D!

r al-H
.
ad"th al-Ashrafiyya in Damascus
by GF Haddad Qasyoun@ziplip.com


Im!m Muh
.
y" al-D"n al-Nawaw" All!h have mercy on him and benefit us with him! took up the
headmastership of D!r al-H
.
ad"th al-Ashrafiyya in Damascus after the death of his Shaykh Ab# Sh!ma
in 665 and held it until his own death eleven years later, never accepting any compensation for his
needs.

Ibn al-Subk" reports in his masterpiece T
.
abaq!t al-Sh!fiiyya al-Kubr! that after his father, the great
Im!m, Jurisprudent, and H
.
ad"th Master, Q!d
.
" al-Qud
.
!t, Shaykh al-Isl!m Al" ibn Abd al-K!f" Ab# al-
H
.
asan Taq" al-D"n al-Subk" (d. 756) became headmaster of D!r al-H
.
ad"th al-Ashrafiyya in 742 he used
to come out to the mosque to pray late night prayers (tahajjud) and he would weep and rub his face
against the rugs on which al-Nawaw" had sat, reciting:

Waf" D!ri al-h
.
ad"thi lat
.
"fu manan
al! busut
.
in lah! as
.
b# wa !w":
As! ann" amassu bih
.
urri wajh"
mak!nan massahu qadamu al-Naw!w"

And in D!r al-H
.
ad"th there is a subtle meaning
On carpets where I incline and take refuge:
Perhaps I might touch with my very face
A spot touched by al-Nawaw"s foot.

In the time of al-Nawaw", D!r al-H
.
ad"th had the Noble Sandal of the Prophet ! in its possession.
This Sandal was kept in a wooden box above the Mih
.
r!b in its mosque. The M!lik" Faq"h, H
.
ad"th
Master, historian, and philologist, Im!m Ab# H
.
afs
.
al-F!kih!n" (d. 734) visited Damascus seeking its
baraka. The Muh
.
addith Jam!l al-D"n Ibn H
.
ad"da al-Ans
.
!r" narrates: I was with him. When he saw the
most honored Sandal, he bared his head and began to kiss it and rub his face over it. His tears flowed.
He recited:

Falaw q"la lil-Majn#ni: Layl! wa-was
.
lah!
tur"du am al-duny! wam! f" t
.
aw!y!ha?
Laq!la: Ghub!run min tur!bi ni!lih!
ah
.
abbu il! nafs" wa-ashf! li-balw!h!

If it were said to Layl!s Madman: Is it Layl! and her relation
you wish, or the world and all it contains?
He would reply: Grime from the dust of her sandals
is dearer to my soul and more healing for its ills!
$


The mosque was burnt by the Tatars and the relic disappeared but the Mih
.
r!b remains to our time
and is inside the mosque of D!r al-H
.
ad"th preparatory School (headed by Shaykh H
.
usayn S
.
abiyya who
succeeded Shaykh Mh
.
m#d Rank#s" who succeeded the Muh
.
addith Shaykh Ab# al-Khayr al-M"d!n"),
As
.
r#niyya Souk, near the Umaw" Mosque in Damascus, where the writer of these lines was priviledged
to visit and pray.


$
Narrated by Ibn Farh
.
#n in al-D"b!j al-Mudhahhab (p. 286).