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Lady of Scholars

Lady of scholars or Sit Al-Mashayikh, which means the woman that has high knowledge and prestige between scholars.

It was the title given to Fatima the daughter of Muhammed ibn Makki Al-Amali better known as Al-Shaheed Al-Awal(1). Her father was the highest ranked scholar at his time. Scholars from different schools of thought(2) would praise him and admit to his high knowledge. He had an unfortunate end to his life when he was killed for being falsely accused of defamation of senior Islamic personages, the companions and family of the Prophet Muhammad, following the Nusayrism faith, and permitting the drinking of wine. He was beheaded, burned, stoned, and finally his ashes were discarded into the air. Fatima chose to follow the path of her father in becoming a jurist and did a splendid job at it. She was talented with the Arabic language and very passionate with the knowledge she was studying, to a point that she sold what she inherited from her father for books.  Indeed, with all the hard work she put in, she became a high ranked specialist in Islamic laws and like how Al-Hur Al-Amali put it, “She was full of knowledge, meritorious, an expert in Islamic laws, upright, and devoted…” Her father would order women to go to her if they had questions that regarded women issues. 
A perfect example that if you keep your mind on accomplishing something, it could be done even if you are a female in a male dominated profession. Islam has not held back on women learning or becoming specialist in Islamic laws and “lady of scholars” is a prime example. The Islamic society does need women who can bring the experience as women to advance studies in cases regarding women issues and to answer questions that might be embarrassing to ask male jurist.  
 

1.      THE "FIRST MARTYR"
2.      Such as Ibn al-Jazari in Ghayat Al-Nihaya v2 p265 no.3480    

      

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