A Culmination in Traditionalism 169 reaffirms her value in this respect, for he notes that Zaynab was distinguished with respect to her certificates (tafarradat bi'l-ijaza ) from ‘Ajiba al-Baqadriyya, Ibrahim b. al-Khayr, Ibn al-‘Ulayq, and ‘Abd al-Khaliq al-Nishtibrl because, in her seniority, she came to be the only living link to them.82 She was also the last to narrate from Sibt al-Silafi (d. 651/1253). 8 3 This scenario of the very old transmitting authority to the very young is replayed in Zaynab’s life as a teacher. She granted ijazas to her students between 713/1313 and her death in 740/1339, when she was between the ages of sixty-seven and ninety-four. Students such as ‘A’isha bint Muhammad (723-816/1323-1413), Taj al-Dln al-Subkl (727-71/132770), and Muhammad b. ‘All b. Sa‘Id al-Ansarl (734-74/1333-72) encountered her in their youth. ‘A’isha bint Muhammad, the eldest of these three, would have been seventeen when Zaynab died. By the end of her life, Zaynab’s prodigious accomplishments as a badith transmitter earned her the honorific musnidat al-Sham. 5 She died at the age of ninety-four. Biographers consistently praise her as a pious, chaste, and generous woman. As with Shuhda, her reliability as a transmitter combined with her longevity enabled her to connect the “young with the old” in the continuous transfer of religious knowledge. Furthermore, she likely inspired those women who acquired transmission authority from her. One such example is that of ‘A’isha bint Muhammad, the subject of the final case study. ‘A’lSHA BINT MUHAMMAD (723-816/1323-1413) ‘A’isha bint Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Hadl belonged to the Banu Qudama, one of the most prominent Hanball families in the Salihiyya 82 al-Dhahabl, Siyar, 23:233, 236,241, and 243. “Tafarradat bi ’l-ijaza” indicates that she was the only surviving student who held an ijaza to narrate on the authority of the referenced scholar. 83 al-Zirikli, al-A ‘lam, 3:65; for Sibt al-Silafl’s biography, see al-Dhahabl, Siyar , 23:278-80. 84 For mention of connections with al-Subkl and al-Ansarl, see Ibn al- ‘Iraqi, Dbayl ‘ala allbar , 2:304 and 2:357, respectively. Zaynab’s certification of ‘A’isha will be discussed later in this chapter. The term musnid as used by badith scholars in this period referred to someone who could faithfully transmit traditions or collections with a reliable chain of transmission. Critical understanding of the traditions or of the science of isnad criticism ( Him al-rijal) was not necessary for one to be deemed a musnid. Al-Sakhawl ranks a musnid below a mubadditb in terms of the former’s proficiency as a badith scholar. See al-Sakhawi, al-Jawahir wa’lDurar , 70, for his citation of an opinion that a musnid does not rise to the level of a mubadditb. The use of such terminology, however, is not consistent in the chronicles and biographical dictionaries. It would, therefore, be inappropriate to conclude that Zaynab bint al-Kamal’s skills were limited only to rote transmission without critical knowledge of the sciences of badith transmission.