The Classical Revival 131 taught writing and Arabic. ' During a trip to Nishapur to resolve a financial matter, he happened upon the circles of learning and Sufi devotion led by Abu ‘All al-Daqqaq, who introduced him to other scholars of Nishapur, much as he had done for his own daughter Fatima. Not coincidentally, al-Qushayri and Fatima share many of the same badith teachers. With the encouragement of his soon-to-be father-in-law, al-Qushayri went on to excel in the study of law under the guidance of the Shafi‘1 jurist Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Bakr al-TusI (d. 420/1029). He studied Ash‘arl theology ( kaldm ) with Ibn Furak (d. 406/1015f.) and was also closely associated with (, lazama ) Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayim (d. 41 8/1027). Upon his father-in-law’s death, he came under the guidance of al-Sulaml, the aforementioned Sufi leader and scholar who was also Fatima’s teacher. By the time he was in his thirties, al-Qushayri had clearly distinguished himself as a leader in the circles of Shafi‘I-Sufi-Ash‘ari learning in Nishapur. His copious writings include the Tafsir Latd’if al-lsbarat and a treatise on and defense of Sufi practices entitled al-Risdla al-Qushayriyya. Though he himself did not descend from a family of scholars, aided by Fatima’s father, he acquired the training and connections necessary to become one of the most influential Shafi‘1 leaders of Nishapur. To nuance our understanding of women’s religious education in Nishapur during this era, it is instructive to compare the biographies of Fatima and her husband, both of whom are portrayed as exemplary leaders in their community. The discrepancies between the standards for men and those for women are clear from the resumes compiled by Fatima and al-Qushayri. Fatima’s education in badith and Qur’an receive the greatest attention in her biographies. While al-FarisI does note that her father taught her theology (kalimat altawhid), he does not expand on this information. Customarily, advanced training in theology necessitated close and long association ( mulazama ) with scholars, tutelage that would have taken place when the student was mature and advanced in his/her studies. In Fatima’s case, her father seems to have been the only one who taught her this subject. Given that he died when she was in her early teens, we can speculate that her training in this area was limited. 70 al-Subkl, Tabaqat , 5:155. Heinz Halm also notes that al-Qushayri’ s father was of Arab descent and his mother from a dihqan (Persian land-owning elite) background. See El2, s.v. “al-Kushayri.” 71 For al-Tusi’s biographical notice, see al-Sariflnl, al-Muntakhab, 22. 72 For Ibn Furak’s biography, see al-Dhahabl, Siyar, 17:214-16. Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri, Lata ’if al-lsbarat (Cairo: Dar al-Katib al-‘ArabI, 1968) and alQushayri, al-Risdla al-Qushayriyya (Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-Hadltha, 1966). This work has also been translated as Abu’l-Qasim al-Qushayri, Al-Qushayri’ s Epistle on Sufism , trans. Alexander D. Knysh (London: Garnet Publishing, 2007).