The Correct Approach to Unpacking 'The Select Creed'

This booklet presents Shaykh Muḥammad Nawawī al-Jāwī al-Bantanī’s Al-Nahjah al-jayyidah li-ḥall alfāẓ Nuqāwāt al-‘aqīdah, his introduction to essential creed and fundamental obligations. The Arabic text is presented along with an English translation.

The author of our book is Shaykh Abū ‘Abd al-Mu‘ṭī Muḥammad bin ‘Umar bin ‘Arabī bin ‘Alī Nawawī al-Bantanī al-Jāwī, in present-day Indonesia, who lived during 1230–1314AH/1813–1879CE, and became one of the Shaykhs of the Two Sacred Precincts. He authored over 40 works in various subjects, including creed [‘aqīdah], theology [kalām], Quranic exegesis [tafsīr], jurisprudence [fiqh], principles of jurisprudence [uṣūl al-fiqh], and spiritual purification and excellence [tazkiyah, iḥsān, and ṭasawwuf]. In the Malay world (the Nusantara), his words are mandatory reading for students of traditional Islamic disciplines, and many are popular in the Middle East.

This booklet contains the author’s commentary on his own Nuqāwah, a short poem introducing essential creed, and what is obligatory to believe, know, and perform. He drew the majority of his commentary from Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Bājūrī’s (1198–1276AH/1784–1860CE) Tuḥfat al-murīd, making this booklet a summary of its most important points, all presented in an accessible manner.