The Woman Who Built Her Own Tomb: Sayyida Nafisa and the Weight of True Authority

In ninth century Cairo, a woman descended from the Prophet's household built a tomb within her own home and prayed in it daily while still alive. Sayyida Nafisa was a scholar of hadith whose learning drew students from across the known world --- including al-Shafi'i, founder of one of the four great schools of Sunni jurisprudence, who requested that she lead his funeral prayer. Her story is a clear-eyed demonstration that inherited privilege and genuine authority are not the same thing, and that the distance between them is something each of us has to fill ourselves. Transcript available at: https://harmonia.email/podcast-episode/woman-who-built-her-own-tomb-sayyida-nafisa-and-weight-true-authority Share and read comments: https://harmonia.email/podcast-comments?field_podcast_feed_value=the_golden_thread&from_node=375