Biographies - Imam Nawawi

Birth and Birth place:
The complete name ofImam Nawawiis Abu Zakaria Mohiuddin Yahya, son of
Sharaf An-Nawawi, son of Murry,son of Hassan, son of Hussain, son of
Muhammad, son of Juma,son of Hazam. Nawawi refers to Nawa, a place
near Damascus, in the suburb of the city of Howran. One of his
ancestors named Hazam had settled at this place.Imam Nawawiwas born at
Nawa in the year 631 A.H. His father, a virtuous and pious man,
resolved to arrange for proper and befitting education as he had
discovered the symptoms of heavenly intelligence and wisdom in his
promising child at an early stage.
Shaikh Yasin bin Yousuf Marakashi, a saintly figure of Nawa says: "I
sawImam Nawawiat 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 wouldremain 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 sagacityand 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 and most pious saint
of future. 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 teacherconveyed this
incident to Imam's father and he keeping in view the learning quest of
his son, decided to dedicate the life of his son for the service and
promotion ofthe cause of Islamic Faith.
In a short period, Nawawi learnt to read the Holy Qur'an and by that
time he nearly had attained puberty. Nawa had no academic or scholarly
atmosphere andthere were no religious academies or institutes where
one could earn excellence in religious learning, so his father took
him to Damascus, which was considered the center of learning and
scholarship, and the students from far and wide gathered there for
schooling. During that period, there were more than three hundred
institutes, colleges and universities in Damascus. Imam Nawawi joined
Madrasah Rawahiyah which was affiliated withthe Ummvi University. The
founder and patron of this Madrasah was a trader named Zakiuddin
Abul-Qassim who was known as Ibn Rawahah. Madrasah was named after
him. Noted and eminent teachers of the period taught in that Madrasah.
Imam Nawawi says, "I studied in this institution for two years. During
my stay in Madrasah Rawahiyah, I never had complete rest and lived on
the limited food supplied by the institution." As a routine he used to
sleep very little at night. When it became irresistible as a human
being, he would lean and slumber for a while against the supportof
books. After a short duration he would again be hard at his scholastic
pursuits.
His Teachers and Guides:
During his stay at Damascus, he studied from more than twenty
celebrated teachers. These teachers were regarded as masters and
authority of their subject field and disciplines they taught. Imam
studied Hadith, Islamic Jurisprudence, its principles, syntax and
Etymology from great scholars of his time. Abu Ibrahim Ishaq bin Ahmad
AI-Maghribi, Abu Muhammad Abdur-Rahman bin Ibrahim Al-Fazari,
Radiyuddin AbuIshaq 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-Rahmanbin Muhammad bin Ahmad
Al-Maqdisi, Abul-Fada'il Sallar bin Al-Hasan Al Arbali etc.
His Students:
There were hundreds of Imam's students, among them some notables are:
Alauddin bin Attar, Ibn Abbas Ahmad bin Ibrahim, Abul-Abbas
Al-Ja'fari, Abul-Abbas Ahmad bin Farah, Rashid Ismail bin Mu'allim
Al-Hanafi, Abu Abdullah Al-Hanbali, AbulAbbas Al-Wasti, Jamaluddin
Sulaiman bin Omar Az-Zar'i, AbulFaraj Abdur-Rahman bin Muhammad bin
Abdul-Hamid AlMaqdisi, Badr Muhammad bin Ibrahim, Shamsuddin Muhammad
bin Abu Bakr, Ash-Shihab Muhammad bin Abdul-Khaliq, Hibatullah
Al-Barizi, Abul-Hajjaj Yusuf bin Az-Zaki etc.
His Desire and Crave for Learning:
Imam Nawawi had endless thirst for knowledge, and it can beguessed
from his daily practice of studies. He used to read daily twelve
lessons and write explanation and commentary of every lesson and also
made important additions. Whatever the book ImamNawawi read, he put
down the marginal notesand explanations on that book. His
intelligence, hard work, love, devotion and absorption in his-studies
amazed his teachers and they become fond of him and began to praise
and admire him. According toImam 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 timecontemplating on the interacted and complex
issues and in finding their solutions. Allah had also conferred upon
him the gift of fast memory and depth of thought, and he who makes the
right use of this boon, there remains no doubt in his sagacity and
discernment. Imam Nawawi made full benefit of his God given qualities
and potentialities and earnedthe highest degree of honor.
Imam's Simplicity and Niceness of Manners:
The learned persons, eliteof the society and the public greatly
respected the Imam on account of his piety, learning and excellent
character. He used simple dress and atesimple food. Devout scholars do
not care about worldly chattels, they give preference to religious and
academic pursuits, propagation of Faith etc. They experience more
heavenly delight and joy in such activities than those who seek
satisfaction in luxurious foods, precious clothes and other worldly
things.Imam Nawawi had a prominent place among the erudite notables of
his age. He was God-fearing person having illustrious and glorious
aims regarding propagation of Faith. Celebrated Sheikh Mohiuddin
expresses his impression about Imam Nawawi as thus:
"Imam Nawawi had threedistinctive commendable qualities in his person.
If anybody have only one out of these three, people return to him in
abundance for guidance. First, having knowledge and its dissemination.
Second, to evade completely from the worldly inclinations, and the
third, inviting to all that is good ( Islam) enjoining Al-Ma'ruf
[i.e., Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam orders one to do] and
forbidding Al-Munkar [polytheism and disbelief and all that Islam has
forbidden]. Imam Nawawi had all three in him."
Imam Nawawi's worksand his death
The learned Imam had a very short life but even during this short
period, he had written a large number of books on different subjects.
Every work of the Imam is a masterwork and a treasure of knowledge.
Hundreds and thousands of people benefit from these works.
Some of the Prestigious Works of Imam Nawawi are:
Commentary on Sahih Al-Bukhari, Al-Minhaj fi Sharh Sahih Muslim,
Riyad-us-Saliheen, Kitab-ur-Raudah, Commentary on Mohadhdhab,
Tahdhib-ul-Asma was-Sifat, Kitab-ul-Adhkar, Arba'een, At-Taqreeb fi
Ilmil-Hadith wal-Irshad fihi, Kitab-ulMubhamat, At-Tibyan, Al-Idah fi
Manasikil-Hajj, Sharh Sahih AlBukhari (Naqis), Sharh Sunan Abi Dawud
(Naqis), Tabaqat Ash Shafi'iyah, Muhimmatul-Ahkam,
Manaqib-ush-Shafi'i, Bustan-ulArifeen, Al-Khulasatu fil-Hadith,
Mukhtasar At- Tirmidhi, A1Masa'il Al-Manthurah, Al-'Umdah fi
Tashihit-Tanbih and others.
After spending 28 years of age, Imam Nawawi returned to his hometown.
Soon after his arrival at Nawa, he felt ill and died. Imam Nawawi is
still living in the hearts of Muslims. His works are of everlasting
value. May Allah bless Imam Nawawi.