A Culmination in Traditionalism 157 and leaves no doubt about her extraordinary perpetuation not just of hadltb literature but also of the culture of traditionalist Sunni Islam. Najiya Ibrahim, author of a modern biography of Shuhda, gleaned the names of 168 students from the sources available to him; 162 of these were men, the remainder women. Of these, Ibn al-jawzl, the Hanball jurist and historian; Ibn Qudama (d. 620/1223), the Hanball jurist and author of the legal compendium al-Mughni; and al-SanTanl, the Shafi‘1 historian and biographer, are among the most accomplished. Several members of the Damascene family of Banu Qudama went to hear hadltb from Shuhda during their scholarly travels to Baghdad. It is likely no coincidence that these same Hanball scholars were later active in promoting women’s education in the Salihiyya suburb of Damascus, which witnessed an extraordinarily high rate of women’s hadltb participation in the subsequent century. Scholarly peregrinations led to cross-pollination across urban centers and help account for the replication of patterns of women’s participation throughout the Muslim world. Two additional characteristics of Shuhda’s hadltb transmission will be mentioned here but discussed later as they recur in the lives of Zaynab bint al-Kamal and ‘A’isha bint Muhammad, the other case studies in this chapter. First, an analysis of the life span of many of Shuhda’s students reveals that the majority of them were born after 550 - that is, when Shuhda was approximately sixty-eight years old. Thus her reputation was greatest in the last few decades of her life, and she attracted many young students during this time. Ibn Khallikan and al-Dhahabl note that Shuhda’s seniority allowed her to perpetuate better isnads by connecting the oldest and youngest generations of her time. Second, Shuhda’s “curriculum” provides rich clues as to her niche in the scholarly culture of Baghdad. The compilations with which she is associated were quintessentially traditionalist. She is mentioned as a key transmitter of the works of the noted third/ninth-century ascetic Ibn Abl al-Dunya, including al-Faraj ba 'da al-Sbidda (Relief after the Trial), Kitdb al-Shukr lillah (Book of Gratitude to God), and Kitdb Dhamm al-Muskir (Book on Censure of Intoxicants). Shuhda also transmitted works of Sunni law, including the Muwatta' of Malik b. Anas and the Kitdb al-Amwal of Ibn Sallam, a comprehensive work devoted to the fiqh of a range of financial questions. Shuhda’s renown extended beyond her hadltb transmission. She also ranked as one of the great calligraphers of Baghdad. Her father was likely 33 Najiya Ibrahim, Musnidat al- 'Iraq, 59. 34 Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt, 2:172; al-Dhahabi, Siyar, 20:543.