Religious educated women in early Islam

Since the early formation of Islam and a Muslim community in the seventh century, women have been engaged in Islamic knowledge production, took up teaching positions, acted as preachers, and thus contributed immensely to the consolidation and transmission of Islam. The author of this chapter recovers some of this history of women as scholars, teachers, and preachers through a close reading of foundational historical texts including the sira by Ibn Hisham, the Kitab al-Maghazi by al-Waqidi, the at-Tabaqat al-Kubra by Ibn Sa‘d, the hadith collection of al-Bukhari, and the Ta´rikh of at-Tabari. Decker argues for the necessity to produce a gender-conscious history of knowledge in this period and to emphasize the essential contributions of women to the formation of the Islamic tradition. The earliest texts contain clues to early Muslim gender constructions as well as modes of religious education and authority.