Women scholars in Islamic history
Islamic Studies · Key Stage 3 · The School
Aisha, a primary source
Aisha bint Abu Bakr was a wife of the Prophet ﷺ. She narrated over 2,000 hadith — more than almost any other companion. After the Prophet's ﷺ death, senior companions came to her with questions of law. Much of what is known about his private life and practice comes through her.
Fatima al-Fihri
Tradition says that in 859, Fatima al-Fihri used her inheritance to found a mosque in Fez, Morocco. This mosque is al-Qarawiyyin. The story comes from a book written in the 1300s, long after her time, and some modern historians question it. Guinness World Records lists al-Qarawiyyin as the oldest existing and continually operating educational institution in the world. It has been a destination for students and scholars of Islamic sciences and Arabic studies.
The ijazah system
An IJAZAH is a certificate to teach a specific text. A teacher grants it once a student's mastery of the text is checked. Biographical dictionaries from classical scholars record many named women who held ijazahs across the centuries. They taught hadith. Some of their students became well-known scholars themselves.
Here is one chain, read back from Sahih al-Bukhari, report number 3. It tells how revelation began. Bukhari had it from Yahya ibn Bukayr, who had it from al-Layth, from Uqayl, from Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, from Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, from Aisha. Urwa was her nephew, and she was his main informant. Al-Zuhri studied under Urwa. So the report came down from Aisha to Urwa, to al-Zuhri, then through three more people to Bukhari. Every link from Aisha down to Bukhari is a named person. But al-Nawawi said that Aisha did not witness this event. He said she must have heard it from the Prophet ﷺ or from another companion. The chain does not name her source. So the named chain starts with Aisha.