Dala'il_al-Khayrat

<i>Dala'il al-Khayrat</i>

Dala'il al-Khayrat

Collection of Islamic prayers


Dalāʼil al-khayrāt wa-shawāriq al-anwār fī dhikr al-ṣalāt ʻalá al-Nabī al-mukhtār (Arabic: دلائل الخيرات وشوارق الأنوار في ذكر الصلاة على النبي المختار, lit.'Waymarks of Benefits and the Brilliant Burst of Lights in the Remembrance of Blessings on the Chosen Prophet'), usually shortened to Dala'il al-Khayrat, is a famous collection of prayers for the Islamic prophet Muhammad, which was written by the Moroccan Shadhili scholar Muhammad al-Jazuli (died 1465 AD). It is popular in parts of the Islamic world amongst traditional Muslims—specifically North Africa, the Levant, Turkey, the Caucasus and South Asia—and is divided into sections for daily recitation.

A 15th-century copy of Dala'il al-Khayrat from the Chester Beatty Library.
The opening page from a 17th-century copy of Dala'il al-Khayrat from the Walters Art Museum.

Background

Moroccan hadith scholar Abdullah al-Talidi wrote of the Dala'il al-Khayrat: "Millions of Muslims from East to West tried it and found its good, its blessing, and its benefit for centuries and over generations, and witnessed its unbelievable spiritual blessings and light. Muslims avidly recited it, alone and in groups, in homes and mosques, utterly spending themselves in the Blessings on the Most Beloved and praising him".[1]

The Dala'il al-Khayrat is the first major book in Islamic history which compiled litanies of peace and blessings upon Muhammad. It is also the most popular and most universally acclaimed collection of litanies asking God to bless him. Among some Sunni religious orders, most notably the Shadhili order, its recitation is a daily practice. In others however, its recitation is a purely voluntary daily practice. The work begins with the ninety nine names of God, and then a collection of 201 names of Muhammad.[2]

The legend behind the origin of the Dala'il al-Khayrat claims that al-Jazuli once awoke late for his morning prayers and began to look in vain for pure water to perform ritual ablutions. In the midst of his search al-Jazuli encountered a young girl who was aware of al-Jazuli's famed religiosity and was bewildered on why al-Jazuli could not find pure water. The girl then spat into a well which miraculously overflowed with pure sweet water for al-Jazuli to perform ablutions. Consequent to performing prayer, al-Jazuli inquired to the means by which the girl achieved such a high spiritual station. The girl replied it was simply by "Making constant prayer for God to bless the best of creation by the number of breaths and heartbeats." Al-Jazuli then resolved to write a work collecting litanies of prayers asking God to bless and show mercy and kindness to Muhammad.

Al-Jazuli then moved east to Medina where he would recite the whole of the Dala'il al-Khayrat twice daily at Muhammad's grave in al-Masjid an-Nabawi. The Dala'il Khayrat has since been seen as a testament of love and passionate longing for Muhammad.

Many of exegesis were written on the Dala'il Khayrat - most notably by the scholar Yusuf an-Nabhani in his work Afdal al-Salawat, Mohammed al-Mahdi al-Fasi's Matali‘ Al Masarrat Bi Jalaa’ Dala’il Al Khayrat (مطالع المسرات بجلاء دلائل الخيرات) and Abd al-Majid al-Sharnubi al-Azhari's Sharh Dala'il Khayrat. A classic Ottoman era work by Kara Davud is popular in Turkish, titled Tevfîk-i Muvaffık il-Hayrât li-Neyl'il-berekât fî Hidmet-i Menbâ'üs-sa'adât (Ottoman Turkish: توفیق موفق الحیرات لنیل البركات فی خدمة منباع السعادات),[3] in short known as "Kara Davud".

Manuscripts

More information Institution, Inventory number ...

References

  1. "The Story of Dala'il al-Khayrat". Archived from the original on 2006-09-01. Retrieved 2006-10-03.
  2. "Collection of Prayers for the Prophet Muhammad". The Walters Art Museum. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  3. "Eid al-Adha". web.nli.org.il. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  4. "Dala'il al-Khayrat of al-Jazuli". Khalili Collections. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  5. "Dala'il al-Khayrat ('The Guide to Happiness') - Discover Islamic Art - Virtual Museum". Explore Islamic Art Collections. 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-08-11. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  6. "The Dala'il al-Khayrat of al-Jazuli and Other Prayers". Khalili Collections. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  7. Dalāʾil al-ḫairāt. August 1830. Retrieved 2022-09-29. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  8. "An Exceptional Copy of al-Jazuli's Dala'il al-Khayrat". Khalili Collections. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  9. "Prayer Book of Düzdidil Kadın". Digital Collections of the Bavarian State Library. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  10. "Dalāʾil al-Ḫairāt". Digital Collections of the Bavarian State Library. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  11. Nassar, Nahla (2020). "The Dala'il al-khayrat of al-Jazuli". Explore Islamic Art Collections. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  12. "Manifestations of Goodness". World Digital Library. US Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-11-28.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Dala'il_al-Khayrat, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.