The Dala’il al-Khayrat is a manual of Salawat compiled by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Sulayman al Jazuli al Shadhili .

“The one who recites the Dala’il al-Khayrat daily, and with sincerity; his voice reaches the chamber of RasoolAllah !”

– Khwaja Sufi Arshad Mahmood Naqshbandi HafidhahUllah

The Dala’il is recited throughout most Turuq, and is one of the most circulated books in the Muslim world after the Qur’an. It is an accepted method of Prayers upon the Messenger , and is a means of gaining closeness to him due to the fact it consists entirely of Salawat. The story of how it came into existence is told by many, and there are slight variations in its narration.

The account is that Imam al Jazuli  wanted to make wudhu to perform his prayers, upon finding a well he realised he couldn’t draw water from it. He stood pondering how to draw water when a little girl around the age of 6 came and said to the Imam, “You are such a great man of knowledge who people flock towards, yet you can’t get water out of a well?” And she spat into the well. Water began to rise, and flow out of the well. Imam  al Jazuli  made his ablutions and then prayed. After praying, he asked the girl, “How, at such a young age, did you get the water to rise simply by spitting in it?”

The young girl replied, “from a young age, my mother would make it habit to get me to recite Salawat upon the one  whom the trees would uproot themselves to come into his  presence.” After hearing this, Imam al Jazuli  compiled the Dala’il al-Khayrat.

The Dala’il consists of 8 parts, or Hizb, and is to be completed in a week. A Hizb is recited every day, twice on a Sunday, and Khatam is made. The importance of Salawat is widely stated, and the Dala’il usually contains a chapter before the actual Salawat dedicated to depicting the importance of Salawat upon RasoolAllah .

Two examples of this are within Hadiths where RasoolAllah  has said,

“A man who has the trait of being a miser is he who doesn’t recite Salawat upon hearing my name.”

“Send plenty of Salawat upon me on the day of Friday.”

We also know from the Al-Shifa of Qadi `Iyaad , that RasoolAllah receives our Salawat directly on the day of Friday.

It was the routine of Grand Shaykh, Khwaja Sufi Muhammad Aslam  to recite the Dala’il twice daily; once after Fajr Salah and once between `Asr and Maghrib Salah.

The Shaykh strongly urges students to frequent the recitation of Salawat, and the Dala’il al-Khayrat is a perfect way of achieving that. The Shaykh emphasises that the mureed should read at least one Hizb a day if not one full Dala’il a day. He also states that the blessings one attains from the Dala’il is immeasurable and if it’s true worth was known, one would never cease to recite it. However, the Wazeefa takes priority over other recitations such as the Dala’il.

The Dalaa’il al Khayraat