One of the manuscripts discussing an ANO meeting.
One of KH Imam Nawawi’s most striking qualities was his relentless productivity as a writer. The surviving records reveal just how expansive his intellectual horizon was. He did not limit himself to writing on Qur’anic exegesis, jurisprudence, or Sufism. Instead, he engaged with the defining debates of his time: imperialism, communism, authoritarianism, colonialism, and more.
What makes this even more compelling is his medium of expression. Every idea was written in Arabic-Pegon script using the Madurese language. For him, Pegon was not just a writing system, it was an instrument of cultural resistance. It bridged modern knowledge with local tradition. Through Pegon, Imam Nawawi wrote for santri and ordinary villagers familiar with the script, ensuring his ideas didn’t remain confined to elites but flowed downward, reaching the grassroots.
Beyond ideological writings, KH Imam Nawawi also composed syi’ir, poetic verses in Madurese. These poems documented key events, including local socio-political conflicts.
One such work captures the tensions between Fatayat NU (the women’s wing of Nahdlatul Ulama) and Gerwani (the Indonesian Women’s Movement), the women’s wing of the Indonesian Communist Party. This syi’ir was more than literature, it was a historical document, preserving how grand ideological clashes, between NU and communism filtered down into village life.