Loading AI tools
Syrian Sunni Shafi'ite jurist and hadith scholar (1233–1277) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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] 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).[13]
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Arabic. (June 2016) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Title | Shaykh ul-Islam[1] Qutb al-Awliya' al-Shaykhayn Al-Ḥāfiẓ |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Muharram 631 AH/ October 1233 |
| Died | 24 Rajab 676 AH [2]/ 21 December 1277 (age 45) Nawa, Mamluk Sultanate |
| Resting place | Nawa, present Syria |
| Main interest(s) | Fiqh, Usul, Hadith, Mantiq |
| Occupation | Historiographer, bibliographer, scholar, jurist. |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| School | Shafi'i[3] |
| Creed | Ash'ari[4][5][6][7][8][9] |
| Muslim leader | |
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.[14]
He studied in Damascus from the age of 18 and after making the pilgrimage in 1253, he settled there as a private scholar.[15]
During his stay at Damascus, he studied from more than twenty teachers[16][17] 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.[18]
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.[19]
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,[20] Al-Nawawi wrote that if Baybars did not stop taxing its residents abusively then Allah will tax his misdeed in the afterlife.[21] This prompted Baybars to threaten to expel him from Damascus.[22] 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."[23]
Sheikh Navaid Aziz stated a popular tale of when 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.[21]
He died at Nawa at the relatively young age of 45.
An-Nawawi's lasting legacy is his contribution to hadith literature through his momentous works Forty Hadiths and Riyadh as-Saaliheen.[24] This made him respected in all madhabs, despite him being of Shafi'i jurisprudence.[25] 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.[21] Ulama's praise him for 3 characteristics:
In 2015, during the ongoing Syrian Civil War, his tomb was demolished by rebels linked to Al Nusra.[26]
During his life of 45 years[27] he wrote "at least fifty books"[28] 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:
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
