iz 6 Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam FATIMA BINT AL-HASAN B. ‘ALI AL-DAQQAQ (391-480/1OOO-IO88) Whereas Karima stands out as an exemplary authority on al-Bukhari’s Sahib, Fatima, in the next generation of transmitters, is cast as a generalized model of female piety. 56 As the daughter of the ShafiTSufl leader al-Hasan b. ‘All al-Daqqaq (d. 405/1015) and the wife of the renowned Sufi scholar Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 465/1072), Fatima was located at the nucleus of one of the most influential scholarly families of Nishapur. Her case exemplifies the ways in which female religious education depended on kinship networks to facilitate access and shows how women’s accomplishments in turn bolstered the status of ‘ulama ’ families. The following interrelated points will be illustrated through an analysis of Fatima’s profile: 1. Fathers (or other male guardians) were often crucial in forging connections at an early stage, and these connections would be a cornerstone for women’s successes and reputations until their death. 2. Marriage of learned women to other scholars was an avenue for transmitting status and ensuring the continuity of the ‘ulama ’ culture of learning and piety. 3. Haditb learning, as opposed to other religious sciences, evolved as the paramount arena for women’s participation. Unlike the study of theology and law, it became a neutral arena that bound and demarcated Sunni ‘ulama ’ irrespective of their other affiliations. Though there is a preponderance of Shafi‘I and Hanball muhadditbas in the early classical era (ca. fourth/tenth to sixth/twelfth centuries), by the late classical period, we can find records of muhadditbas in each of the four major madbhabs. Al-FarisI, Fatima’s grandson and earliest biographer, sings her praises, and his words offer an evocative introduction to her life. Fatima bint al-Ustadh Abl ‘All al-Daqqaq al-Hurra, the pride of women of her age. She was unique in her accomplishments in comparison with the women of ages past. She was raised by her father, who imparted to her religious knowledge, proper 56 Her biographies are available in al-Sarlfml, al-Muntakbab, 419-20; al-FarisI, Kitdb alSiydq li-Ta 'rlkk Nisdbur, in The Histories of Nishapur, ed. Richard Frye, fols. 76a, 77b; alDhahabl, Siyar, 18:479-80; and Kahhala, A'lam al-Nisa’, 4:42. She is listed in the obituaries for the year 480 in the works of al-Yafi‘1, Mi rat al-Jindn, 3:132, and Ibn al‘Imad, Sbadhardt al-Dbahab, 5:348. 5' For her father’s biography, see al-Sariflnl, al-Muntakhab, 179. For that of her husband, see al-Sarlfml, al-Muntakbab, 334-35.