Al-Nawawi

Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi (October 1233 – 21 December 1277) was a jurist and hadith scholar, better known for authoring The Meadows of the Righteous and Sharh Sahih Muslim. Despite dying at the relatively early age of 45, Al-Nawawi, along with Abu al-Qasim al-Rafi'i, are leading jurists of the earlier classical age, known by the Shafi'i school as the Two Shaykhs (al-Shaykhayn).

Early life

He was born at Nawa near Daraa, Syria.

Al-Subki records in his Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyya al-Kubrā that al-Nawawi's father reported a remarkable sign of his son's early spiritual distinction. When al-Nawawi was seven years old, on the twenty-seventh night of Ramadan, he awoke in the middle of the night and roused his father, asking: "O my father, what is this light that has filled the house?" The entire family awoke but none of them saw anything. His father concluded that the night must have been Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power.

Life as a scholar He studied in Damascus from the age of 18 and after making the pilgrimage in 1253, he settled there as a private scholar.

In 665 AH (1267 CE), al-Nawawi was appointed head (shaykh) of the Ashrafiyya Dār al-Ḥadīth in Damascus, one of the most prestigious hadith institutions in the Islamic world, a post he held until his death. Al-Subki noted that "no one entered [the Dār al-Ḥadīth] more pious than al-Nawawi."

Al-Nawawi was renowned for his extreme asceticism. He ate only one meal a day, after the late evening prayer (ʿishāʾ), paid no attention to his clothing or personal comforts, and had no interest in worldly pleasures. He never married, believing it would distract him from scholarship and worship. Al-Dhahabi described him as "the master of the hadith scholars" and noted that he devoted all his time to learning, writing, and teaching.

Notable teachers During his stay at Damascus, he studied from more than twenty teachers who were regarded as masters and authority of their subject field and disciplines they taught. An-Nawawi studied Hadith, Islamic Jurisprudence, its principles, syntax and Etymology. His teachers included:

Abu Ibrahim Ishaq bin Ahmad AI-Maghribi Abu Muhammad Abdur-Rahman bin Ibrahim Al-Fazari Radiyuddin Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Abu Hafs Umar bin Mudar Al-Mudari Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Isa Al-Muradi Abul-Baqa Khalid bin Yusuf An-Nablusi Abul-Abbas Ahmad bin Salim Al-Misri Abu Abdullah Al-Jiyani Abul-Fath Umar bin Bandar Abu Muhammad At-Tanukhi Sharafuddin Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad Al-Ansari Abul-Faraj Abdur-Rahman bin Muhammad bin Ahmad Al-Maqdisi Abul-Fada'il Sallar bin Al-Hasan Al Arbali

Creed He did ta'wil on some of the Qur'an verses and ahadith on the attributes of Allah. He states in his commentary of a hadith that:

Relationship with Baybars Al-Nawawi drew the ire of Mamluk Sultan Rukn al-Din Baybars twice. Once, at a time when the people of Damascus sought relief from a heavy tax burden after a years-long drought, Al-Nawawi wrote that if Baybars did not stop taxing its residents abusively then Allah will tax his misdeed in the afterlife. This prompted Baybars to threaten to expel him from Damascus. To this, he responded:"As for myself, threats do not harm me or mean anything to me. They will not keep me from advising the ruler, for I believe that this is obligatory upon me and others."

According to a popular tale, Al-Nawawi addressed Sultan Baybars when the latter wanted the ulama to issue a fatwa that decreed that the waqf be collected solely for the ruler, despite originally being meant for the people. Al-Nawawi in response scolded him, urging him to fear Allah and rein in his greed, which the Sultan accepted. Some people asked Baybars why he did not imprison Al-Nawawi in retaliation, to which Baybars replied that whenever he thought of locking up Al-Nawawi, a fear flowed through his heart. In both encounters, Baybars abided by Al-Nawawi's counsel.

An-Nawawi's lasting legacy is his contribution to hadith literature through his momentous works Forty Hadiths and Riyadh as-Saaliheen. This made him respected in all madhabs, despite him being of Shafi'i jurisprudence. According to Al-Dhahabi, Imam Nawawi's concentration and absorption in academic love gained proverbial fame. He had devoted all his time for learning and scholarship. Other than reading and writing, he spent his time contemplating on the interacted and complex issues and in finding their solutions.

Works During his life of 45 years he wrote "at least fifty books" on Islamic studies and other topics. Some scholar counted pages he written and calculated that he wrote 40+ pages daily from age 18 till his death. Some his writings is still reached vastly as no author has superseded him in those writing. These include: Al Minhaj bi Sharh Sahih Muslim , making use of others before him, and is considered one of the best commentaries on Sahih Muslim. It is available online. Riyadh as-Saaliheen ; collection of hadith on ethics, manners, conduct, popular in the Muslim world. al-Majmu' sharh al-Muhadhab , is a comprehensive manual of Islamic law according to the Shafi'i school has been edited with French translation by van den Bergh, 2 vols., Batavia (1882–1884), and published at Cairo (1888). Sharh Sunan Abu Dawood Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari Mukhtasar at-Tirmidhi Tabaqat ash-Shafi'iyah Rawdhat al-Talibeen Bustan al-`arifin Al-Maqasid

Recent English language editions Bustan al-ʿarifin (The Garden of Gnostics), Translated by Aisha Bewley

Minhaj al-Talibin Minhaj et talibin: A Manual of Muhammadan Law; According To The School of Shafi, Navrang (1992) Minhaj Et Talibin: A Manual of Muhammadan Law, Adam Publishers (2005)

The Forty Hadith

Al-Nawawi Forty Hadiths and Commentary; Translated by Arabic Virtual Translation Center; (2010) Ibn-Daqiq's Commentary on the Nawawi Forty Hadiths; Translated by Arabic Virtual Translation Center; (2011) The Compendium of Knowledge and Wisdom; Translation of Jami' Uloom wal-Hikam by Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali translated by Abdassamad Clarke, Turath Publishing (2007) Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadith, Translated by Ezzeddin Ibrahim, Islamic Texts Society; New edition (1997) The Forty Hadith of al-Imam al-Nawawi, Abul-Qasim Publishing House (1999) The Complete Forty Hadith, Ta-Ha Publishers (2000) The Arba'een 40 Ahadith of Imam Nawawi with Commentary, Darul Ishaat Commentary on the Forty Hadith of Al-Nawawi (3 Vols.), by Jamaal Al-Din M. Zarabozo, Al-Basheer (1999)

Riyad al-Salihin Gardens of the righteous: Riyadh as-Salihin of Imam Nawawi, Rowman and Littlefield (1975) Riyad-us-Salihin: Garden of the Righteous, Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyah Riyadh-us-Saliheen (Vol. 1&2 in One Book) (Arabic-English) Dar Ahya Us-Sunnah Al Nabawiya