His Major Works: Riyadh as-Salihin, Minhaj at-Talibin, and the Arbaeen

Despite living only forty-five years, Imam al-Nawawi produced a body of scholarly work that would have been impressive for a man who lived twice as long. His major works span the fields of hadith, fiqh, hadith biography, Arabic language, and general Islamic knowledge, and many of them remain in active use in Islamic education to this day.

Riyadh as-Salihin (The Gardens of the Righteous) is perhaps al-Nawawi's most widely read and beloved work — a comprehensive anthology of hadith arranged by subject matter, with particular emphasis on ethical and spiritual guidance. The book's organization — moving through topics from sincerity in worship, repentance, and patience, to specific relationships and duties — makes it both a comprehensive ethical guide and a practical reference for daily Islamic life. The Quran verses and hadiths al-Nawawi selected, and the subtle wisdom with which he arranged them, have made Riyadh as-Salihin a standard text in Islamic education across all schools and traditions. Few Islamic texts have been as widely studied, as frequently quoted, or as deeply loved by ordinary Muslims.

Minhaj at-Talibin (The Way of the Seekers) is the most systematic and comprehensive treatment of Shafi'i jurisprudence in the tradition. Al-Nawawi composed it as a concise, authoritative statement of the positions of the Shafi'i school — refining and correcting the earlier work of al-Rafii that had become the standard reference. The Minhaj became the central text of Shafi'i legal education and has remained so for over seven centuries. The commentaries written on it — most notably the Mughni al-Muhtaj of al-Khatib al-Shirbini and the Tuhfat al-Muhtaj of Ibn Hajar al-Haytami — are among the most authoritative works in the Shafi'i tradition and together constitute an enormous scholarly apparatus built upon al-Nawawi's foundation.

Al-Arbaeen al-Nawawiyyah (The Forty Hadiths of al-Nawawi) is possibly the most widely memorized and studied hadith collection in Islam after the six canonical collections. Al-Nawawi selected forty-two hadiths — extending slightly beyond forty for completeness — that he considered to contain the fundamental principles of the religion: the hadith of intentions, the hadith of the angel Gabriel on Islam, Iman, and Ihsan, the hadith on what is forbidden, the hadith on innovation, and other foundational texts. His selection reflects extraordinary jurisprudential and pedagogical wisdom: these forty-two hadiths function as a condensed curriculum in Islamic ethics and theology. Generations of Muslim students have memorized the Arbaeen as their first hadith collection, and the tradition of producing commentaries on it has generated some of the finest accessible Islamic scholarly literature.

Al-Nawawi's other major works include: Al-Majmu' Sharh al-Muhadhdhab, the largest and most comprehensive commentary in the Shafi'i tradition, which he left unfinished at his death but which was completed by later scholars; Al-Adhkar, a comprehensive collection of prophetic supplications for daily life; Sharh Sahih Muslim, a commentary on Imam Muslim's Sahih that remains among the most authoritative treatments of that collection; Tahdhib al-Asma wal-Lughat, a biographical dictionary of scholars and an Arabic linguistic study; and Al-Maqasid, a condensed manual of Islamic practice for the general Muslim.