“It would stretch our imaginations as well as the historical realities conditioning these women’s actions to view them as reflections of the concerns that animate contemporary feminist discourses. The ranges of action of classical Muslim women were constrained by the norms of their communities, which channelled their intellectual potential toward Hadith transmission rather than law or theology. It is through embracing and upholding those norms, not subverting them, that they acquired stature and, in all likelihood, personal fulfillment.” (p.18)
Muslim women seem to be a hyper-fixation of the media and the government for all the wrong reasons. Whether it’s portraying them as hapless victims who need to be saved from religious orthodoxy or concomitantly, as firebrands rebelling against said orthodoxy; it’s rare for Muslim women to be afforded portrayals that aren’t patronizing in some or other way. The perception that their Islamic faith is somehow responsible for holding them back is a persistent one that only seems to be being reinforced by the Islamophobic zeitgeist daily. Not just Islamophobes, but within the Muslim community, too, anachronistic attitudes regarding women’s education, and women’s participation in knowledge production, unfortunately, continue to persist.
In such times, the field of Muslim women’s studies becomes all the more crucial to dispel misconceptions as well as to preserve the heritage and legacy of the history of Islamic civilization.
“Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam”, is a book written by Asma Sayeed, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles.
It focuses on a specific aspect; the history of women’s transmission of Hadith through different eras of Islamic history; from the early Islamic era to the early Ottoman period (the seventh to the seventeenth century).
Utilizing the frameworks of Talal Asad’s discursive tradition and Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of cultural and social capital, Sayeed portrays how women’s participation in Hadith transmission not only strengthened the scholarly elite and ulama networks but also shaped the political, military, and economic fabric of Muslim societies.
Those outside the faith charge the Islamic tradition of being an impediment to women’s intellectual advancement whilst those within the faith argue that the exact opposite is true. Over the course of four chapters, the author confronts both perceptions, taking us on a journey through the historical shifts, ruptures, and continuities in the position of women in the dissemination of hadith. In every chapter, the author explains each era through the stories of certain prominent muhaddithat (female Hadith transmitters) of that era.
Chapter One, “A Tradition Invented,” begins the story by exploring how the transmission of Hadith first began through the lives of two major Ummuhatal Mumineen (Mothers of the Believers, i.e. the wives of the Noble Prophet of Allah (SAW) – Aishah bint Abu Bakr and Umm Salama as well as a brief mention of other Ummuhatul Mumineen and other female Companions (Sahabiyat of The Prophet (SAW), (May Allah be pleased with them all).
In this period, in terms of Hadith, the focus was on finding solutions to everyday issues that arose in the religious practice of individuals. Thus, it was the people closest to the Prophet (SAW) who were best placed to provide this guidance and they were considered important sources of Hadith. Therefore, the “tradition” of Hadith transmission was “invented”. Major Hadith scholars of the Islamic tradition would come to rely on not merely the ahadith reported by Aishah (RA) but also her jurisprudential expertise. The author mentions several historical incidents from this period to showcase how the women of the Companion generation were not merely transmitters of ahadith but how, especially, in the case of Aishah (RA), their vast knowledge of fiqh (jurisprudence), their personal anecdotes from their interactions with the Holy Prophet (SAW) and their piety helped shape the emerging Islamic sciences of Hadith and fiqh.
Chapter Two covers the late seventh century until the early tenth century, in which women’s participation in hadith transmission saw a significant decline. There were only eight major muhaddithat of this era: First, whose knowledge of hadith was predominantly linked to a particular female Companion: Zaynab bint Abı ̄Salama al-Makhzumiyya, ‘Amra bint ‘Abd al-Rahman, ‘ A’isha bint Talha and Fatima bint al-Mundhir.
Second, those who gained renown as ascetics; Umm al-Darda’ al-Sughra, Muadha bint ‘Abd Allah, and Hafsa bint Sirin.
This was a period in which the discipline of Hadith was being formalized and codified gradually. There were very high standards set for hadith transmission; the fact that transmitters of Hadith were obliged to undertake (rihlas) long journeys to Hadith scholars in different parts of the fast-expanding Muslim world often for verification of even a single hadith; coupled with the disagreement between the scholars over Hadith as a source of law, created historical circumstances which were inadvertently not conducive to women’s participation in Hadith. This is an important takeaway as it shows us that it was an amalgam of historical circumstances that hindered women’s participation and not, as is misunderstood, a concerted effort of Muslim scholars to hold women back.
