughly 25 to 50 percent less than recommended — extends life span in animals ranging from worms to dogs. But, “caloric restriction on a daily basis is very hard,” says Eric Ravussin, a physiologist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who studies caloric restriction.
Last year, researchers including Krista Varady, then of the University of California, Berkeley, published a study suggesting that a less drastic version of caloric restriction provides a constellation of health benefits in mice. Called alternate-day fasting, the regimen of eating as much food, low-fat in this study, as one wants one day but fasting the next confers some of the same anticancer benefits as just cutting calories at a constant rate, the team found.
But for people, eating a low-fat diet one day and fasting the next is still challenging. Varady and her colleagues wanted to know whether the diet could be made easier to swallow and still provide similar benefits.
In the new study, Varady and other researchers compared mice who fasted every other day, both on high-fat and low-fat diets, to mice that didn’t fast but instead ate a low-fat diet every day. The mice on the ultimate yo-yo diet ate high-fat food, in which 45 percent of the calories came from fat — comparable, Varady says, to human diets of fast food and processed food.
On the fasting days, mice were fed 15 percent of their required calories from either the high- or low-fat food.
The results were surprising, says Varady. Mice that ate the rodent equivalent of Big Macs every other day showed the same anticancer benefits of fasting as the mice that ate the low-fat diet every other day. High rates of cell division — a key feature of cancer — were lower in the mice who fasted every other day than in mice that had not fasted. Mice who fasted every other day also had reduced levels of IGF-1, a protein that induces cell growth and has been linked to cancer.
The new study on mice is the “next installment in a systematic and interesting series of studies” from the researchers, comments James Johnson, a doctor affiliated with the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and studies alternate-day fasting in humans.
The option to eat high-fat meals while fasting every other day may make people more likely to stick with the demanding diet regimen, researchers say. To date, only three small studies have examined the effects of alternate-day fasting on people, says Varady, now at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
She says the next step is to see whether an unrestricted high-fat diet one day and a small amount of food the next will confer the same health benefits in humans as it does in mice. Varady and her colleagues are currently conducting a study to test whether humans are able to stick with such a diet. Preliminary data suggest that they can.
“The alternate diet has a lot of potential,” comments Valter Longo, a University of Southern California in Los Angeles researcher who studies aging. But, he adds, “I seriously doubt that very many people would adopt it because it is very tough to do regularly.”
Ravussin knows the difficulty firsthand. When he attempted alternate-day fasting himself, he reported feeling very irritable and hungry. “My wife told me, ‘Don’t do it again.’”
The Qur’aan speaks of the importance of the Sunnah
“He who obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allaah . . .” [al-Nisaa’ 4:80]
The Sunnah itself indicates the importance of the Sunnah
Abu Dawud also reported from al-’Irbaad ibn Saariyah, may Allaah be pleased with him, that “the Messenger of Allaah (peace be upon him) led us in prayer one day, then he turned to us and exhorted us strongly . . . (he said), ‘Pay attention to my sunnah (way) and the way of the Rightly-guided Khaleefahs after me, adhere to it and hold fast to it.’” (Saheeh Abi Dawud, Kitaab al-Sunnah).
The scholars’ consensus (ijmaa’) affirming the importance of the Sunnah
Al-Shaafi’i, may Allaah have mercy on him, said: “I do not know of anyone among the Sahaabah and Taabi’een who narrated a report from the Messenger of Allaah (peace be upon him) without accepting it, adhering to it and affirming that this was sunnah. Those who came after the Taabi’een, and those whom we met did likewise: they all accepted the reports and took them to be sunnah, praising those who followed them and criticizing those who went against them. Whoever deviated from this path would be regarded by us as having deviated from the way of the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the scholars who followed them, and would be considered as one of the ignorant
It is narrated in al-Saheehayn from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The best fasting is the fast of Dawood: he used to fast one day and not the next.”
Possible anticancer power in fasting every other day
ref: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/40242/title/Possible_anticancer_power_in_fasting_every_other_day?CFID=5390738&CFTOKEN=49313231
Fasting every other day reduces some hallmarks of cancer in mice, even when the mice voraciously consume high-fat food between fasts, a study in an upcoming Nutrition shows.
Scientists have known for decades that eating fewer calories — roughly 25 to 50 percent less than recommended — extends life span in animals ranging from worms to dogs. But, “caloric restriction on a daily basis is very hard,” says Eric Ravussin, a physiologist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who studies caloric restriction.
Last year, researchers including Krista Varady, then of the University of California, Berkeley, published a study suggesting that a less drastic version of caloric restriction provides a constellation of health benefits in mice. Called alternate-day fasting, the regimen of eating as much food, low-fat in this study, as one wants one day but fasting the next confers some of the same anticancer benefits as just cutting calories at a constant rate, the team found.
But for people, eating a low-fat diet one day and fasting the next is still challenging. Varady and her colleagues wanted to know whether the diet could be made easier to swallow and still provide similar benefits.
In the new study, Varady and other researchers compared mice who fasted every other day, both on high-fat and low-fat diets, to mice that didn’t fast but instead ate a low-fat diet every day. The mice on the ultimate yo-yo diet ate high-fat food, in which 45 percent of the calories came from fat — comparable, Varady says, to human diets of fast food and processed food.
On the fasting days, mice were fed 15 percent of their required calories from either the high- or low-fat food.
The results were surprising, says Varady. Mice that ate the rodent equivalent of Big Macs every other day showed the same anticancer benefits of fasting as the mice that ate the low-fat diet every other day. High rates of cell division — a key feature of cancer — were lower in the mice who fasted every other day than in mice that had not fasted. Mice who fasted every other day also had reduced levels of IGF-1, a protein that induces cell growth and has been linked to cancer.
The new study on mice is the “next installment in a systematic and interesting series of studies” from the researchers, comments James Johnson, a doctor affiliated with the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and studies alternate-day fasting in humans.
The option to eat high-fat meals while fasting every other day may make people more likely to stick with the demanding diet regimen, researchers say. To date, only three small studies have examined the effects of alternate-day fasting on people, says Varady, now at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
She says the next step is to see whether an unrestricted high-fat diet one day and a small amount of food the next will confer the same health benefits in humans as it does in mice. Varady and her colleagues are currently conducting a study to test whether humans are able to stick with such a diet. Preliminary data suggest that they can.
“The alternate diet has a lot of potential,” comments Valter Longo, a University of Southern California in Los Angeles researcher who studies aging. But, he adds, “I seriously doubt that very many people would adopt it because it is very tough to do regularly.”
Ravussin knows the difficulty firsthand. When he attempted alternate-day fasting himself, he reported feeling very irritable and hungry. “My wife told me, ‘Don’t do it again.’”
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Women Scholars of Islam:They Must Bloom Again
Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
Courtesy: Monthly Message International [August-September 2003]
Ever since becoming conscious about Islam on one hand and the contemporary social reality on the other, I have often been disturbed by realizing that, in many aspects, there is a huge gap between what Islam stands for and what the social reality is. A vital area where this gap is so pronounced is gender issues. After tying the knot with my beloved wife and then joining the parents club through two most wonderful daughters, I was compelled to take a much closer look at gender issues.
I have remained keen over the years to learn more about these issues. However, I have been increasingly dissatisfied as I continued to discover directly from the Qur'an, Qur'anic literature, Hadith, Seerah and history that what we are generally adhering to, and traditionally defending and promoting in regard to gender issues stands in sharp contrast to the Qur'anic and Prophetic vision as well as the heritage.
There is a general notion among the religious establishment of Islam, and derived therefrom, among the common Muslims, that Islam recognizes superiority of men over women. Even in Sayyid Abul Ala Maudoodi's well-known and highly respected urdu commentary, Tafhimul Qur'an, verse 4 of Surah an-Nisa erroneously got translated into English as following: "Men are superior to women ... not in the sense that they are above them in honor and excellence..." [Tr. by Ch. Muhammad Akbar, Islamic Publications, Lahore, 1997 ed.; Vol. 1, p. 121; note: a more recent transation from Islamic Foundation, UK has a different rendering]. Even though some qualifier and clarifier have been added in the preceding rendering, the very expression, "men are superior to women" - in whatever sense it may be - is questionable, because if honor and excellence are excluded from the scope of "superiority," what exactly is the meaning and basis of superiority or excellence then?
Indeed, completely discounting birth-related distinctions, he commented on verse 13 of Surah al-Hujurat: "... In that (Islamic) society there is no distinction based on color, race, language, or nationality. ..." One should be impressed by Maulana Maudoodi's articulation as to the sweeping implication of the verse that destroyed the foundation of any other concept of superiority/excellence. However, is it not proper to include gender in that list, too? Once again, unless we are willing to accept the implication that this Qur'anic declaration (49:13) - Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is (the person who is) the most God-conscious. - applies to males only, it is only Islamic that Maulana Maudoodi's comment should have read, inclusive of gender, as following: "... In that society there is no distinction based on color, race, language, nationality or gender. ..."
Muslims routinely take the position that Islam does not recognize any unfair distinction based on color, race, language, or nationality. Unfortunately, however, even in this age of gender consciousness, we are failing to uphold and present Islam in consonance with the full scope of the Qur'anic vision and the Prophetic heritage.
Not too long ago, a friend of mine from Los Angeles, California (teaching at a university there) called me and among other things, lamented the fact that his otherwise devoted Muslim family is finding a difficult time to have rooms assigned for them in Masjid with appropriate or adequate ventilation. Might a little bit of natural light and wind be hazardous to our women's as well as our spiritual health and well-being?
There are many Muslim countries where women going out for their regular needs find little or no facility for women to wash and pray. Several years ago I participated in the Shura (consultative) committee of one of the Islamic Centers in USA. By the vote of the community, the elected chairman of the Shura was joined by his wife (also elected as a member) in the Shura as well. At the very first meeting, one of the brothers - who must have felt that the presence of the sister, even with her husband present, was a violation of Islam - to protect his own piety and lodge his silent but otherwise conspicuous protest, stood up and left.
Several years ago, I visited a Masjid in one of the Midwestern states in USA, where I found the facilities for washing for men was not that good but survivable. However, due to neglect or poor maintenance, whatever might be, my young daughter, going around by herself into the women's section, later on, came out crying at what she experienced there. A non-Muslim woman in one of the places of America was refused the taxi-service by a Muslim driver because she had a dog with him. It did not matter that she was blind. The brother, feeling dutybound (?), offered a prodigious lecture to this blind, non-Muslim lady. Although there are many examples to the contrary, there are some disturbing patterns that Muslims themselves should be confronting and scrutinizing in a self-critical and proactive manner.
The literacy rate is already poor in the Muslim countries and the rate for women is disproportionately lower. Let us not talk about the poor women in various countries who are without any protection and whose life, honor and property are anybody's game. Women were robbed of their professional and out-of-the home positions under strict public code in Taliban's "Islamic" Republic of Afghanistan. In contrast, Muslim women in Iran are doing relatively a lot better, but the top-tier religious hierarchy is still a drag on the society's overall progress. In the heartland of Islam with Makkah and Madina, controlled by a externally-installed dynasty and dominated by Wahhabism, women don't have the right to drive. It is so ironic and outrageous, because the sacred city of Makkah was founded through the valiant and exemplary struggle and sacrifice of a lone woman, Hajera, the wife of Ibrahim and the mother of Ismail (a). Yet, now a woman does not have the right to drive by herself.
More seriously, quite often we hear about women being meted out capital punishment for illicit sexual relations. Usually, women bear the brunt of the orthodox Shariah codes, even though we all know that even when raped, women, for a multitude of reasons, can't be so easily expected to step up and claim to have been raped. In many countries, women are routinely deprived of their property and inheritance. As personal and family matters, women rarely can secure their rights even from their relatives. In many Muslim countries, women are routinely subjected to physical violence, often lethally, which is condoned or tolerated by the broader society as personal or family matter. Vulnerable women are routinely married to be added to a husband's collection and also divorced at random as it pleases the husbands. The existing laws, values, customs and power structures - in combination - make and keep women weak, vulnerable, marginalized, and even oppressed.
