Al-Wafa Bi Asma Al-Nisa

''Al-Wafa bi Asma al-Nisa'' () is a 43-volume Arabic biographical compendium that documents the lives of women who participated in the narration of hadiths or played crucial roles in their dissemination. Authored by Akram Nadwi, the work took two decades to compile and is recognized as the largest work in its genre, with over 10,000 entries. Initially intended for release in Morocco, the compendium eventually found publication through Dar al-Minhaj in Jeddah in January 2021. The English translation of its preface, titled '' Al-Muhaddithat'', was first introduced in 2007. This work highlights the often-overlooked role of women, and examines the status of women in Islam, focusing on their roles, authority, and responsibilities in religious contexts.

Synopsis

The work is composed of forty-three volumes. The first volume introduces details of hadiths with a focus on women narrators, while volume two examines the women of the Prophet's household. Subsequent volumes detail female Companions (3–10), Tabi'un (11–13) and scholars (14–42) chronologically by centuries. Volume 43 shifts to modern scholars, including some that are still active. The book prioritizes factual biography over analysis, and attempts to take a global perspective by including female hadith scholars beyond the Middle East. Biographical entries vary in depth, with the most extensive exceeding two hundred pages and emphasizing corrections to works of other, primarily male, scholars. The compilation is derived from documents such as class registers and ijazahs, which feature women granting men the authority to teach. It also uses commendations from 'ulema who have been taught by women.

Background

In 1989, Akram Nadwi assumed the role of a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford's Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, responding to a specific request from Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi. During his tenure, he encountered an article in ''Time'' magazine asserting that Islam obstructed women's education, contending that women played no role in educational and knowledge-based research within Islam. The author offered to retract the statement contingent upon the identification of five knowledgeable women.

Motivated to challenge this viewpoint, Nadwi embarked on extensive research, compiling biographies of women who had narrated hadiths. Initially envisioning a list of 20 to 30 women, his research expanded globally, spanning countries such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Morocco, India, and Turkey. Over a span of 15 years, his efforts culminated in a 43-volume collection. The initial release of the first part occurred in Morocco, but due to concerns about its quality, the second part faced a delayed release of almost a year. Finally, in January 2021, Dar al-Minhaj in Saudi Arabia published this entire work.

Reception

The ''Dhaka Post'' highlighted the importance of this work in shaping 21st-century Islamic intellectual history, serving as a reference and potent rebuttal against misrepresentations of Islam, particularly addressing false accusations related to women's progress and education. '' The Majalla'' lauded this work as a comprehensive encyclopedia dedicated to notable female hadith narrators.

References

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Deobandi biographical literature
Deobandi hadith literature
Books by Akram Nadwi
Islam and women
British biographies
Books of Sunni Rijal
Biographical dictionaries of women
21st-century Arabic-language books
2021 non-fiction books