Banat-e Islam Ki Dini Wa Ilmi Khidmat
(‘The Religious and Intellectual Contributions of Muslim Women’)
Author: Maulana Qazi Athar Mubarakpuri
Publisher: Islamic Book Foundation, 1781 Hauz Suiwalan, New Delhi 110002
Price: Rs. 40
Books in English and Urdu on Muslim history rarely, if ever, mention the role and contribution of numerous remarkable Muslim women scholars. Yet, as the author of this fascinating monograph, the late Qazi Athar Mubarakpuri (1916-1996), points out, early Muslim history records many such women, several of whose names are mentioned in contemporary Arab chronicles. Indeed, he asserts, many of these texts had separate chapters devoted to such women. Some early Arab Muslim writers even penned separate books dealing with women scholars.
Notable among these, Mubarakpuri mentions, are Asharat ul-Nisa by Imam Tabari, a book by the same name authored by Hafiz Abul Qasim Sulaiman bin Muhammad bin Ahmad Shami, Balaghat ul-Nisa by Ibn Taifur, Akhbar ul-Nisa by Imam Ibn Qayyim, Adab ul-Nisa by Ibn Jawziya, Kitab ul-Nisa by Imam Musalmah bin Qasim Andalusi, Ashar ul-Nisa by Allama Marzbani and Nuzhat ul-Jalsa fi Ashar ul-Nisa by the well-known Imam Suyuti.
In this monograph, Mubarakpuri provides us glimpses of some of these early Muslim women scholars, for the most part Arab and Persian. Many of them were recognised for their knowledge of various Islamic sciences, a remarkable contrast to today where few such Muslim women scholars exist, and where often it is assumed that religious scholarship is a male domain. The question thus arises that if early Muslim women could achieve such scholarly heights, inspired by their own faith, what is to stop their sisters today from trodding the same path?
Many of these early Muslim women scholars were experts in the science of Hadith, traditions attributed to the Prophet. These included several wives of the Prophet, numerous other Sahabiyat or women who had seen the Prophet, as well as others in succeeding generations. These women narrated Hadith reports from various sources, including their male and female relatives, and several of them were considered as venerable authorities even by male scholars. Thus, for instance, Mubarakpuri tells us that Umra bint Abdur Rahman Ansariya of Medina was so well-known for her knowledge of Hadith that the Caliph Umar bin Abdul Aziz advised Abu Bakr bin Muhammad bin Hazm to learn the subject from her. The daughter of one Tayyeb bin Keran delivered lectures to men and women in the famous Masjid al-Andalus in Morocco, a mosque constructed by a woman. Some female scholars would also hold special learning sessions or majalis for women alone. Many of these were also Sufis in their own right, such as Umm Ahmad Zuleikha of Ghazni, Taj ul-Nisa bint Rustam of Isfahan, Fatima bint Husain Raziya, and Fatima of Nishapur, a noted commentator (mufassira) of the Quran, who was considered by the famous Sufi Hazrat Zul Nun Misri as a ‘saint’ and as his teacher. Some women scholars of Hadith were so famous that they attracted male students from far off-lands to learn from them even when they had reached a ripe and venerable age. Thus, Umm Muhammad bin Zainab Ahmad bin Umar Maqdisia would deliver lectures on Hadith till the age of 90, including while on her travels to Makkah and Egypt. Likewise, Umm Ahmad Zainab bin Makki Harraniya taught her students till she attained the age of 94. Ulliya bint Hasan, mother of the famous Hadith scholar Ibn Aliya, attracted shaikhs and scholars of fiqh or Muslim jurisprudence from Baghdad for regular intellectual exchanges, as did, so Ibn Jawziya records, the famous Muhadditha or female Hadith scholar Reta bint Abdullah. Hafsa bint Sirin was considered to be such a reputed scholar that Ayas bin Muawiya asserted that he had not seen a scholar who could be considered superior to her’. Social status did not always constitute a bar for such intellectual exchange and learning between the genders, Mubarakpuri suggests. Thus, Humaira, a woman slave of Abul Fatah bin Abul Fawares, narrated Hadith reports to numerous men. Aliya bint Hasan of Basra, another slave woman, was the teacher of numerous male ulema.
