This biography is adapted from the introduction of IGI’s new translation of The 40 Hadith of Imam al-Nawawi, published in 2022.
Al-Nawawi is the Imam, the unique hafiz and exemplar, the Sheikh of Islam, the emblem of the saints, Muhyi al-Din Abu Zakariyyah Yahya ibn Sharaf ibn Murri al-Huzami al-Harani al-Shafi’i. He is the author of many beneficial works.
Imam al-Nawawi was born in the month of Muharram in the year 631 AH (October 1233 CE) and moved to Damascus in the year 649 AH (1251-1252 CE). There, he stayed in the madrasah ‘al-Rawahiyah’ living off of bread. He memorized al-Tanbih in four and a half months and spent the rest of the year studying and memorizing a quarter of al-Muhadhdhab with his sheikh, al-Kamal ibn Ahmad. After that, he performed hajj with his father and stayed in Madinah a month and a half. However, he was sick the majority of the trip.
Our Sheikh, Abu al-Hasan ibn ‘Attar stated that Sheikh Muhyi al-Din mentioned to him that. in the beginning of his studies, he would sit and take eleven lessons a day with his sheikhs: two lessons on al-Wasiṭ, one on al-Muhadhdhab, one on al-Jam’bayn al-Sahihayn, one on Muslim’s Sahih, one on al-Luma’ of Ibn Jinni, one on logic, one on Arabic morphology, one on the principles of jurisprudence, one on Hadith narrators, and one on the fundamentals of the religion (theology).
He, al-Nawawi, said:
“I would write down anything they mentioned related to the explanation of problematic words or expressions and correction of the texts and of expressions. Thus, Allah (Exalted is He) blessed me in my time. Then, the thought occurred to me to busy myself with the science of medicine. So I would busy myself with the book al-Qanun. However, my heart became dark, and I spent days without being able to dedicate any time to it. So [I] had pity on myself and sold al-Qanun and my heart became, again, illuminated.”