The Successors IOI Thus despite the fact that Abu Dawud includes nearly eight times as many women in the second link as al-Bukhari, his compilation is not a testament to a high rate of female accomplishment in hadith transmission that is otherwise concealed in al-Bukhari’s work. Rather, a comparison of the quality of female transmitters in both works reinforces the point that women were effectively excluded from meaningful participation in hadith transmission from the end of the first/seventh century up to the early fourth/tenth century. Because of the variation in the standards of the compilers, the exclusion of women is more pronounced in the stricter collections. RIHLAS AND WOMEN’S TRAVEL The aforementioned limitations were further exacerbated by the growing popularity of extensive travel in search of traditions, the final factor accounting for the decline of women’s presence in this domain. The significant increase in journeys undertaken specifically to collect hadith [rihla fi talab al- ‘ilm) marks a watershed in hadith transmission history and is often dated to the mid-second/eighth century. 1 The rihlas are viewed as instrumental in spreading traditions that had previously been circulated primarily within a few cities such as Basra, Kufa, and Damascus. 1 ' 4 The observation that traveling to acquire religious knowledge was deemed critical for traditionists is borne out in reports on the accomplishments of numerous successful male hadith scholars. One testament to the value attached to such travel is the work of the famed fifth/ eleventh-century hadith scholar and historian al-Khatlb al-Baghdadl. Entitled Kitab al-Rihla fi Talab al-Hadith, the work presents reports of men reputed to have undertaken arduous journeys in search of hadith. AlKhatlb also emphasizes the importance of rihlas by linking them to the experience of prophets revered in Islam. 1 1 s Whereas the traditional Muslim view traces the rihla to practices of the Companions during the lifetime of Muhammad and immediately 113 al-Salih, Muqaddima fi 'Uliitn al-Hadith, 50-62. Although Subhl al-Salih does not explicitly present a chronology for the shift from regionalism to a greater spread of isndds, he does discuss the phenomenon more extensively than other modern hadith scholars. 114 These developments are described in the following works: Schacht, Origins, 5; Juynboll, Muslim Tradition, 66; and Donner, Narratives, 280. See also Goldziher, Muslim Studies, vol. 2, chapter 6, “Talab al-Hadith.” For example, the story of Moses undertaking travels with Khidr is presented as the prime example of journeying for the sake of religious edification; see al-Khatlb al-Baghdadl, Kitab al-Rihla fi Talab al-Hadith, in Subhl al-Badri al-Samarra’i, Majmii ‘at Rasa 'il fi ‘Uliim al-Hadith (Medina: al-Maktaba al-Salafiyya, 1969), 50-53.