Of course, women are completely absent from the pertinent discourse to shape and reshape the Islamic laws and codes. Islamic movements in various parts of the world are chanting about the progress they have made in promoting the cause of the women in accordance with Islam and vainly arguing how Islam is rightfully superior in dealing with women's rights. As they are still groping with the issues whether women should veil themselves (i.e., use niqab, face-covering), they have no problem with men playing games, such as soccer, with albeit "longer" shorts! In some Muslim countries, leading Islamic parties still stubbornly insist that women must cover their face as well. They might be super-lenient in regard to interpreting Islam in matters of political expediency, but regarding women's issues they have to be most extremely conservative. Many such organizations are also promoting separate women's educational institutions as well as separate women's organizations for Islamic causes. At the same time, Islamic parties in many Muslim countries remain at bay without broad support, especially from women, while they have to contend with challenges from many home-grown, viciously anti-Islamic feminists. Indeed, a whole new generation of men and women is growing up with the entrenched impression - and even conviction - that Islam is seriously biased in terms of gender issues. These are Islamic MOVEments that seem rather unable to MOVE in a contemporary context.
I should clarify that my arguments and opinions herein are to be applicable within the context of Islam. For example, when I am referring to the insistence by Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh on veiling of women, it is because I consider this veiling (face-covering) Islamically unwarranted and the insistence unacceptable. Such position is based on extreme conservatism, especially when it comes to gender issues. Let me raise some further questions now. Are men really superior to women according to Islam? Why don't we have women Islamic scholars, experts, and Mujtahids (jurisprudents)? To solve the problems of women, do we need, or is it Islamic, to have separate Islamic schools/colleges/mosques? Is it alright for women to give lectures to a mixed gathering of Muslim men and women? How about doing so at Islamic Centers/mosques?
I hope that I have not already rung too many alarm bells. Based on my study of the Qur'an, Hadith, Seerah and history, I have concluded quite a while ago that what we are promoting, both by saying and doing, today are mostly opposite to what Islam teaches. Then, several years ago it was by chance I came across a book Struggling to Surrender by a new American Muslim, Dr. Jeffrey Lang. The book was captivating. But apart from its richness in terms of the experience he frankly shared and thoughts he provoked, it was an important eye-opening experience for me in regard to gender issues. We are generally aware that Muslim women, such as Hadhrat Aishah, Fatima, Khadija (r), and others, have played distinguished role during and immediately after the Prophet (s). In that book, there were some brief references to a forgotten, but very distinctive role Muslim women have played in Islamic history.
My interest was deeply aroused. I followed up by reading the original reference, Hadith Literature: Its Origin, Development, Special Features & Criticism by Dr. Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi, a late scholar from Calcutta University [Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1993]. This book had a chapter titled "Women Scholars of Hadith," [pp. 117-123] which was an eye-opener for me.
For the first time I realized one of the most basic defects in our contemporary Muslim attitude and thinking in regard to gender issues. We all know that beyond the few towering women personalities in the earliest part of the Prophetic era, we can hardly name any woman scholar. It is well-known that in our contemporary century, Islamic scholars, Imams, experts, as well as leaders of Islamic movements, HAVE NOT been educated by men AND women. Going back further, even noted scholars such as Shah Waliullah Dehlavi and Shaikh Ahmad of Sarhind, popularly known as Mujaddid Alf Sani did not (correct me, if I am wrong) have any woman among their educators. It was simply not possible, because "women scholars" of Islam - teaching men and women, in public context, where many of them were, overall the best of the best of their time, not just among women - have become an extinct species.
What am I saying? Learning of Islam by men from men AND women? Tell me, isn't it true that the founder of Tabligh Jamaat (Maulana Muhammad Ilyas), founder of Ikhwan al-Muslimoon ( Shaikh Hasan al-Banna), Saudi Arabia's late chief Mufti Shaikh Ibn Bazz, or even the founder of Jamaate Islami (Sayyid Abul Ala Maudoodi) did not have among their educators any contemporary women scholar? How many of us have ever heard or known that there were times spanning many centuries when top male Islamic scholars sometimes used to recommend their mixed groups of students, men and women, to learn a particular text such as Sahih al-Bukhari or Sahih Muslim from none other than some specific woman scholar? If we have not, the attitude of these generations of Muslims, including their leaders, scholars, mentors, vis-୶is women, can be better understood.
The role of women scholars of hadith is unique in the human history, prior to our modern times. There is simply no parallel to this special and valuable role played by women scholars in the development, preservation and dissemination of Islamic knowledge. In the words of Dr. Zubayr Siddiqi, "History records few scholarly enterprises, at least before modern times, in which women have played an important and active role side by side with men. The science of hadith forms an outstanding exception in this respect. ... Islam produced a large number of outstanding female scholars, on whose testimony and sound judgment much of the edifice of Islam depends. ... Since Islam's earliest days, women had been taking a prominent part in the preservation and cultivation of hadith, and this function continued down the centuries. At every period in Muslim history, there lived numerous eminent women-traditionists, treated by their brethren with reverence and respect." [p. 117]
Muslims are generally familiar with a handful of female luminaries from the time of the Prophet. However, what they are generally unfamiliar with is a large number of women scholars over many centuries after the first generation. This is an unforgivable lapse for the Ummah.
Just to mention a few, hopefully, would spark our interest in learning about this neglected dimension of our remarkable history. Do we know that Umm al-Darda (d. 81/700) was regarded by some of her contemporary leading male traditionists as "superior to all the other traditionists of the period, including the celebrated masters of hadith like al-Hasan al-Basri and Ibn Sirin." 'Amra was specially recognized for her authority on traditions related by A'isha and among her many notable students was Abu Bakr ibn Hazm, the celebrated judge of Medina, who was ordered by none other than the caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz himself to write down all the traditions known on her authority. [p. 118]
Zaynab bint Sulayman (d. 142/759) "gained a reputation as one of the most distinguished women traditionists of the time, and counted many important men among her pupils." [p. 118] Almost without any exception, the compilers of major collections of hadith also lists a good number of women traditionists and scholars as their teachers. "A survey of the texts reveals that all the important compilers of traditions from the earliest period received many of them from women shuyukh: every major collection gives the names of many women as the immediate authorities of the author. And when these works had been compiled, the women traditionists themselves mastered them, and delivered lectures to large classes of pupils, to whom they would issue their own ijazas." [pp. 118-119]
It is so unfortunate and ironic that now this hadith literature in particular is used to suppress and deny the role, rights and status of women and confine them to the corners of our households. During the fourth century, there were women scholars, whose classes were always attended by many other scholars of great repute. Karima al-Marwaziyya (d. 463/1070), is one of those names that we should proudly know and remember, "who was considered the best authority on the Sahih of al-Bukhari in her own time. Abu Dharr of Herat, one of the leading scholars of the period, attached such great importance to her authority that he advised his students to study the Sahih under no one else, because of the quality of her scholarship." Among her students were al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, a noted Islamic scholar and historian. [p. 119]
Fatima bint Muhammad (d.539/1144) received from her contemporary hadith specialists "the proud tittle of Musnida Isfahan (the great hadith authority of Isfahan)." Shuhda 'the Writer' (d.574/1178) "was a famous calligrapher and a traditionist of great repute ... Her lectures on Sahih al-Bukhari and other hadith collections were attended by large crowds of students; and on account of her great reputation, some people even falsely claimed to have been her disciples. [p. 119]
Sitt al-Wuzara became well-known as an authority on Bukhari. Her acclaimed mastery included Islamic law as well. Crowned as 'the musnida of her time', she delivered public lectures on the Sahih and other works in Damascus and Egypt. [p. 120]
In fourteenth century, Zaynab bint Ahmad (d.740/1339) used to deliver public lectures the Musnad of Abu Hanifa, the Shamail of al-Tirmidhi, and the Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar of al-Tahawi. Do we remember the great traveler Ibn Battuta? He studied hadith with her and various other women during his stay at Damascus. [p. 120]
Learning was by both men and women. So was teaching, and the environment definitely was not a segregated one, where the learning as well as teaching took place. There were hardly any notable men during those centuries who did not receive teaching from women scholars as well. Furthermore, it was not just one or a few isolated cases. But there were a large number of women whose contribution to the field of learning and teaching remains an honored tradition that we may have altogether forgotten and neglected. Worse; many of us become vehemently opposed to it.
The famous historian of Damascus, Ibn Asakir, studied under more than 1,200 men and 80 women. He obtained the special ijaza of Zaynab bint Abd al-Rahman for the Muwatta of Imam Malik. The famous Qur'anic commentator Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti studied the Risala of Imam Shafii with Hajar bint Muhammad. Zaynab bint al-Sha'ri (d.524/615-1129/1218) studied hadith under several important traditionists, and in turn taught many students - "some of who gained great repute - including Ibn Khallikan, author of the well-known biographical dictionary Wafayat al-Ayan." [pp. 120-121]
Further account of the women scholars' contribution can be found in the works of Ibn Hajar, the author of the most important commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari. In one of his works, he provides short biographical accounts of no less than about 170 prominent women of the eighth century. Most of them were hadith scholars and under many of whom the author himself had studied. According to him, some of these women were acknowledged as the best traditionists of the period. For example, Juwayriya bint Ahmad, studied a range of works on traditions, under scholars both male and female. She then taught at the great colleges of the time, and then offered famous lectures on various Islamic disciplines, which used to attract an audience of high reputes. Some of Ibn Hajar's own teachers and many of his contemporaries attended her discourses. Another teacher of him was A'isha bin Abd al-Hadi (723-816). She was regarded as the finest traditionist of her time. Students from diverse backgrounds used to travel long distances "in order to sit at her feet and study the truths of religion." [p. 121]
In a book al-Daw al-Lami, biographical dictionary of eminent persons of the ninth century, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Sakhawi (830-897/1427-1489) provides information about the great women scholars of that period. In another book, Mu'jam al-Shuyukh, Abd al-Aziz ibn Umar ibn Fahd (812-871/1409-1466), provides biographical notes about "1,100 of the author's teachers, including over 130 women scholars under whom he had studied." Many of these women scholars were of the highest repute and trained many of the great scholars of the following generation. [p. 121]
There were women scholars whose field of expertise went far beyond hadith. "Umm Hani Maryam (778-871/1376-1466), for instance, learnt the Qur'an by heart when still a child, acquired all the Islamic sciences then being taught, including theology, law, history, and grammar, and then traveled to pursue hadith with the best traditionists of her time in Cairo and Mecca. ... She pursued an intensive program of learning in the great college of Cairo, giving ijazas to many scholars, Ibn Fahd himself studied several technical works on hadith under her." [pp. 121-122]
A'isha bin Ibrahim (760/1358-842/1438) studied traditions in Damascus and Cairo, and "delivered lectures which eminent scholars of the day spared no efforts to attend." [p. 122]
For various reasons that should be subject of a serious study, the "involvement of women in hadith scholarships, and in the Islamic disciplines generally, seems to have declined considerably from the tenth century of the hijra." [p. 122] There are several other biographical dictionaries that list names of women scholars of the subsequent period, but in vastly reduced numbers. Yet, as part of an endangered group, there were women who continued their valuable contribution. Asma bint Kamal al-Din (d.904/1498) wielded great public influence. She delivered public lectures on hadith, and trained women in various Islamic sciences. A'isha bint Muhammad (d.906/1500) taught hadith to many students. She was a professor at the Salihiyya College in Damascus. [p. 122]
The last known woman traditionist of the first rank, Fatima al-Fudayliya, also known as al-Shaykha al-Fudayliya, settled at Mecca. She founded a rich public library there. "In the Holy City she was attended by many eminent traditionists, who attended her lectures and received certificates from her." [p. 123]
History records that these women scholars "took their seats as students as well as teachers in pubic educational institutions, side by side with their brothers in faith. The colophons of many manuscripts show them both as students attending large general classes, and also as teachers, delivering regular courses of lectures." These were NOT gender-wise segregated institutions either. "[O]n folio 250, we discover that a famous woman traditionist, Umm Abd Allah, delivered a course of five lectures on the book to a mixed class of more than fifty students, at Damascus in the year 837/1433." [p. 123]
Although one can't draw a superficial connection between the decline of the Islamic civilization and the gradual disappearance of the women scholarship and participation, the reality is that our collective foundation of knowledge and heritage is based on the proud and noble contribution of scholarship of both men and women, as students and teachers, side by side, and there must have been substantive consequence from this loss of women scholarship.
