The 100 Greatest Muslims (2022): 85 - Al-Nawawi, The 13th Century Author of "Forty Hadith"

Abu Zakariyya Yaḥya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi (b. Muharram 631 AH/October 1233 CC, Nawa, Ayyubid Sultanate [near Damascus, Syria] – d. 36 Rajab 676 AH/December 21, 1277, Nawa, Mamluk Sultanate [near Damascus, Syria]), popularly known as al-Nawawi or Imam Nawawi, was a Shafi'ite jurist and hadithi scholar. He authored numerous and lengthy works ranging from hadith, to theology, biography, and jurisprudence. 

Al-Nawawi was born at Nawa, a town near Damascus, Syria.  As with Arabic and other Semitic languages, the last part of his name refers to his hometown.  As a youth, al-Nawawi's father took al-Nawawi to Damascus to further his education and also took him on a pilgrimage -- on a hajj -- to Mecca.  At first, al-Nawawi intended to pursue medicine but eventually shifted his focus to religious studies.  Al-Nawawi excelled in the Islamic sciences and by his early forties had achieved an unrivaled reputation.  

Al-Nawawi never married.  He was known for his ascetic and celibate lifestyle.  Biographers of al-Nawawi capture his deep dedication to learning.  Al-Nawawi studied day and night, sacrificing sleep to keep a punishing peace and drilling himself with memorized lessons even as he walked the city streets.  His health suffered from these self-imposed demands, and he died at the relatively young age of 44 in December 1277 at his father's house in Nawa. 

A juror and scholar of hadith, al-Nawawi composed legal works that are considered definitive by the Shafi'i school, and his collections of hadith are esteemed for their rigorous standards of authentication. 

Al-Nawawi's lasting legacy is his contribution to hadith literature through his momentous works Forty Hadiths and Riyadh as-Saaliheen. These works made al-Nawawi respected in all madhabs, despite him being of the Shafi'i jurisprudence school. 

Although he is remembered for his outstanding Shafi'i legal works, al-Nawawi is best remembered for his work on hadith.  Al-Nawawi composed one of the best regarded commentaries on the authentic collection of hadith compiled by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (821-875) and partial treatments of the compilations of al-Bukhari (810-870) and Abu Da'ud (c. 817-889).  Al-Nawawi also compiled his own collection, creating concise digests of the most treasured hadith. Realizing that the average Muslim would find the massive compendia of al-Bukhari and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj inaccessible and overwhelming, al-Nawawi composed handbooks that organized the material thematically.  Two frequently reprinted examples of these handbooks are Forty Hadiths and Gardens of the Righteous.

In his introduction to Gardens of the Righteous, al-Nawawi emphasizes the moral purpose of the work.  The believer is enjoined to obey God and thereby attain paradise in the next life. The best way to obey God, according to al-Nawawi, is to follow the practice of God's messenger, Muhammad.  To study the Prophet's words and actions prepares the believer to model his own behavior upon that of God's beloved ideal.  A life lived in imitation of Muhammad is a life conformed to the will and guidance of God.  Just as the Prophet's life was shaped by his reception of the Qur'an, so too must the believer's life be shaped.  

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Nahouza, Namira (2018).  Wahhabism and the Rise of the New Salafists: Theology, Power and Sunni Islam; I. B. Tauris.

Zarabozo, Jamaal al-Din M. (2008). Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi (2-Volume Set); Denver: Al-Basheer Company.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Nawawi

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