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Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī
TitleImam, Shaykh ul-Islam[1]
Personal
BornMuharram 631 AH/ October 1233
Nawa, Ayyubid Sultanate
Died24 Rajab 676 AH [9]/ 21 December 1277 (age 45)
Nawa, Mamluk Sultanate
Resting placeNawa, present Syria
ReligionIslam
DenominationSunni
SchoolShafi'i[2]
CreedAshʿarī[3][4][5][6][7][8]
Main interest(s)Fiqh, Usul, Hadith, Mantiq
OccupationHistoriographer, bibliographer, scholar, jurist.
Muslim leader
Influenced by
Arabic name
Personal (Ism)Yaḥyā
Patronymic (Nasab)Ibn Sharaf ibn Marri ibn Ḥasan ibn Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Jumah ibn Ḥazm
Teknonymic (Kunya)Abū Zakariyyā
Toponymic (Nisba)al-Nawawī

Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi (Arabic: يحيى بن شرف النووي, romanized: Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī;‎ (631A.H-676A.H) (October 1230–21 December 1277) was a Sunni Shafi'ite jurist and hadith scholar.[11] Al-Nawawi died at the relatively early age of 45.[11] Despite this, he authored numerous and lengthy works ranging from hadith, to theology, biography, and jurisprudence that are still read to this day.[12]

Early life

Background

He was born at Nawa near Damascus, Syria.[11] As with Arabic and other Semitic languages, the last part of his name refers to his hometown.

Yasin bin Yusuf Marakashi, says: "I saw Imam Nawawi at Nawa when he was a youth of ten years of age. Other boys of his age used to force him to play with them, but Imam Nawawi would always avoid the play and would remain busy with the recitation of the Noble Qur'an. When they tried to domineer and insisted on his joining their games, he bewailed and expressed his no concern over their foolish action. On observing his sagacity and profundity, a special love and affection developed in my heart for young Nawawi. I approached his teacher and urged him to take exceptional care of this lad as he was to become a great religious scholar. His teacher asked whether I was a soothsayer or an astrologer. I told him I am neither soothsayer nor an astrologer but Allah caused me to utter these words." His teacher conveyed this incident to Imam's father and in keeping in view the learning quest of his son, decided to dedicate the life of his son for the service and promotion of the cause of Islam.[13]

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.[14]

Notable teachers

During his stay at Damascus, he studied from more than twenty teachers[15][16] 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, and Abul-Fada'il Sallar bin Al-Hasan Al Arbali among others.[17]

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:

This is one of the "hadiths of the attributes," about which scholars have two positions. The first is to have faith in it without discussing its meaning, while believing of Allah Most High that "there is nothing whatsoever like unto Him" (Qur'an 42:11), and that He is exalted above having any of the attributes of His creatures. The second is to figuratively explain it in a fitting way, scholars who hold this position adducing that the point of the hadith was to test the slave girl: Was she a monotheist, who affirmed that the Creator, the Disposer, the Doer, is Allah alone and that He is the one called upon when a person making supplication (du'a) faces the sky--just as those performing the prayer (salat) face the Kaaba, since the sky is the qibla of those who supplicate, as the Kaaba is the qibla of those who perform the prayer--or was she a worshipper of the idols which they placed in front of themselves? So when she said, In the sky, it was plain that she was not an idol worshiper.[18]

Relationship with the Mamluk Sultanate

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,[19] Al-Nawawi wrote that if Baybars did not stop taxing its residents abusively then Allah will tax his misdeed in the afterlife.[20] This prompted Baybars to threaten to expel him from Damascus.[21] 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."[22]

The second time Al-Nawawi addressed Sultan Baybars was when he 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. In effect, Al-Nawawi 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.[20] In both encounters, Baybars abided by Al-Nawawi's counsel.[20]

Death and legacy

He died at Nawa at the relatively young age of 45.

Imam Nawawi's Forty Hadith taught in the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan in Cairo, Egypt

An-Nawawi's lasting legacy is his contribution to hadith literature through his momentous works Forty Hadiths and Riyadh as-Saaliheen.[23] This made him respected in all madhabs, despite of him being of Shafi'i jurisprudence.[24] 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.[20] Ulama's praise him for 3 characteristics:

  1. His level of scholarship. Writing more than 40 pages daily from age 18-45. Studying continuously for 12 hours and then teaching for another 12 hours at age 18-20 in Damascus.[20]
  2. His asceticism. Not marrying in fear of faltering his wife's right, lack of love for dunya, constant worshipping of Allah, constant zikr.
  3. His keenness in enjoining good and forbidding evil.[20] As done with Sultan al-Baibars.

