The Classical Revival ii 9 transmitters after the generation of the Successors. The canonization of hadith literature is a major explanatory factor in this fundamental shift. Paradoxically, it was an unintended contribution of stringent scholars such as al-Bukharl and Muslim that women were welcomed anew as hadith transmitters beginning in the fourth/tenth century. The promulgation of authoritative compilations that could be reliably referenced in matters of creed, ritual, and law was a watershed in the history of hadith transmission. The process was arguably initiated in the late second/eighth century with the widespread acceptance of Malik’s legal manual al-Muwatta’, which contains hadith from Muhammad in addition to traditions from the Companions that were deemed authentic by Malik. It is important to clarify here that we cannot equate the appearance of any collection, be it the Muwatta ’ or the Sahih s of al-Bukharl and Muslim, with its acceptance as canonical. Rather, their canonical status was acquired only after scholars debated the authority and status of these works decades, and even centuries, after their initial appearance. In addition to the Sahihs, the Sunan collections of Ibn Maja, Abu Dawud, and al-Nasa’I as well as the ]ami ' of al-Tirmidhl were also eventually accorded a high status among Sunn! Muslims. ,8 In principle, it is inaccurate to describe the publication of the six major hadith compilations and the widespread acceptance of their authority as the canonization of hadith literature. The works of al-Bukharl, Muslim, and other celebrated compilers are, in fact, open to criticism and revision. Several scholars undertook the task of examining the criteria of these compilers and their works and amending them. None of these later works, however, acquired the status of the major compilations, and they had limited appeal even in scholarly circles. In view of the minimal success in amending the works of the compilers and in recognition of their 37 As noted in Chapter 2, Hafsa bint Sirin (d. after 100/718) is the last female transmitter to appear in al-Bukhari’s isnads. 38 Regarding the chronology of canonization, see Brown, Canonization , chapter 7. Examples of amendments to the Sahib collections are al-Hakim al-Naysaburi’s alMustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn (Cairo: Dar al-Haramayn li’l-Tiba‘a wa’l-Nashr wa’lTawzT, 1997), and al-Daraqutnl’s Kitab al-Ilzamat wa’l-Tatabbu ‘ (Medina: al-Maktaba al-Salafiyya, 1978). For a more complete listing of works amending the canonical collections as well as works of “authentic” hadith that did not achieve canonical status, see Muhammad b. Ja‘far al-Kattanl (d. 1345/1927), al-Risala al-Mustatrafa li-Bayan Mashhiir Kutub al-Sunna al-Musharrafa (Damascus: Matba‘at Dar al-Fikr, 1964), 23-32. For a recent analysis of al-Daraqutnl’s amendments to al-Bukhari’s work, see Jonathan A . C. Brown, “Criticism of the Proto -Hadith Canon: Al-Daraqutnl’s Adjustment of the Sahih ayn,” Journal of Islamic Studies 15 (2004): 1-37.