SYAIKH NAWAWI AL-BANTANI

One hundred and fourteen years after the death of Syaikh Yusuf al-Maqassari, Syaikh Nawawi al-Bantani was born in Tanara, Serang. In this period the Kingdom of Banten has disappeared. The kingdom, as other kingdoms in the archipelago, was occupied by the Dutch. As Azyumardi Azra states that in the time when Syaikh Yusuf al-Maqassari arrived in, Banten was the centre for Islamic studies. Achmad Djajadiningrat through his memoir affirms that from what he experienced, Banten was still Islamic, even the most religious among other regions in the archipelago. From the autobiography of Achmad Djajadiningrat and the biography of Syaikh Nawawi al-Bantani we know that both lived in the same period, although the last man was much older than the first at the time.

Syaikh Nawawi is the popular name of Abu ‘Abd al-Mu’ti Muhammad B. Umar B. ‘Arabi al-Tanari al-Bantani Al-Jawi al-Nawawi, henceforth Syaikh Nawawi or Nawawi. He was born in 1813 in the village of Tanara, Tirtayasa, Serang, Banten and died in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1897. He is the first of six children of the penghulu Umar and the native villager Jubaidah. Ahmad Syihabuddin, Sa’id, Tamin, Abdullah, Syakilah, and Syahriah are his brothers and sister. Umar died when Syaikh Nawawi was 13 years old.
Pertaining to his education, he got his first education from his father and further education from Hajji Sahalin in Banten and Raden Hajji Yusuf in Karawang. Like other children in Banten, he also entered a pesantren. In this case he entered a pesantren in Cikampek, West Java. Afterwards, he and his brothers travelled to Mecca for a pilgrimage. After he finished his hajj, he remained there for approximately three years.

In Mecca he studied under the ulamas Sayid Ahmad Nahrawi, Sayid Ahmad Dimyati, Sayid Ahmad Zain Dahlan, Khatib Sambas, ‘Abd al-Ghani Bima, and Yusuf Saumbulawini, Ahmad Nahrawi, and Yusuf al-Daghistani. He also studied in Madina under Syaikh Mohammad Khotib Alhambali. Moreover, he continued his education to Syiria and Egypt. In 1833 he returned to Banten, but he then decided to revert to Mecca. There is no an exact reason why he did not live in Banten but chose Mecca as the place where he spent his life. One opinion states that he could not bear under the Dutch’s pressure and another affirms that he felt comfortable to the educational system there.

Later Syaikh Nawawi was known as Fuqaha and the last Hukamaa, Ulama from Hijaz, Imamul Ulama al-Haramain, and a professor at Nasyrul Ma’arif Diniyah in Mecca. From 1860 to 1870, “Every morning, between 07.30 and 12.00 noon, he gave about three lectures…” and they were always attended by numerous students. Some of his students from the region which is now known as Indonesia are KH Khalil Madura (East Java), KH Hasyim As’ari Jombang (East Java), KH Raden Asnawi Kudus (Central Jawa Tengah), KH Asy’ari of Bawean, KH Nahjun of Tangerang, KH Tubagus Mohammad Asnawi of Caringin (Banten), KH Ilyas of Serang, and KH ‘Abd al-Ghaffar of Serang. His devotion to authorship is desceibed by Snouck Hurgronje in his Mecca in the Latter Part of the 19 Century.

His Works and Books on Him

It is said that Syaikh Nawawi had wide knowledge, not only in the field of religion but also in that of war and governmental science. Chaidar on his book affirms that he wrote hundreds of books. However, it is difficult to prove because, like other writers, he just mentions some titles. Nonetheless, his books became important references in educational institutions, either in Asia, especially in Indonesia, or in the Middle East. To get a more obvious description about his knowledge, the following are his works as Brockelman classifies into tafsir, fiqh, dogmatics, mysticism, stories of the prophet, Arabic grammar, and rethoric.

In the field of tafsir he wrote Marah Labid li Kashf Ma’na al-Qur’an al-Majid or it is also called called Al-Tasfir al-Munir li Ma’alim al-Tanzil al-Musfir ‘an Wujuh Mahasin al-Ta’wil which was published in Cairo in 1205 A.H. This book can be said as his original work, while others are only his commentaries on other writers’ books. Tawshih or Qut al-Habib, Maraqi al-Ubudiyya, Al-Fathul Mujib, Al-Iqd al-Thamin, and Kashifat al-Saja are his books on fiqh. In the field of dogmatics he wrote Dhari’at al-Yaqin, Nur al-Zalam, Tijan al-Darari, Qatr al-Ghayth Sharh Masa’il Abi al-Layth, Hilyat al-Sibyan, Fath al-Majid, and Timar al-Yani’a. In the field of mysticism he wrote Salim Fudhala, Qomi’ al-Tughyan, and Misbah al-Zulam. His books which are included into the category of stories of the prophet are Fath al-Samad al-Alim ‘ala Mawlid al-Shaykh Ahmad ibn al-Qasim wa al-Bulugh al-Fawzi lil Bayan Alfaz mawlid ibn al-Jawzi, Targhib al-Mustaqin li Bayan Manzumat Zayn al-‘Abidin al-Barzanji, Al-Durar al-Bahiyya, and Al-Ibriz al-Dani fi Mawlid Sayyidina Muhammad al-Sayyid al-‘Adnani. Moreover, in Arabic grammar he wrote Kashf al-Murutiya ‘an Sitar al-Jurumiyya and Al-Fusus al-Yaqutiyya. Eventually, in the last category, rhetoric, he wrote Lubab al-Bayan fi ‘ilm al-Bayan, Tanqih al-Qawl al-Hathith, Nihayat al-Zayn, Nasaih al-Ibad, and Al-Futuhat al-Madaniyya.

Furthermore, as a prominent author many works on him have been published. Some of them are Chaidar’s investigation which was written under the title Sejarah Pujangga Islam Syech Nawawi Albanteni, Indonesia, published by Sarana Utama in 1978. To get the data he visited the descendants of Nawawi in Surabaya, Banten, and Mecca. He even went to the last city for interviewing twice. However, since this book refers only to one book, it is less complete. In 1992 Sri Mulyati submitted his MA thesis about sufism teachings of Nawawi in his book Salalim al-Fudhala to McGill University, titled Sufism in Indonesia: An Analysis of Nawawi Al-Banteni’s “Salalim Al-Fudhala’”.
In addition, as we see in the list of Nawawi’s works, most of them are his commentaries on others’ books. Only Marah Labid which can be said as his original work. It seemingly attracts Alex Soesilo Wijoyo to make it as the topic of his dissertation Shaykh Nawawi of Banten: Texts, Authority, and the Gloss Tradition which he submitted to Culumbia University in 1997.

In 2003 at least there were two researchers who wrote about Syaikh Nawawi al-Bantani. Hermeneutika Al-Qur’an Di Indonesia: Suatu Kajian Terhadap Kitab al-Tafsir al-Munir Karya KH. Nawawi Banten is Mamat S. Burhanuddin’s dissertation which he submitted to Universitas Islam Negeri Jakarta. It was then published as a book by UII Press Yogyakarta in 2006 entitled Hermeneutika al-Qur’an ala Pesantren (Analisis Terhadap Tafsir Marah Labid karya K.H. Nawawi Banten). Asep Muhamad Iqbal a student at Leiden University wrote Understanding Jews and Christians in The Qur’anic Commentary Syekh Nawawi Banten (1813-1897) as his MA thesis. The thesis was published by Teraju in 2004 under the title Yahudi & Nasrani dalam Al-Qur’an: Hubungan Antaragama Menurut Syaikh Nawawi Banten.