The conditions of the Muslim world in general, and that of Muslim women in particular, stand in sharp contrast with the Islamic vision and heritage that continued through many centuries after the Prophet. Today, Muslim women are rarely welcome in the public life and especially in the mosque, let alone being part of our pool of educators, experts and mentors. This has created serious disenchantment among the women in the Muslim world, and turned some of them into bitter opponent to religion in general and Islam in particular. The existing conditions are a clear perversion of Islamic teachings and guidance. The absence of women scholars has also caused a great imbalance in our Islamic discourse in general and Islamic law (fiqh) in particular, by leaning toward the most extremely restrictive positions, opinions and provisions for the women.
In our contemporary time, there are Muslim women, particularly educated in the West or in the western tradition, who are establishing themselves as scholars of Islam. This is a very encouraging development. They are making critical contributions toward a new legacy of quality scholarship, especially in the field of gender issues. However, their emergence is not internal to Islam, and the broader Muslim society is yet to embrace them as part of the religious establishment, toward which they turn for religious scholarship. Of course, the religious establishment continues its orthodox resistance against such development of women scholarship and participation to protect their traditional turf.
In order to adequately empower women from the Islamic perspective, women need to equally and fully participate in our society, beginning with education and scholarship. The principle of Shura (mutual consultation) requires that those whose lives are affected by various decisions/opinions of Islamic laws and dictates ought to be full participants in the pertinent discourse. Women need to take interest in and men come forward to facilitate women's development in the field of education and scholarship. Muslim men need to demand such changes, as our Islamic pursuit for positive change can't be either complete or balanced without women being our full and equal partners. We need to cherish an environment where Muslim men, side by side with women, can engage in Islamic education and discourse, as students as well as teachers. We need women in all fields of Islamic and other studies, where men must excel in a competitive environment. We need to take this pursuit seriously, until we have qualified Islamic jurisprudents (mujtahids) and scholars among women, side by side with men, whose joint input would reshape our Islamic discourse and laws.
This does require no less than a revolutionary change, but it is an Islamic must. It is like turning Islam in our lives downside up, because Islam as we understand and practice it has been turned upside down. Muslims need to coalesce together to revive this glorious tradition of women's scholarship. Without them, our society would be fundamentally deficient and imbalanced, which will be reflected in all walks of our lives. That is why we again need women scholars back: THEY MUST BLOOM AGAIN.
Courtesy: Monthly Message International [August-September 2003]
Ever since becoming conscious about Islam on one hand and the contemporary social reality on the other, I have often been disturbed by realizing that, in many aspects, there is a huge gap between what Islam stands for and what the social reality is. A vital area where this gap is so pronounced is gender issues. After tying the knot with my beloved wife and then joining the parents club through two most wonderful daughters, I was compelled to take a much closer look at gender issues.
I have remained keen over the years to learn more about these issues. However, I have been increasingly dissatisfied as I continued to discover directly from the Qur'an, Qur'anic literature, Hadith, Seerah and history that what we are generally adhering to, and traditionally defending and promoting in regard to gender issues stands in sharp contrast to the Qur'anic and Prophetic vision as well as the heritage.
There is a general notion among the religious establishment of Islam, and derived therefrom, among the common Muslims, that Islam recognizes superiority of men over women. Even in Sayyid Abul Ala Maudoodi's well-known and highly respected urdu commentary, Tafhimul Qur'an, verse 4 of Surah an-Nisa erroneously got translated into English as following: "Men are superior to women ... not in the sense that they are above them in honor and excellence..." [Tr. by Ch. Muhammad Akbar, Islamic Publications, Lahore, 1997 ed.; Vol. 1, p. 121; note: a more recent transation from Islamic Foundation, UK has a different rendering]. Even though some qualifier and clarifier have been added in the preceding rendering, the very expression, "men are superior to women" - in whatever sense it may be - is questionable, because if honor and excellence are excluded from the scope of "superiority," what exactly is the meaning and basis of superiority or excellence then?
Indeed, completely discounting birth-related distinctions, he commented on verse 13 of Surah al-Hujurat: "... In that (Islamic) society there is no distinction based on color, race, language, or nationality. ..." One should be impressed by Maulana Maudoodi's articulation as to the sweeping implication of the verse that destroyed the foundation of any other concept of superiority/excellence. However, is it not proper to include gender in that list, too? Once again, unless we are willing to accept the implication that this Qur'anic declaration (49:13) - Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is (the person who is) the most God-conscious. - applies to males only, it is only Islamic that Maulana Maudoodi's comment should have read, inclusive of gender, as following: "... In that society there is no distinction based on color, race, language, nationality or gender. ..."
Muslims routinely take the position that Islam does not recognize any unfair distinction based on color, race, language, or nationality. Unfortunately, however, even in this age of gender consciousness, we are failing to uphold and present Islam in consonance with the full scope of the Qur'anic vision and the Prophetic heritage.
Not too long ago, a friend of mine from Los Angeles, California (teaching at a university there) called me and among other things, lamented the fact that his otherwise devoted Muslim family is finding a difficult time to have rooms assigned for them in Masjid with appropriate or adequate ventilation. Might a little bit of natural light and wind be hazardous to our women's as well as our spiritual health and well-being?
There are many Muslim countries where women going out for their regular needs find little or no facility for women to wash and pray. Several years ago I participated in the Shura (consultative) committee of one of the Islamic Centers in USA. By the vote of the community, the elected chairman of the Shura was joined by his wife (also elected as a member) in the Shura as well. At the very first meeting, one of the brothers - who must have felt that the presence of the sister, even with her husband present, was a violation of Islam - to protect his own piety and lodge his silent but otherwise conspicuous protest, stood up and left.
Several years ago, I visited a Masjid in one of the Midwestern states in USA, where I found the facilities for washing for men was not that good but survivable. However, due to neglect or poor maintenance, whatever might be, my young daughter, going around by herself into the women's section, later on, came out crying at what she experienced there. A non-Muslim woman in one of the places of America was refused the taxi-service by a Muslim driver because she had a dog with him. It did not matter that she was blind. The brother, feeling dutybound (?), offered a prodigious lecture to this blind, non-Muslim lady. Although there are many examples to the contrary, there are some disturbing patterns that Muslims themselves should be confronting and scrutinizing in a self-critical and proactive manner.
The literacy rate is already poor in the Muslim countries and the rate for women is disproportionately lower. Let us not talk about the poor women in various countries who are without any protection and whose life, honor and property are anybody's game. Women were robbed of their professional and out-of-the home positions under strict public code in Taliban's "Islamic" Republic of Afghanistan. In contrast, Muslim women in Iran are doing relatively a lot better, but the top-tier religious hierarchy is still a drag on the society's overall progress. In the heartland of Islam with Makkah and Madina, controlled by a externally-installed dynasty and dominated by Wahhabism, women don't have the right to drive. It is so ironic and outrageous, because the sacred city of Makkah was founded through the valiant and exemplary struggle and sacrifice of a lone woman, Hajera, the wife of Ibrahim and the mother of Ismail (a). Yet, now a woman does not have the right to drive by herself.
More seriously, quite often we hear about women being meted out capital punishment for illicit sexual relations. Usually, women bear the brunt of the orthodox Shariah codes, even though we all know that even when raped, women, for a multitude of reasons, can't be so easily expected to step up and claim to have been raped. In many countries, women are routinely deprived of their property and inheritance. As personal and family matters, women rarely can secure their rights even from their relatives. In many Muslim countries, women are routinely subjected to physical violence, often lethally, which is condoned or tolerated by the broader society as personal or family matter. Vulnerable women are routinely married to be added to a husband's collection and also divorced at random as it pleases the husbands. The existing laws, values, customs and power structures - in combination - make and keep women weak, vulnerable, marginalized, and even oppressed.
Of course, women are completely absent from the pertinent discourse to shape and reshape the Islamic laws and codes. Islamic movements in various parts of the world are chanting about the progress they have made in promoting the cause of the women in accordance with Islam and vainly arguing how Islam is rightfully superior in dealing with women's rights. As they are still groping with the issues whether women should veil themselves (i.e., use niqab, face-covering), they have no problem with men playing games, such as soccer, with albeit "longer" shorts! In some Muslim countries, leading Islamic parties still stubbornly insist that women must cover their face as well. They might be super-lenient in regard to interpreting Islam in matters of political expediency, but regarding women's issues they have to be most extremely conservative. Many such organizations are also promoting separate women's educational institutions as well as separate women's organizations for Islamic causes. At the same time, Islamic parties in many Muslim countries remain at bay without broad support, especially from women, while they have to contend with challenges from many home-grown, viciously anti-Islamic feminists. Indeed, a whole new generation of men and women is growing up with the entrenched impression - and even conviction - that Islam is seriously biased in terms of gender issues. These are Islamic MOVEments that seem rather unable to MOVE in a contemporary context.
I should clarify that my arguments and opinions herein are to be applicable within the context of Islam. For example, when I am referring to the insistence by Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh on veiling of women, it is because I consider this veiling (face-covering) Islamically unwarranted and the insistence unacceptable. Such position is based on extreme conservatism, especially when it comes to gender issues. Let me raise some further questions now. Are men really superior to women according to Islam? Why don't we have women Islamic scholars, experts, and Mujtahids (jurisprudents)? To solve the problems of women, do we need, or is it Islamic, to have separate Islamic schools/colleges/mosques? Is it alright for women to give lectures to a mixed gathering of Muslim men and women? How about doing so at Islamic Centers/mosques?
I hope that I have not already rung too many alarm bells. Based on my study of the Qur'an, Hadith, Seerah and history, I have concluded quite a while ago that what we are promoting, both by saying and doing, today are mostly opposite to what Islam teaches. Then, several years ago it was by chance I came across a book Struggling to Surrender by a new American Muslim, Dr. Jeffrey Lang. The book was captivating. But apart from its richness in terms of the experience he frankly shared and thoughts he provoked, it was an important eye-opening experience for me in regard to gender issues. We are generally aware that Muslim women, such as Hadhrat Aishah, Fatima, Khadija (r), and others, have played distinguished role during and immediately after the Prophet (s). In that book, there were some brief references to a forgotten, but very distinctive role Muslim women have played in Islamic history.
My interest was deeply aroused. I followed up by reading the original reference, Hadith Literature: Its Origin, Development, Special Features & Criticism by Dr. Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi, a late scholar from Calcutta University [Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1993]. This book had a chapter titled "Women Scholars of Hadith," [pp. 117-123] which was an eye-opener for me.
For the first time I realized one of the most basic defects in our contemporary Muslim attitude and thinking in regard to gender issues. We all know that beyond the few towering women personalities in the earliest part of the Prophetic era, we can hardly name any woman scholar. It is well-known that in our contemporary century, Islamic scholars, Imams, experts, as well as leaders of Islamic movements, HAVE NOT been educated by men AND women. Going back further, even noted scholars such as Shah Waliullah Dehlavi and Shaikh Ahmad of Sarhind, popularly known as Mujaddid Alf Sani did not (correct me, if I am wrong) have any woman among their educators. It was simply not possible, because "women scholars" of Islam - teaching men and women, in public context, where many of them were, overall the best of the best of their time, not just among women - have become an extinct species.
