In the name of Allah most
gracious most merciful
Assalaamu alaykum wa
rahmatuallahi wa barakatuhu
The following is a list of 30
of the major female hadith scholars from history:
1. ALIYYAH BINT HASAN (d. 2nd
cetury AH)
She was the mother of Ismael
ibn Ibrahim. She was a slave of Banu (tribe of) Shayban in Basra. Ismael's
father was a cloth merchat who would travel to Basra frequently. He married
Aliyyah after he manumitted her (set her free from slavery). She was a noble
soul, wise and illustrous. Her kowledge of hadith ad fiqh (Islamic
jurisprudence) caused the nobles of Basra including
Saleh al-Mari to come to her
house and discuss with her religious and Islamic law.
Ismael was born to her in 110
AH. Abdul Warith Jawwadi, very know narrator of hadith at that time said, 'one
day Aliyyah brought her son to me and said, "This is my son, associate
with him so he may be imbued with qualities
like yours"'.
[Reference: Ghuulaman Islam,
Khilafat awr Hindustan]
2. AMINAH RAMLYAH (d. 3rd
century AH)
Aminah was regarded as one of
the learned of the 2nd ad 3rd century hijrah.
She was bor in 162 AH in
Ramla, a suburb of Baghdad. She was very intelligent ad had a longing to attain
kowledge since early childhood, but as her parents were very poor they could
not afford her education. When she was young she accompanied her mother on
hajj. In those days an eldery male scholar gave Dars (lectures) at the mosque
in Makkah.
She joined his lectures and
learned from him the knowledge of the Qur'an and Hadith. After his death, she
went to Medina where Imam Malik had laid his rug for seekers of knowledge.
Aminah joined his classes and learned hadith from him. Hafiz ibn Abdul Birr
said that the number of ahadith reported from
her is around 100.
Afterwards she returned to
Makkah and studied fiqh from Imam Shafi Rahimahullah. When she
was aged 36, Imam Shafi
Rahimahullah left for Egypt ad she left for Kufa. By the time she reached Kufa
word had spread about her knowledge and she began to deliver lectures (Dars) to
those seeking kowledge. Her reputation was so great that
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Rahimahullah would visit her.
[Reference: Dariah Maaraf
Islamia, Mashahir Niswa, Bakamal Muslaman Khawteen]
3. QADFAH BINT GHAFFAR IBN
NUSAYR TAMIMI
Qadfah was a lady of excellence
during the Muslim rule of Spain under Caliph Hakam Thani (Al-Mustansar). She
collected books on various subjects ad created a stockpile of invaluable books
on literature, art and other subjects. She was a beautiful reciter of the
Qur'an and she always swayed her audiences with eloquent speeches.
4. KARIMAH BIN AHMAD MARUZI
(d. 464 AH)
Karimah was a world reputed
scholar in the 5th century Hijrah. Born in the town or Merv (Iran), she studied
theology for many years and learned from the great scholars.
She went to Makkah after havig
been qualified to narrate hadith where she began to give lectures (dars). The
noted Muhaddith (scholar of hadith) of Spain, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Sabaq Saqli
Rahimullah was a devoted learner from her.
After the Muslim rule of
Sicily ended, he went to Makkah where he
learned from her. Afterwhich
he went to Spain and made his abode in Granada so that he could narrate hadith.
Ibn Bashkwal said, 'Abu Bakr
reported hadith from Karimah and others. He came to Andalus (Islamic Spain) and
the people of Granada passionatly learned from him'
Khatib Baghdadi says in Tarikh
Baghdad (History of Baghdad) that he, in 463 AH, during the days of haj, heard
Sahih of Bukhari from Karimah. Hudreds of seekers of knowledge would be at the
lectures (dars) of Karimah. As well as Abu Bakr and Khatib Baghdadi and Talib
Zaynabi, many other scholars of that age learned knowledge from her.
[Reference: Khazinat ul Asfia,
Tarikh Saqqlya]
5. SHUDAH, FAKR UN NISA (d.
574 AH)
Shudah was the daughter of the
scholar Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn Umar Al Abri.
