Chapter 9: Guardians of Revelation - Islamic Women as Preservers

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

In the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, sometime in the 11th century, a group of students sat cross-legged beneath the colonnade. Among them, veiled and commanding in her presence, was Fatima bint Sa'd al-Khayr. Her students—men and women both—recorded her teachings of hadith, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. She held an ijaza (certification of authority to transmit sacred knowledge), passed down through a line of scholars stretching back to the Prophet himself. Her memory endures not in images or biography but in isnads (meticulously documented chains of transmission in Islamic scholarship). Her name appears again and again: "From Fatima bint Sa'd, who heard it from..."¹

She was not alone. In medieval Islam, women were not only allowed but often encouraged to memorize the Qur'an, study jurisprudence, and transmit hadith. From Cairo to Baghdad, Delhi to Fez, Muslim women served as preservers of sacred text—not always by writing it, but by embodying and transmitting it with precision and reverence.

This legacy begins with Aisha bint Abi Bakr, wife of the Prophet Muhammad and one of the most prolific hadith transmitters in the early Islamic period. Her proximity to the Prophet, intellectual rigor, and theological insight made her a cornerstone of Sunni tradition. She is credited with transmitting over 2,000 hadith, many concerning domestic life, prayer, ethics, and women's issues.² Later generations invoked her authority not just for content, but for method: Aisha corrected other Companions' interpretations and insisted on precision in wording.

In the centuries that followed, women like Fatima al-Juzdaniyya, Amat al-Wahid, and Karima al-Marwaziyya taught in mosques, madrasas, and homes. They received ijazat from male and female scholars alike, and in turn conferred these certificates on students. These documents—preserved in manuscript collections—provide concrete evidence of women's roles in the intergenerational preservation of sacred texts. Mohammad Akram Nadwi's groundbreaking biographical dictionary documents over 8,000 women hadith scholars throughout Islamic history, challenging assumptions about the exclusivity of male religious authority.³

One of the most famous was Karima al-Marwaziyya (d. 1070), a scholar of hadith in Mecca known for her transmission of Sahih al-Bukhari, the most authoritative Sunni collection. Her narrations were considered so precise that later scholars preferred her isnad over others.⁴ Male scholars traveled long distances to study under her. She set strict conditions: students had to recite the hadiths from memory before she would confirm their transmission.

This was not unusual. In fact, as hadith criticism developed in the 9th and 10th centuries, scholars began noting that female transmitters were often more precise and less likely to alter or embellish traditions—perhaps because they were less involved in political debates and public preaching.⁵ Modern scholars debate whether this pattern of female reliability was the norm or an exceptional recognition within a male-dominated field, but the evidence suggests it was widespread enough to be noted by contemporary observers.

The tradition of women's religious authority developed differently within Sunni and Shi'i communities. In Sunni Islam, women's roles as hadith transmitters were broadly accepted and institutionalized through the ijaza system. In Shi'i tradition, while women's transmission roles were also recognized, the emphasis on lineage through the Imams created different pathways for religious authority. However, both traditions preserved records of women scholars and transmitters, suggesting that female religious authority was a consistent feature across Islamic communities.⁶

In addition to hadith, women served as huffaz (memorizers of the Qur'an) across the Islamic world. Many became teachers of tajwīd (rules of Qur'anic recitation) and trained both male and female students. In some West African communities, girls who memorized the Qur'an were considered desirable marriage partners because of their sacred knowledge.⁷

The role of women as Qur'anic reciters continues into the present, though not without controversy. While female voices are often restricted in public worship settings, private instruction and educational roles remain strong. Notably, in recent decades, women like Shaykha Halima al-Rafiqi in Morocco and Shaykha Samira az-Zain in Lebanon have received recognition for their mastery of Qur'anic sciences.

Despite this rich tradition, the textual record remains uneven. Many female scholars are known only through isnads, not biographies. Their names appear in margins, not headlines. Their writings, if they existed, were rarely copied or preserved. Social norms often prevented their travel, publication, or public leadership—yet they found ways to teach, to transmit, to preserve.

One such example is Nana Asma'u (1793–1864), a scholar and poet from the Sokoto Caliphate in present-day Nigeria. Fluent in Arabic, Hausa, and Fulfulde, she memorized the Qur'an and wrote extensively on Islamic ethics and female education. She trained a network of women known as yan-taru ("those who gather together"), who spread religious knowledge across rural areas. Her poems, written in mnemonic verse, were used to teach both theology and literacy.⁸

The modern era has seen a resurgence of female engagement with sacred texts—not only as teachers and reciters, but as scholars and exegetes. Figures such as Amina Wadud, Asma Barlas, and Kecia Ali have drawn on historical precedents like Aisha and Karima al-Marwaziyya to reassert women's authority in Qur'anic interpretation.⁹ While not always accepted in traditional institutions, their work continues the legacy of guardianship in new forms.