What am I saying? Learning of Islam by men from men AND women? Tell me, isn't it true that the founder of Tabligh Jamaat (Maulana Muhammad Ilyas), founder of Ikhwan al-Muslimoon ( Shaikh Hasan al-Banna), Saudi Arabia's late chief Mufti Shaikh Ibn Bazz, or even the founder of Jamaate Islami (Sayyid Abul Ala Maudoodi) did not have among their educators any contemporary women scholar? How many of us have ever heard or known that there were times spanning many centuries when top male Islamic scholars sometimes used to recommend their mixed groups of students, men and women, to learn a particular text such as Sahih al-Bukhari or Sahih Muslim from none other than some specific woman scholar? If we have not, the attitude of these generations of Muslims, including their leaders, scholars, mentors, vis-୶is women, can be better understood.
The role of women scholars of hadith is unique in the human history, prior to our modern times. There is simply no parallel to this special and valuable role played by women scholars in the development, preservation and dissemination of Islamic knowledge. In the words of Dr. Zubayr Siddiqi, "History records few scholarly enterprises, at least before modern times, in which women have played an important and active role side by side with men. The science of hadith forms an outstanding exception in this respect. ... Islam produced a large number of outstanding female scholars, on whose testimony and sound judgment much of the edifice of Islam depends. ... Since Islam's earliest days, women had been taking a prominent part in the preservation and cultivation of hadith, and this function continued down the centuries. At every period in Muslim history, there lived numerous eminent women-traditionists, treated by their brethren with reverence and respect." [p. 117]
Muslims are generally familiar with a handful of female luminaries from the time of the Prophet. However, what they are generally unfamiliar with is a large number of women scholars over many centuries after the first generation. This is an unforgivable lapse for the Ummah.
Just to mention a few, hopefully, would spark our interest in learning about this neglected dimension of our remarkable history. Do we know that Umm al-Darda (d. 81/700) was regarded by some of her contemporary leading male traditionists as "superior to all the other traditionists of the period, including the celebrated masters of hadith like al-Hasan al-Basri and Ibn Sirin." 'Amra was specially recognized for her authority on traditions related by A'isha and among her many notable students was Abu Bakr ibn Hazm, the celebrated judge of Medina, who was ordered by none other than the caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz himself to write down all the traditions known on her authority. [p. 118]
Zaynab bint Sulayman (d. 142/759) "gained a reputation as one of the most distinguished women traditionists of the time, and counted many important men among her pupils." [p. 118] Almost without any exception, the compilers of major collections of hadith also lists a good number of women traditionists and scholars as their teachers. "A survey of the texts reveals that all the important compilers of traditions from the earliest period received many of them from women shuyukh: every major collection gives the names of many women as the immediate authorities of the author. And when these works had been compiled, the women traditionists themselves mastered them, and delivered lectures to large classes of pupils, to whom they would issue their own ijazas." [pp. 118-119]
It is so unfortunate and ironic that now this hadith literature in particular is used to suppress and deny the role, rights and status of women and confine them to the corners of our households. During the fourth century, there were women scholars, whose classes were always attended by many other scholars of great repute. Karima al-Marwaziyya (d. 463/1070), is one of those names that we should proudly know and remember, "who was considered the best authority on the Sahih of al-Bukhari in her own time. Abu Dharr of Herat, one of the leading scholars of the period, attached such great importance to her authority that he advised his students to study the Sahih under no one else, because of the quality of her scholarship." Among her students were al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, a noted Islamic scholar and historian. [p. 119]
Fatima bint Muhammad (d.539/1144) received from her contemporary hadith specialists "the proud tittle of Musnida Isfahan (the great hadith authority of Isfahan)." Shuhda 'the Writer' (d.574/1178) "was a famous calligrapher and a traditionist of great repute ... Her lectures on Sahih al-Bukhari and other hadith collections were attended by large crowds of students; and on account of her great reputation, some people even falsely claimed to have been her disciples. [p. 119]
Sitt al-Wuzara became well-known as an authority on Bukhari. Her acclaimed mastery included Islamic law as well. Crowned as 'the musnida of her time', she delivered public lectures on the Sahih and other works in Damascus and Egypt. [p. 120]
In fourteenth century, Zaynab bint Ahmad (d.740/1339) used to deliver public lectures the Musnad of Abu Hanifa, the Shamail of al-Tirmidhi, and the Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar of al-Tahawi. Do we remember the great traveler Ibn Battuta? He studied hadith with her and various other women during his stay at Damascus. [p. 120]
Learning was by both men and women. So was teaching, and the environment definitely was not a segregated one, where the learning as well as teaching took place. There were hardly any notable men during those centuries who did not receive teaching from women scholars as well. Furthermore, it was not just one or a few isolated cases. But there were a large number of women whose contribution to the field of learning and teaching remains an honored tradition that we may have altogether forgotten and neglected. Worse; many of us become vehemently opposed to it.
The famous historian of Damascus, Ibn Asakir, studied under more than 1,200 men and 80 women. He obtained the special ijaza of Zaynab bint Abd al-Rahman for the Muwatta of Imam Malik. The famous Qur'anic commentator Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti studied the Risala of Imam Shafii with Hajar bint Muhammad. Zaynab bint al-Sha'ri (d.524/615-1129/1218) studied hadith under several important traditionists, and in turn taught many students - "some of who gained great repute - including Ibn Khallikan, author of the well-known biographical dictionary Wafayat al-Ayan." [pp. 120-121]
Further account of the women scholars' contribution can be found in the works of Ibn Hajar, the author of the most important commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari. In one of his works, he provides short biographical accounts of no less than about 170 prominent women of the eighth century. Most of them were hadith scholars and under many of whom the author himself had studied. According to him, some of these women were acknowledged as the best traditionists of the period. For example, Juwayriya bint Ahmad, studied a range of works on traditions, under scholars both male and female. She then taught at the great colleges of the time, and then offered famous lectures on various Islamic disciplines, which used to attract an audience of high reputes. Some of Ibn Hajar's own teachers and many of his contemporaries attended her discourses. Another teacher of him was A'isha bin Abd al-Hadi (723-816). She was regarded as the finest traditionist of her time. Students from diverse backgrounds used to travel long distances "in order to sit at her feet and study the truths of religion." [p. 121]
In a book al-Daw al-Lami, biographical dictionary of eminent persons of the ninth century, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Sakhawi (830-897/1427-1489) provides information about the great women scholars of that period. In another book, Mu'jam al-Shuyukh, Abd al-Aziz ibn Umar ibn Fahd (812-871/1409-1466), provides biographical notes about "1,100 of the author's teachers, including over 130 women scholars under whom he had studied." Many of these women scholars were of the highest repute and trained many of the great scholars of the following generation. [p. 121]
There were women scholars whose field of expertise went far beyond hadith. "Umm Hani Maryam (778-871/1376-1466), for instance, learnt the Qur'an by heart when still a child, acquired all the Islamic sciences then being taught, including theology, law, history, and grammar, and then traveled to pursue hadith with the best traditionists of her time in Cairo and Mecca. ... She pursued an intensive program of learning in the great college of Cairo, giving ijazas to many scholars, Ibn Fahd himself studied several technical works on hadith under her." [pp. 121-122]
A'isha bin Ibrahim (760/1358-842/1438) studied traditions in Damascus and Cairo, and "delivered lectures which eminent scholars of the day spared no efforts to attend." [p. 122]
For various reasons that should be subject of a serious study, the "involvement of women in hadith scholarships, and in the Islamic disciplines generally, seems to have declined considerably from the tenth century of the hijra." [p. 122] There are several other biographical dictionaries that list names of women scholars of the subsequent period, but in vastly reduced numbers. Yet, as part of an endangered group, there were women who continued their valuable contribution. Asma bint Kamal al-Din (d.904/1498) wielded great public influence. She delivered public lectures on hadith, and trained women in various Islamic sciences. A'isha bint Muhammad (d.906/1500) taught hadith to many students. She was a professor at the Salihiyya College in Damascus. [p. 122]
The last known woman traditionist of the first rank, Fatima al-Fudayliya, also known as al-Shaykha al-Fudayliya, settled at Mecca. She founded a rich public library there. "In the Holy City she was attended by many eminent traditionists, who attended her lectures and received certificates from her." [p. 123]
History records that these women scholars "took their seats as students as well as teachers in pubic educational institutions, side by side with their brothers in faith. The colophons of many manuscripts show them both as students attending large general classes, and also as teachers, delivering regular courses of lectures." These were NOT gender-wise segregated institutions either. "[O]n folio 250, we discover that a famous woman traditionist, Umm Abd Allah, delivered a course of five lectures on the book to a mixed class of more than fifty students, at Damascus in the year 837/1433." [p. 123]
Although one can't draw a superficial connection between the decline of the Islamic civilization and the gradual disappearance of the women scholarship and participation, the reality is that our collective foundation of knowledge and heritage is based on the proud and noble contribution of scholarship of both men and women, as students and teachers, side by side, and there must have been substantive consequence from this loss of women scholarship.
The conditions of the Muslim world in general, and that of Muslim women in particular, stand in sharp contrast with the Islamic vision and heritage that continued through many centuries after the Prophet. Today, Muslim women are rarely welcome in the public life and especially in the mosque, let alone being part of our pool of educators, experts and mentors. This has created serious disenchantment among the women in the Muslim world, and turned some of them into bitter opponent to religion in general and Islam in particular. The existing conditions are a clear perversion of Islamic teachings and guidance. The absence of women scholars has also caused a great imbalance in our Islamic discourse in general and Islamic law (fiqh) in particular, by leaning toward the most extremely restrictive positions, opinions and provisions for the women.
In our contemporary time, there are Muslim women, particularly educated in the West or in the western tradition, who are establishing themselves as scholars of Islam. This is a very encouraging development. They are making critical contributions toward a new legacy of quality scholarship, especially in the field of gender issues. However, their emergence is not internal to Islam, and the broader Muslim society is yet to embrace them as part of the religious establishment, toward which they turn for religious scholarship. Of course, the religious establishment continues its orthodox resistance against such development of women scholarship and participation to protect their traditional turf.
In order to adequately empower women from the Islamic perspective, women need to equally and fully participate in our society, beginning with education and scholarship. The principle of Shura (mutual consultation) requires that those whose lives are affected by various decisions/opinions of Islamic laws and dictates ought to be full participants in the pertinent discourse. Women need to take interest in and men come forward to facilitate women's development in the field of education and scholarship. Muslim men need to demand such changes, as our Islamic pursuit for positive change can't be either complete or balanced without women being our full and equal partners. We need to cherish an environment where Muslim men, side by side with women, can engage in Islamic education and discourse, as students as well as teachers. We need women in all fields of Islamic and other studies, where men must excel in a competitive environment. We need to take this pursuit seriously, until we have qualified Islamic jurisprudents (mujtahids) and scholars among women, side by side with men, whose joint input would reshape our Islamic discourse and laws.
This does require no less than a revolutionary change, but it is an Islamic must. It is like turning Islam in our lives downside up, because Islam as we understand and practice it has been turned upside down. Muslims need to coalesce together to revive this glorious tradition of women's scholarship. Without them, our society would be fundamentally deficient and imbalanced, which will be reflected in all walks of our lives. That is why we again need women scholars back: THEY MUST BLOOM AGAIN.
Monday, 26 January 2009
Women Scholars of Hadith
by Dr. Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi
History records few scholarly enterprises, at least before modern times, in which women have played an important and active role side by side with men. The science of hadith forms an outstanding exception in this respect. Islam, as a religion which (unlike Christianity) refused to attribute gender to the Godhead,1 and never appointed a male priestly elite to serve as an intermediary between creature and Creator, started life with the assurance that while men and women are equipped by nature for complementary rather than identical roles, no spiritual superiority inheres in the masculine principle.2 As a result, the Muslim community was happy to entrust matters of equal worth in God's sight. Only this can explain why, uniquely among the classical Western religions, Islam produced a large number of outstanding female scholars, on whose testimony and sound judgment much of the edifice of Islam depends.
Since Islam's earliest days, women had been taking a prominent part in the preservation and cultivation of hadith, and this function continued down the centuries. At every period in Muslim history, there lived numerous eminent women-traditionists, treated by their brethren with reverence and respect. Biographical notices on very large numbers of them are to be found in the biographical dictionaries.