Born in the Iranian city of
Denvar she too became a scholar and a skilful calligraphist.
She leared from scholars such
as Abu Abdullah Hasan ib Ahmad
Nomani, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn
Ahmad as Shashi, Ahmad ibn Abdul Qadir ibn Yusuf and Abu Al Husayni.
Shudah had such an excellent
reputation for teaching hadith that people would come from all over the world
to listen to her lectures (dars).
It is said that many scholars
of great fame would be perpetual members of her audience when delivering
lectures.
Shudah showed such great
knowledge of hadith, giving speeches on history, linguistics and literature -
such that she became known as 'Fakr un Nisa' (Pride of the women).
The Caliph, Al Muqtadi
BiamrAllah granted her a large estate to enhance the scope of her scholarly
activities. With these resources she established a school on the banks of the
river Tigris where hundreds of students studied.
When she died aged 90, her
fueral prayer was held at Jame Al Qasr in Baghdad. Thousands of sorrowful
people including the scholars, students ad dignitaries participated in her
funeral. Ibn Jawzi, the noted scholar of hadith said, 'Shuhdah was a pious and
devoted lady'.
[Reference: Ibn Khallikan,
Syed Amir Ali]
6. SAFRI (d. 6th century AH)
Safri the daughter of Qadi
Yaqub ibn Sulayman was a distiguished scholar of hadith.
She studied under the guidance
of her grandfather and brother and then she herself educated the people for a
long time.
[Reference: Mashahir Niswa]
7. FATIMAH BINT IBRAHIM (d.
710 AH)
Fatimah the daughter of
Ibrahim Mahmud ibn Jawhar was a learned and sagacious person. She had the
opportunities to recieve the best education and was taught by the best
scholars. After completing her education her fame spread far ad wide.
The great scholars such as
Taqiud-Din ibn Abuul-Hasan ad
Shaykh Dhahabi Rahimullah
visited her school to learn from her.
[Reference: Mashahir-un-Nisa]
8. AISHA BINT MUSLIM HARRANI
(d. 737 AH)
Aisha was a native of Harran
born in 647 AH.
From a young age she had
wanted to aquire knowledge ad her father sent her to the best scholars to
learn.
She achieved excellent
knowledge in hadith and fiqh and became known as an authority of knowledge in
these subjects. Amongst her students was one of her brothers who completed his
study of hadith from her.
[Reference: Mashahir-un-Nisa]
9. SHIRIN BINT ABDULLAH (d.
640 AH)
Shirin was a native of India.
She was the slave of the renowned scholar Ibn Bandayhi who set her free. She
bore a distiguishable place amog the scholars owing to her erudition and
digity. She gaied kowledge of hadith from Abdul Monem ibn Kulayb and then
begand to teach people in large numbers.
Amongst her students was a man
who later became a scholar, Abar Kohi.
In later years people would
refer to her as the Shaykh of Abar Kohi.
[Reference: Khilaphat Abbasiah
Awr Hindustar, Qadi Athar Mubarakpuri]
10. FATIMAH BINT JAMAL UL DIN
(d. 708 AH)
Fatimah was nicknamed Umm
Abdullah. Her father was an eminent scholar of hadith.
She lived in Damascus and
later established her own school.
[Reference: Mashahir-un-Nisa]
11. UMM-UL-KHAYR (d. 640 AH)
Umm-ul-Khayr was born in
Baghdad and was know far-and-wide for her vast knowledge of hadith.
She reached such a high level
of knowledge that she was given the title Jamal-un-Nisa (Elegance of women).
She gained knowledge from
scholars such as Al-Bati, Abu Al Muzaffar, and Shuja Al Harbi. Later she
established her own school which inturn generated many more scholars such as
Fatimah bi Sulayman, Ibn Shehnah, Ibn Sadah, Ibn Asakir and Taqi-ud-Din
Sulayman.