In the next Chapter, “The Classical Revival,” women’s fortunes improved in the initial part of the tenth and eleventh centuries after a gap of nearly 250 years. By this time, the hadith sciences had come to occupy a different and central place in the culture of classical Sunni ̄Islam. The lives of two prominent muhaddithas are discussed in this chapter; Karima al-Marwaziyya and Fatima bint al-Hasan b. ‘Ali al-Daqqaq. Through examining their lives we get a sense of how and why women re-emerged as hadith scholars in this era.
The main reasons for this revival were that the field of Hadith sciences had stabilized and written transmission of Hadith now had acceptance as opposed to largely oral transmission previously. Thus, the once stringent standards were now no longer as demanding as before. Such an environment was now beneficial for women who had previously been marginalised due to strict criteria for Hadith transmission. Women’s reintegration into hadith transmission was also bolstered by the growth of “ulama” family networks, which was associated with the spread of “Abbasid” political and military authority. It is quite significant to note how women’s activities facilitated the blossoming of a book culture in classical Islam.
Finally, in Chapter Four, “A Culmination in Traditionalism”, we see the role of classical Sunni orthodoxy in women’s participation in religious knowledge.
While there was a second decline again in participation, once again owing to historical factors like changes in Hadith methodologies and women’s participation in more Sufi-based tariqas, it was not as drastic as before. Rather, this was an era of women’s success as their contributions became widely recognized.
The author explains this phenomenon by detailing the historical circumstances of that time. The most revelatory aspect in this chapter is that contrary to popular misgivings, it was, in fact, Sunni orthodoxy that facilitated the enthusiastic participation of women by creating the requisite environment. This was an era where madrassas were granted endowments by the elite, there were mixed gatherings for the imparting of classical Islamic texts (similar to what we now call halaqas or ijtemas) and there was a robust culture of women being encouraged to attend deeni halaqas and religious assemblies of Hadith studies. Fathers, uncles, and male guardians played a remarkable role in women’s participation by taking daughters even as toddlers to the company of aged scholars to gain ijaza (license to transmit religious knowledge).
All phenomena, that are sadly alien to certain parts of the Muslim world today.
We see these factors play out in the lives of three extraordinary muhaddithat: Shuhda al-Katiba, Zaynab bint al-Kama ̄l, and ‘A’isha bint Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Ha ̄dı.
Another poignant aspect of this era is that despite severe political turmoil between Sunni and Shia ruling dynasties and civil unrest in the Muslim world, the Muslims of this era upheld a culture of veneration and perpetuation of sacred knowledge. A study of al-Husayn b. Ahmad al-Ni’ali reveals how Hadith transmission united Muslims of disparate backgrounds and how women’s activities crisscrossed the divides.
This book is a unique milestone in the field of Muslim women’s studies. What sets it apart is that it is among the very few works that give us such an extensive account of the history of women muhaddithat in such a concise manner, alongside the more well-known work of Shaykh Akram Nadwi. It also dispels two important misconceptions in Muslim women’s studies. The first is related to how conservative Sunni Islam affects women’s engagement in public life. The idea that this particular strain of Islam has curtailed women’s mobility and active involvement in the public realm has been argued by certain academicians in this field. However, this book demonstrates that after the fourth/tenth century, numerous women in Sunni societies were successfully mobilized and involved in the public sphere of hadith transmission. The other common misconception is that women’s status and mobility peaked in the first century of Islam and then declined irreversibly as a result of imperial expansion and the adoption of patriarchal values from neighbouring cultures, and their legal codification thereafter. This idea is also disproven as discussed in Chapter
The author seamlessly weaves together valuable information directly from original texts of the hadith corpus and biographies of Hadith transmitters written by early scholars as well as historical accounts to build a coherent narrative.
One aspect where the author could have elaborated more was the extent of class and social status in this participation of women. Also, the narrative limits itself to the geographic area of the Middle East and stops at the Ottoman era. It would have been interesting to know about women’s involvement in this field during the 19th and 20th centuries and the role of muhaddithat in South Asia, given the work in Hadith discipline by South Asian Muslims has had global recognition since the medieval era itself.
This book brings to light a truly fascinating though seldom mentioned part of Islamic history. The findings compel us to ponder on the knowledge acquisition and intellectual culture among Muslims today. It is, therefore, essential reading.
