Introduction 

In 2022, a rare interview with Ali Musliyar, a South Asian anti-colonial leader and Muslim scholar, was uncovered from British colonial archival documents by Prof. Sivadasan P. Recorded shortly before his execution in 1921, the interview includes Ali Musliyar’s request for a copy of Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt to be brought to him in prison and distributed among fellow resistance fighters. In 2025, I came across the same devotional text referenced in a royal letter by King Mohammed VI of Morocco, addressed to mosque imams and Muslim scholars, in which he commended the popularization of Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt. The letter notes that the text had historically served as a symbol of liberation for Moroccan freedom fighters resisting Portuguese aggression in the fifteenth century, adding that “Moroccans have consistently sought refuge in the Prophet Muhammad during times of crisis.”

In this article, the author examines the underexplored Sufi connections between North Africa and South Asia by analysing the core contents of the 15th-century Moroccan prayer manual, the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt. 

It was during my study at Darul Huda Islāmic University in southwest India that one of our Ustādh (teacher) often encouraged and exhorted all the students to recite Veḷḷiyāḻca Ṣalāt (Friday supplications) along with Sūrat al-Kahf every Friday. Occasionally, he would distribute sweets, perfumes, or pens as Hadiyyah (gift) for those who completed this task. Therefore, Veḷḷiyāḻca Ṣalāt is an endearing experience for me, like all typical seminary students, particularly, and Keralite Muslims generally. It’s a widely recited text in Masjids in Malabar, especially on Friday, as much as the Qurʾān. One could easily identify the thin prayer manual “Sūrah al-Kahfum Veḷḷiyāḻca Ṣalāt um” (Sūrah al-Kahf and Friday Ṣalāt) beside the Qurʾān, with its colorful cover and Ponnani script setting it apart (Fig. 01). Most notably, the text is common in almost all masjids as Waqf property. I have often heard from peers and Ustādhs in the commemorative speeches that the founders and teachers of Darul Huda, especially C.H. Aydarus Musliyar and Cherussery Zaynuddīn Musliyar, would carry this Ṣalāt text with them at all times.

For a long time, I was curious about the origins of what I thought was a unique experience to Keralite Muslims. My sustained curiosity deepened when I had the opportunity to visit Morocco in 2025 for my studies and witnessed some of my African colleagues from Zanzibar, Senegal, Mali, and Nigeria making personal manuscript copies of this Ṣalāt for memorization. Eventually, I realized that this common Friday recitation is actually an excerpt from a widely circulated and influential Ṣūfī devotional text, the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt, which originated in Morocco, far from both Malabar and the South Asian region. (Fig.02)

Breaking the geographical boundaries, the interconnected networks of Shaykhs, disciples, Ṣūfī Ṭarīqas (Ṣūfī orders), and sufi texts have greatly contributed to the cosmopolitan acceptance of Islāmic Sufism. One prominent and fascinating example is the above-mentioned Dalā’il al-Khayrāt, composed in the mid-fifteenth century in Morocco. The text generated numerous international commentaries and manuscript copies across the African subcontinent, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, and even influenced Kerala’s Muslim religious life, becoming an indispensable devotional work, especially through the Friday recitation after Sūrat al-Kahf in mosques. Similar to other transregional Ṣūfī litanies such as the Rātib al-Ḥaddād, Hizb al-Bahr, and Hizb al-Nasr, Dalā’il al-Khayrāt also spread to Malabar through maritime journeys, trade connections, and the ijāzah tradition practiced among the Ṣūfī Ṭarīqas. 

