88 Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam reputation in this regard. In such contexts, Umm al-Hasan may well have incorporated Muhammad’s reports into her stories. Historiographically, Ibn Sa‘d’s work is especially interesting for its apparent disregard for the badith contribution of several women who were praised by later historians and badith critics. As mentioned in Chapter 1, he is minimally interested in ‘A’isha’s contributions as a muhadditha and dwells more on her relations with the co-wives. Likewise, Ibn Sa‘d’s frugal entries for most of the prolific female Successors discussed earlier give little indication that these women were respected badith transmitters. Umm al-Darda’, for example, is honored in post-fifth-century literature as a faqiba but is not even granted an entry in the volume of Ibn Sa'd’s work that is devoted to women. Rather, she appears only in an isnad in the entry about her husband, Abu al-Darda’.74 In all likelihood, Ibn Sa‘d’s attitude to the badith participation of his female subjects reflects an early -third-century perception of women’s roles in badith transmission. His life (ca. 168-230/784-845) fell squarely within the period of decline in women’s badith participation. Given the negligible participation of women in badith transmission in the world about him, Ibn Sa‘d probably felt little reason to dwell on or glorify the accomplishments of early female narrators. This point is reinforced when we note that many post-fifth-century biographers and historians were more laudatory than Ibn Sa‘d of female Companions’ and Successors’ contributions. The shift in perspective is not coincidental but rather reflects changes in women’s participation in badith transmission: the fifth/eleventh century marks the reentry of women into this domain of religious learning. From the fifth/ eleventh century through the Mamluk period, there is a marked increase in the ranks of celebrated female badith transmitters. Being cognizant of this evolution helps us understand the historical considerations that may have shaped Ibn Sa‘d’s relative silence on female narrators. His cursory treatment of female transmission, even as it suggests broad participation among 73 Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqat , 8:350. The report in Arabic employs the verb qassa (the mother of Usama b. Zayd reports “ra ’aytu Umm al-Hasan taqussu ‘ala al-nisa thereby signaling Umm al-Hasan’s engagement in the realm of popular preaching/storytelling. 74 Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqat, 7 (part 2):1 17— 1 8. 75 I have touched on this issue previously in Chapter 1 in my discussion of ‘A’isha and other prominent female Companions. In this chapter too, I have noted that the reputations of Umm al-Darda’, Hafsa bint Sirin, and Mu‘adha grow with time, a phenomenon partly attributable to the increasing circulation and importance of the canonical and noncanonical compilations.