Book Review: Mohammad Akram Nadwi: Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam​

Originally conceived as the muqaddimah [Introduction] to a yet-to-be-published forty-volume biographical dictionary of Muslim women who studied and taught Ḥadīth Al-Muḥaddithāt: The Women Scholars in Islam is an unusual book. It started as a translation of the muqaddimah of that yet-to-be-published biographical dictionary, but in the process of its translation, the author tells us, he realized that the material had to be adapted, not simply translated, for two reasons: (i) the main text was not available to the readers, and (ii) even if it were a real muqaddimah, its publication in English would still require adaptation because the expectations as well as the requisite preparedness of an English readership are different from the Arabic readership. The singularity of this book, however, goes much deeper than the aforementioned aspects.

Al-Muḥaddithāt brings to English readership the flavor of Islamic scholarship of the pre-modern age—a rarity in our times. It is a refreshing and unique work that demolishes many stereotypes about Muslim women, yet without this being its goal. It provides solid textual evidence for a high level participation of Muslim women in the making of classical Islamic heritage, but that, too, is not its main concern. It brings into sharp relief many strands of Islamic intellectual tradition, but that is not its main concern. Nadwi has brought to life a centuries-old milieu pulsating with spiritual and intellectual energy of the highest order, a cultural and social norm of a bygone era in which the main thrust of life was the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge. This is a milieu in which lives are consumed by the supreme love for knowledge that binds the learner to the Creator and leads to facility in the Hereafter. It is a work that demands full attention, because it provides insights into the past in a manner that transcends usual demarcations of social and intellectual history. It is a book populated by men and women who travel thousands of miles to hear from a living narrator the word of the Prophet of Islam which they had themselves heard from another living person, who, in turn, had heard them from someone who had heard them from a Companion who had been in the company of the Prophet when he stated those words. This celebrated passion for verified knowledge, this intense concern for accuracy, this creative participation in the making of Islamic tradition comes fully 

Journal of Islam & Science, Vol. 6 (Summer 2008) No. 1​

Muzaffar Iqbal

Muzaffar Iqbal is the President of the Center for Islamic Sciences and the General Editor of the Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qurʾān.