Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
2. The qualities of a believing woman
~ 34 ~
excellent, almost photographic memory, was able to
continue to communicate in great detail everything
that she had learned from him during their very
close companionship, so that for about half a
century she was able to fulfill a highly informative
role. In short, she became a living cassette recorder
for the
ummah.
‘Abdullah ibn al-’Abbas, a
Companion of great stature, and one of the Qur’an’s
best commentators, was one of ‘Aishah’ s pupils.
The greater part of his knowledge of religion was
learned from her. Similarly, many other
Sahaba
(Companions of the Prophet) and
Tabi’un
(companions of the
Sahaba
)
acquired their religious
knowledge’ from her. So here we have the very fine
example of a Muslim woman imparting to others
the religious knowledge which she had imbibed
directly from the Prophet.
Another example of a woman making a signal
contribution to the spread of religious learning is
that of the daughter of Imam Abu Ja’far Tahavi
(229-321
A.H.
), the famous traditionist whose book,
Sharh Ma’ani al-Athar,
is regularly included in the
syllabuses of Arabic schools. He dictated his book
of traditions to his daughter and, as he read out the
