One of most valuable man's characteristics being one's power and aptitude to acquire cognition and knowledge... cognition of oneself, of the world in which one lives, and of secrets and mysteries concealed in the existence... etc.
Man can acquire all this cognition through reasoning, detection and witnesses, gaining perfection of existence for oneself within the range of this cognition. In the Islamic Law this perfection has not spared classification, rather all classes and species of mankind have been invited to knowledge-seeking.
Allah, when praising the knowledgeable and learned and reproaching the illiterate in general, says: "Allah will exalt those who believe among you, and those who have knowledge, to high ranks." "58:11"
In another place He said: "Say "unto them, O Mohammed": what! can those who know be equal to those who know not?" "39:9"
Furthermore, the Almighty Allah regards teaching of people "rules of religion" to be one of goals of prophets, without limiting this to a certain class of them, as stated in the following verse: "Even as We have sent among you a Prophet from amongst yourselves who reciteth unto you Our signs and purifieth you and teacheth you the Book and the Wisdom; and teacheth you that which ye did not know." "2:151"
More than this, the words and conduct of the Imams, contain so much encouragement and persuasion toward knowledge-seeking.
If we get over the following general traditions:
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· "Seeking knowledge is a duty incumbent upon every Muslim." 54
· "May the whips be unsheathed over the heads of my Companions so that they learn and distinguish the halaal "lawful" and the haraam "unlawful"."55 we come to some other traditions inviting women to seek knowledge, reported from these great leaders "Imams", like:
· "Seeking knowledge is a duty incumbent upon every Muslim man and Muslim woman: 56
Also the Messenger of Allah"S" said:
· "Beat the women for learning good and benevolence." 57
The Prophet"S" further said: "What excellent women the women of the Helpers "Ansar" are, their bashfulness could never curb them from learning rules of religion." 58
If we pass over these traditions we can see so many evidences indicating prevalence of knowledge and sciences among the women, during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah:
The Women Questioning the Prophet
The history of first era of Islam contains in within numerous examples of science acquiring and knowledgeseeking on part of women.
Zaynab Attarah, whose profession was purchasing and selling women's adornment equipment and tools, once upon a day came near the Prophet"S" questioning him about the way of creation of the world, when the Messenger of Allah"S"
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54. Surat Al-Baqarah, verse 222: "they question thee ( o Mohammed) concerning mensttuation. say: it is an illness".
55. Al-Kaafi. vol. I, p. 30. Hadeeth I.
56. Bihaar Al-Anwaar, vol. I, p. 213, Hadeeth 12.
57. ibid,. vol. I, p. 177, Hadeeth 54.
58. ibid., p. 249, Hadeeth, 39.
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responded to her by explaining the creation from the beginning till present time. 59
Also when Asma' bint Ummays returned from migration to Abyssinia, she betook herself toward wives of the Messenger of Allah"S" asking them: Is there any Quranic verse revealed in regard of women? On hearing a negative reply, she had recourse to the Prophet saying to him: The women are sustaining loss and detriment! The Messenger"S" said: What for? She said: Because no one Quranic verse was revealed in their regard. At that time verse 35 of surat AlAhzab was revealed.60
The Women Questioning the Companions
One example from history of first era of Islam is a sufficient evidence for this case. Abdallah Ibn Mas'ud is reported to have said: Why don't I curse those whom Allah has damned in the Quran, i.e. skin tattooer "washimah" and women near whom people go for tattooing "mustawshimah", hairdressers who join hair of some women to head of other women "wasilah", and those to whom people resort for this purpose "mustawsilah"!
The woman who heard this speech, reviewed all the Quran but couldn't find these words uttered by Ibn Mas'ud. The next day she went near him saying: I have read the whole Quran but never found that which you uttered in it.
Ibn Mas'ud said: Hasn't Allah said in His holy Book: "And whatsoever the Messenger giveth you, take it. And whatsoever he forbiddeth, abstain "from it"." "59:7"
And also the Messenger of Allah"S" expressed: "Allah has verily cursed the skin tattooers women and women near whom people go for tattooing "mustawshimah"." 61
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59. Al-Mar'ah Fi Al-Quran Was-Sunnah, p. 39.
60. At-Tawheed, p. 276.
61. Mizan Al-Hikmah, vol. IX, pp. 94-95.
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The Companions Questioning the Women
Too many questions were put forth by the Companions "sahabah" before Fatimah, daughter of the Prophet and 'A'ishah.
One day Ibn Mas'ud betook himself to Fatimah"A" saying: Has the Prophet left anything of "his" knowledge with you?
Fatimah"A" said to her maiden: Bring me the pieces of papers left by my father. 62
Likewise, the Companions used to put questions before 'A'ishah, and also she used to criticise the Sahabah in many occasions.
In his book Al-Ijabah Li Irad Ma Istadrakathu 'A'ishah 'Ala As-Sahaabah, Az-Zarkashi cited ninety narrations in which 'A'ishah found fault with the reporting of the Sahabah, rectifying all their narrations.
