104 Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam or a male relative whom she cannot legally wed). Textual variations in the tradition are primarily related to the amount of time specified for the journey (from half a day to three days) as well as to the context in which the travel may be undertaken. Whereas some of the traditions attributed to Muhammad are clearly concerned with travel for the purposes of pilgrimage, others imply a more general prohibition. Collectively, the various versions of the traditions served to restrict almost all travel that women might have undertaken for economic, educational, personal, or religious reasons unless accompanied by mahram. Juristic opinions as reported in early legal sources reflect an overwhelming consensus on the issue of women’s travel and do not depart from the general prohibition implied in the baditb on the topic. The discouragement of women’s solitary travel appears to have been so thorough that some jurists contemplated waiving the requirement of an accompanying mahram only for the religious duty ( fard ) of Hajj. Jurists disagreed as to whether the obligation to perform the Hajj remained in effect for unmarried women who had no mahram. Ibn Abl Shayba cites the agreement of a majority of jurists that if no mahram was available for an unmarried woman, she was not obliged to perform Hajj. He records only two opinions, those of Ibn Sirin and al-Hasan al-Basrl, to the effect that women in such situations may perform the JJajj in a company of women that guarantees their safety. Malik b. Anas and al-Shafi‘I express similar views in their own works. ' Depending on how one interprets the opinion of ‘A’isha as cryptically reported by Ibn Abl Shayba, she may have been the lone voice of dissent on the mahram issue. When asked about the necessity of women traveling with a mahram, ‘A’isha is said to have pointed out that not all women have one. The modern compiler of ‘A’isha’s legal thought and her opinions (fatwas) has interpreted this to mean that ‘A’isha supported the right of a woman to travel without a mahram in all necessary circumstances, not just for the Hajj. I_h ‘A’isha’s possible dissent notwithstanding, there is little reason to doubt that the restrictions on solitary travel hindered women’s ability to participate in baditb transmission. It is true that women could and did accompany 12 ’ Ibn Abl Shayba, Musannaf ( Beirut: Dar al-Taj, 1989), 4:477-78. The following authorities are recorded as holding the opinion that the obligation of Hajj is voided for women who are unmarried and have no mahram : al-Hasan al-Basri; Ibrahim al-Nakha‘I; ‘Amir b. Sharahil al-Sha‘bi; Tawus; ‘Ikrima; and ‘Umar b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz. 124 Malik, al-Muwatta \ 1:569, and al-Shafi‘I, Kitab al-Umm , 2:164-72. 125 Ibn Abl Shayba, Musannaf , 3:386. 126 al-Dukhayyil, Mawsu ‘at Fiqh A ’isha, 369.