A Culmination in Traditionalism 165 (ramad). He does not elaborate on whether her illness hampered her efforts as a muhadditba (or her marriage prospects). However, her superlative reputation indicates that she prevailed over her eye trouble. In addition, remaining single may have eased her domestic burdens, allowing her uninterrupted time for her studies. Zaynab’s biographers are most interested in the certifications she acquired in the earliest years of her life and in her teaching career between the age of sixty and her death at the age of ninety-four. The intervening years have left few traces in the published sources. Her later career as a teacher suggests that, between the ages of ten and sixty, she must have continued her studies, in part by studying the works for which she had received early certification. For example, she had received an ijdza to narrate the Kitab al-Samt of Ibn Abi al-Dunya from Ibn al-Sayyidl. Ibn al-Sayyidl died in 647, a year after Zaynab was born, so she obviously did not have a chance to study the work with him. Since the Kitab al-Samt was a work that Zaynab transmitted in a haditb assembly (sumi ‘a ‘alayha), she must have learned the compilation after the death of Ibn al-Sayyidl and subsequently transmitted it on the authority of the ijdza he granted to her. The same chronology of certification followed by learning applies to other works for which she received early ijazas and which she later transmitted to her own students. Zaynab bint al-Kamal’s renown also rested on her narration of a wide variety of works. Her biographers confirm that she was a reliable authority for compilations of diverse genres. Among the works that she transmitted are major haditb collections including the Sahibs of alBukhari and Muslim, the Sunan of Abu Dawud, and the Muwatta ’ of Malik. Additionally, she acquired certification for numerous lesser compilations. Al-DhahabI lists ten works that she narrated through an ijdza from Ibrahim b. al-Khayr, another Hanbali muhaddith. This list includes works promoting ascetic piety, such as the Kitab al-Shukr lilldh and al-Qand‘a of Ibn Abi al-Dunya. Zaynab also transmitted mashyakbas, extensive lists of a scholar’s shaykbs and the works related on their authority.61’ A final testament to her repertoire comes from Ibn Hajar’s al-Mu ‘jam al-Mufahras, a collection of isnads through which Ibn 62 Ibn Hajar, al-Durar, 2:210. 63 Kahhala, A ‘lam al-Nisa ', 2:49. 64 This information is culled from the various biographies for Zaynab cited earlier. 65 al-Dhahabi, Siyar, 23:236. 66 She is listed as transmitting eight mashyakhas to Ibn Hajar. See Ibn Hajar, al-Mu ‘jam al-Mufahras (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risala, 1998), nos. 801, 802, 816, 817, 8 18, 838, 866,