A Culmination in Traditionalism 175 A’isha bint Muhammad lived to the age of ninety-three; at the time of her death, her reputation matched those of the foremost badith transmitters in the region of al-Salihiyya. Her funeral prayers were held in one of the large Damascene congregational mosques, al-Jami‘ al-Muzaffari. Describing the occasion, Ibn Tulun notes that “many people came from all regions on the occasion of her death.”1 Her accomplishments as a student and a teacher earned her an enviable reputation as an exemplary and revered muhadditba. A COLLECTIVE PORTRAIT The lives of Shuhda, Zaynab, and ‘A’isha span three and a half centuries (482—816/1089—1413). Yet as the biographical accounts in this chapter indicate, the system of badith transmission was relatively stable, and the careers of these women overlap in many ways. Features common to all of their lives can be extracted and extrapolated toward a collective portrait of female badith transmitters in classical and late classical Islam. One similarity emerges in the age structure of their relationships with their teachers as well as their students. A second parallel is the interaction between men and women as illustrated in their careers. Third, their successes highlight the persistence of education outside the madrasa system; it is this phenomenon that helps explain the accomplishments of mubaddithas in spite of their general exclusion from endowed, salaried posts in educational institutions. Fourth, the women were authorities primarily for compilations of badith and less commonly for works of fiqh, grammar, theology, and poetry. Each woman’s profile indicates that her most widely appreciated badith acquisitions occurred between the ages of one and twelve. In our modern context, this would be roughly analogous to basing our scholarly reputations on who our teachers were between preschool and elementary school. Yet in the classical Muslim context of badith transmission, this practice was a means for preserving the authenticity of the religious tradition transmitted from Muhammad and his Companions to each subsequent generation. Guarding against corruption of the original often meant seeking the shortest isnads narrated by reliable authorities ( isnad 'all). Prominent badith scholars such as al-Khatlb al-Baghdadl and Ibn al-Salah al-Shahrazuri agreed that awarding ijdzas to young children was acceptable so long as the material was learned later in life and transmitted accurately.11' Aside from the mubaddithas studied here, many other women whose lives are recorded in 114 Ibn Tulun, al-Qala ’ id , 288. 115 al-Khatlb al-Baghdadl, al-Kifdya, 76-77; and Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddima, 108-9.