Chapter 3: The Scholar They Constrained

This chapter is part of the book The Sacred Editors: Lost Women.

The scrolls rustled lightly as they were unrolled. A circle of men leaned forward, their expressions intent, respectful. At the center sat a woman—veiled, composed, unwavering in voice. Her name was ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr, and she was not simply reciting what the Prophet had said. She was interpreting it, correcting others when memory failed, providing legal nuance, and occasionally questioning the narrators themselves.

"You say he ruled thus," she interrupted once. "But I was there, and it was otherwise."

The men listened. Some nodded. Others bristled. She was the Prophet's widow, the daughter of his closest companion, and one of the most authoritative transmitters of hadith in all of Islamic tradition. She was also a woman—assertive, politically engaged, theologically sharp—and her influence would spark both reverence and resentment for generations to come.¹

Aisha's status in early Islam is without parallel. Married to the Prophet Muhammad at a young age, she lived through the formation of the Muslim ummah and became a key figure during and after his life. She narrated over 2,200 hadith (sayings or actions of the Prophet), many of which are central to Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and Quranic interpretation (tafsir).² Her intelligence, wit, and memory earned her the title al-ṣiddīqa bint al-ṣiddīq—"the truthful woman, daughter of the truthful man."

Yet her legacy is tangled in layers of admiration and controversy. She was revered as a teacher, but also criticized for her political activism. She was celebrated for her legal insights, but her authority as a woman was repeatedly challenged. The tension between her prominence and the constraints placed upon her speaks to a broader dynamic in Islamic textual history: the simultaneous inclusion and marginalization of female voices in the sacred record.

As a narrator of hadith, Aisha was indispensable. Major Sunni collections, including those of Bukhārī and Muslim, cite her frequently—especially on issues related to family life, purification, ethics, and women's roles.³ Her narrations shaped not only personal piety but legal theory, and her intimate knowledge of the Prophet's household offered a window into aspects of his life that no male companion could provide. In matters of fiqh, her rulings on menstruation, prayer, and domestic relations became foundational to Islamic law. In tafsir, her explanations of Quranic verses—often based on direct observation of the circumstances of revelation—carried enormous weight among early scholars.⁴

Aisha was not alone in this scholarly role. Recent research has revealed a rich tradition of female hadith transmitters (muhaddithat) that persisted for centuries. Women like Karima al-Marwaziyya (d. 1070), who taught hadith to thousands of students including men, and Fatima bint Saad al-Khayr (d. 1250), whose chain of transmission was considered among the most reliable of her era, demonstrate that Aisha's scholarly authority, while exceptional in scope, was not wholly isolated in the early Islamic tradition.⁵

Yet her position was never uncontested. The most dramatic episode came during the First Fitna—the civil war that followed the assassination of the third caliph, ʿUthmān. Aisha sided with Muʿāwiya against ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, leading an army into the Battle of the Camel in 656 CE. Though she later withdrew and expressed regret, her leadership in battle shocked many, and it provided ammunition for generations of scholars who questioned the propriety of women's public authority.⁶

In Shiʿi tradition, where ʿAlī is regarded as the rightful successor to the Prophet, Aisha's political stance further complicated her reputation. Though respected as a Mother of the Believers, her role is often treated with caution. In Sunni tradition, however, she was long held as a model of piety and learning—until that, too, began to narrow.

By the 10th and 11th centuries, as Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) became more formalized, the role of women as public scholars began to diminish. Male jurists increasingly dominated the production and transmission of sacred knowledge. The institutions that preserved and taught the hadith—the madrasas and legal schools—were almost exclusively male. While Aisha remained cited, her interpretive role faded. Later scholars often referenced her narrations without acknowledging the intellectual rigor behind them.

Her legal opinions—on issues such as menstruation, divorce, inheritance—were sometimes at odds with male consensus. In one famous exchange, she rebuked a male jurist for misunderstanding a verse of the Quran related to ritual purity. "You compare us to donkeys," she said, "but the Prophet never treated us so."⁷ Her voice was sharp, her arguments grounded in firsthand experience. And yet, over time, these moments were softened in commentary, framed as anecdotes rather than arguments.

What changed was not her memory, but the framework around it.

Today, Aisha's legacy is once again being examined with fresh eyes. Scholars such as Leila Ahmed, Fatima Mernissi, and Asma Sayeed have emphasized her role not only as transmitter but as theologian.⁸ Contemporary Muslim feminist scholars like Amina Wadud and Asma Barlas have drawn on Aisha's interpretive methods to argue for women's continuing authority in Islamic scholarship.⁹ They note that her narrations are often self-aware, consciously framing events with moral reflection. In this, she was not simply preserving the Prophet's words. She was shaping their interpretation.

