Bustan al-Arifin lil-Nawawi
- Author died
- 676 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Rayyān lil-Turāth
Bustan al-Arifin (The Garden of the Knowers) is a treatise on Sufism, spiritual ethics, and heart-softening traditions (tasawwuf and raqa'iq) by the Shafi'i jurist and hadith scholar Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi (631–676 AH / 1233–1277 CE) .
Subject and Content
The work belongs to the genre of spiritual discipline and ascetic wisdom . Following his regular compositional method, al-Nawawi opens the text with a section dedicated to sincerity and the cultivation of sound intention (al-ikhlas wa-istihdar al-niyyah), citing the foundational hadith on intentions and discussing why leading scholars—such as Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, and Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi—recommended initiating books and religious endeavors with this report .
Throughout the work, al-Nawawi compiles narrations, aphorisms, and spiritual insights regarding sincerity (ikhlas), truthfulness (sidq), asceticism (zuhd), and the miraculous graces of the righteous (karamat al-awliya) . Among the figures whose sayings he adduces are Dhu al-Nun al-Misri, Abu Uthman al-Maghribi, Hudhayfah al-Mar'ashi, al-Fudayl ibn Iyad, Makhul, Sahl al-Tustari, Sari al-Saqati, al-Harith al-Muhasibi, and al-Junayd al-Baghdadi . In certain places, al-Nawawi adds analytical commentary to clarify these sayings; for instance, he elucidates al-Junayd's remark regarding how the truthful person fluctuates between states by explaining that the truthful believer aligns with religious truth wherever it leads, transitioning to higher virtues as their spiritual realization deepens .
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscript copies of Bustan al-Arifin survive in multiple archival collections across the world, including the Berlin State Library, the National Library of Egypt (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya) and the Khedivial Library in Cairo, the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in Patna, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, the Central Library of King Saud University in Riyadh, and the Awqaf Library in Aleppo . The text has also been published in modern printed editions, including an edition issued by Dar al-Jaffan wa-al-Jabi .
Answer updated