ii4 Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam the educational practices of ‘ulama ’ as an avenue for social survival have been studied in the context of sixth/twelfth-century Damascus, there has been little examination of the vital roles of women in this regard. As women’s education within kinship networks gained priority, the obstacles of legal and normative aversion to contact between non -mahram men and women (discussed in Chapter 2) were partly overcome. Chapters 1 and 2 highlighted the evolving social uses of hadith over the first four centuries which alternately promoted and then inhibited women’s participation. After the fourth century, the social function of religious knowledge evolved yet again, this time in a manner that led to women’s contributions being welcomed anew. As women’s educational achievements translated into social capital, their contributions were increasingly glorified in the tabaqat and other historical literature. Successive generations of women drew inspiration from this literature, which helped model their own piety and learning. This feedback loop ultimately manifested itself as an extraordinary resurgence of women as hadith transmitters. The imprint of these three trends is clear in the careers of the two transmitters presented in this chapter. Karima al-Marwaziyya’s career illustrates the effects of canonization and the spread of written transmission on women’s participation. Fatima bint al-Hasan’s life demonstrates the positive impact of the evolving social organization of ‘ulama ' and their increased reliance on kin networks to assert, demarcate, and perpetuate ‘ulama ’ identity. KARIMA AL-MARWAZIYYA (CA. 3 6 5 -4 6 3 /9 7 5 - 1 07 O ) Karima bint Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Marwaziyya commands attention as one of the first prominent female transmitters to appear in the historical record after the stark absence of women for more than two centuries.1 Born in the second half of the fourth/tenth century, Karima acquired a Judgement of Taste , trans. Richard Nice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984). 18 Michael Chamberlain, in Knowledge and Social Practice in Medieval Damascus , applies Bourdieu’s theory of social and cultural capital to the ‘ulama ’ of Damascus to show how they successfully leveraged practices associated with religious learning to ensure individual survival and success as well as their dynastic longevity. Biographical notices for her are available in the following works: al-Sarlflnl, al-Muntakhab min al-Siyaq li-Ta 'rikh Naysdbur li- ‘Abd al-Ghafir al-Farisi (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al‘Ilmiyya, 1989), 427; al-Dhahabl, Siyar , 18:233-34; Kahhala, A'lam al-Nisa ’, 1:240; and al-Zirikll, al-A‘lam (Beirut: Dar al-‘Ilm li’l-Malayln, 1995), 5:225. The following