The death of Imam al-Nawawi

Imam Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi died in his village of Nawa in the Hawran at forty-five years of age, leaving behind books that became mainstays of the Ummah: Riyad al-Salihin, the Forty Hadith, the commentary on Sahih Muslim, and al-Majmuʿ.

al-Nawawi came to Damascus as a youth and settled at the Rawahiyya school, devoted to knowledge. He would study twelve lessons a day with his teachers and let no moment of night or day be wasted, until he surpassed his peers in jurisprudence, hadith and language.

He combined knowledge with asceticism and scrupulousness; he accepted nothing from anyone, his clothing was coarse and his food scant, and he spoke the truth openly even before Sultan al-Zahir Baybars himself, in famous letters defending the people against taxes and confiscations.

In his short life he wrote what long-lived men could not: "Riyad al-Salihin," "al-Adhkar," "al-Arbaʿin," "Minhaj al-Talibin," "al-Minhaj" (commentary on Sahih Muslim) and "al-Majmuʿ." He returned late in life to Nawa and died there on 24 Rajab 676 AH; his books remain in every house of learning to this day.