Question:
Asselamu ve aleykum Effendi
Effendi Imam Nawawi was Shadhili Tariqah? What books can I read about the tariqa of Imam Nawawi?
Allah Razi Olsun
Answer:
`Alaykum as-Salam,
Shaykh al-Islam Muhyi al-Din Yahya b. Sharaf, known as Imam Nawawi (631-676) was from the seventh Hijri century physically, but spiritually he was from an earlier time.
He was a strict ascetic (zahid) in the manner of the early Muslims, neither eating nor sleeping except out of necessity. He fasted permanently all year long as did many of the great Sahaba and Tabi`in, eating a simple dish after `isha and drinking some water before dawn, once every twenty-four hours. He never married. He owned only one long shirt and a small turban, dividing his time between worship and teaching. He died in his father’s house after returning from a trip to Quds, after a short illness, aged 45. He had so much hayba and sultan that his contemporaries held him in awe. He went to the palace of the
King of Syria al-Malik al-Zahir several times, each time admonishing him over the rights of the Ummah. That king declared once that he was scared of Imam al-Nawawi. Among his main teachers was Ibn Malik, the author of the “Alfiyya” (1,000-line poem on grammar), who is buried on Mount Qasyoun in Damascus next to Grandshaykh Mawlana Shaykh Abd Allah Fa’iz al-Daghistani (quddisa sirruh).
His biographer Imam al-Sakhawi said that al-Nawawi often met with Sayyidina al-Khidr (upon him peace), so that is his Tariqa. He also especially loved Abu Yazid al-Bistami (quddisa sirruh). You can read al-Nawawi’s book, “Bustan al-`Arifin“, the Grove of Gnostics.
Allah be well-pleased with him and grant him the highest Paradises.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
