A Culmination in Traditionalism 155 the ways in which the proliferation of madrasas beginning in Shuhda’s lifetime could have benefited women even though they were not known to have acquired posts or stipends in such institutions. The increased endowment of madrasas prompted greater scholarly traffic and in the process augmented opportunities for women to engage with teachers and students. Finally, al-Shashl’s role as the author of al-Hilya (also known as al-Mustazhiri because it was produced for the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Mustazhir) casts light on the multiple avenues for promoting traditionalism that characterize Shuhda’s context. A work dedicated to examining the differences ( ikhtilaf) of reasoning among the madhbabs, the Hilya was reportedly commissioned to help overcome divisions amongst the adherents of different madhbabs, thereby promoting the traditionalist ethos. Al-Shashl’s efforts on behalf of the ‘Abbasid caliph underscore the collaboration of scholars and rulers in forging a consensus-based Sunni orthodoxy. While Shuhda’s affiliations with the ruling and scholarly elite are a prominent thread in her career, the tapestry can be better appreciated when we consider her less prominent teachers as well. A study of al-Husayn b. Ahmad al-Ni‘ali reveals how haditb transmission united Muslims of disparate backgrounds and how women’s activities crisscrossed the divides.28 Al-DhahabI notes that al-Ni‘all bore the honorific “ al-bafiz ,” which in his case meant that he took care of clothes in a public bath (hammam) and guarded its proceeds. This is but one indication that al-Ni‘al! did not belong to the scholarly elite. Al-DhahabI proceeds to cite other reports that al-Ni‘alI was not a trusted transmitter. A blind man who had heard haditb presumably in his youth, al-Ni‘alI descended from a family versed in religious knowledge . However, he himself did not follow this path perhaps due to his disability. Rather, he was employed in a hammam in the predominantly Shi‘1 al-Karkh quarter of Baghdad. Abu ‘Amir al-‘Abdari, one of his critics, brands him as utterly unreliable: “he was a commoner, blind, and a RafidI [i.e., ShTI]. It is not permitted to transmit a single letter on his authority. He had no idea of what was read to him.’”11 And yet, as al-Dhahabl notes, many people transmitted from him. His popularity was likely attributable to his short chains of transmission 28 For his biographical notice, see al-Dhahabl, Siyar, 19:101-3. 29 See al-Sam‘anI, Ansab, 5:508, for brief biographies of other members of this family. Though some of them are known to have transmitted haditb, none acquired a high reputation in this arena. Al-Ni‘alTs grandfather, Abu al-Hasan Muhammad b. Talha (d. 413/1022), is also criticized for his weak transmission and labeled as a RafidI. 30 al-Dhahabl, S/yar, 19:102.