72Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam earlier. While many of her reports are on the authority of Abu al-Darda’, she also narrated from ‘A’isha, Abu Hurayra, Salman al-FarisI, Fadala b. ‘Ubayd al-Ansari, and Ka‘b b. ‘Asim al-AslTari. ’ In contrast to the female Successors examined earlier, Umm al-Darda’ transmitted her traditions to many more men, including a broader range who were not among her kin. Al-Mizzi, for example, lists a total of forty-one men who heard her reports. !> No single narrator dominates in her isnads as do the male kin of ‘Amra and Zaynab in their isnads. Finally, though her own ascetic practices and leadership of ascetic circles is a strong feature of her historical personality, her transmission was not just limited to this class. Jurists such as Makhul al-Shami (d. 112/730) and Maymun b. Mihran (d. 117/735) also sought out her reports. Indeed, in the isnads examined for this study, most of the men who narrate from her did not establish reputations as ascetics. This composite portrait of Umm al-Darda’ highlights her unusual career and her prolific and methodical teaching, which surpasses even that of ‘Amra bint ‘Abd al-Rahman. A telling testimony to the historical memory of Umm al-Darda’ occurs in al-Dhahabi’s Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, which lists highly accomplished male and female hadith transmitters. ‘A’isha hint Abl Bakr is the sole woman listed in the Companion generation, and the only one among the Successors is Umm al-Darda’. ’ Al-Dhahabi’s inclusion of Umm al-Darda’, as well as the 29 Details about her transmission network are drawn from isnad evidence as well as from her biographies. One of her isnads records her transmitting hadith to her brother, Salim. She is not known to have had any surviving children who would have carried on her hadith within a family network. 30 al-MizzI, Tahdhib , 35:352-53. In the Sunni compilations selected for this study, she narrates to twenty-two transmitters. 31 A few men with reputations as ascetics do appear in her isnads; these include Raja’ b. Haywa b. Jarwal (d. 1 12/730); for his biography, see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib 3:236-37, and ‘Awn b. ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Utba (d. ca. 115/733); for his biography, see Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib 8:147-48. 32 al-Dhahabl, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1998), 1:25, 1:44. The editor’s introduction lists the following ranks and their definitions: musnid , one who narrates traditions in his possession with a sound isnad , and who may or may not have critical knowledge of the traditions; muhaddith , one who is knowledgeable in the transmission of the hadith , has critical knowledge of the text and traditionists, and has contact with and knowledge about the narrators of his own time; hafiz, a rank above muhaddith in terms of his narration and understanding of the traditions; hujja, one who has attained superior rank as a traditionist due to his precise and exacting knowledge of isnads and their texts (classical scholars stipulated that a hujja had to memorize 300,000 traditions and have knowledge about their isnads and matns); hakim , one who has mastered nearly all the known traditions; and amir al-mu ’minin fi al-hadith, the highest rank of achievement in hadith studies reserved for scholars such as Sufyan al-Thawrl, Muslim, and al-Bukharl. The editor notes that alDhahabi’s Tadkhirat al-Huffaz includes those in the hujja category and above (see the introduction by Zakariyya ‘Umayrat in Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, 1:3-4).