To recover her voice is to remember that sacred transmission was not a neutral process. It was personal, political, embodied—and, in Aisha's case, gendered. She bore the responsibility of being both insider and outsider: privileged by proximity, constrained by expectation.

But she spoke. And the words remain.

"The people were like donkeys regarding this matter. I and the Prophet would bathe from the same vessel, and he would not hesitate to touch me even while I was menstruating."¹⁰ The words are Aisha's, preserved in Sahih Muslim, and they cut through centuries of scholarly circumvention with characteristic directness. She was not merely offering a ruling—she was asserting her authority to speak from intimate knowledge, challenging those who would constrain women's religious lives based on ignorance rather than prophetic example.

Aisha's voice echoes across Islamic tradition: sharp, reasoned, intimate, insistent. She was not merely a vessel for the Prophet's sayings, but a mind shaped by him and shaping others in turn. That her authority was later constrained does not erase her intellectual legacy. It only shows how easily even the most central women in sacred history can be recast into narrower roles. But the record still speaks. And Aisha is still teaching.

Also Remembered

Hafsa bint ʿUmar (7th century CE): The Prophet's wife who preserved one of the earliest Quranic codices, which became the basis for the Uthmanic recension. Her role as textual guardian was later downplayed in favor of male compilers like Zayd ibn Thabit.

Umm Salama (7th century CE): Another wife of the Prophet known for her political insight and hadith narration. She is remembered for arguing that women should be addressed directly in Quranic verses alongside men, leading to the revelation of verses that explicitly include women.

Fatima al-Fihri (9th century CE): Founder of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco, often cited as the world's oldest continually operating university. Her educational vision shaped Islamic scholarship for centuries, though her founding role is sometimes attributed to male relatives.

Zaynab bint al-Kamāl (13th century CE): A renowned hadith scholar in Damascus who taught leading male jurists and whose isnads (chains of transmission) are still cited. She represents the continuity of women's scholarly authority well into the medieval period.

ʿĀ'isha al-Bāʿūniyya (15th–16th century CE): A Sufi mystic and prolific author of Arabic theological texts, praised for both scholarship and poetic style. Her works demonstrate women's continuing contributions to Islamic intellectual life even as formal opportunities diminished.

Notes

This opening scene represents a plausible reconstruction based on documented practices of early Islamic hadith transmission and Aisha's known role as a teacher and interpreter. While specific teaching sessions are not historically recorded, her authority in correcting and interpreting prophetic traditions is well-established in Islamic sources. See Asma Sayeed, Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam (Cambridge University Press, 2013), 45–67.
Mohammad Akram Nadwi, Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam (Interface Publications, 2007), 18–20; Jonathan A.C. Brown, Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Oneworld, 2009), 28–30.
Brown, Hadith, 95–102.
Barbara Freyer Stowasser, Women in the Quran, Traditions, and Interpretation (Oxford University Press, 1994), 67–89.
Sayeed, Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge, 78–95; Nadwi, Al-Muhaddithat, 45–67.
Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam (Yale University Press, 1992), 67–69.
Fatima Mernissi, The Veil and the Male Elite (Addison-Wesley, 1991), 51–52.
Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam, 45–78; Mernissi, The Veil and the Male Elite, 49–61; Sayeed, Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge, 89–112.
Amina Wadud, Quran and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective (Oxford University Press, 1999), 76–89; Asma Barlas, "Believing Women" in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran (University of Texas Press, 2002), 124–156.
Sahih Muslim, Book 3, Hadith 592.

Further Reading

Asma Sayeed, Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam (Cambridge University Press, 2013). The definitive scholarly treatment of women's roles in Islamic education and hadith transmission.

Mohammad Akram Nadwi, Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam (Interface Publications, 2007). Biographical dictionary of over 8,000 female hadith scholars throughout Islamic history.

Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam (Yale University Press, 1992). Foundational feminist analysis of women's roles in Islamic history and scripture.

Amina Wadud, Quran and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective (Oxford University Press, 1999). Contemporary Muslim feminist interpretation drawing on classical sources including Aisha's methods.

Fatima Mernissi, The Veil and the Male Elite (Addison-Wesley, 1991). Influential examination of how women's religious authority was constrained in Islamic tradition.

Marion Holmes Katz, Women in the Mosque: A History of Legal Thought and Social Practice (Columbia University Press, 2014). Analysis of how women's religious participation was regulated over time.