Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Dalail al-Khayrat ( A short Brief)

Asslamu alikum , 
Last so many days I was searching for a Great Book  Dalail al-Khayrat. I tried several times to take it in to my bucket , but failed . at last . I was reciting this last 2 months with Greatness of allha. He may give benefit for this . May allah accept this . Those who are interested and what to know the benefits , I was collected some of the importance of dalailul khairath . I have the manuscript copy and translated copy of this Great Dhikr. 

One of the most comprehensive and authentic collections of durood historically celebrated and greatly utilized among Muslims is the collection of Imam Jazuli (ra), as he is commonly known, titled Dalail ul Khairat wa Shawariqil Anwaar fi Zikr Salaat alan Nabiyy-il-Mukhtar salallaho alayhi wa sallam. It is roughly translated as “The Guide to Goodness and the Radiant Bursts of Light in the Remembrance of the Chosen Prophet salallaho alayhi wa sallam.” It was compiled by the Moroccon scholar, sufi and saint commonly known as Imam Jazuli (ra).
According to his best biographer, Muhammad al Mahdi al Fasi, in Mumti al Asma Imam Jazuli. Imam Jazuli, or his full name, Abu Abdullah Mohammad ibn Abdur Rahman ibn Abu Bakr ibn Sulayman Al Jazuli (ra), was born in the southern Moroccon village of Tankarat in the Sus area. He belonged to the Simlal offshoot of the Jazula tribe of Sanhaja Berbers of Africa. He studied primary education there but due to the heavy violent  before setting off to the Madrasa Saffarin in Fes, Morocco where he would become a master of the Maliki Fiqh memorizing cover to cover the Mudawwana Kubra. There he studied under such great luminaries as Imam Shaikh Ahmed Zarruq (ra)  and a descendant of Shaikh Abul Mahasin Abu Abdallah Mohammed Amghar (ra) with whom he would enter into bayah.
He was a very serious student, his classmates said that he would come out of his dorm only to attend the dars, lectures, and then return back. He was a recluse, remained in isolation during his studies. He was not in madrasa to make friends. After his studies he left to spend a great deal of time between Makkah, Madinah and Jerusalem. After this time he returned and historians say that it was now that he entered into the Shadhili tareeqa at the hands of Shaikh Mohammed Amghar as Saghir (ra). Some people raised a doubt that it was possible that he had compiled the Dalail before bayah but logically this makes no sense. If a person has such spirituality to compile a book such as the Dalail why would he need to turn to a shaikh for bayah? What need would such a person have for that? So it was that after his bayah he compiled the book. The way he came about compiling the Dalail was that one day he was traveling somewhere and had stopped in a village for salaah. The time for his Zuhr salaah was passing and frantically he was looking for water to make wudhu. He found a well but the water was too low and he could not reach it when suddenly a small girl 8-9 years old came and asked him about his trouble. He informed her about the situation and she read something and spat into the well which caused the water to suddenly increase and it began to overflow out of the well. Imam Jazuli then made his wudhu and performed his salaah then went looking for this blessed girl. He found her and inquired what was the means for her to attain this miraculous power to be able to spit into a well and cause the water to overflow. She informed him that she sent salutations upon the Best of the Creation and recited the durood she was a frequent reciter of. He then set out to compile the Dalail. His fame grew far and wide and he had many students under him. This caused the governor of Safi to become jealous of him and he had his food poisoned. Imam Jazuli then died while leading the Fajr salaah most likely in the last sajdah. The Encyclopedia of Islam 1957 reports that 77 years after his death his body was exhumed to be transferred to a newly built moseleum to honor him and when the onlookers saw his body they found it to be untouched by the grave even after 77 years.
Dalail ul Khairat was a very famous book and Muslims all over the world enjoyed to read it and would gift each other copies of the Dalail and utilized its blessings. Then in the later years Muslims stopped its frequent recitation and eventually stopped giving recitation of durood any importance all together. All mashaikh agree on its blessing and it has been utilized in all salasil of tasawwuf. Deobandi hazraath of the past read it, encouraged its recitation and took benefit from its blessings. The person who recites one complete recitation cover to cover of Dalail per day is called Shaikh ul Dalail and there are such people who live in the world today. The unique thing about the Dalail is that it has a quantity of somewhere around 1200-1300 durood of which a great number of them are of very high quality. Within these durood the author has embedded many dua. Also, the author has embedded various different blessed names of the Holy Prophet salallaho alayhi wa sallam and also he has embedded within Dalail many Asma ul Husna and when a reciter reads the Dalail he gets the reward of reciting all of the above. The author wishes the reciter to read 1,2,3,4 or more complete recitations per day, if not then 1 if not then 3/4 if not then half and if not then a 1/2 and if not then the author has also divided the Dalail into 8 chapters to be read daily. The recitation of the Dalail begins on Sunday after Maghrib which technically is Monday night according to the lunar calendar.

