Jami' Masaanid An-Nisa Wa Dhikrihinnah Wa Ahwalihinna
By Ibraaheem Mohammed Al-Jamal
First edition: Ad-Daar Al-Misriyyah Al-Lubnaaniyyah, Cairo, 1412H/1992AD". In two volumes, 307+320 pages.
Woman's human evolution under the auspices of the Divine Shari'ah - Islam - is unquestionable. And the human areas spread by the Messenger of Allah"S" before the women can never be compared to the past time. Women's human maturity in two arenas, knowledge and moral behaviour, is something liable to investigation and proving. It can be found in the Quran, the Prophetic Sunnah and history of first era of Islam, and can be also debated in other stages of Muslims' history.
The holy Quran has opened and clarified the way of moral behaviour before the women to the extent that it remembering Mary and wife of Pharaoh as two examples and patterns for all believers "66:1112". Also it praised Mary with the most exalted terms "He hath chosen thee and made thee pure". "3:42"
This manifestation of the Quran was so profitable that several gnostic and ascetic women shone throughout Islamic history. AbuAbd ArRahmaan Salmah "325412H." has compiled the
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book Dhikr An-Niswah AlMuta'abbidaat As-Sufiyyahat, citing in it names of eighty gnostic women. Abd Ar-Rahmaan Ibn Ahmad Jami' "817898H.", in his book Nafahat Al-Uns, 227 mentions names of gnostic women.
Women's perseverance on moral behaviour was so well-known that Az-Zuhri said in their description:
"No woman has ever apostatised after being faithful." 228
Further so many women have attained to the highest degrees of knowledge. This can be also deemd as indebted to recommendations of the Quran and the Prophet's invitation to reservation of knowledge on part of women: "Seeking knowledge is a duty incumbent upon every Muslim man and Muslim woman." 229 In this connection, learning, writing, narrating, scrutiny in sciences of Quran, hadeeth, Fiqh, and Osool, and alike are considered to be parts of this arena.
Here, under the pretext of introducing Jami' Masaanid An-Nisa, I am going to set forth an account of the narrative role of women. In other words, an effort will be exerted to reiterate their notable contribution in safeguarding and spreading the legacy of traditions.
Men scholars hold that the narration reported by a woman is not rejected because its being reported by a woman. In this connection Ash-Shawkaani said: "It is never reported from anyone of the Olamaa' that he disapproved any report by a woman due to her being a woman only, as many sunnahs have been approved and adopted by the Ummah, which were reported by one woman from among the Sahabah, the fact that can never be denied by anyone having the least
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227. Nafahat Al-Uns, pp. 615-635.
228. Tahreer Al-Mar'ah Fi Asr Ar-Risaalah, vol. II, p. 423 quoted from Saheeh Al-Bukhari, vol. VI, p, 281.
229. Bihaar Al-Anwaar, vol. 117, HA, 54; Mustadrak Al-Wasa'il, vol. XVII.
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knowledge of the Sunnah. 230
Also no scholar has ever rejected any hadeeth reported by a woman just because it is reported by a woman, since the Ummah approved so many traditions reported by a woman. More than this, he claims that Adh-Dhahabi has said: "It is never reported from any woman that she has ever falsified a hadeeth." 231
More than ten books were written with the title Musnad Fatimah or Mushaf Fatimah, containing narrations and speeches uttered by Fatimah Az-Zahra"A", the daughter of the Prophet"S".232 Also some other books with other titles were compiled in this field, like Nahj Al-Hayaat or Farhang Sukhanan Fatimah,233 and 'Awaalim Sayyidat AnNisa,234 and others.
Badr Ad-Deen Zarkashi "d.794" has produced the book Al-Ijabah Li Irad Ma Istadrakathu 'A'ishah 'Ala As-Sahaabah, 235 gathering in it all the narrations said by 'A'ishah in criticism of the Companions. In this book ninety traditions are recorded showing objection against the Sahabah.
He says that AdhDhahabi has compiled a book under the title Akhbar Umml-Mu'mineen. 236 Ibn Hajar Al-Asqallani "772852H." has also written a book calling It Musnad
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230. Tahreer Al-Mar'ah, vol. I, p. 118, quoted from Mizan Al-'Itidaal, the introduction.
231. ibid., quoted from Nayl Al-Awtar, vol. VIII, p. 122.
232. Fatimah Dar Ainah Kitaab, pp. 322-325.
233. Nahj Al-Hayaat, by Mohammed Dashti.
234. 'Awaalim Sayyidat An-Nisa, by Abdallah Al-Bahrani Al-Isfahani, pp. 279-634.
