The Successors 71 al-Darda’ as one of the most respected ascetics of the late first/seventh century. Ibn Hibban states that she used to divide her time between Jerusalem and Damascus, spending six months in each city, and that she was a pious, ascetic woman (min al-'abidat ), whose reports circulated among the Syrian traditionists. Ibn ‘Asakir’s detailed biography in his Ta ’rikb Dimasbq sheds further light on her asceticism and transmission of religious knowledge. He praises her as proficient in the ways of pietistic self-denial and worship (zabida) and knowledgeable in the legal applications of traditions (faqiha). Intriguing details of Umm al-Darda”s interactions with influential men who sought her company further highlight her uniqueness.' The Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan (d. 86/705) was among those who enjoyed her counsel. They would converse together at the entrance to the Dome of the Rock until the call to sunset prayer, upon which ‘Abd al-Malik would extend his arm to Umm alDarda’ and walk her to the women’s section. Umm al-Darda’ transcended gender boundaries in other striking ways that were not normative and may have caused discomfort. Ibn ‘ Asakir cites a report that Umm al-Darda’, dressed in the traditional robe of ascetics (burnus), frequented the mosque with Abu al-Darda’ and prayed in the men’s row.2 She also attended circles for Qur’anic recitation and taught the Qur’an until her husband ordered her to join the women’s rows. However, her assemblies for male ascetics, dedicated to ritual devotions and the remembrance of God (majlis al-dhikr), do not appear to have been similarly curtailed by her husband. These circles may well have provided a context for transmitting traditions on a wide range of topics that she learned from her husband and other Companions. Owing to her fame and her public assemblies, Umm al-Darda”s transmission network was far more extensive than that of the women examined 26 One of these men was the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya b. Abl Sufyan (r. 41-60/661-80), who proposed marriage to her after the death of Abu al-Darda’. She refused, claiming her undying loyalty to Abu al-Darda’, and cited a tradition in which Abu al-Darda’ related that one’s final earthly spouse would be his/her spouse in heaven. This account is widely cited in her biographies (see Ibn ‘Asakir, Ta’rJkh Dimashq , 70:151-55). 27 The use of woolen cloaks among the ascetics of early Islam may be a borrowing from contemporary Christian ascetics; see Tor Andrae, In the Garden of Myrtles , trans. Brigitta Sharpe (Binghamton: SUNY Press, 1987), 10. Damascus and Basra were home to Christian female ascetics who could have influenced their Muslim counterparts. Studies of early Christian ascetics include Peter Brown, Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988). See also Holy Women of the Syrian Orient , introd. and trans. Sebastian P. Brock and Susan Harvey (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987). 28 Ibn ‘Asakir, Ta’rikh Dimashq , 70:151, 156-57.