Praise Regarding the Dalail al-Khayrat

The Dalā’il al-Khayrāt’s acceptance and popularity amongst scholars and laity alike serves as an important reminder of the importance of this text since it was authored.  It was based on the spiritual benefits which worshippers found resulted from its recitation thay lead to many of them recording their praise of this work.  Shaykh Yūsuf al-Nabhānī said,
“Our Shaykh, the Shaykh of the Sunnah, Imām al-ʿAllāmah, Shaykh Ḥasan al-ʿAdawī al-Misri in his marginalia on Bulūgh al-Musarrāt ʿala Dalā’il al-Khayrāt said, ‘It is sufficient honour for this book that it has attained in terms of benefit and acceptance that which the intellects find astonishing.  How can it not be so when some of the gnostics have taken it directly from the Master of the Messengers (Allah bless him and give him peace).
The Shaykh of our Shaykhs, and their Shaykh, Imām al-Sujāʿī said in his marginalia to this book, copying from his Shaykh the Quṭb and Ghawth, Imām Muḥammad al-Ḥifnī, ‘I have taken this book through the outward means from our Shaykh al-ʿAllāmah Muḥammad al-Budayrī al-Dimyāṭī, who took it from the Quṭb al-Ghawth Muḥammad bin Aḥmad al-Meknāsī to the end of the chain to the author.
He said, I have also taken it by spiritual means from the friend of Allāh Most High, Sayyidī Muḥammad al-Maghribī al-Tilmisānī who said: I have taken it spiritually from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace).’”[1]
 Shaykh al-Nabhānī further added,
“In Kashf al-Ẓunūn an Asmā’’ al-Kutub wal-Funūn it is [mentioned], Dalā’il al-Khayrāt wa Shawāriq al-Anwār fi Dhikr al-Salāt ʿala al-Nabī al-Mukhtār upon him be blessings and peace.  It’s beginning is, ‘All praise is due to Allāh who guided us to faith…to the end by the Shaykh Abī ʿAbdullah Muḥammad bin Sulaimān bin Abī Bakr al-Jazūlī al-Simlālī, al-Sharīf al-Ḥasanī who died in the year 875H.
This book is a sign from the signs’ of Allāh regarding the sending of blessings and peace.  It is continuously recited in the East and the West, not least in the land of al-Rūm.  It has a fine interlineal commentary by Shaykh Muḥammad al-Mahdī bin Aḥmad bin ʿAlī bin Yūsuf al-Fāsī which he named Maṭālʿi al-Musarrāt bi Jalā’ Dalā’il al-Khayrāt.  The Dalā’il has variants in the manuscript copies due to the large number of narrators of it from the author (Allah bless him and give him peace).  However the relied upon is the copy of Shaykh Abi ʿAbdullah Muḥammad al-Ṣughayyir al-Sahlī who was from his most senior companions.  The author corrected it eight years before his death which was [at the time of] Duha on Friday on the 6th of Rabi al-Awwal in the year 862H.  It has other commentaries, however the relied upon is the aforementioned commentary of al-Fāsī.”[2]
The Muhaddith of India and Sufi Master, Shāh Walīullah al-Dihlawī praised the Dalā’il by saying the following,
“The Dalā’il al-Khayrāt at this time is recited by many people in the Arab world.  If a person wishes to attain divine blessings for a particular need by means of it, then it should be with the condition that his self in general has one resolve.  When this opening occurs this person persists in this meaning linked to this action; and makes it a means of attaining his needs.”[3]
Shaykh al-Talīdī said,
“What is meant is that the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt is priceless and there is nothing similar to it in it’s genre, the writer of these words is from those who has witnessed and experienced its blessings.  The book by the praise of Allāh (the Most High) does not contain that which the author can be criticized for except for some hadith which are fabricated or have no basis.  A book whose author does not possess knowledge of hadith is not free of this.  As for that which they criticized it for such as his words: ‘And send blessings upon our Master Muḥammad by the number of your knowledge’…it is interpreted and understood in a good way as is known from the answer of Abul Maḥāsin Sayyidī Yūsuf al-Fāsī as in Mumtiʿ al-Asmā’ and Mirāh al-Maḥāsin.  As for that which it contains of intercession by means of the Messenger of Allāh (Allah bless him and give him peace), seeking a means by him and calling out to him by his name ‘Ya Sayyidana Muḥammad’.  The objection to this is from the whisperings of the Wahabis and their false drivel.  The pure sunnah and language of the Arabs contains that which is evidence for this, as is known by the people of correct knowledge and which is mentioned in the books in refutation of the Wahabis and their followers.”[4]
Shaykh al-Talīdī continued by advising the following,
“I sincerely advise all Muslims to regularly recite the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt for the one who regularly (recites it) along with reflection on the greatness of the noble Messenger and with love towards him will be successful if Allāh (the Most High) wills.”
Mawlana Muḥammad Karam Shāh al-Azharī writes regarding the Dalā’il,
“The Dalā’il al-Khayrāt includes all those forms of sending salutations which have been transmitted with various chains.  It has attained such widespread acceptance that all spiritual orders recite it and it is regarded as a means of felicity and salvation.  In the Indian sub-continent the four well known orders, the Chishtiyyah, Qādiriyyah, Suhrawardiyyah and Naqshbandiyyah all recite this litany regularly.  Those people who are inclined to it and have made it their habit have personally witnessed its blessings…Hadrat Shah Walīullah Muḥaddith Dihlawī (Allāh Most High have mercy on him), his Shaykhs, father, ancestors and his students recited it.”[5]

