Introduction 7 there is the domain of orthodoxy.” Asad’s assertion that orthodoxy exists wherever Muslims exercise such power is balanced by his emphasis that the Islamic discursive tradition maintains the centrality of foundational texts (the Qur’an and hadlth). By retaining the referents of foundational texts while accounting for localized interpretations of doctrine and practices, Asad advocates a view that acknowledges the existence of multiple orthodoxies synchronically and diachronically. Traditionalism was one of several Muslim orthodoxies that existed between the early Islamic centuries and the late classical period. The term “traditionalism,” one of academic coinage, is contested and its connotations vary depending on historical context. 1 I have incorporated it here to evoke a particular set of characteristics that are important for understanding the history of women’s religious education. My own usage is broad and references a worldview inspired by the following beliefs: that hadlth reports are of primary importance in interpreting the Qur’an and in deriving Islamic law; that consensus (ijmd ') is an important guarantor of the righteousness of the Muslim community; and that the pious early ancestors ( salaf ), irrespective of their political affiliations and other differences, are exemplary for all future generations. Traditionalists also tend to either avoid speculative theology altogether or strive to mitigate its influence in their religious discourse. This is the worldview that Marshall Hodgson has famously called Jama‘I Sunnism. For him, the defining characteristics include a collective interest in minimizing division among 1 Asad, “Anthropology of Islam,” 15. By comparison, the prevailing definition of orthodoxy is “correct or sound belief according to an authoritative norm”; see Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd edition, s.v. “Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy.” Asad’s conceptualization is more complete because it integrates the ideas of correct doctrine and correct practice while evoking the contestations that occur to establish and maintain orthodoxy. For discussions about the use of the word “traditionalism,” see Benyamin Abrahamov, Islamic Theology: Traditionalism and Rationalism (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998), especially Introduction and chapter 1; William Graham, “Traditionalism in Islam: An Essay in Interpretation,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 23, no. 3 (Winter 1993): 495-522; George Makdisi, “Ash‘ari and the Ash‘arites in Islamic Religious History II,” Studia Islamica 18 (1963): 48-52; Marshall Hodgson, The Venture of Islam (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974), 1: 64-66, for an analysis of the problems associated with the use of “tradition” and “traditionalism”; and Sherman Jackson, On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 16-29, for a keen critique of shortcomings in the usage of the terms “traditionalism” and “rationalism.” 1 In contrast to my own broad usage, some scholars use the term to signify only Hanball theologians and their followers during the classical period. See, for example, Richard Martin and Mark Woodward, Defenders of Reason in Islam (Oxford: Oneworld, 1997), 10-15.