the women scholars in Islam AL-MUHADDITHAT pdf

THE WOMEN SCHOLARS IN ISLAM – Book Sample

THE WOMEN SCHOLARS IN ISLAM

What surprises some people is the fact that some women living under an Islamic order, could be scholars, that is, hold the authority that attaches to being knowledgeable about what Islam commands, and there­ fore sought after and deferred to.

The typical Western view is that no social order has (or aspires to have) more ‘religion’ in it than an Islamic one, and the more ‘religion’ a society has in it, the more restricted will be the scope in that society for women to enjoy agency and authority.

Behind that is the assumption that religion is ‘really’ a human construct, done mainly by men and therefore done to secure advantages for them at the expense of women. Muslims, of course, do not share this view.

One of the reasons for Muslim conviction that the Qur’an is God’s word is that it is, though expressed in the vehicle of the human language of its first audience (Arabic), free of limiting human perspectives.

The Qur’an as a whole has neither narrative focus or structure: it is not the epic of an individual or a tribe, on which generations have laboured to give meaning to what the individual or tribe did or had done to them.

It has no restrictive geographical focus: it does not build up or explain the charisma of a place or place-name. It does not build up or justify some particular human institution such as kingship or priesthood.

It is not, on the other hand, either a random or closely connected assemblage of abstract moral or legal or philosophical principles. For believers it is a connecting of the divine will directly with a real human situation, made exemplary by that connection.

It addresses the people in that situation with commands and consolation, with threat and promise, and guides them to what will better prepare their living in this world to earn contentment in the eternal life hereafter. Quite explicitly, it also gives to the precepts and practice of the mortal on whom it was sent down a unique authority.

The Quran has authority, and the Messenger’s Sunnah has authority by it. The divine promise is that these paired sources of guidance suffice as the framework within which the believers can order their affairs in a way that pleases their Creator.

Accordingly, while Muslims have disagreed and fought over just about everything else, they have never done so about the authority of the Quran and Sunnah. This book is a demonstration of women’s access to that authority.

The best guidance, unassisted by Revelation, that human beings might hope for is that their law-givers establish rules as if ‘from behind a veil of ignorance’, as if they did not know who would benefit by such rules and who would suffer. In reality that can never happen, because human perspectives are always, even with the best of intentions, partial. In practice human law­ givers always prefer their own tastes and interests, being always ready to believe that their interests are in fact to everybody’s advantage in the long term – and so their laws prefer some people over others – for example, property-owners over those without property, or men over women, or the interests of their own nation over some other.

 There is some consolation in the fact that, through the effort of learning from experience, revision of past errors is possible.

In the Quran and Sunnah Muslims believe they have a framework of guidance that is strictly impartial and sufficient because God’s knowledge and mercy encompass all beings and all their pasts and futures.

Any human derivation from and within that framework is subject to revision, but the framework itself is not. Accordingly, in the Islamic tradition, to say ‘God says in His Book’ decides the argument. Where it is not certain how the guidance of the Qui-Jan is to be acted upon, Muslims look to the example of how God’s Messenger acted in the same or a similar situation.

The record of his example (Sunnah) is now, for all practical purposes, conveyed through a body of texts, known singly and collectively as Hadith (lit. ‘saying’). A man who becomes expert in knowledge of the Hadith is called a mubaddith; a woman, mubaddithah (plural, mubaddithat). Knowledge of Hadith is decisive in informing.ftqh, understanding the guidance as (legal) rules and (social) norms; one who attains skill in ftqh is called faqih(ah).

 It is decisive in informing ifta), the responsa (fatwas) of scholars to questions the people put to them on specific matters; ‘mufti’ means one who gives fatwas. Knowledge of Hadith is decisive also

in informing tefsir, interpretative commentary of the Qu2an, since, by its own command, the Prophet’s understanding of it must be preferred over anyone else’s. Readers should under­ stand that, in the orthodox or Sunni tradition, a Muslim is not bound by anybody else’s ftqh or ifta) or tefsir.

The scholars in Islam dispose authority in society; they do not directly dispose power. The distinction was (and remains) of the utmost importance for their credibility and legitimacy with the people.

Women attained high rank in all spheres of knowledge of the religion, and, as this book will show, they were sought after for their ftqh, for their fatwas, and for tefsir. Primarily, I am concerned here with their achievement and role as mupaddithdt.

 In this chapter I set out, first, the overall impact of Qu2an and Sunnah in changing attitudes to women; in the second section, I explain different dimensions of the change as instituted or urged by Qu2an and Sunnah; in the third what the women themselves did in the formative period of Islam so that men, in a sense, had to accept that change…….

Writing

Initially the Prophet prohibited the writing down from him of anything other than the Quran, lest it be mixed with the Quran. Later, he allowed the writing down of his sayings. It has been narrated from him, from Omar ibn al-Khattab and other Companions that they said: ‘Secure the knowledge by writing.’ ¹ Writing was rare in Arabia until, from the early days of Islam, its importance was recognized.

The Companions acquired this skill, and they began in it by copying out the verses of the Quran and the Hadith. Women also took part in this effort. The Prophet himself instructed Shira) hint ‘Abdullah to teach writing to his wife Hafsah.

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (d. 463) says: ‘[Shira was among the virtuous and intelligent women. The Prophet used to visit her.’ ³ Similarly, Aishah and Umm Salamah, and many other women Companions were well known for writing.

The letters of Aishah and Umm Salamah are recorded in the sources. Al-QalqashandI (d. 821) has mentioned that a group of women knew the skill of writing, and no one from among the salaf objected to that.

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