These were only two examples of so many instances.
Women Questioning the Women
Women used to, during the lifetime of the Prophet, lay so many questions before the Messenger's wives and daughter. Once upon a day a woman came near Fatimah, Prophet's daughter, saying: I have a crippled mother, and some of rules related to prayers "salaat" are dubious for her. She sent me near you to seek answers and clarifications for her questions and dubieties. Then Fatimah"A" gave her the satisfactory answers. Again she put to her other questions and was given the replies. After repeating this several times, she felt shy and returned. 63
Another woman came near her "Fatimah" and said: My husband told me to come to you to inquire about whether I
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62. Majma' Al-Bayan, vol. II, p. 298.
63. Da'irat Al-Ma'arif Al-Islamiyyah As-Shi'iyyah, vol. I, p. 10.
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be among Shi'ah "followers" or not? She"A" answered her saying: If you commit yourselves to our biddings and prohibitions, you will be verily among our followers, otherwise you won't be. 64
This scientific movement has created among women a change in culture of Arab Peninsula and Islamic States, in a society in which men were deprived of talent of knowledge and writing, causing to development of learned women and men.
With blessing of this movement, the ground was paved for women to play the role required in fields of time knowledge. As a consequence of this, so many scientific works were brought out by women. Also women have played a special role in field of reporting and narration of hadeeth. This fact was unveiled by books like: Musnad Fatimah Musnad 'A'ishah, Mawsu'at Ummahaat AlMu'mineen and Jami' Masaanid AnNisa'.
Dr. Salih Yousif Ma'tuq has demonstrated the efforts and endeavours exerted by women in relation of hadeeth during the eighth hijrah century, in a separate book. 65 As an example we can refer to the book of Dr. Najiyah Abdallah Ibraaheem, under the title: Al-Juhood Al-'Ilmiyyah Lil Mar'ah Khilal Al-Qarnayn Al-Khamis Was-Sadis Al-Hijriyyayn, in which she exhibited the scientific efforts exerted by Muslim women in Baghdad during the fifth and sixth centuries. 66
Likewise, Al-Ostaz Ahmad Mohammed Isa has revealed the scientific status of Muslim women during the medieval ages of Islamic history, in one short article. 67 It is stated that in Iran alone about 3847 books have been translated and compiled by women during the period from the year 1921 till
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64. Mustadrak Al-Wasa'il, p. 17. Hadeeth 22, ( al. Al-Bayt)
65. Tafseer Al-Imaam Al-Askari, p. 308.
66. Johood Al-Mar'ah Fi Riwayat Al-Hadeeth, by Dr, Salih Yousif Mu'tuq.
67. Journal of Ainah Pizhohish, issue, no. 45, pp. 45-46.
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1995. 68 Furthermore, many great women have undertaken task of teaching, and so many people became disciples in their school.
For instance Zaynab, the daughter of Mohammed Ibn Othmaan AdDimashqi used to hold a class meeting, which was attended by fifty persons among whom was Ibn Hajar. 69
Ibn 'Asaakir "499571 H." is known to have acquired hadeeth from more than eighty women. 70 Further Sakhawi, the author of the book Az-Zaw AlLaami', learnt under fifty women. 71This practice was something so common in the Shi'ah religious schools "Hawzaat".
Also in the contemporary time the lady Ameena Isfahani was one of knowledgeable women who used to have a class for teaching, from whom scholars like Al-'Allamah Al-Amini author of Al-Ghadeer and Ayatullah Marashi Najafi got license for narration "riwaayah". 72
With all these traditional and historical evidences and indications, there will be no room for any limitation or restriction on reservation of knowledge on part of women. And if supposedly any interdiction was there on hadeeth and Riwaayah it would be specific to exceptional cases and can't be generalised or considered extensive in meaning, since all Muslim Olamaa', Shi'ah and Sunnah have never applied or adopted such traditions. This fact indicates that they either were doubting their "ahaadeeth" veracity or had got a certain meaning from them.
Of course, no one can deny the fact that in some of the
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68. Journal of Risaalat Al-Islam, issue no I, pp. 78-83.
69. Goftogo Magazine (dialogue), issue no 9, p. 134; Kitabnamah Zan, 1979- 1995, Az-Zahra university.
70. Risaalat Al-Islam, issue no. I p. 81.
71. ibid., p. 82.
72. ibid., p. 83.
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Islamic societies there being some restrictions on knowledge-seeking by women, but this should never be ascribed to the Islamic culture comprises the Quranic verses and Prophet's traditions and conduct which I cited before. And that one should be called a gleaned "multaqaat" culture of Muslims, to that meaning that under the influence of foreign cultures upon the Islamic culture, a new culture under the name of culture of Muslims was produced. This culture is so weak and untenable that Muslims should do their best to refine it.
In the same manner, any failure and negligence on part of women in acquiring knowledge should never be reckoned on account of religion and Shari'ah. The conclusion obtained is that the Islamic Shari'ah has invited both women and men to seek knowledge, never putting any impediment on the way toward their perfectionseeking.
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