During the lifetime of the Prophet, many women had been not only the instance for the evolution of many traditions, but had also been their transmitters to their sisters and brethren in faith.3 After the Prophet's death, many women Companions, particularly his wives, were looked upon as vital custodians of knowledge, and were approached for instruction by the other Companions, to whom they readily dispensed the rich store which they had gathered in the Prophet's company. The names of Hafsa, Umm Habiba, Maymuna, Umm Salama, and A'isha, are familiar to every student of hadith as being among its earliest and most distinguished transmitters.4 In particular, A'isha is one of the most important figures in the whole history of hadith literature - not only as one of the earliest reporters of the largest number of hadith, but also as one of their most careful interpreters.
In the period of the Successors, too, women held important positions as traditionists. Hafsa, the daughter of Ibn Sirin,5 Umm al-Darda the Younger (d.81/700), and 'Amra bin 'Abd al-Rahman, are only a few of the key women traditionists of this period. Umm al-Darda' was held by Iyas ibn Mu'awiya, an important traditionist of the time and a judge of undisputed ability and merit, to be superior to all the other traditionists of the period, including the celebrated masters of hadith like al-Hasan al-Basri and Ibn Sirin.6 'Amra was considered a great authority on traditions related by A'isha. Among her students, Abu Bakr ibn Hazm, the celebrated judge of Medina, was ordered by the caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz to write down all the traditions known on her authority.7
After them, 'Abida al-Madaniyya, 'Abda bin Bishr, Umm Umar al-Thaqafiyya, Zaynab the granddaughter of Ali ibn Abd Allah ibn Abbas, Nafisa bint al-Hasan ibn Ziyad, Khadija Umm Muhammad, 'Abda bint Abd al-Rahman, and many other members of the fair sex excelled in delivering public lectures on hadith. These devout women came from the most diverse backgrounds, indicating that neither class nor gender were obstacles to rising through the ranks of Islamic scholarship. For example, Abida, who started life as a slave owned by Muhammad ibn Yazid, learnt a large number of hadiths with the teachers in Median. She was given by her master to Habib Dahhun, the great traditionist of Spain, when he visited the holy city on this way to the Hajj. Dahhun was so impressed by her learning that he freed her, married her, and brought her to Andalusia. It is said that she related ten thousand traditions on the authority of her Medinan teachers.8
Zaynab bint Sulayman (d. 142/759), by contrast, was princess by birth. Her father was a cousin of al-Saffah, the founder of the Abbasid dynasty, and had been a governor of Basra, Oman and Bahrayn during the caliphate of al-Mansur.9 Zaynab, who received a fine education, acquired a mastery of hadith, gained a reputation as one of the most distinguished women traditionists of the time, and counted many important men among her pupils.10
This partnership of women with men in the cultivation of the Prophetic Tradition continued in the period when the great anthologies of hadith were compiled. A survey of the texts reveals that all the important compilers of traditions from the earliest period received many of them from women shuyukh: every major collection gives the names of many women as the immediate authorities of the author. And when these works had been compiled, the women traditionists themselves mastered them, and delivered lectures to large classes of pupils, to whom they would issue their own ijazas.
In the fourth century, we find Fatima bint Abd al-Rahman (d. 312/924), known as al-Sufiyya on account of her great piety; Fatima (granddaughter of Abu Daud of Sunan fame); Amat al-Wahid (d. 377/987), the daughter of distinguished jurist al-Muhamili; Umm al-Fath Amat as-Salam (d. 390/999), the daughter of the judge Abu Bakr Ahmad (d.350/961); Jumua bint Ahmad, and many other women, whose classes were always attended by reverential audiences.11
The Islamic tradition of female hadith scholarship continued in the fifth and sixth centuries of hijra. Fatima bin al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn al-Daqqaq al-Qushayri, was celebrated not only for her piety and her mastery of calligraphy, but also for her knowledge of hadith and the quality of the isnads she knew.12 Even more distinguished was Karima al-Marwaziyya (d.463/1070), who was considered the best authority on the Sahih of al-Bukhari in her own time. Abu Dharr of Herat, one of the leading scholars of the period, attached such great importance to her authority that he advised his students to study the Sahih under no one else, because of the quality of her scholarship. She thus figures as a central point in the transmission of this seminal text of Islam.13 As a matter of fact, writes Godziher, 'her name occurs with extraordinary frequency of the ijazas for narrating the text of this book.'14 Among her students were al-Khatib al-Baghdadi15 and al-Humaydi (428/1036-488/1095).16
Aside from Karima, a number of other women traditionists 'occupy an eminent place in the history of the transmission of the text of the Sahih.'17 Among these, one might mention in particular Fatima bint Muhammad (d.539/1144; Shuhda 'the Writer' (d.574/1178), and Sitt al-Wuzara bint Umar (d.716/1316).18 Fatima narrated the book on the authority of the great traditionist Said al-Ayyar; she received from the hadith specialists the proud tittle of Musnida Isfahan (the great hadith authority of Isfahan). Shuhda was a famous calligrapher and a traditionist of great repute; the biographers describe her as 'the calligrapher, the great authority on hadith, and the pride of womanhood.' Her great-grandfather had been a dealer in needles, and thus acquired the sobriquet 'al-Ibri'. But her father, Abu Nasr (d. 506/1112) had acquired a passion for hadith, and managed to study it with several masters of the subject.19 In obedience to the sunna, he gave his daughter a sound academic education, ensuring that she studied under many traditionists of accepted reputation.
She married Ali ibn Muhammad, an important figure with some literary interests, who later became a boon companion of the caliph al-Muqtadi, and founded a college and a Sufi lodge, which he endowed most generously. His wife, however, was better known: she gained her reputation in the field of hadith scholarship, and was noted for the quality of her isnads.20 Her lectures on Sahih al-Bukhari and other hadith collections were attended by large crowds of students; and on account of her great reputation, some people even falsely claimed to have been her disciples.21
Also known as an authority on Bukhari was Sitt al-Wuzara, who, besides her acclaimed mastery of Islamic law, was known as 'the musnida of her time', and delivered lectures on the Sahih and other works in Damascus and Egypt. 22 Classes on the Sahih were likewise given by Umm al-Khayr Amat al-Khaliq (811/1408-911/1505), who is regarded as the last great hadith scholar of the Hijaz.23 Still another authority on Bukhari was A'isha bint Abd al-Hadi.24
Apart from these women, who seem to have specialized in the great Sahih of Imam al-Bukhari, there were others, whose expertise was centered on other texts. Umm al-Khayr Fatima bint Ali (d.532/1137), and Fatima al-Shahrazuriyya, delivered lectures on the Sahih of Muslim.25 Fatima al-Jawzdaniyya (d.524/1129) narrated to her students the three Mu'jams of al-Tabarani.26 Zaynab of Harran (d.68/1289), whose lectures attracted a large crowd of students, taught them the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the largest known collection of hadiths.27 Juwayriya bint Umar (d.783/1381), and Zaynab bint Ahmad ibn Umar (d.722/1322), who had travelled widely in pursuit of hadith and delivered lectures in Egypt as well as Medina, narrated to her students the collections of al-Darimi and Abd ibn Humayd; and we are told that students travelled from far and wide to attend her discourses.28 Zaynab bint Ahmad (d.740/1339), usually known as Bint al-Kamal, acquired 'a camel load' of diplomas; she delivered lectures on the Musnad of Abu Hanifa, the Shamail of al-Tirmidhi, and the Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar of al-Tahawi, the last of which she read with another woman traditionist, Ajiba bin Abu Bakr (d.740/1339).29 'On her authority is based,' says Goldziher, 'the authenticity of the Gotha codex ... in the same isnad a large number of learned women are cited who had occupied themselves with this work."30 With her, and various other women, the great traveller Ibn Battuta studied traditions during his stay at Damascus.31 The famous historian of Damascus, Ibn Asakir, who tells us that he had studied under more than 1,200 men and 80 women, obtained the ijaza of Zaynab bint Abd al-Rahman for the Muwatta of Imam Malik.32 Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti studied the Risala of Imam Shafii with Hajar bint Muhammad.33 Afif al-Din Junayd, a traditionist of the ninth century AH, read the Sunan of al-Darimi with Fatima bin Ahmad ibn Qasim.34
Other important traditionists included Zaynab bint al-Sha'ri (d.524/615-1129/1218). She studied hadith under several important traditionists, and in turn lectured to many students - some of who gained great repute - including Ibn Khallikan, author of the well-known biographical dictionary Wafayat al-Ayan.35 Another was Karima the Syrian (d.641/1218), described by the biographers as the greatest authority on hadith in Syria of her day. She delivered lectures on many works of hadith on the authority of numerous teachers.36
In his work al-Durar al-Karima,37 Ibn Hajar gives short biographical notices of about 170 prominent women of the eighth century, most of whom are traditionists, and under many of whom the author himself had studied.38 Some of these women were acknowledged as the best traditionists of the period. For instance, Juwayriya bint Ahmad, to whom we have already referred, studied a range of works on traditions, under scholars both male and female, who taught at the great colleges of the time, and then proceeded to give famous lectures on the Islamic disciplines. 'Some of my own teachers,' says Ibn Hajar, 'and many of my contemporaries, attended her discourses.'39 A'isha bin Abd al-Hadi (723-816), also mentioned above, who for a considerable time was one of Ibn Hajar's teachers, was considered to be the finest traditionist of her time, and many students undertook long journeys in order to sit at her feet and study the truths of religion.40 Sitt al-Arab (d.760-1358) had been the teacher of the well-known traditionist al-Iraqi (d.742/1341), and of many others who derived a good proportion of their knowledge from her.41 Daqiqa bint Murshid (d.746/1345), another celebrated woman traditionist, received instruction from a whole range of other woman.