Several women scholars gave sanads or certificates to transmit Hadith to their male students. These included Umm Muhammad Asma bint Muhammad bin Salim, Umm Muhammad Fatima bint Ibrahim, Karima bint Abdul Wahhab and a host of others whose names now lie buried in relatively inaccessible Arabic tomes. Just as many such women had male students, numerous early Muslim women scholars studied from venerable male shaikhs. Thus, Mubarakpuri narrates, Umm Muhammad Khadijah of Baghdad would attend Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal’s lectures and he gave her special attention. Some women students, Mubarakpuri relates, were granted the coveted title of Khatimat ul-Ashab, given to the last student of a shaikh who narrated a Hadith report from him or her. These included Fatima bint Khatib Izzuddin Ibrahim Maqdisi, the Khatimat ul-Ashab of Shaikh Ibrahim bin Khalil and Umm Hani Affifa bint Ahmad Farqania Isfahani, student of Abdul Wahid Alashaj.
This early period of Muslim history suggests that women scholars, in many places, did enjoy considerable physical mobility to pursue their scholarly interests. Like their male counterparts, numerous women scholars left their homes and traveled to far-off lands in order to study Hadith from noted scholars. Thus, Mubarakpuri tells us, Umm Husain Hujiya bint Ahmad Mahamiyya left her native Nishapur for Baghdad to learn Hadith from scholars there, and among her students was the noted Shaikh Abul Husain Muhammad. Umm Ali Taqiya bint Abol Farj Qays bin Ali traveled from Baghdad to Egypt, where she spent considerable time studying with Imam Abu Tahir Ahmad bin Muhammad in Alexandria.
Mubarakpuri writes that several early Muslim women were authors of tomes on a range of religious subjects, but laments that many of their books are no longer available today. Ajiba bint Hafiz Muhammad bin Abu Ghalib Baqadariyya of Baghdad is said to have written a ten-volume book describing her numerous teachers; Umm Muhammad Fatima Khatun bint Muhammad Khatba of Isfahan authored several books, including the five volume al-Ramuz Min al-Kanuz; Umm Muhammad Shahida bint Kamaluddin Umar put together Hadith reports in the form of numerous books; Aisha bint Ammara bin Yahya of Bujaya in Africa copied in her handwriting a book that ran into 18 volumes; Khadijah bint Shaikh Shihabuddin of Mecca penned numerous texts and corresponded with several ulema. And so on.
The word ‘fatwa’ is now so carelessly hurled about and projected as a tool used by unscrupulous men for suppressing their womenfolk, but this, Mubarakpuri suggests, was not how it was understood in early times. In fact, he notes, several women scholars regularly provided fatwas in their recognised capacity of Muftia or female muftis. Thus,he quotes the noted Imam Qayyim as having related that 22 Sahabiyat were well-known for their authority in matters related to fatwas and fiqh. Fatima, a noted faqiha or female scholar or fiqh, would sign fatwas along with her father, the noted Hanafi scholar Shaikh Alauddin of Samarkand, and her husband, Allauddin Kasami; the Shafi scholar Ummatul Wahid Sittita, daughter of Qazi Abu Abdullah bin Ismail Mahamali, offered fatwas along with the scholar Shah Abu Ali..
Several women scholars, Mubarakpuri tells us, made their mark in subjects other than strictly religious.
Unveiling, as it so brilliantly and succinctly does, the hidden history of Muslim women ulema, this book makes a valuable contribution to our admittedly extremely limited understanding of gender relations in early Muslim societies, a subject of considerable debate and controversy today. Since the author was a traditional alim who had studied and had taught in traditional Indian madrasas, his work is all the more remarkable.