Al-Nawawi arrives in Damascus and lodges at the Rawahiyya madrasa, 649/1251

النووي يقدم دمشق ويسكن المدرسة الرواحية، ٦٤٩هـ/١٢٥١م

c. 1251 CE · 649 AH

Damascus

In 649/1251, past the age of nineteen, al-Nawawi's father brought him to Damascus, where he lodged at the al-Rawahiyya madrasa. He began with medicine but soon turned to the religious sciences, reading twelve lessons a day with the shaykhs; in his own words he spent about two years without laying his side on the ground, living on the madrasa's allowance 1 2 3.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Region
Levant & Iraq

In time

1240125012601270 c.
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era

In space

Damascus

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Overview

In 649/1251, past the age of nineteen, al-Nawawi's father brought him to Damascus, where he lodged at the al-Rawahiyya madrasa. He began with medicine but soon turned to the religious sciences, reading twelve lessons a day with the shaykhs; in his own words he spent about two years without laying his side on the ground, living on the madrasa's allowance 1 2 3." ur: "649ھ/1251ء میں، انیس سال کی عمر سے بگڑھ کر، نووی کے والد انہیں دمشق لے آئے جہاں وہ مدرسہ رواحیہ میں رہے۔ انہوں نے پہلے طب شروع کیا مگر جلد دینی علوم کی طرف متوجہ ہوئے اور روزانہ بارہ اسباق مشائخ سے پڑھتے؛ ان کا اپنا بیان ہے کہ تقریباً دو سال انہوں نے پہلو زمین پر نہیں رکھا اور ان کا خرچ مدرسے کی جرائیہ تھا 1 2 3۔

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
Imam al-Nawawi
Occurred at
Damascus
During the reign of
al-Musta'sim bi'llah Abdullah ibn al-Mustansir, last caliph of Baghdad

People and things also explored

Al-Nawawi begins writing, c. 655/1257· Al-Nawawi takes over the al-Ashrafiyya dar al-hadith in Damascus, 665/1267· Baybars expels al-Nawawi from Damascus to Nawa, 676/1277· Al-Nawawi finishes the Minhaj and the Rawda, 669/1270-71· Al-Nawawi completes al-Tahrir fi alfaz al-Tanbih, 671/1272-73· Death of Ibn al-Salah at Damascus and burial in the Sufi cemetery, 25 Rabi' II 643/Sept. 1245· Jamal al-Din al-Mizzi· the Cave of Qasyun (Jibril's Cave)

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 7 p. 1096
  2. al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya — Ibn Kathir , p. 293-294
  3. Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p. 354-355
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Al-Nawawi arrives in Damascus and lodges at the Rawahiyya madrasa, 649/1251”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/al-nawawi-damascus-649/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-09.

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Related

Al-Nawawi begins writing, c. 655/1257

Around 655/1257 al-Nawawi began composing books, after nearly twenty years of day-and-night study had carried him past all his peers; al-Dhahabi places the start of his writing 'about 660' and says he wrote until his death. Among his earliest works were al-Tahrir fi alfaz al-Tanbih and al-Umda fi tashih al-Tanbih.