Information on women traditionists of the ninth century is given in a work by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Sakhawi (830-897/1427-1489), called al-Daw al-Lami, which is a biographical dictionary of eminent persons of the ninth century.42 A further source is the Mu'jam al-Shuyukh of Abd al-Aziz ibn Umar ibn Fahd (812-871/1409-1466), compiled in 861 AH and devoted to the biographical notices of more than 1,100 of the author's teachers, including over 130 women scholars under whom he had studied.43 Some of these women were acclaimed as among the most precise and scholarly traditionists of their time, and trained many of the great scholars of the following generation. Umm Hani Maryam (778-871/1376-1466), for instance, learnt the Qur'an by heart when still a child, acquired all the Islamic sciences then being taught, including theology, law, history, and grammar, and then travelled to pursue hadith with the best traditionists of her time in Cairo and Mecca. She was also celebrated for her mastery of calligraphy, her command of the Arabic language, and her natural aptitude in poetry, as also her strict observance of the duties of religion (she performed the hajj no fewer than thirteen times). Her son, who became a noted scholar of the tenth century, showed the greatest veneration for her, and constantly waited on her towards the end of her life. She pursued an intensive program of learning in the great college of Cairo, giving ijazas to many scholars, Ibn Fahd himself studied several technical works on hadith under her.44
Her Syrian contemporary, Bai Khatun (d.864/1459), having studied traditions with Abu Bakr al-Mizzi and numerous other traditionalists, and having secured the ijazas of a large number of masters of hadith, both men and women, delivered lectures on the subject in Syria and Cairo. We are told that she took especial delight in teaching.45 A'isha bin Ibrahim (760/1358-842/1438), known in academic circles as Ibnat al-Sharaihi, also studied traditions in Damascus and Cairo (and elsewhere), and delivered lectures which eminent scholars of the day spared no efforts to attend.46 Umm al-Khayr Saida of Mecca (d.850/1446) received instruction in hadith from numerous traditionists in different cities, gaining an equally enviable reputation as a scholar.47
So far as may be gathered from the sources, the involvement of women in hadith scholarships, and in the Islamic disciplines generally, seems to have declined considerably from the tenth century of the hijra. Books such as al-Nur al-Safir of al-Aydarus, the Khulasat al-Akhbar of al-Muhibbi, and the al-Suluh al-Wabila of Muhammad ibn Abd Allah (which are biographical dictionaries of eminent persons of the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries of the hijra respectively) contain the names of barely a dozen eminent women traditionists. But it would be wrong to conclude from this that after the tenth century, women lost interest in the subject. Some women traditionists, who gained good reputations in the ninth century, lived well into the tenth, and continued their services to the sunna. Asma bint Kamal al-Din (d.904/1498) wielded great influence with the sultans and their officials, to whom she often made recommendations - which, we are told, they always accepted. She lectured on hadith, and trained women in various Islamic sciences.48 A'isha bint Muhammad (d.906/1500), who married the famous judge Muslih al-Din, taught traditions to many students, and was appointed professor at the Salihiyya College in Damascus.49 Fatima bint Yusuf of Aleppo (870/1465-925/1519), was known as one of the excellent scholars of her time.50 Umm al-Khayr granted an ijaza to a pilgrim at Mecca in the year 938/1531.51
The last woman traditionist of the first rank who is known to us was Fatima al-Fudayliya, also known as al-Shaykha al-Fudayliya. She was born before the end of the twelfth Islamic century, and soon excelled in the art of calligraphy and the various Islamic sciences. She had a special interest in hadith, read a good deal on the subject, received the diplomas of a good many scholars, and acquired a reputation as an important traditionist in her own right. Towards the end of her life, she settled at Mecca, where she founded a rich public library. In the Holy City she was attended by many eminent traditionists, who attended her lectures and received certificates from her. Among them, one could mention in particular Shaykh Umar al-Hanafi and Shaykh Muhammad Sali. She died in 1247/1831.52
Throughout the history of feminine scholarship in Islam it is clear that the women involved did not confine their study to a personal interest in traditions, or to the private coaching of a few individuals, but took their seats as students as well as teachers in pubic educational institutions, side by side with their brothers in faith. The colophons of many manuscripts show them both as students attending large general classes, and also as teachers, delivering regular courses of lectures. For instance, the certificate on folios 238-40 of the al-Mashikhat ma al-Tarikh of Ibn al-Bukhari, shows that numerous women attended a regular course of eleven lectures which was delivered before a class consisting of more than five hundred students in the Umar Mosque at Damascus in the year 687/1288. Another certificate, on folio 40 of the same manuscript, shows that many female students, whose names are specified, attended another course of six lectures on the book, which was delivered by Ibn al-Sayrafi to a class of more than two hundred students at Aleppo in the year 736/1336. And on folio 250, we discover that a famous woman traditionist, Umm Abd Allah, delivered a course of five lectures on the book to a mixed class of more than fifty students, at Damascus in the year 837/1433.53
Various notes on the manuscript of the Kitab al-Kifaya of al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, and of a collection of various treatises on hadith, show Ni'ma bin Ali, Umm Ahmad Zaynab bint al-Makki, and other women traditionists delivering lectures on these two books, sometimes independently, and sometimes jointly with male traditionists, in major colleges such as the Aziziyya Madrasa, and the Diyaiyya Madrasa, to regular classes of students. Some of these lectures were attended by Ahmad, son of the famous general Salah al-Din.54
History records few scholarly enterprises, at least before modern times, in which women have played an important and active role side by side with men. The science of hadith forms an outstanding exception in this respect. Islam, as a religion which (unlike Christianity) refused to attribute gender to the Godhead,1 and never appointed a male priestly elite to serve as an intermediary between creature and Creator, started life with the assurance that while men and women are equipped by nature for complementary rather than identical roles, no spiritual superiority inheres in the masculine principle.2 As a result, the Muslim community was happy to entrust matters of equal worth in God's sight. Only this can explain why, uniquely among the classical Western religions, Islam produced a large number of outstanding female scholars, on whose testimony and sound judgment much of the edifice of Islam depends.
Since Islam's earliest days, women had been taking a prominent part in the preservation and cultivation of hadith, and this function continued down the centuries. At every period in Muslim history, there lived numerous eminent women-traditionists, treated by their brethren with reverence and respect. Biographical notices on very large numbers of them are to be found in the biographical dictionaries.
During the lifetime of the Prophet, many women had been not only the instance for the evolution of many traditions, but had also been their transmitters to their sisters and brethren in faith.3 After the Prophet's death, many women Companions, particularly his wives, were looked upon as vital custodians of knowledge, and were approached for instruction by the other Companions, to whom they readily dispensed the rich store which they had gathered in the Prophet's company. The names of Hafsa, Umm Habiba, Maymuna, Umm Salama, and A'isha, are familiar to every student of hadith as being among its earliest and most distinguished transmitters.4 In particular, A'isha is one of the most important figures in the whole history of hadith literature - not only as one of the earliest reporters of the largest number of hadith, but also as one of their most careful interpreters.
In the period of the Successors, too, women held important positions as traditionists. Hafsa, the daughter of Ibn Sirin,5 Umm al-Darda the Younger (d.81/700), and 'Amra bin 'Abd al-Rahman, are only a few of the key women traditionists of this period. Umm al-Darda' was held by Iyas ibn Mu'awiya, an important traditionist of the time and a judge of undisputed ability and merit, to be superior to all the other traditionists of the period, including the celebrated masters of hadith like al-Hasan al-Basri and Ibn Sirin.6 'Amra was considered a great authority on traditions related by A'isha. Among her students, Abu Bakr ibn Hazm, the celebrated judge of Medina, was ordered by the caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz to write down all the traditions known on her authority.7
After them, 'Abida al-Madaniyya, 'Abda bin Bishr, Umm Umar al-Thaqafiyya, Zaynab the granddaughter of Ali ibn Abd Allah ibn Abbas, Nafisa bint al-Hasan ibn Ziyad, Khadija Umm Muhammad, 'Abda bint Abd al-Rahman, and many other members of the fair sex excelled in delivering public lectures on hadith. These devout women came from the most diverse backgrounds, indicating that neither class nor gender were obstacles to rising through the ranks of Islamic scholarship. For example, Abida, who started life as a slave owned by Muhammad ibn Yazid, learnt a large number of hadiths with the teachers in Median. She was given by her master to Habib Dahhun, the great traditionist of Spain, when he visited the holy city on this way to the Hajj. Dahhun was so impressed by her learning that he freed her, married her, and brought her to Andalusia. It is said that she related ten thousand traditions on the authority of her Medinan teachers.8
Zaynab bint Sulayman (d. 142/759), by contrast, was princess by birth. Her father was a cousin of al-Saffah, the founder of the Abbasid dynasty, and had been a governor of Basra, Oman and Bahrayn during the caliphate of al-Mansur.9 Zaynab, who received a fine education, acquired a mastery of hadith, gained a reputation as one of the most distinguished women traditionists of the time, and counted many important men among her pupils.10
This partnership of women with men in the cultivation of the Prophetic Tradition continued in the period when the great anthologies of hadith were compiled. A survey of the texts reveals that all the important compilers of traditions from the earliest period received many of them from women shuyukh: every major collection gives the names of many women as the immediate authorities of the author. And when these works had been compiled, the women traditionists themselves mastered them, and delivered lectures to large classes of pupils, to whom they would issue their own ijazas.
In the fourth century, we find Fatima bint Abd al-Rahman (d. 312/924), known as al-Sufiyya on account of her great piety; Fatima (granddaughter of Abu Daud of Sunan fame); Amat al-Wahid (d. 377/987), the daughter of distinguished jurist al-Muhamili; Umm al-Fath Amat as-Salam (d. 390/999), the daughter of the judge Abu Bakr Ahmad (d.350/961); Jumua bint Ahmad, and many other women, whose classes were always attended by reverential audiences.11
The Islamic tradition of female hadith scholarship continued in the fifth and sixth centuries of hijra. Fatima bin al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn al-Daqqaq al-Qushayri, was celebrated not only for her piety and her mastery of calligraphy, but also for her knowledge of hadith and the quality of the isnads she knew.12 Even more distinguished was Karima al-Marwaziyya (d.463/1070), who was considered the best authority on the Sahih of al-Bukhari in her own time. Abu Dharr of Herat, one of the leading scholars of the period, attached such great importance to her authority that he advised his students to study the Sahih under no one else, because of the quality of her scholarship. She thus figures as a central point in the transmission of this seminal text of Islam.13 As a matter of fact, writes Godziher, 'her name occurs with extraordinary frequency of the ijazas for narrating the text of this book.'14 Among her students were al-Khatib al-Baghdadi15 and al-Humaydi (428/1036-488/1095).16
Aside from Karima, a number of other women traditionists 'occupy an eminent place in the history of the transmission of the text of the Sahih.'17 Among these, one might mention in particular Fatima bint Muhammad (d.539/1144; Shuhda 'the Writer' (d.574/1178), and Sitt al-Wuzara bint Umar (d.716/1316).18 Fatima narrated the book on the authority of the great traditionist Said al-Ayyar; she received from the hadith specialists the proud tittle of Musnida Isfahan (the great hadith authority of Isfahan). Shuhda was a famous calligrapher and a traditionist of great repute; the biographers describe her as 'the calligrapher, the great authority on hadith, and the pride of womanhood.' Her great-grandfather had been a dealer in needles, and thus acquired the sobriquet 'al-Ibri'. But her father, Abu Nasr (d. 506/1112) had acquired a passion for hadith, and managed to study it with several masters of the subject.19 In obedience to the sunna, he gave his daughter a sound academic education, ensuring that she studied under many traditionists of accepted reputation.
She married Ali ibn Muhammad, an important figure with some literary interests, who later became a boon companion of the caliph al-Muqtadi, and founded a college and a Sufi lodge, which he endowed most generously. His wife, however, was better known: she gained her reputation in the field of hadith scholarship, and was noted for the quality of her isnads.20 Her lectures on Sahih al-Bukhari and other hadith collections were attended by large crowds of students; and on account of her great reputation, some people even falsely claimed to have been her disciples.21
Also known as an authority on Bukhari was Sitt al-Wuzara, who, besides her acclaimed mastery of Islamic law, was known as 'the musnida of her time', and delivered lectures on the Sahih and other works in Damascus and Egypt. 22 Classes on the Sahih were likewise given by Umm al-Khayr Amat al-Khaliq (811/1408-911/1505), who is regarded as the last great hadith scholar of the Hijaz.23 Still another authority on Bukhari was A'isha bint Abd al-Hadi.24
Apart from these women, who seem to have specialized in the great Sahih of Imam al-Bukhari, there were others, whose expertise was centered on other texts. Umm al-Khayr Fatima bint Ali (d.532/1137), and Fatima al-Shahrazuriyya, delivered lectures on the Sahih of Muslim.25 Fatima al-Jawzdaniyya (d.524/1129) narrated to her students the three Mu'jams of al-Tabarani.26 Zaynab of Harran (d.68/1289), whose lectures attracted a large crowd of students, taught them the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the largest known collection of hadiths.27 Juwayriya bint Umar (d.783/1381), and Zaynab bint Ahmad ibn Umar (d.722/1322), who had travelled widely in pursuit of hadith and delivered lectures in Egypt as well as Medina, narrated to her students the collections of al-Darimi and Abd ibn Humayd; and we are told that students travelled from far and wide to attend her discourses.28 Zaynab bint Ahmad (d.740/1339), usually known as Bint al-Kamal, acquired 'a camel load' of diplomas; she delivered lectures on the Musnad of Abu Hanifa, the Shamail of al-Tirmidhi, and the Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar of al-Tahawi, the last of which she read with another woman traditionist, Ajiba bin Abu Bakr (d.740/1339).29 'On her authority is based,' says Goldziher, 'the authenticity of the Gotha codex ... in the same isnad a large number of learned women are cited who had occupied themselves with this work."30 With her, and various other women, the great traveller Ibn Battuta studied traditions during his stay at Damascus.31 The famous historian of Damascus, Ibn Asakir, who tells us that he had studied under more than 1,200 men and 80 women, obtained the ijaza of Zaynab bint Abd al-Rahman for the Muwatta of Imam Malik.32 Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti studied the Risala of Imam Shafii with Hajar bint Muhammad.33 Afif al-Din Junayd, a traditionist of the ninth century AH, read the Sunan of al-Darimi with Fatima bin Ahmad ibn Qasim.34
Other important traditionists included Zaynab bint al-Sha'ri (d.524/615-1129/1218). She studied hadith under several important traditionists, and in turn lectured to many students - some of who gained great repute - including Ibn Khallikan, author of the well-known biographical dictionary Wafayat al-Ayan.35 Another was Karima the Syrian (d.641/1218), described by the biographers as the greatest authority on hadith in Syria of her day. She delivered lectures on many works of hadith on the authority of numerous teachers.36
In his work al-Durar al-Karima,37 Ibn Hajar gives short biographical notices of about 170 prominent women of the eighth century, most of whom are traditionists, and under many of whom the author himself had studied.38 Some of these women were acknowledged as the best traditionists of the period. For instance, Juwayriya bint Ahmad, to whom we have already referred, studied a range of works on traditions, under scholars both male and female, who taught at the great colleges of the time, and then proceeded to give famous lectures on the Islamic disciplines. 'Some of my own teachers,' says Ibn Hajar, 'and many of my contemporaries, attended her discourses.'39 A'isha bin Abd al-Hadi (723-816), also mentioned above, who for a considerable time was one of Ibn Hajar's teachers, was considered to be the finest traditionist of her time, and many students undertook long journeys in order to sit at her feet and study the truths of religion.40 Sitt al-Arab (d.760-1358) had been the teacher of the well-known traditionist al-Iraqi (d.742/1341), and of many others who derived a good proportion of their knowledge from her.41 Daqiqa bint Murshid (d.746/1345), another celebrated woman traditionist, received instruction from a whole range of other woman.
