A Review on Biography of Fatima Umm al-Hassan Bint Muhammad bin Makki and Her Scholarly Status

The 8th and 9th centuries AH are among splendid centuries of Islamic period when the women had serious presence in the realm of various sciences, especially the Islamic ones. In that period, the transmitter women were trusted by scholars and traditionists and many men received permission from female traditionists to narrate hadiths. Due to the importance of this period, an investigation of the social and scientific life of the female scholars and jurists in that period could reveal the traditionists’ thoughts in later centuries. One of the knowledgeable women of that century was Fatima Umm al-Hassan, entitled as Sitt al-Mashayikh, who was the First Martyr’s daughter. The followings are among the issues discussed in the present article: traditional activities of the women in the age Fatima Umm al-Hassan lived, a brief biography of hers (birth, hometown, and her family and lineage), the sayings of great authorities on her, her scientific life, her masters and sheikhs. What is the most important point here is that today there is not many scientific works extant, and the only document available is a historical one, a donation document, said to be an evidence of her humbleness before knowledge and knowledgeable men. Finally, the present article speaks of the political and social conditions and the religious circumstances in her age.