 Birth and Birth place:
The complete name of Imam Nawawi is Abu
Zakaria Mohiuddin Yahya, son of Sharaf An-ÄNawawi, 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 Nawawi was 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 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 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 teacher
conveyed 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 of the 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 and
there 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 with the 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 support of 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 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 etc. 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 be guessed 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 he
read, he put down the marginal notes and 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 to Imam 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. 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 earned the highest degree of honor.
Imam's Simplicity and Niceness of
Manners:
The learned persons, elite of the society
and the public greatly respected the Imam on account of his piety,
learning and excellent character. He used simple dress and ate simple
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 three distinctive
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."
His works and 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 him.
|
