If knowledge were a tree, Imam Nawawi was the mountain upon which it grew—fertile, firm, and free from vanity. His blessings as a teacher were not counted in titles or degrees, but in the sheer number of souls he ignited with light.
He was, quite simply, rich in students.
His closest disciple, the loyal and eloquent Ibn al-ʿAṭṭār, once said: “A great gathering of scholars, masters of ḥadīth, jurists of deep insight, and notable figures from all walks of knowledge drank from the stream of Imam Nawawi.
Many who studied with him spread across distant lands, carrying with them his fatāwā, his clarity, and his truth. His legacy became global.”
Among them were some of the greatest legal scholars, whose verdicts (fatāwā)—drawn from Nawawi’s instruction—found their way into far-flung cities, from Damascus to the edges of the Islamic world.
The Chosen One
And yet, for all his students, Imam Nawawi favored one above all: Ibn al-ʿAṭṭār.
He didn’t treat him like a student.
He treated him like a shadow.
He never assigned anyone else to serve him—not for fetching books, nor tending to meals, nor organizing his notes. All of that fell to Ibn al-ʿAṭṭār. And for the student, this was no burden. It was his life’s greatest honor.
He once said: “My master advised me in everything—even over the thoughts in my mind. He guided my soul..
I read to him countless books. I copied and refined his writings.
Once, he gave me a stack of pages and said: ‘If I die, complete my commentary on al-Muhadhdhab in my name.’
But fate did not grant me that chance.
I only knew him for six years— From 670 AH until his passing.
Yet those years were my treasure.”
A Lineage of Luminaries
The list of Imam Nawawi’s students reads like a constellation. Here are just a few stars:
- Al-Fāḍil Abū al-ʿAbbās
- Ibn al-Naqīb
- Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Khāliq al-Dimashqī
- Faqīh al-Khallāl
- Jibrīl al-Kurdī
- Shaykh Amīn al-Dīn
- Qāḍī Jamāl al-Dīn
- Qāḍī Ṣadr al-Dīn
- Abū al-Faraj al-Maqdisī
- ʿAlāʾ al-Maqdisī
- ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Samhūdī
- Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ al-Dīn
- Shams al-Dīn al-Bayṭār
- Shihāb al-Dīn al-Irbidī
- ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī
- Shihāb al-Dīn Ibn Kathīr
This is but a small portion of a vast garden. Many others received ijāzāt—grants of scholarly authority—from Imam Nawawi, in jurisprudence, ḥadīth, grammar, ethics, and more.
The Tale of the Jinn
And then—a curious story whispered through the pages of scholarship.
According to ʿAllāmah Abū Zakariyyā al-Manāwī, who transmits from Abū Zurʿah al-ʿIrāqī, even the jinn sought knowledge from Imam Nawawi.
It is said: “One day, a jinn student arrived in the form of a serpent.”
The other students panicked. But the Shaykh, calm as ever, looked directly at the creature and said: “Haven’t I already told you not to appear in that form?”
From that day forward, the jinn and his human classmates formed a quiet pact of learning—bound by the gravity of Nawawi’s presence and the sanctity of sacred knowledge.
An Ocean of Students
To sit at Imam Nawawi’s feet meant a an eternal transformation.
And those who studied under him—whether from Damascus or the unseen world—carried his legacy like torches across continents and centuries.
They became his living books.
He, their invisible ink. And thus, his promise lived true: “Even if I die, my writings shall not.”
But nor did his students—They became the living echoes of his wisdom, The walking, weeping, whispering carriers of a light that still glows today.
