Amra bint Abdurrahman–15 Centuries of Female Scholarship
In this series, Shaykha Tamara Gray narrates the stories of great Muslim women through the centuries, who excelled in fields of Islamic knowledge, science, and philanthropy. This segment features Amra bint Abdurrahman, from the first century of Islam.
Amra bint Abdurrahman was one of the closest students of our mother Aisha, wife of the Prophet Muhammad, Allah bless him and give him peace. This made her from among the Tabi’in, or the righteous predecessors. She was known to be an ocean of knowledge, and it was said that no one knew more Hadith than her.
She was also a defender of social justice. One day, she heard an unjust decision that had been passed in a court case. She wasted no time, and immediately protested against it. She sent a messenger declaring that, in her opinion, the ruling was not only unjust but illegal. Such was her high rank and prestige, that the ruling was immediately corrected.
Amra was the one of the first in the tradition of female scholarship. May Allah be pleased with her.
With gratitude to Shaykha Tamara Gray and Rabata.