Information on women traditionists of the ninth century is given in a work by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Sakhawi (830-897/1427-1489), called al-Daw al-Lami, which is a biographical dictionary of eminent persons of the ninth century.42 A further source is the Mu'jam al-Shuyukh of Abd al-Aziz ibn Umar ibn Fahd (812-871/1409-1466), compiled in 861 AH and devoted to the biographical notices of more than 1,100 of the author's teachers, including over 130 women scholars under whom he had studied.43 Some of these women were acclaimed as among the most precise and scholarly traditionists of their time, and trained many of the great scholars of the following generation. Umm Hani Maryam (778-871/1376-1466), for instance, learnt the Qur'an by heart when still a child, acquired all the Islamic sciences then being taught, including theology, law, history, and grammar, and then travelled to pursue hadith with the best traditionists of her time in Cairo and Mecca. She was also celebrated for her mastery of calligraphy, her command of the Arabic language, and her natural aptitude in poetry, as also her strict observance of the duties of religion (she performed the hajj no fewer than thirteen times). Her son, who became a noted scholar of the tenth century, showed the greatest veneration for her, and constantly waited on her towards the end of her life. She pursued an intensive program of learning in the great college of Cairo, giving ijazas to many scholars, Ibn Fahd himself studied several technical works on hadith under her.44
Her Syrian contemporary, Bai Khatun (d.864/1459), having studied traditions with Abu Bakr al-Mizzi and numerous other traditionalists, and having secured the ijazas of a large number of masters of hadith, both men and women, delivered lectures on the subject in Syria and Cairo. We are told that she took especial delight in teaching.45 A'isha bin Ibrahim (760/1358-842/1438), known in academic circles as Ibnat al-Sharaihi, also studied traditions in Damascus and Cairo (and elsewhere), and delivered lectures which eminent scholars of the day spared no efforts to attend.46 Umm al-Khayr Saida of Mecca (d.850/1446) received instruction in hadith from numerous traditionists in different cities, gaining an equally enviable reputation as a scholar.47
So far as may be gathered from the sources, the involvement of women in hadith scholarships, and in the Islamic disciplines generally, seems to have declined considerably from the tenth century of the hijra. Books such as al-Nur al-Safir of al-Aydarus, the Khulasat al-Akhbar of al-Muhibbi, and the al-Suluh al-Wabila of Muhammad ibn Abd Allah (which are biographical dictionaries of eminent persons of the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries of the hijra respectively) contain the names of barely a dozen eminent women traditionists. But it would be wrong to conclude from this that after the tenth century, women lost interest in the subject. Some women traditionists, who gained good reputations in the ninth century, lived well into the tenth, and continued their services to the sunna. Asma bint Kamal al-Din (d.904/1498) wielded great influence with the sultans and their officials, to whom she often made recommendations - which, we are told, they always accepted. She lectured on hadith, and trained women in various Islamic sciences.48 A'isha bint Muhammad (d.906/1500), who married the famous judge Muslih al-Din, taught traditions to many students, and was appointed professor at the Salihiyya College in Damascus.49 Fatima bint Yusuf of Aleppo (870/1465-925/1519), was known as one of the excellent scholars of her time.50 Umm al-Khayr granted an ijaza to a pilgrim at Mecca in the year 938/1531.51
The last woman traditionist of the first rank who is known to us was Fatima al-Fudayliya, also known as al-Shaykha al-Fudayliya. She was born before the end of the twelfth Islamic century, and soon excelled in the art of calligraphy and the various Islamic sciences. She had a special interest in hadith, read a good deal on the subject, received the diplomas of a good many scholars, and acquired a reputation as an important traditionist in her own right. Towards the end of her life, she settled at Mecca, where she founded a rich public library. In the Holy City she was attended by many eminent traditionists, who attended her lectures and received certificates from her. Among them, one could mention in particular Shaykh Umar al-Hanafi and Shaykh Muhammad Sali. She died in 1247/1831.52
Throughout the history of feminine scholarship in Islam it is clear that the women involved did not confine their study to a personal interest in traditions, or to the private coaching of a few individuals, but took their seats as students as well as teachers in pubic educational institutions, side by side with their brothers in faith. The colophons of many manuscripts show them both as students attending large general classes, and also as teachers, delivering regular courses of lectures. For instance, the certificate on folios 238-40 of the al-Mashikhat ma al-Tarikh of Ibn al-Bukhari, shows that numerous women attended a regular course of eleven lectures which was delivered before a class consisting of more than five hundred students in the Umar Mosque at Damascus in the year 687/1288. Another certificate, on folio 40 of the same manuscript, shows that many female students, whose names are specified, attended another course of six lectures on the book, which was delivered by Ibn al-Sayrafi to a class of more than two hundred students at Aleppo in the year 736/1336. And on folio 250, we discover that a famous woman traditionist, Umm Abd Allah, delivered a course of five lectures on the book to a mixed class of more than fifty students, at Damascus in the year 837/1433.53
Various notes on the manuscript of the Kitab al-Kifaya of al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, and of a collection of various treatises on hadith, show Ni'ma bin Ali, Umm Ahmad Zaynab bint al-Makki, and other women traditionists delivering lectures on these two books, sometimes independently, and sometimes jointly with male traditionists, in major colleges such as the Aziziyya Madrasa, and the Diyaiyya Madrasa, to regular classes of students. Some of these lectures were attended by Ahmad, son of the famous general Salah al-Din.54
Maura O'Neill, Women Speaking, Women Listening (Maryknoll, 1990CE), 31: "Muslims do not use a masculine God as either a conscious or unconscious tool in the construction of gender roles."- For a general overview of the question of women's status in Islam, see M. Boisers, L'Humanisme de l'Islam (3rd. ed., Paris, 1985CE), 104-10.
- al-Khatib, Sunna, 53-4, 69-70.
- See above, 18, 21.
- Ibn Sa'd, VIII, 355.
- Suyuti, Tadrib, 215.
- Ibn Sa'd, VIII, 353.
- Maqqari, Nafh, II, 96.
- Wustenfeld, Genealogische Tabellen, 403.
- al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, XIV, 434f.
- Ibid., XIV, 441-44.
- Ibn al-Imad, Shsadharat al-Dhahah fi Akhbar man Dhahah (Cairo, 1351), V, 48; Ibn Khallikan, no. 413.
- Maqqari, Nafh, I, 876; cited in Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 366.
- Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 366. "It is in fact very common in the ijaza of the transmission of the Bukhari text to find as middle member of the long chain the name of Karima al-Marwaziyya," (ibid.).
- Yaqut, Mu'jam al-Udaba', I, 247.
- COPL, V/i, 98f.
- Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 366.
- Ibn al-Imad, IV, 123. Sitt al-Wuzara' was also an eminent jurist. She was once invited to Cairo to give her fatwa on a subject that had perplexed the jurists there.
- Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil (Cairo, 1301), X, 346.
- Ibn Khallikan, no. 295.
- Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 367.
- Ibn al-Imad, VI. 40.
- Ibid., VIII, 14.
- Ibn Salim, al-Imdad (Hyderabad, 1327), 36.
- Ibn al-Imad, IV, 100.
- Ibn Salim, 16.
- Ibid., 28f.
- Ibn al-Imad, VI 56.
- ibid., 126; Ibn Salim, 14, 18; al-Umari, Qitf al-Thamar (Hyderabad, 1328), 73.
- Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 407.
- Ibn Battuta, Rihla, 253.
- Yaqut, Mu'jam al-Buldan, V, 140f.
- Yaqut, Mu'jam al-Udaba, 17f.
- COPL, V/i, 175f.
- Ibn Khallikan, no.250.
- Ibn al-Imad, V, 212, 404.
- Various manuscripts of this work have been preserved in libraries, and it has been published in Hyderabad in 1348-50. Volume VI of Ibn al-Imad's Shadharat al-Dhahab, a large biographical dictionary of prominent Muslim scholars from the first to the tenth centuries of the hijra, is largely based on this work.
- Goldziher, accustomed to the exclusively male environment of nineteenth-century European universities, was taken aback by the scene depicted by Ibn Hajar. Cf. Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 367: "When reading the great biographical work of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani on the scholars of the eighth century, we may marvel at the number of women to whom the author has to dedicate articles."
- Ibn Hajar, al-Durar al-Karima fi Ayan al-Mi'a al-Thamina (Hyderabad, 1348-50), I, no. 1472.
Ibn al-Imad, VIII, 120f.- Ibind., VI, 208. We are told that al-Iraqi (the best know authority on the hadiths of Ghazali's Ihya Ulum al-Din) ensured that his son also studied under her.
- A summary by Abd al-Salam and Umar ibn al-Shamma' exists (C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, second ed. (Leiden, 1943-49CE), II, 34), and a defective manuscript of the work of the latter is preserved in the O.P. Library at Patna (COPL, XII, no.727).
- Ibid.
- Sakhawi, al-Saw al-Lami li-Ahl al-Qarn al-Tasi (Cairo, 1353-55), XII, no. 980.
- Ibid., no. 58.
- Ibid., no. 450.
- Ibid., no. 901.
- al-Aydarus, al-Nur al-Safir (Baghdad, 1353), 49.
- Ibn Abi Tahir, see COPL, XII, no. 665ff.
- Ibid.
- Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 407.
- al-Suhuh al-Wabila, see COPL, XII, no. 785.
- COPL, V/ii, 54.
- Ibid., V/ii, 155-9, 180-208. For some particularly instructive annotated manuscripts preserved at the Zahiriya Library at Damascus, see the article of Abd al-Aziz al-Maymani in al-Mabahith al-Ilmiyya (Hyderabad: Da'irat al-Ma'arif, 1358), 1-14.
The Scholary Woman
"The history of Islam is fulled with great women from amongst theulema! This is extracted from 'Aisha Bewley's 'Islam: The Empoweringof Women'
'A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, said, "How splendid are the womenof the Ansar. Modesty did not prevent them from becoming learned inthe deen.
"The Prophet (peace be upon him) told his companions: "Take halfyour deen from Humayra (A'isha).
