Imam An-Nawawi

Imam an-Nawawi: Dates, School of Thought, and Works

• Full name: Abu Zakariya Muhyi ad-Din Yahya ibn Sharaf ibn Muri an-Nawawi ad-Dimashqi (يحيى بن شرف النووي).
• Birth: in Muharram 631 AH (1233 CE), in the village of Nawa, in the Hawran region, south of Damascus. His name comes from this village.
• Moved to Damascus: in 649, at the age of eighteen. He would spend approximately twenty-eight years there.
• Legal school: Shafi’i. He is known as the “Sheikh of the Shafi’is,” and his opinion is considered authoritative within the school.
• Position: Director of Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyya, one of the most prestigious hadith institutions in Damascus.
• Death: in the last third of the night of Wednesday, the 25th of Rajab 676, corresponding to December 22, 1277, in Nawa, at the age of 45.
• Most widely circulated works: *Riyad al-Salihin* and *Al-Arba’un al-Nawawiyyah*, found in nearly every family library in the Muslim world.
• Key work: *Al-Manhaj Sharh Sahih Muslim*, his comprehensive commentary on Muslim’s collection.

Forty-five years, twenty-eight of which were spent in a single room

There is a striking disparity in this biography: a brief life, a tiny geographical scope, and a body of work that has spanned eight centuries without losing a single reader.

Yahya an-Nawawi was born in 631 AH in Nawa, a village in the Syrian Hawran region. Around the age of ten, his father placed him in a shop to introduce him to commerce, but the child neglected the sales and recited the Qur’an instead. A scholar passing through, noticing that the boy would run away in tears from children who wanted to drag him off to play so he could return to his reading, went to find his father and advised him to devote the boy to his studies. The advice was followed.

At the age of eighteen, he left for Damascus and settled at the Rawahiyya madrasa. There, for nearly twenty-eight years, he occupied a small room where he studied, taught, and wrote. He never married, sought no lucrative position, and took over the leadership of Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyya, the city’s most renowned hadith institution. He then returned to Nawa, where he died at the age of forty-five.

Forty-five years, about twenty of which were truly productive, resulting in an entire library of works. It was this pace of work, as much as the quality of his output, that impressed his contemporaries and continues to impress today.

Two Books That Almost Everyone Owns

If you ask a French-speaking Muslim family which religious works they have at home, two titles almost always come up: *Riyad as-Salihin* and *The Forty Hadiths*. Both are by an-Nawawi, and many readers are unaware that they have the same author.

This widespread circulation is no accident. Riyad as-Salihin is a thematic anthology: the author compiled hadiths dealing with behavior, sincerity, patience, family relations, and speech, and organized them into short chapters preceded by verses. You can open it to any page. The Forty Hadiths take this logic even further: a collection of brief, fundamental texts, designed to be memorized, that fits in a pocket.

For a reader learning Arabic, this structure is a gift. A hadith is three lines long. You read five of them, close the book, and pick it up again the next day without losing your place. No classic work offers such an accessible entry point.

What is intended for everyone and what pertains to the Shafi’i school

Here is a distinction that catalogs never make, yet one that should guide your purchase.

An-Nawawi is, above all, the preeminent authority of the Shafi’i school: it is said that he established and systematized its positions, and it has become customary among Shafi’is to follow his rulings. His works on fiqh, foremost among them *Minhaaj al-Taalibeen* and *Rawdat al-Taalibeen*, are therefore school texts. They are essential if you are studying according to this madhhab, which is the dominant school of thought in Egypt, Southeast Asia, and parts of East Africa, but of limited interest if you are following a different curriculum.

His works on hadith and conduct, on the other hand, do not belong to any particular school. *Riyad al-Salihin*, the *Forty Hadiths*, *al-Adhkar*, and his commentary on *Sahih Muslim* are read everywhere, across all curricula, regardless of madhhab. These are the works you should look for if you are not specifically studying Shafi’i law.

His works

Riyad al-Salihin

His anthology of hadiths organized by topics of conduct. The most widely circulated work of his entire body of work, and one of the most widely printed religious books in the world. Short chapters, brief hadiths, and verses at the beginning of each section. It has been extensively commented on, notably by Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin, whose commentary is the most widely read today.

The Forty Fundamental Hadiths

The most studied collection of fundamental hadiths in history, serving as the basis for dozens of commentaries. Pocket-sized, with vocalized text in most editions, designed for memorization.

الأذكار

A collection of invocations and remembrances, organized according to times of day and circumstances. A work intended for daily consultation rather than sequential reading.

Al-Manhaj: Commentary on Sahih Muslim

His comprehensive commentary on Muslim’s collection, in several volumes. A completed work—unlike some of his other major projects—and one of the most widely consulted hadith commentaries in existence.

Al-Majmu‘ Sharh al-Muhadhdhab

His major work on comparative fiqh, which remained unfinished at the time of his death and was later completed by other scholars. A work for specialists, in numerous volumes.

Manhaaj al-Talibeen

The foundational text of late Shafi’i fiqh, extremely concise, and continuously annotated for seven centuries. Intended for those studying this madhhab.

Rawdat al-Talibin

His other major work on Shafi'i law, more comprehensive, in several volumes.

Al-Tibyan fi Adab Hamalat al-Qur’an

A short treatise on the etiquette related to the Qur’an, its recitation, and its memorization. A concise and accessible text, often given to students who are beginning their memorization.

Which version of *Riyad as-Salihin* to choose

This is the real pitfall with this author, because the same title covers at least four different works.

First, the bare text: the hadiths alone, without any commentary, in a compact volume. This is the lightest and least expensive version, perfect for reading or memorization, but it provides no information on the degree of authenticity or the meaning of difficult passages.

Next comes the text with source citations: the hadiths accompanied by their references and a judgment of authenticity in the footnotes. A slight extra cost, same bulk, valuable information. This offers the best balance between usefulness and size.

The annotated text forms the third category, spanning several volumes depending on the chosen commentator. This is what you need if you want a deep understanding, but the nature of the work changes: it no longer fits in a bag.

That leaves the abridged editions or those intended for children, which select only a portion of the hadiths. They have their uses, provided you realize you are not purchasing the complete work.

On each entry in our catalog, we specify which of these versions it is, along with the number of volumes, the actual page count, and the state of vocalization.

Buy Imam an-Nawawi’s Books in Arabic

Al