Naʽat

Naʽat (Urdu: نعت; Bengali: নাত and Punjabi) is poetry in praise of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. The practice is popular in South Asia (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh), commonly in Urdu, Bengali or Punjabi. People who recite Naʽat are known as Naʽat Khawan or sanaʽa-khuaʽan. Exclusive "Praise to Allah" and Allah alone is called Hamd, not to be confused with 'Na'at'.^[1]^[2]^[3]

In Arab countries, lyrics and praises said for Muhammad are called Madih nabawi.

History

One early author, Hassan, was known as Shair-e Darbaar-e Risalat. Before converting to Islam he was a poet, and after converting, he started writing Naats in honor of Muhammad.^[4] His poetry defended Muhammad in response to rival poets who attacked him and his religion.^{[citation needed]}

Talaʽ al Badru ʽAlayna is a traditional Islamic poem known as nasheed recited to Muhammad when he moved to Medina in 622 CE.^[5]

Language

Commonly, the term naʽat shareef (exalted poetry) is reserved for poetry in the praise of the Islamic Prophet, Muhammad. In Arabic, na'at is usually called madih (praise) or nasheed (poetry), although the latter can describe any type of religious poetry.

Urdu Na'at anthologies

Hadaiq e Bakhshish by Ahmad Raza Khan
Wasail e Bakhsish by Muhammad Ilyas Qadri
Tajalliyāt, by Syed Waheed Ashraf First Ed.(1996), Second Ed.(2018) ISBN 978-93-85295-76-8, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh 202002, India
Urdū zabān men̲ naʻt goʼī kā fann aur tajallīyāt, 2001 (OCLC 50912916) by Syed Waheed Ashraf
Safeena e Bakhshish by Akhtar Raza Khan (Azhari Miya)