The ‘Dalail al-Khayrat’ and ‘Qasidah al-Burda’ are two devotional texts which continue to be immensely popular in the Indian subcontinent (and in the West by means of the descendants of Muslims from this area).  I found some chains of narration for these two texts in the ‘Al-Intibah fi Salasil al-Awliyah’ of Shah Waliullah which may be of interest to readers, not least because the almost all of the chains of hadith transmitted today to Madrassa students in the Indian subcontinent link back to Shah Waliullah al-Dehlawi.  Shah Sahib said in his aforementioned work citing his chain for the ‘Dalail al-Khayrat’:
As for the Dalail al-Khayrat, our Shaykh Abu Tahir informed us of it:
From Shaykh Ahmad al-Nakhli
From Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Idrisi well known as al-Mahjub
From his father Ahmad
From his grandfather Muhammad
From his father’s grandfather Ahmad
From its author the noble Sayyid Muhammad bin Sulayman al-Jazuli, Allah have mercy on him.

[1]  Dalālāt al-Wādihāt ʿala Dalā’il al-Khayrāt (p.48-49)
[2]   Dalālāt al-Wādihāt ʿala Dalā’il al-Khayrāt (p.50-52)
[3]  Qawl al-Jallī fī Dhikr Athār al-Walī (p.432)
[4]   Al-Muṭrib fi Mashāhīr Awliyāh al-Maghrib (p.144)
[5]   Majmūʿa Wazā’if maʿ Dalā’il al-Khayrāt (p.11)

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