235. Al-Ijaabah (op. cit.) of BAdr Ad-Deen Zarkashi.
236. TAdhkirat Al-Huffaz, vol. I, p. 29; Mizan Al-'Itidaal, vol. I, (intr4oduction).
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'A'ishah. 237 In the book Mawsu'at Ummahaat Al-Mu'mineen, 1470 traditions, which were reported by the Prophet's wives, are cited, categorised according to their subjects.238
Further there have been many women who were authorised to grant licenses with great men learning in their hadeeth schools. Ibn Hajar AlAsqallani holds eightyone shaykhs licenses that he got from women. Ibn 'Asaakir, also used to acquire hadeeth in a school "maktab" run by a woman called Fatimah bint Al-Manja. 239 Also Ibn Al-Arabi "560-638H." has got his narration license from Fakhr An-Nisa. 240 Further Al-Azhari and Al-Farra used to report hadeeth from a woman named UmmSalamah, and Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi used to study Saheeh AlBukhari under a woman called Karimah, and he with Sama'nai studied the same book under another woman named Muruziyyah. Ibn Al-Jawzi also learnt Musnad Ash-Shafi'i under a woman called Fatimah bint Al-Husayn, and others. 241
In the contemporary history of Iran, the name of Lady Ameen is so notable. She has granted permits of narration to eminent dignitaries like Al-'Allamah Al-Amini, the author of Al-Ghadeer, and Ayatullah Al-Mara'shi An-Najafi.242
In many books on rijaal of the Shi'ah and Ahl As-Sunnah, a portion is allocated for exposing biography of woman narrators. As a sample I can refer to some Shi'i books:
1. Rijaal Ibn Dawood, by Ibn Dawood Al-Hilli, Ar-Razi publications, pp.222224, names of 22 woman narrators.
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237. Musnad A'ishah, of Ibn HAjr Al-Asqallani.
238. Mawsu'at Ummahaat Al-Mu'mineen, of Abd As-Sabur Shaheen and Islah Abd As-Salam Ar-Rifa'i.
239. Dhikr An-NIswa Al-Muta'abbidaat, pp. 11-12.
240. Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq, by Ibn Al-Arabi, pp. 7-8.
241. Fusul an Al-Mar'ah, by Hadi Al-'Alawi, pp. 67-68.
242. Banoye Mujtahid Irani, pp. 113-116.
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2. Tanqih Al-Maqal, by Abdallah Al-Mamaqani, Al-Murtazawiyyah press, Najaf, vol.III, pp.6983.
3. Mu'jam Rijaal Al-Hadeeth, by Ayatullah Al-Khui, Madinat Al-Ilm publications, vol.XXIII, pp.170201, names of 134 woman narrators.
4. 'Alaam An-Nisa AlMu'minaat, by Mohammed Al-Hassoon, Uswah publications, pp.687693, names of 148 woman narrators.
5. In the references of Rijaal "transmitters of hadeeth", a reference can be made to: Tahdheeb Al-Kamal, of Abul-Hajjaj, Daar Al-Fikr publications, Beirut, vol.XXII, pp.290503", containing names of 256 woman narrators.
Other than these, many separate books have been written in which names of woman narrators are recorded, like:
1. Muhaddithat Shi'ah, by Nahlah Gharawi Na'ini, University of Teachers Training, Tehran, 1996. This book is a Doctorate thesis exposing biography of 195 women narrators.
2. Zanan Danishmand Wa Rawi Hadeeth, by Ahmad Sadiqi Ardasdistani, Islamic Propagation Bureau, Qum, 1996. In this work, 176 women narrators of hadeeth were subjected to study and investigation.
Now I present a brief account on the book Jami' Masaanid An-Nisa. It is a name of a book in which traditions being reported that were collected by women. In this twovolume collection, 1752 unrepeated traditions are cited, of which 814 traditions appeared in volume I and 938 ones in volume II. Number of women who reported these traditions exceeded one hundred.
The books and references on which the author depended and from which he extracted the traditions, are twenty-eight. Here is their titles:
1. Saheeh Al-Bukhaari.
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2. Saheeh Muslim.
3. Sunan Ibn Majah.
4. Saheeh Sunan Ibn Majah.
5. Mustadrak Al-Hakim.
6. Sunan Ad-Daraqutni.
7. Musanaf Ibn Abi Shaybah.
8. Saheeh Ibn Hayyan.
9. Saheeh Ibn Khuzaymah.
10. Musnad Ash-Shafi'i.
11. Musnad Abi Hanifah.
12. Musanaf Abd Ar-Razzaq.
13. Musnad Ad-Daarimi.
14. Hilyat Al-Awliya'.
15. Saheeh Ibn Awwanah.
16. Sunan Al-Bayhaqi.
17. Sunan Abi Dawood.
18. Sunan At-Tirmidhi.
19. Saheeh Abi Dawood.
20. Musnad Ahmad.
21. Al-Fath Ar-Rabbani.
22. Mawt'a' Imam Malik.
23. Ma'ajim AtTabarrani.
24. Musnad Abi Ya'la.
25. Musnad Al-Bazzaz.
26. Nayl AlAwtar.
27. Majma' AzZawa'id of AlHaythami.
28. Jami' AlOsool, of Ibn AlAthir.
The first part of this book contains the narrations taken from Saheeh AlBukhari and Saheeh Muslim, and in the second part other traditions are recorded. The order and classification of traditions are done in the same manner as that of Saheeh AlBukhaari.
The author claims that the traditions whose weakness was widely known have not been stated in this book "vol.II, p.8". In the introduction to volumes I & II a brief account on the most distinguished women narrators is introduced. Number of women whose biographies are shown was forty, of whom 27 names appeared in volume I and thirteen names in volume II. A short biography also of the Prophet's wives is given in the outset of volume I. In the footnotes the author mentions the sources of traditions, adding to them details about chain of transmission "sanad", narrators, and meaning of some words. He states that the traditions reported by 'A'ishah were 2210 ones "vol.I, p.11". In the conclusion of the book he gives indices of notable women "'Alaam", with parties and themes of the traditions, for facilitating its use for readers.
It is clear that this book, with this extensive shape, can be considered novel and taken as a reference and basis for better and stronger works. Hence the effort of the author deserves appreciation and applause.
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