150 Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam should have signaled the authority of the Seljuqs and maintained security. Instead, their looting sprees heightened anxiety and underscored the inefficacy of both the Seljuqs and the ‘Abbasids. Sectarian strife was yet another element in the volatile mix of life in Baghdad. In the year of Shuhda’s birth (482 AH), protracted fighting between Sunnis and ShTIs in the predominantly Shl‘1 quarter of al-Karkh resulted in widespread destruction of property and high casualties. Ibn al-jawzl’s vivid description of these incidents powerfully evokes the material and psychological costs of such strife: I cite from the writing of Abu al-Wafa’ b. ‘Aqll, who said, “The ongoing ftna between the Sunnis and the people of al-Karkh [i.e. ShI‘Is] was terrible. Nearly 200 hundred people were killed during this time. It went on for months during the year 482, and it overwhelmed the Seljuq military governor ( shihna ), and the Sultan was shaken (ittahasha). The common people began pursuing each other on the roads and in boats. The strong were killing the weak and taking their property. The youth were growing out their hair [in the style known as jumam to indicate their Shi‘I affiliation and rebellion], carrying weapons, fashioning armor, and shooting with all manner of arrows. The people of al-Karkh were insulting the Companions and the Wives of the Prophet from their rooftops, and they even insulted the Prophet himself. There was not a single inhabitant of al-Karkh from among the jurists and those who were known for their sound religion who were moved to anger or were even troubled by living in close quarters with them. Al-MuqtadI, the Imam of the Age, sent a group to apprehend these people, and he made the Turks ride [into battle], and the troops donned their weapons. He had [the youth] shave their heads, and [cut their] long hair (kalalajdt) and whipped them and imprisoned them in homes [forbidding them from going up on the rooftops]. It was the month of Ab. There was plenty of talk against the Sultan. The people said, “The religion (din) has been destroyed; the sunna is dead. And innovation has risen. We see that God gives victory only to the Rafidls (ShPIs) so we will leave Islam [i.e., become apostates]. 1 ’ The perceived threat of ShTism extended beyond the chaos detailed by Ibn al-jawzl. The annual public commemorations of ShTI rituals, which had been strongly promoted by the ShI‘I Buyids, persisted as points of friction. Sunni counter-ceremonies fomented further confrontation. At a different level, increasing intellectual cohesion and scholarly production in the areas of ImamI ShI‘I law and theology posed a new set of challenges for the Sunni scholarly elite. And just beyond the boundaries of the 12 See El2, s.v. “al-Karkh,” for a summary of the history of sectarian rivalries in al-Karkh and the surrounding quarters. 3 Ibn al-jawzl, al-Muntazam, 16:283. I thank Andras Hamori and Yasir Ibrahim for their insights on this passage. 14 The writings of scholars such as Ibn Babawayh (d. 381/991), Ibn al-Mu‘allim Shaykh al-Mufld (d. 413/1022), and Abu al-Qasim b. al-Husayn al-MusawI (Sharif al-Murtada)