Shaykh Muhammad Nawawi al-Bantani was born in Tanara, Serang, Banten, around 1813 and died in Mecca in 1897, buried at al-Ma'la. He studied with his father and Banten scholars, then in Mecca under, among others, Ahmad Khatib Sambas and Sayyid Ahmad Zaini Dahlan, and settled there as a teacher. He wrote more than a hundred works, including the Qur'an commentary Marah Labid (al-Tafsir al-Munir), Kashifat al-Saja, Nasa'ih al-'Ibad and Nihayat al-Zayn, earning the title Sayyid Ulama al-Hijaz. His students included Kholil Bangkalan, Hasyim Asy'ari, Hasan Mustapa and many other Jawi scholars; he was a contemporary of Teungku Chik Abdul Wahab Tanoh Abee of Aceh.