Guide to Goodness (Dalail al-khayrat)

Author: Imam al-Jazuli

ISBN: 9781930637269

Pages: 152 pages

This first English translation of one of the most famous Islamic prayers has become available in this bilingual edition. This prayer, recited by Muslims throughout the world, is a prayer to ask for blessings upon the Prophet in order to receive blessings from God for both the Prophet and the reciter. Dala’il al- Khayrat wa Shawariq al-Anwar fi Dhikr al-Salat ‘ala al- Nabi al-Mukhtar (The Guide to Blessings and the Advent of Light in Blessing the Chosen Prophet). Composed in Morocco in the fifteenth century, Dala’il al-Khayrat quickly spread throughout the Muslim world, from Turkey, to East Africa, to Sumatra. The reason for al-Jazuli’s writing Dala’il al-Khayrat was that one day he was late for his prayers, even though it was his custom to seek the approval of God the Exalted by not delaying a prayer beyond the earliest possible time for its performance. When he arose to make his ablutions, however, he was unable to find anything with which to take water out of the well. This preoccupied him greatly and he was very annoyed. While he was in this state a young girl caught sight of him from a high place and said, “Who are you, uncle?” The sheikh then told her about himself, hoping that she would give him a bucket and thus ease his cares and worries. Instead the girl exclaimed, “You are the one whom people praise greatly, yet you are unable to take water from a well in order to purify yourself !” Then she came down from that high place and spat into the well while reciting the Name of the Lord of Creation. No sooner had she done so than water tasting as sweet as the sweetest sugar poured forth from the well until it spilled over the face of the earth as a miracle from the One who rolls up the scroll of time. The sheikh made his ablution and marveled at this splendid miracle. When he finished, he swore by God Almighty that the girl should reveal to him how she had acquired this great rank. “By making constant prayers on the Best of Creation (may God bless and preserve him) to the number of breaths and heartbeats (bi-’adad al-anfas wa al-daqa’iq),” she replied. So al-Jazuli resolved at that moment to write a book about the excellence of prayers on behalf of the Chosen Prophet and to include in it many transmitted texts from the mine of prophecy and from those who have drowned in the sea of the effusion of God’s abundant generosity. All of this (which was due to what he perceived in this great miracle) would not have been possible had it not been for this girl, who was devoted to reciting prayers on the Adornment of the Last Day (zayn al-qiyama). Al-Jazuli took the Shadhili tariqa from Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad Amghar al-Saghir (d.) of Ribat Tit-n- Fitr. After taking part in the resistance to the Portuguese at Tangier in , he went into seclusion (khalwa). Some historians claim that he worshiped in isolation for fourteen years; while others maintain that he traveled east for sometime, reciting Dala’il al-Khayrat twice each morning to the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace) in Medina.Upon his reemergence in , al-Jazuli established a zawiya at the Atlantic port city of Asafi. Al-Jazuli was “frequent in reciting litanies (awrad), observant of God most High in all his states, not exceeding the boundaries God established, and exerting himself in following the Book of God and the example of his Messenger (God bless him and give him peace).” He founded the Shadhiliyya Jazuliyya order, with Dala’il al-Khayrat at its core, and over ,disciples received spiritual training (tarbiya) at his hands. Later writers describe the nature of al-Jazuli’s relationship with the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace): there mixed, in his person, “the two loves”—the love one feels for the Prophet due to religion, and the love one feels for one’s kinsfolk (mahabba al-diniyya wa al-tiniyya).Al-Jazuli died in while prostrating during the morning prayer, the victim of poisoning. He was later buried at Riyadh al-’Arus in Marrakesh. Known in the local dialect as “Sidi Ben Sliman,” he is one of the seven patron saints of Marrakesh. He left Dala’il al-Khayrat as a testament to his immense love and longing for the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace): O God, I believed in Muhammad but did not see him; do not deprive me in the Gardens of his vision. Bestow his company upon me and cause me to die in his religion. Let me drink from his pool a quenching, pleasant, delightful drink after which we shall never thirst again. You are powerful over everything. O God, convey to the soul of Muhammad my greetings and peace. O God, as I believed in Muhammad but did not see him, do not deprive me in the Gardens of his vision. [Islamica Magazine]