Abu Musa al-Ash'ari said :"Wheneever we, the Companions of theProphet, encountered any difficulty in the matter of any hadith wereferred it to 'A'isha and found that she had definite knowledgeabout it".
Urwa ibn az-Zubayr stated: "I did not see a greater scholarthan 'A'isha in the learning of the Qur'an, shares of inheritance,lawful and unlawful matters, poetry and literature, Arab history andgenealogy.
Ibn al-Jawzi said that Hisham ibn Urwa said to 'A'isha, "Umm, I amnot surprised at your knowledge of poetry since you are the daughterof Abu Bakr and he was the most knowledgeable of people (in poetry),but I marvel at your knowledge of medicine.
"While 'A'isha was the most famous of the women who the Muslimslooked to for knowledge, the rest of the Prophet's wives and femaleCompanions were known for their knowledge as well....like Umm Sulaym, Umm ad-Darda', Fatima bint Qays al-'Adawiyya, and other women after them. People use to receive knowledge and instruction from these women as they received it from men. Many of the ulema were women:
Nafsa bint al-Hasan : She was a descendant of 'Ali, and was such anauthority on hadith that Imam Shafi'i sat in her circle in al-Fustatwhen he was at the height of his fame in Egypt.
Karima bint Ahmad al-Marwazziya: She lived to be a hundred and diedin Makka in the middle of the fifth/eleventh century. She was theforemost authority on the text of al-Bukhari because of her excellent sources.
Shuhda bint Abi Nasr Ahmad al-Ibari: She was considered to be one ofthe best scholars of her age. She was known as al-Katiba (the writer) and Fakhr an-Nisa. She taught al-Bukhari and other works to large number of students. She lectured publicly in one of the main mosques of Baghdad on various topics.
"The emphasis of the women learning their deen was a emphasis in theSokoto Caliphate founded by Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio. The Shaykh saysin his 'Irshad al-Ikhwan that if the husband is not able to supplyknowledge of the deen to his wife, she is under an Islamic obligation to out and search for it.
"The ruler should compel the husband to have his wife educated,just as he should compel him to give her adequate maintenance;indeed, knowledge is superior (to maintenance)
"Many women during the Sokoto Caliphate in the Hausaland (nowNigeria)were trained in fiqh(especially with regards to thecomplicated fiqh rules of buying and selling) and were appointed assupervisors of the market-place to ensure that the vendors did notcheat the people.
The historic role of women in the Islam can not be understated!Allah the Most High has enobled our women in a great way that shouldand can not be underestimated or marginalized!
'A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, said, "How splendid are the womenof the Ansar. Modesty did not prevent them from becoming learned inthe deen.
"The Prophet (peace be upon him) told his companions: "Take halfyour deen from Humayra (A'isha).
Abu Musa al-Ash'ari said :"Wheneever we, the Companions of theProphet, encountered any difficulty in the matter of any hadith wereferred it to 'A'isha and found that she had definite knowledgeabout it".
Urwa ibn az-Zubayr stated: "I did not see a greater scholarthan 'A'isha in the learning of the Qur'an, shares of inheritance,lawful and unlawful matters, poetry and literature, Arab history andgenealogy.
Ibn al-Jawzi said that Hisham ibn Urwa said to 'A'isha, "Umm, I amnot surprised at your knowledge of poetry since you are the daughterof Abu Bakr and he was the most knowledgeable of people (in poetry),but I marvel at your knowledge of medicine.
"While 'A'isha was the most famous of the women who the Muslimslooked to for knowledge, the rest of the Prophet's wives and femaleCompanions were known for their knowledge as well....like Umm Sulaym, Umm ad-Darda', Fatima bint Qays al-'Adawiyya, and other women after them. People use to receive knowledge and instruction from these women as they received it from men. Many of the ulema were women:
Nafsa bint al-Hasan : She was a descendant of 'Ali, and was such anauthority on hadith that Imam Shafi'i sat in her circle in al-Fustatwhen he was at the height of his fame in Egypt.
Karima bint Ahmad al-Marwazziya: She lived to be a hundred and diedin Makka in the middle of the fifth/eleventh century. She was theforemost authority on the text of al-Bukhari because of her excellent sources.
Shuhda bint Abi Nasr Ahmad al-Ibari: She was considered to be one ofthe best scholars of her age. She was known as al-Katiba (the writer) and Fakhr an-Nisa. She taught al-Bukhari and other works to large number of students. She lectured publicly in one of the main mosques of Baghdad on various topics.
"The emphasis of the women learning their deen was a emphasis in theSokoto Caliphate founded by Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio. The Shaykh saysin his 'Irshad al-Ikhwan that if the husband is not able to supplyknowledge of the deen to his wife, she is under an Islamic obligation to out and search for it.
"The ruler should compel the husband to have his wife educated,just as he should compel him to give her adequate maintenance;indeed, knowledge is superior (to maintenance)
"Many women during the Sokoto Caliphate in the Hausaland (nowNigeria)were trained in fiqh(especially with regards to thecomplicated fiqh rules of buying and selling) and were appointed assupervisors of the market-place to ensure that the vendors did notcheat the people.
The historic role of women in the Islam can not be understated!Allah the Most High has enobled our women in a great way that shouldand can not be underestimated or marginalized!
Saturday, 27 December 2008
History Shows the Importance of Women in Muslim Life
The Qur'an and the Hadith (teachings of the Prophet) inspires every man and woman to seek knowledge, and women have made significant contributions in education and other fields.
Foremost among these women was Hazrat Aisha, the youngest wife of Prophet Muhammad and the most learned lady of her time. The Prophet married Aisha in her youth while she was receptive to the values needed to lead and influence the sisterhood of Muslim women. Aisha had an outstanding quality of intelligence and memory and, by virtue of these qualities, is considered to be one of the most reliable sources and teacher of Hadith. She had expertise in the Qur'an, shares of inheritance, lawful and unlawful matters, poetry, Arabic literature, Arab history, genealogy, and general medicine.
The first madrasa for women and with a female teacher was established in the home of Aisha, the mother of Muslims.With a curtain separating the men from the women, men also attended Aisha's classes.
The Prophet even commanded that the slave girls be educated, and he asked Shifa bint Abdullah to instruct his wife Hafsah bint Umar. Both men and women attended lectures of the Prophet, and by the time of the Prophet's death, there were many women scholars.
Aisha’s student and close friend, Amra bint Abdur Rehman, was an outstanding scholar whose views overrode the views of other authorities. In the Muwatta she is taken as the primary authority of three legal issues: the prohibition against digging up graves; the ban on selling unripe fruit; and the effect of crop damage on the sale of agricultural produce.
In the long list of scholars in the early centuries of Islam, one was Nafisa bint al-Hasan, a female teacher of Imam Shafi'i, one of the five most famous Imams (founders of a school of opinion). The Imam sat in Nafisa's circle in al-Fustat at the height of his fame in Egypt.
In his History of Damascus, Hafiz Ibn Asakar (1175) mentioned the names of eighty women from whom he studied the knowledge of Hadith. The Imam of tasawwuf, Hafiz Ibn-e Asakar, was the student of Shuhda bint Abi Nasr), one of the best scholars of her age. She lectured publicly in one of the main mosques of Baghdad on various topics.
Women of Islam took great interest in spreading mass education in different parts of the world. The sister of Ghazi Slahuddin Ayyubi (1193), Zammurd, and niece Uzra, founded two separate madrasas. A Muslim woman Fatima bint Muhammad al-Fihri is the founder of the oldest living university of the time (much older than Oxford and Al-Azhar), the University of Qarawiyyin in Fes, Morocco. Her father was a rich businessman, and she spent all her inheritance money to build and decorate the university. To become closer to Allah, she fasted continuously during the construction of the university. The university building is along the finest standard of architect. Within the university is a masjid in which thirteen thousand people can pray at one time, and there is a huge, unique library. Students from Algeria, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, and other African nations go there to seek knowledge and higher education.
Razia Begum (637H/1240A), the third ruler of Muslim India, established two madrasas in Delhi, Moazzia and Naseriya. In the period of Sultan Muhammad Shah Tughlaq (d.752H/1351A) there were one thousand madrasas in Delhi, and several of them were for women.
Professor Muhammad Saleem offers many examples of women who made significant contributions to education and learning. Women were lawyers, calligraphers, poets, mathematicians, doctors and even warriors.
A lady servant of Emperor Akbar founded Madrasa Maham Anga. Fatima Sughra Begum from Bihar left a huge property as a trust called "Sughra Waqf State" for education. A learned woman from Calcutta, Saulat un Nisa, presented a huge amount of thirty thousand rupees to Maulana Rahmatullah Muhajir. Maulana built a madrasa in Haram, Macca named Madrasa Saulatia in the name of the donor. This madrasa is still alive.
Foremost among these women was Hazrat Aisha, the youngest wife of Prophet Muhammad and the most learned lady of her time. The Prophet married Aisha in her youth while she was receptive to the values needed to lead and influence the sisterhood of Muslim women. Aisha had an outstanding quality of intelligence and memory and, by virtue of these qualities, is considered to be one of the most reliable sources and teacher of Hadith. She had expertise in the Qur'an, shares of inheritance, lawful and unlawful matters, poetry, Arabic literature, Arab history, genealogy, and general medicine.
The first madrasa for women and with a female teacher was established in the home of Aisha, the mother of Muslims.With a curtain separating the men from the women, men also attended Aisha's classes.
The Prophet even commanded that the slave girls be educated, and he asked Shifa bint Abdullah to instruct his wife Hafsah bint Umar. Both men and women attended lectures of the Prophet, and by the time of the Prophet's death, there were many women scholars.
Aisha’s student and close friend, Amra bint Abdur Rehman, was an outstanding scholar whose views overrode the views of other authorities. In the Muwatta she is taken as the primary authority of three legal issues: the prohibition against digging up graves; the ban on selling unripe fruit; and the effect of crop damage on the sale of agricultural produce.
In the long list of scholars in the early centuries of Islam, one was Nafisa bint al-Hasan, a female teacher of Imam Shafi'i, one of the five most famous Imams (founders of a school of opinion). The Imam sat in Nafisa's circle in al-Fustat at the height of his fame in Egypt.
In his History of Damascus, Hafiz Ibn Asakar (1175) mentioned the names of eighty women from whom he studied the knowledge of Hadith. The Imam of tasawwuf, Hafiz Ibn-e Asakar, was the student of Shuhda bint Abi Nasr), one of the best scholars of her age. She lectured publicly in one of the main mosques of Baghdad on various topics.
Women of Islam took great interest in spreading mass education in different parts of the world. The sister of Ghazi Slahuddin Ayyubi (1193), Zammurd, and niece Uzra, founded two separate madrasas. A Muslim woman Fatima bint Muhammad al-Fihri is the founder of the oldest living university of the time (much older than Oxford and Al-Azhar), the University of Qarawiyyin in Fes, Morocco. Her father was a rich businessman, and she spent all her inheritance money to build and decorate the university. To become closer to Allah, she fasted continuously during the construction of the university. The university building is along the finest standard of architect. Within the university is a masjid in which thirteen thousand people can pray at one time, and there is a huge, unique library. Students from Algeria, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, and other African nations go there to seek knowledge and higher education.
Razia Begum (637H/1240A), the third ruler of Muslim India, established two madrasas in Delhi, Moazzia and Naseriya. In the period of Sultan Muhammad Shah Tughlaq (d.752H/1351A) there were one thousand madrasas in Delhi, and several of them were for women.
Professor Muhammad Saleem offers many examples of women who made significant contributions to education and learning. Women were lawyers, calligraphers, poets, mathematicians, doctors and even warriors.
A lady servant of Emperor Akbar founded Madrasa Maham Anga. Fatima Sughra Begum from Bihar left a huge property as a trust called "Sughra Waqf State" for education. A learned woman from Calcutta, Saulat un Nisa, presented a huge amount of thirty thousand rupees to Maulana Rahmatullah Muhajir. Maulana built a madrasa in Haram, Macca named Madrasa Saulatia in the name of the donor. This madrasa is still alive.
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