Imām Abū Zakariyyah Yahya Ibn Sharaf An-Nawawī – rahimahullāh – was a great man. He was born 631 After-the-Hijrah and excelled his century in Fiqh, Hadīth and Wara’a (Scrupulousness).
He so much excelled in scholarship that he was the Shaykh of Dāru Al-Hadīth Al-Ashrafiyyah which was the Pivotal School of Hadīth in the Muslim world at the time. Never did An-Nawawī author a book except that it became simpler and more appreciated than any other book written in that subject by other Scholars. For this reason, his Choices became the Official position in the Shāfi’ī School of Fiq’h.
An-Nawawī – rahimahullāh – left this lowly world 676 years after the Hijrah of the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – at the age of 45 after excelling to the heights of knowledge and leaving behind him a Legacy of Knowledge and Piety that man cannot do without till the Day of Resurrections.
Amongst his excellence is the ‘Arba’ūn. It is simple in itself but all encompassing in its meanings.
Do not fall into the category of people who take the ‘Arba’ūn as a small book they can suffice by reading in Secondary School Islamic Studies..
No, the Arba’ūn is richer than that. Its commentary was written by Experts in Ilm in two volumes. Its meanings are not comprehended without it’s Commentary’s thorough Study.
Don’t then be among the Jāhils out there who think they have known and comprehended its meanings even though they didn’t study the text under a competent Teacher and Shaykh.
If you haven’t, seek for a Shaykh that have perfected a study of it’s Shar’h (commentary) and sit humbly to travel its path of Knowledge. You will surely realise that you have known close to nothing of it all this while…
Bārakallāhu fīkum
