Fakhr-un-Nisa Shuhdah al-Baghdadiyyah was a renowned Kurdish Muslim scholar, teacher of hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad), and master calligrapher who lived in the 11th–12th centuries. She is often simply called Shuhdah al-Baghdadiyyah (“Shuhdah of Baghdad”).
She was born in Dinawar, a Kurdish region in Rojhilat (East Kurdistan), and later became famous in Baghdad, one of the great intellectual centers of the medieval Islamic world. She died in 1112.
She became especially respected for:
- Hadith scholarship: She studied and transmitted important collections of hadith and taught many students, including prominent male scholars.
- Calligraphy: Her handwriting and manuscript work were celebrated across Iraq.
- Public teaching: She held scholarly gatherings attended by students and intellectuals from distant regions.
- Education of women and men — She is remembered as one of the important female scholars in classical Islamic civilization.
Her title “Fakhr-un-Nisa” means “Pride (or Glory) of Women” in Arabic.
Posted by Zagrosian · 15 May 2026
~ Fakhr-un-Nisa Shuhdah Umm Muhammad al-Baghdadiyyah (?-1112)
She was a Kurdish scholar, muhaddith and a calligrapher.
Here is some quotes about her :
Al-Samanī says about 'Fakhr al-Nisa" Umm Muhammad Shuhdah, daughter of the famous muhaddith Abū Nasr Ahmad ibn al-Faraj al-Dinawarī (d. 574) :
”She was from among the descendants of traditionists, distinguished, eloquent, and had beautiful handwriting. She wrote on the way of Bint al-Aqrā. In her time there was no one in Baghdad who had handwriting like her. Usually she wrote for the caliph al-Muqtafi [r. 530-55].
Ibn al-Jawzī praises her calligraphy, her goodness and works of charity through a long life.
Al-Safadī (d. 764) notes her extensive knowledge of hadith, her picty, God-wariness, benevolence and calls her 'the calligrapher, the pride of womanhood, a muhad-dithah of Iraq with a high isnad. Her style of writing (mansub) gained much popularity and was taken up generation after generation.
Nadwi, Mohammad Akram (2007). Al Muhaddithat: the women scholars in Islam. London: p.55
Posted by Zagrosian · 15 May 2026
Medieval historians praised her intelligence, piety, eloquence, and charity. She is often cited today as an example of the significant role women played in Islamic scholarship during the Abbasid era.
Posted by Zagrosian · 15 May 2026
