In 13th Century Damascus, the renowned Hadith Scholar, juristic expert, academic luminary and pious ascetic, Imam Muhyi ad-Din Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi set himself the task of compiling a short collection of rigorously authenticated Hadith, which will comprise for its reader a way to the hereafter. The resulting Riyad as-Salihin is a collection of almost two thousand Hadiths on numerous subjects, selected from the Sahih collections and other canonical books of the Sunnah. This blessed book, containing the treasures of the noble Sunnah and Prophetic guidance, was greeted with immediate scholarly approval and has established its worth in terms of the far-reaching and long-term influence it has had on Muslim character, conduct, education and reform throughout the Ummah and across the centuries.