196 Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam permitted to enroll only after reaching the age of sixteen and only after acquiring an elementary education at a minimum. By contrast, many of the classical-era mubaddithas were brought in their infancy to acquire certification from aged teachers, and their environments were saturated with the culture of traditionalism from childhood to old age. The modern age structure (especially in comparison with classical precedents) and the altered pedagogical routines have profound implications for the role of religious education in identity formation. These implications intersect with modern discourses about nation-building, religious resurgence, and the role of gender politics in these processes. Many of the students at the Madrasat al-Hadlth al-Nuriyya would have been exposed to the Syrian school curriculum before enrolling in the madrasa. Along with imparting literacy in a number of core subjects, the Syrian curriculum inculcates nationalism and the ideals of Syrian citizenship, which in themselves are secularly oriented. In these modern contexts, the curricula and pedagogical environment of the Syrian madrasa indicate a social purpose for haditb learning that is altered from its classical iteration. Here, badatb learning provides a safe arena for asserting contemporary conservative visions of Islamic practice that may otherwise not find secure institutional harbor in the broader society. The case of the Madrasat al-Hadlth al-Nuriyya is but one example of how the deep-rooted tradition of Muslim women’s religious education has starkly different manifestations across time and place. Other contemporary examples include women’s hermeneutical engagement with the Qur’an in Indonesia and the state-sponsored legal training of Moroccan female jurists ( murshidat ).16 Each case of women’s education, however, is rationalized as upholding and securing a historically valid precedent of women’s education and religious engagement that dates back to the era of Muhammad. Thus, the Syrian members of the Madrasat al-Hadlth al-Nuriyya, the Indonesian female Qur’an scholars, 16 See Pieternella van Doorn-Harder, Women Shaping Islam: Reading the Qur 'an in Indonesia (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2006), for a detailed study of the Indonesian case. The murshidat program in Morocco was launched by King Muhammad VI, and its first graduates began their work in 2006. The initiative has been the subject of recent articles and documentaries. See, for example, the documentary film Class of 2006: Morocco’s Female Religious Leaders (New York: Films Media Group, 2006). See also Richard Hamilton, “Islam’s Pioneering Women Preachers,” BBC News , February 25, 2007 (http://news.bbc.co.Uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/ africa/6392531.stm), and Sally Williams, “Mourchidat: Morocco’s Female Muslim Clerics,” The Telegraph , April 26, 2008 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/ 3672924/Mourchidat-Moroccos-female-Muslim-clerics.html).