Students of Knowledge
It is important for us to learn about the lives of the great scholars of the past, their lives can be a source of inspiration and guidance for us, in their stories we can find necessary ingredients for success and achievements. One such scholar was Imam Nawawi famous for his collection of 40 Ahadith.
In the introduction to his Master’s Thesis on An-Nawawi, Ahmad al-Haddad echoed these views when he stated, “It is hoped that this biography will bring to us and the coming generations great benefits with respect to seriousness and striving for knowledge, with respect to asceticism and fearing Allah.”
Muhy ud-Din Abu Zakariyyah Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Hizami an-Nawawi was born in the 631H (1233CE) in the village of Nawa, south of Damascus, Syria. Because of his birth place Nawa, he was given the name of An-Nawawi.
An-Nawawi did not come from a well-known family but his father had a reputation of being very pious and God-fearing.
From his youth, Yahya an-Nawawi turned his attention to his studies specially memorizing Quran. He used to hate any activity that would take him away from memorizing the Qur’an. It is not surprising then that he memorized the Qur’an at an early age. When he finished memorizing Quran and learned all which was possible in his town Nawa, his father took him to Damascus to continue his studies. He excelled in the Shafi’i school of fiqh, memorizing some of its most important texts.
An-Nawawi first studied at the Saramiyyah School in Damascus, and then he joined Rawahiyyah School. There he was given a very small room in which he lived for numbers of years until he was named the head of the Ashrafiyyah School. It was stated that, the room was so small and full with the books that if any one visit him, the only way one could sit down was to remove the books and pile them on top of each other.
He used to utilize every moment of the day and night in attaining knowledge, at one point of time; he was attending twelve lectures a day on assorted topics, including Arabic language, hadith, fiqh and Islamic legal theory. Even when he was walking on the streets he used go over what he had learned and he would review his notes. He continued gaining knowledge this way for a period of six years.”
His pursuit of knowledge dominated his entire life. He put all of his time into studying, learning, and teaching. It is stated that he would not sleep except when sleep would overtake him; he would always study and write until sleep overtook while in a sitting position. He used to lean on his books and rest for a while and once he is awake he will start studying again. He once said about himself, “I spent two years without lying on the ground [to sleep] on my side.”
Some of his well-known teachers included Ishaq ibn Ahmad al-Maghrabi al-Maqdisi (d. 650H), ‘Abdur-Rahman al-Anbari (d. 661H) and ‘Abdul-‘Aziz al-Ansari (d. 662H). He studied Sahih Muslim from Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Wasiti. In 655H, at the age of 24, he began teaching at the Ashrafiyyah school. His reputation and excellence as a scholar began to be recognized by the scholars and inhabitants of Damascus.
He dedicated all of his time to work and worship instead of the pleasures of this life. Al-Haddad quotes saying of An-Nawawi “knowledge is not attained by rest; a person will not receive even a part of knowledge unless he dedicates himself to it. If a person dedicates all of himself towards gaining knowledge, then he may achieve a portion of it.” Al-Haddad states that perhaps this was An-Nawawi’s perception of knowledge; he left his heart completely free and open to receive the blessed knowledge.
An-Nawawi led a simple and pure life, although it would have been possible for him to live in luxury, given his teaching position and influence. He did not accept a stipend for his teaching, except for first year or two of his carrier. However, after that time, he refused to accept any money whatsoever for his services. The money he did receive was spent on books that were left as endowment after him.
Imam Nawawi has large collection of books, he benefited greatly from these books and numerous people have benefited from his lectures and writings.
Adapted from the article on:
http://sunnahonline.com/library/biographies/366-nawawi
A small note on another great scholar Imam Shafai’. He referred Quran from beginning to end 300 times to find reference of any ayat in Quran about ‘Ijtima’, which he at last found in Surat-un-nisa (From audio lecture of Dr. Israr Ahmed..Bayan-ul-Quran).