Contemporary Islamic scholarship increasingly recognizes that women's preservation of sacred texts was not exceptional but integral to Islamic tradition. Asma Sayeed's research demonstrates that women's exclusion from formal religious authority was gradual and often linked to broader social and political changes rather than theological requirements.¹⁰ This recognition has implications for ongoing debates about women's roles in Islamic religious leadership.

To study Islamic sacred texts without acknowledging the women who preserved them is to ignore the very isnads that form the foundation of authenticity. The text may be unchanging, but the chains that carried it were, for centuries, filled with women.

"Karima bint Ahmad al-Marwaziyya narrated to us this hadith, with precise transmission and clear recitation, may God reward her."
—Excerpt from manuscript margin, Sahih al-Bukhari, Dār al-Kutub al-Zāhiriyya Collection (Damascus)

They did not write doctrine or declare fatwas, but they memorized, recited, transmitted, and taught with rigor. Their voices echoed through sacred syllables, carried forward in isnads that bound hearts to heaven. The ink of Islam was not only held by men. It was carried in the breath and memory of women who, though rarely named in formal histories, were essential guardians of revelation.

Also Remembered

Karima al-Marwaziyya (11th century, Mecca): Renowned transmitter of Sahih al-Bukhari with highly respected isnad chains. Her precision in transmission was so valued that scholars preferred her versions over others, demonstrating the high regard for women's scholarship in medieval Islam.

Fatima al-Juzdaniyya (12th century, Baghdad): Jurist and hadith teacher known for training scholars across the Abbasid realm. Her students included both men and women, reflecting the integrated nature of Islamic educational networks.

Nana Asma'u (19th century, Nigeria): Scholar-poet who created an educational network for Muslim women in West Africa. Her multilingual approach and mnemonic teaching methods demonstrate the global diversity of Islamic women's scholarship.

Zaynab al-Ghazali (20th century, Egypt): Founder of the Muslim Women's Association, known for her Qur'anic teaching and political activism. She represents the continuation of women's religious authority into the modern period.

Unnamed Female Huffaz (10th–16th century, global): Women who memorized the Qur'an and taught recitation across the Islamic world, especially in Persia, Egypt, and West Africa. Their anonymity in historical records reflects the systematic underrecording of women's contributions.

Shi'i Women Transmitters (8th–15th century): Female scholars in Shi'i communities who preserved traditions related to the Imams and their teachings, demonstrating that women's authority crossed sectarian boundaries in early Islam.

Notes

This opening scene represents a plausible reconstruction based on documented practices of hadith transmission in medieval Damascus and the known activities of Fatima bint Sa'd al-Khayr as recorded in ijaza certificates and isnad chains. While specific classroom details are constructed for narrative purposes, her role as a teacher and the presence of both male and female students are historically attested. See Asma Sayeed, Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam (Cambridge University Press, 2013), 97–103.
Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam (Yale University Press, 1992), 42–47.
Mohammad Akram Nadwi, Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam (Interface Publications, 2007), 21–34.
Sayeed, Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge, 97–103.
Jonathan A.C. Brown, Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Oneworld, 2009), 66–70.
On Sunni-Shi'i differences, see Liyakat Takim, The Heirs of the Prophet: Charisma and Religious Authority in Shi'ite Islam (SUNY Press, 2006), 89–112; and Asma Sayeed, "Shifting Fortunes: Women and Hadith Transmission in Islamic History," Muslim World 95, no. 4 (2005): 515–540.
Beverly Mack and Jean Boyd, One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe (Indiana University Press, 2000), 88–93.
Ibid., 104–110.
Kecia Ali, The Lives of Muhammad (Harvard University Press, 2014), 136–145; Amina Wadud, Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective (Oxford University Press, 1999), 1–18.
Sayeed, Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge, 140–165.

Further Reading

Asma Sayeed, Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam (Cambridge University Press, 2013). Comprehensive analysis of women's roles in Islamic scholarship and their historical marginalization.

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

Beverly Mack and Jean Boyd, One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe (Indiana University Press, 2000). Detailed study of a West African Muslim woman scholar and her educational network.

Jonathan A.C. Brown, Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Oneworld, 2009). Contextual analysis of hadith transmission including women's roles as preservers.

Amina Wadud, Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective (Oxford University Press, 1999). Contemporary feminist interpretation drawing on classical Islamic sources.

Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam (Yale University Press, 1992). Foundational analysis of women's status in Islamic history and religious tradition.