Introduction On the authority of Ra’ita, one of Muhammad’s Companions: I said to ‘Abd Allah b. Mas‘ud [her husband], “you and your children have kept me so busy that I can’t give charity ( sadaqa ). I am unable to give anything as sadaqa because of [what I spend on] you.” Ibn Mas‘ud said to her, “By God, I don’t want you to do this if you don’t get a reward for it.” So she went to the Prophet and said, “O Messenger of God, I am a woman who is skilled in the work of my hands and [I] sell what I make. My children, my husband, and I have no income other than that. And they’ve kept me so busy that I can’t give sadaqa. . . . Do I get a reward for what I spend?” [T]he Prophet of God said to her, “Spend on them and you will be compensated accordingly.” Ibn Hanbal (d. 241/855)1 Zaynab bint al-Kamal was born in 646 [AH]. In [6]48, she was brought to Hablba bint Abi ‘Umar. She heard [hadltb] from Muhammad b. ‘Abd alHadi, Ibrahim b. Khalil, and Khatib Marda. . . . Al-Dhahabi said, “[S]he transmitted a great deal [of religious knowledge]. Students would crowd around her and read lengthy books to her. She was kind in her manners, generous in her spirit; it may well be that they had her listen to their readings for most of the day. . . She was afflicted with opthalmia in her youth and never married. She died on 19th Jumada al-UIa in the year 740, having passed 90 years of age. Great numbers of people turned out for her funeral. She had a camel-load of hadltb [compilations]. She was the last in the world to transmit from Sibt al-Silafl and other scholars by virtue of her ijdzas [i.e., certificates] from them. Ibn Hajar al-‘AsqalanI (d. 852/1449)2 Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islaml, 1993), 3:660-61. Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalanl, al-Durar al-Kamina ft A ‘yan al-Mi 'a al-Thamina (Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-Hadltha, 1966), 2:209-10. Her full name is given at the beginning of this entry as Zaynab bint Ahmad b. ‘Abd al-Rahlm b. ‘Abd al-Wahid b. Ahmad al-Maqdisiyya. I have shortened Ibn