The Regional Recitations of al-Jazūlī’s Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt as Reflected in Its Manuscript Tradition

Marijn Van Putten

doi:10.1163/1878464x-01203001

Abstract

Abstract Muḥammad al-Jazūlī’s Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt is one of the most popular and widespread Islamic prayer books in the Sunni Islamic world; consequently, most library collections around the world have many copies of this manuscript. Despite its prolific written form, it is its recitation that should probably be considered the most prominent expression of the text. This paper undertakes a careful analysis of the vocalization and orthoepic signs added to three vocalized copies of 18th-century Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt manuscripts from Mali, the Maghreb, and Turkey. It reveals that they each have distinct recitation styles with their own phonological and morphological features, distinct from the rules applied in Classical Arabic prose text. Moreover, it is shown that these recitation styles clearly draw upon the rules of local Quranic reading traditions, while not entirely assimilating to them, thus giving a distinct local orthoepic flavour to the manner in which this text was recited.

Highlights

The 15th-century Sufi leader Muḥammad al-Jazūlī (d. 870/1465) is well-known for his collection of prayers for the prophet Muhammad, Dalāil al-Ḫayrāt waŠawāriq al-ʾAnwār fī Ḏikr al-Ṣalātalā l-Nabiyy Muḫtār.3 While al-Jazūlī was a Moroccan Berber, his book enjoyed broad popularity throughout the Sunni Islamic world, as is clear from the many copies that can be found in many large Oriental manuscript collections
While there is a common assumption that classical Arabic would have been more or less standardized by the 15th century, the recitation of the Quran remains a source for non-standard features of Arabic appearing in the everyday life of Muslims
2.1 ʾUṣūl Warš As we will see the highly popular position of the Quranic recitation of Nāfiin the Warš transmission in the Maghreb has had a profound effect on how the prayers of Dalāil al-Ḫayrāt were recited and how this is indicated in the manuscripts in question

Summary

The Features Attested in the Quran

2.1 ʾUṣūl Warš As we will see the highly popular position of the Quranic recitation of Nāfiin the Warš transmission in the Maghreb has had a profound effect on how the prayers of Dalāil al-Ḫayrāt were recited and how this is indicated in the manuscripts in question. Warš applies madd within words, to any long vowel followed by (1) a hamzah; and (2) two vowelless consonants (in practice, this is almost exclusively geminate consonants), a practice he shares with all other readers.18 This overlong vowel is marked in both Maghrebi and Mashreqi manuscripts with a maddah sign over the long vowel. This is a common practice among Quranic readers, but it is rare in classical Arabic prose. Al-Dānī reports that recitation specialists from among the Egyptian experts that followAbū Yaqūb, would apply madd to long vowels preceded by hamzah, e.g. ʾāādamu and an-nabīīīīna, when transmitting from Warš.23 This is not usually marked in Maghrebi muṣḥaf s, suggesting that they did not follow this practice.. 33r, l. 5: ʾinnīīasaluka Mgh, 49r, l. 11: ʾinniyaasaluka Ma 69, l.1: ʾinniyaasaluka

Conclusion

Madd on ayand aw

Conspectus of Manuscripts

Works Cited