Sharfuddin Abu Tawwama

Sharaf ad-Dīn Abū Tawʾamah (, ) was an Islamic scholar, author and muhaddith based in the subcontinent. He played a large role in disseminating Islam in eastern Bengal, establishing one of the country's first madrasas. According to A. F. M. Abdur Rahman, in addition to his proficiency in Persian and Arabic, he became well conversant in the local Old Bengali language of the time.

Life Abu Tawwama was born into a Sunni Muslim family from Bukhara in modern-day Uzbekistan, a city located on the Silk Road famed as a centre of scholarship. His brother was Hafiz Zayn ad-Din who he later migrated with across Greater Khorasan to study Islamic theology and the natural sciences. He is said to have married at the age of 45 and had a daughter in Bukhara.

In circa 1270, Abu Tawwama and his family were requested by the Sultan to move to the city of Sonargaon in Bengal, where Islam was not properly settled among the populace. Others have theorised that the reason for moving was because the Sultan of Delhi feared that the scholar's influence was becoming a threat to his dominion and so exiled Abu Tawwama to Sonargaon.

Abu Tawwama, Zaynuddin and their family then set off for Bengal, passing through Maner Sharif in Bihar where they stayed for 4 years serving alongside Yahya Maneri. Ahmed Maneri studied here for 22 years as his disciple, The madrassah no longer exists though its ruins can be found in the Dargabari area.