Destruction of tomb

In 2015, during the ongoing Syrian Civil War, his tomb was demolished by rebels linked to Al Nusra.[25]

Works

During his life of 45 years[26] he wrote "at least fifty books"[27] 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:

Recent English language editions

Minhaj al-Talibin

The Forty Hadith

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadith

Riyad al-Salihin

See also

References

  1. ^ Imam ash-Sharif Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan Al-Wasiti al-Husayni d. 776 A.H al-Matalib Al-‘Aliyyah fit-Tabaqat ash-Shafi’iyyah
  2. ^ Mirza, Younus Y. (1 February 2014). "Was Ibn Kathīr the 'Spokesperson' for Ibn Taymiyya? Jonah as a Prophet of Obedience". Journal of Qur'anic Studies. 16 (1): 4. doi:10.3366/jqs.2014.0130. ISSN 1465-3591.
  3. ^ Namira Nahouza (2018). Wahhabism and the Rise of the New Salafists: Theology, Power and Sunni Islam. I.B. Tauris. pp. 121–122. ISBN 9781838609832.
  4. ^ "The Ash'ari School, by Muhammad 'Alawi al-Maliki". masud.co.uk. 29 October 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  5. ^ "Imam al-Nawawi was an Ash'ari". www.darultahqiq.com. Archived from the original on 4 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  6. ^ Muhammad ibn 'Alawi al-Maliki. "The Ash'ari School". As-Sunnah Foundation of America. Archived from the original on 12 January 2021. Shaykh al-Islam Ahmad ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani (d. 852/1449; Rahimahullah), the mentor of Hadith scholars and author of the book "Fath al-Bari bi-Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari", which not a single Islamic scholar can dispense with, was Ash'ari. The shaykh of the scholars of Sunni Islam, Imam al-Nawawi (d. 676/1277; Rahimahullah), author of "Sharh Sahih Muslim" and many other famous works, was Ash'ari. The master of Qur'anic exegetes, Imam al-Qurtubi (d. 671/1273; Rahimahullah), author of "al-Jami' li-Ahkam al-Qur'an", was Ash'ari. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 974/1567; Rahimahullah), who wrote "al-Zawajir 'an Iqtiraf al-Kaba'ir", was Ash'ari. The Shaykh of Sacred Law and Hadith, the conclusive definitive Zakariyya al-Ansari (d. 926/1520; Rahimahullah), was Ash'ari. Imam Abu Bakr al-Baqillani (d. 403/1013; Rahimahullah), Imam al-'Asqalani; Imam al-Nasafi (d. 710/1310; Rahimahullah); Imam al-Shirbini (d. 977/1570; Rahimahullah); Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi, author of the Qur'anic commentary "al-Bahr al-Muhit"; Imam Ibn Juzayy (d. 741/1340; Rahimahullah); author of "al-Tashil fi 'Ulum al-Tanzil"; and others – all of these were Imams of the Ash'aris.
  7. ^ "Ahl al-Sunna: The Ash'aris - The Testimony and Proofs of the Scholars". almostaneer.com (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  8. ^ Bennett, Clinton (15 January 2015). The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 128. ISBN 9781472586902.
  9. ^ "kitaabun-Classical and Contemporary Muslim and Islamic Books". Kitaabun.com. 23 January 2003. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  10. ^ Atlas, Jonas. Re-visioning Sufism. Yunus Publishing, 2019. pp.13-15
  11. ^ a b c d Ludwig W. Adamec (2009), Historical Dictionary of Islam, pp.238-239. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810861615.
  12. ^ Fachrizal A. Halim (2014), Legal Authority in Premodern Islam: Yahya B Sharaf Al-Nawawi in the Shafi'i School of Law, p. 1. Routledge. ISBN 041574962X.
  13. ^ Mubarakpuri, Safi Ur Rahman. Collection from Riyad us Saliheen. Darussalam. p. 5.
  14. ^ a b c d e Thatcher, Griffithes Wheeler (1911). "Nawāwī" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 318.
  15. ^ "Imam An-Nawawi". Dar-Us-Salam Publications. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  16. ^ "The Imam". 40 Hadithnawaw. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  17. ^ "40hadithnawawi.com". 40hadithnawawi.com. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  18. ^ Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi. 18 vols. Cairo 1349/1930. Reprint (18 vols. in 9). Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1401/1981, 5.24
  19. ^ "Amon our perennial faculty". Zaytuna College. Archived from the original on 22 March 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  20. ^ a b c d e f Biography of Imam Al-Nawawi by Sheikh Navaid Aziz, retrieved 12 September 2022
  21. ^ Dekmejian, R. Hrair (1995). Islam in Revolution: Fundamentalism in the Arab World Contemporary issues in the Middle East (illustrated, reprint, revised ed.). Syracuse University Press. p. 38. ISBN 0815626355.
  22. ^ Zarabozo, Jamaal al-Din M. (2008). Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi (2-Volume Set). Denver: Al-Basheer Company. p. 37.
  23. ^ "40 Hadiths of Imam Nawawi". 40HadithNawawi. Muslim American Society. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  24. ^ "Who Was Imam Al Nawawi (R)". Youtube. 17 June 2014. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.((cite web)): CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  25. ^ "Syrian fighters destroy historic Muslim tomb". Al Jazeera English. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  26. ^ "A Short Biography of Imaam an-Nawawi". Islaam.net. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  27. ^ Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo, Commentary on the Forty Hadith of Al-Nawawi, Volume 1, Al-Basheer Publication & Translation (1999), p. 33
  28. ^ "الرئيسة - الحديث - موقع الإسلام". Hadith.al-islam.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2006. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  29. ^ Ali, Mufti. "METODE AL-SUYUTI MERINGKAS AL-RADD ‘ALA'L-MANTIQIYYIN KARYA IBN TAYMIYYA." Al Qalam 22.3 (2005): 397.
  30. ^ Manual Islam. Nawawis Al Maqasid. ASIN 1590080114.

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