A Culmination in Traditionalism 185 during the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries. A host of factors correlate with this development: the canonization of badith, the widespread acceptance of written transmission, the rise of family-based ‘ulama ’ networks, and the promotion of traditionalism as classical Sunni orthodoxy through mechanisms such as an unusual age structure for pedagogy, ijdzas, and preference for the shortest possible chains of transmission (isnad ‘all). While the confluence of these factors clearly resulted in environments that welcomed and extolled women’s contributions, none of these variables were expressly intended to promote women’s educational mobilization. The coincidental nature of women’s revival and resurgence make this an all the more intriguing phenomenon. In the same light, the developments of the late Mamluk and early Ottoman era, which resulted yet again in women’s diminished badith participation, merit closer examination in future studies as heralding yet another unexpected turn in the history of Muslim women’s religious education.