Dala’il al-Khayrat, the most celebrated manual of Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in history, was composed by the Sufi, wali, Muslim scholar of prophetic descent, and baraka of Marrakesh Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli (d. 870/1465). Born and raised among the Gazulah Berbers of the Sus region in southern Morocco, he studied the Qur’an and traditional Islamic knowledge before travelling to Fez, where he memorized the four-volume Mudawwana of Imam Malik and met scholars of his time such as Ahmad Zarruq, and Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah Amghar, who become his sheikh in the tariqa or Sufi path.
Amghar traced his spiritual lineage through only six masters to the great founder of their order Abul Hasan al-Shadhili and thence back to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). After initiating Jazuli into the way, he placed him in a khalwa or solitary retreat, where he remained invoking Allah for some fourteen years, and emerged tremendously changed. After a sojourn in the east and performing hajj, Jazuli himself was given permission to guide disciples as a sheikh of the tariqa.
Imam Ahmad al-Sawi relates that one day Jazuli went to perform his ablutions for the prescribed prayer from a nearby well but could not find any means to draw the water up. While thus perplexed, he was seen by a young girl who called out from high above, “You’re the one people praise so much, and you can’t even figure out how to get water out of a well?” So she came down and spat into the water, which welled up until it overflowed and spilled across the ground. Jazuli made his ablutions, and then turned to her and said, “I adjure you to tell me how you reached this rank.” She said, “By saying the Blessings upon him whom beasts lovingly followed as he walked through the wilds (Allah bless him and give him peace).” Jazuli thereupon vowed to compose the book of Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) which came to be known as his Dala’il al-Khayrat or “Waymarks of Benefits.”
His spiritual path drew thousands of disciples who, aided by the popularity of his manual of Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), had a tremendous effect on Moroccan society. He taught followers the Blessings upon the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), extinction of self in the love of Allah and His messenger, visiting the awliya or saints, disclaiming any strength or power, and total reliance upon Allah. He was told by the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in a dream, “I am the splendor of the prophetic messengers, and you are the splendor of the awliya.” Many divine signs were vouchsafed to him, none more wondrous or unmistakable than the reception that met his famous work.
Its celebrity swept the Islamic World from North Africa to Indonesia. Scarcely a well-to-do home was without one, princes exchanged magnificently embellished copies of it, commoners treasured it. Pilgrims wore it at their side on the way to hajj, and a whole industry of hand-copyists sprang up in Mecca and Medina that throve for centuries. Everyone who read it found that baraka descended wherever it was recited, in accordance with the Divine command: “Verily Allah and His angels bless the Prophet: O you who believe, bless him and pray him peace” (Qur’an 33:56).
In the post-caliphal period of the present day, Imam Jazuli’s masterpiece has been eclipsed by the despiritualization of Islam by “reformers” who have affected all but the most traditional of Muslims. As the 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 baraka, 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—until Wahhabi ideas came to spread among them, suborning them and creating confused fears based on the opinions of Ibn Taymiya and the reviver of his path Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab of Najd. After this, Muslims slackened from reciting the Dala’il al-Khayrat, falling away from the Blessings upon the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in particular, and from the remembrance of Allah in general” (al-Mutrib fi awliya’ al-Maghrib, 143–44).
Dua Dalail al-Khayrat
Transliteration: Bismillah hir rehman nir raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil aalamina hasbiyallahu waniymal wakeelu wala howla wala qouwata illa billahil alliyoul azeemi allahumma inni oubarrio min howli wa'qouati illa howlika wa'qouwatika allahumma inni attaqarrabu ilaika bis salayi alla sayeedina muhammadin abdika wa'nabbiyika wa'rasullika sayeedil mursalina sallalaho allihi wa'allihi wasallama wa'allihim ajmaenam tisallan
Transliteration: Li'amrika wa'tasdeekan laahu wa'mahabbatan feehi washouqan illahi wa'tayzeeman li'qaddreehi wa'liqunihi salallahou allihi wasallama ahllan lizalika fataqabalha minni bifazlika wajalni min ibadikas salihina wawaffiqni liqira'attiha allad dawami bijahihi indaka wasalalahou alla sayeedina muhammadioun wa'alihi washbihi ajmaeena astagfirrullahal azeema subhanallahi wal'hamdullilahi hasbiyallahou wanimal wakeel
Transliteration: Dua'aaun youqraou qablash shouroi, Bismillah hir rehman nir raheem. Allahuma munni allina bisafaail mayrifati wahab lana sahihal muaamalati bainana wabainaka allas sunnati waljama'atti wasiddqit tawaqulli allika wahusnas zanni bika wamnun allina biqulli maa yuqarribuna illika maqrunam bilafwi fid daraini yaa rabbal'alamine
Transliteration: Muqaddimah: Alhamdulillahi was'salatu was'salamu allaa sayeedina muhammadioun wa'alihi wasahbihi wasallim qalash shaikhul imamul waliyoul kabeerul kutbush shaheeru sultanul muqarabina waqutbu daa'eratil muhaqqiqeen wasayeedul aarifeen sahibul karamatiz zahirati walasraril bahira sayyeedi abbu abdillahi muhammad'dubbanu sulaimanal jazuliiyou
Transliteration: Razziallahu anhu alhamdullilahil lazi haddana li'imani wal'islam was'salatu was'salamu alla sayeedina muhammadin nabbiyahil lazis tanqazana bihi min ibadatil ousani walasnam wa'alla allihi wa'ashabihin nujbaaiil bararatil kiram wabada haza falgarazu fii hazil kitabi zikrus salati allal nabbiyi sal'lallahu allihi wasl'lama wafazailuha nazkuruha mahzufatal asanidi liyashala
Transliteration: Hifzuha allal qariee wahiya min ahamil muhimmati limay youreedul qurba mir rabbil arbab wasamiytuho bikitabi Dalailil'Khairati washawariqil anwari fi ziqris salati allal nabiyeel mukhtar ibtigain limarzatil'lahi ta'aalla wamahab'batan fii rasulihil kareemi sayeedina muhammadin sal'lallaho allihi wasallama taslima
Transliteration: Wal'lahol masoullo ayi yajaalana lisun'natihi mint tabiyeen walizatihil kamilati minal muhibbeen fainnaho alla zalika qadeer laa'ilaha gairoho wala khaira illa khairoho wahowa niymal mula wanimal naseer wala houla wala qouwata illa billahil alliyoul azeem fazquroni azkurkum washkuroli wala takforoun
Transliteration: Fazloun fii fazlis salaati allal nabbiyi sallalaho allihi wasalam qalallaho azza wajalla innallaha wamalai'katuho yousalouna alla'nabbiyi yaa'ayuhal lazina aamanu sallu allihi wasalimu taslima wayourwa anna rasoul'allahi sallallaho allihi wasal'lama ja'aa zata youmou wabushra turra fii wajhihi faqala innaho ja'aani jibreelu allihis salamu faqala lii amma