[Reference: Tadhkara-Ul-Khawteen]
12. KHADIJAH BINT AHMAD (d.
9th century AH)
Khadijah was the daughter of
Shihab ud-Din. She was taken to the schools of Jawheri and Munsafi who were
scholars of that time, when she was aged but two.
She became a great scholar and
later established her own school in which she in turn taught scholars such as
shaykh Jalal-ul-Din Suyyuti.
[Reference:
Mashaheer-i-Niswan]
13. RAJAB (d. 869 AH)
Born in 800 AH, Rajab was a
great scholar. Her father made special arrangements for her to learn from the
scholars.
She attaied the reputation of
wisdom and sagacity before she completed her studies. She was one of the
teachers of shaykh Jalaluddin Suyyuti.
14. MARYAM BINT ALI (d. 8th or
9th century AH)
Maryam was nicknamed Umm Hani.
She had extensive knowledge having memorised the Qur'an at an early age, as
well as the well known book on Nahve (sytax) ad Mukhtasir Abi Shujaa, a noted
book of the Shafi jurisprudence.
She was an authority on
'Nahve', Islamic jurisprudence and hadith. She established her own school and
one she was one of the teachers of shaykh Jalal-ud-Din Suyyuti.
15. ZAYNAB BINT ABDUR REHMAN
(d. 710 AH)
Zaynab was a native of
Jerusalem. She was taught by scholars such as Ibrahim ibn Khalid.
She spent many years teaching
Islam and was one of the teachers of the scholar Salah-ud-Din As-Safai.
16. HABIBAH MUHADDITHAH (d.
733 AH)
Habibabah bint Abdur Rehman
ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim bin Ahmad ibn Abdur Rehma ibn Ismael ibn Mansur
Maqdisi was an amazing scholar.
She studied from scholars such
as Al-Baldani ad Khatib Marwan who taught her about Islam, and she also leared
about current fields of study from Ibrahim ibn Khalid. She also gained
knowledge from Sibt Hafiz Sufi (the Chief scholar of Alexandria), Ibrahim ibn
Abi Bakr Al Zaghabi (the Chief scholar of Baghdad)
and Fadlullah ib Abdur
Razzaque.
After completing her studies
she spent many years teaching Islam. Her memory allowed her to memorise
hundreds of hadith with many scholars taking knowledge from her, such as
Salah-ud-Di As-Safai, a world renow scholar of his time, where he mentions
being taught by her in his book Ayan-ul-Asr Awan-un-Nasr.
[Reference: Mashahir-i-Niswan]
17. ZAYNAB BIT ABDULLAH
AL-AZHARI (d. 10th century AH)
Zaynab was famous for having
learned hadith, her reputation expanded along the entire Islamic world.
The value of her knowledge is
shown when scholars such as Suyyuti attended her lectures (dars) to learn from
her.
[Reference: Mashahir-in-Nisa]
18. AISHAH ANDALUSYAH (d.
during rule of Muslim Spain)
Aisha went to Andalus (Muslim
Spain) when the Muslim rule was at it's climax. Her memory was such that she
memorised over ten thousand hadith including all of the narrators from the time
of the Prophet to the present date.
[Reference: Nakhf-ut-Tayyab]
19. SATT-UL-FUQAHA (d. 8th
cetury AH)
Satt was a scholar of hadith
who had no equal in piety, continence and excellence of conduct in her time.
She gained knowledge from
scholars such as Jafar Hamadani Ahmad Harrai, Abdur Rehman ibn Sulayman and
Abdul Latif ibn
Qibti. Besides hadith she
mastered Islamic urisprudence.
She established her own school
and taught thousands.
[Reference: Mashahir-un-Nisa]
20. HANIFAH (d. 9th century
AH)
She was the daughter of Abdur
Rehman ibn Ahmed ibn Umar ibn Al-Qimni.
She was considered one of the
world known scholars of the 9th century. She learned hadith from Kamal ibn
Khayr, the Chief Scholar in her time period.
She established a school and
taught thousands. Many scholars of the calibre of shaykh Jalal-ud-Din Suyyuti
considered her as their guides and advisors.
Allah knows best