South Asian scholar P.K.M. Jaleel cogently claims that “despite centuries of intense and maritime interactions, Malabar has seldom been adequately placed in scholarly debates surrounding the wider Arab Ṣūfī networks and transregional ritual exchanges across the Indian Ocean. Although the commercial interactions of Malabar as a prime entrepôt in the east–west trade of the Indian Ocean have been expatriated, its role in the development of a Muslim religious community has yet to be fully deciphered” (Jaleel, 2025). What this highlights is the shortage of academic discourse on Arab-Malabar Ṣūfī interactions. But the lamentable dearth of attention to Malabar–North African Ṣūfī connections remains insufficiently addressed. Although Indian Ocean scholars such as Michael Pearson, Sebastian R. Prange (2018), Engseng Ho (2006), Mahmood Kooria (2022, 2018), and Ronit Ricci (2011) have addressed various aspects of maritime histories and Muslim cultural exchanges, their work has seldom focused on the Ṣūfī connections between Malabar and North Africa. Building upon this gap, the following explores the less-discussed and overlooked connections between Malabar and Morocco, interactions that continue even today but remain deeply underrepresented in the wider academic circle. So, how did the magnum opus of Imam al-Jazuli, from Northwest Africa, spread so far and wide that it became a standard weekly litany in places as distant as my alma mater in southwestern India? 

Dalā’il al-Khayrāt : The text and contents

إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ ۚ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا

Indeed, Allah confers blessings upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [Allah to grant him] peace.

—Qurʾān 33:56

The text “Dalā’il al-Khayrāt wa Shawāriq al-Anwār fī Dhikr al-Ṣalāt ʿala al-Nabiyy al-Mukhtār” (Guidelines to the Blessings and the Enlightenment of Lights Giving the Saying of the Blessing Prayer Over the Chosen Prophet) was authored in the mid-fifteenth century by Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī (d. 1465), a great Moroccan Ṣūfī scholar and founder of the Jazūlī Ṭarīqa. By the early seventeenth century, it had spread from Morocco to other parts of North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Beyond its role as a Ṣalāt manual, the text held special significance as a richly illustrated religious text that circulated globally in handwritten form after the Qurʾān (Abid, 2020).

Born in Jazūla, in the Sous region of Morocco, around the end of the 15^th century, al-Jazūlī moved to Fez for his education, spending much time in the Qarawiyyīn university’s library and the Madrasa al-Ṣaffārīn (both of which were centers of Islamic education in that period). He entered the world of spirituality, joining the Shādhilī Ṭarīqa and becoming a disciple of a shaykh in Rabāt. In 1437, he participated in and led campaigns against Portuguese invasions in Tangier. It was common in the Muslim community for Ṣūfīs and scholars to take the lead in mobilizing communities for such jihād efforts against imperial powers. In 1446, al-Jazūlī traveled to Mecca for Ḥajj, visited Medina as part of a ritual ziyāra (visitation) of the Prophet’s tomb, and then spent time in Cairo, where he connected with leaders of the Qādiriyya Ṭarīqa. By 1453, upon returning to Morocco and with permission, he founded the Jazūlī Ṭarīqa, merging the spiritual elements of the Shādhilī and Qādirī Ṭarīqa. Its central principles were intense love for the Prophet, frequent ziyāra, and continuous recitation of Ṣalāt. According to Islāmic historians, Dalā’il al-Khayrāt was composed that same year as a devotional guide and prayer manual for followers of the Jazūlī Ṭarīqa, embodying its principles. 

Within the Islāmic Ṣūfī literary tradition, such Ṣalāt manuals and works of prophetic devotion form a vital subgenre. Important examples include Kitāb al-Shifā bi-Taʿrīf Ḥuqūq al-Muṣṭafā by Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ (d. 1149) and Ḥiṣn al-Ḥaṣīn by Muḥammad al-Jazarī (d. 1429) and Qasidah al-Burda by Imam al-Būṣīrī (d.1294). Such works, built around Hadīth and eulogies, aim for continued recitation to obtain spiritual blessings, visions, and the grace to perform ziyāra. 

The core text of the Dalā’il includes 

1. A preface by al-Jazūlī in which he discusses the title and aims of the book, followed by the benefits of reciting blessings upon the Prophet.
2.  A list of the Prophet’s 201 names.
3. Description of the Prophet’s tomb along with Abū Bakr and ʿUmar (R)
4. The core text of the Dalāʾil, which is divided into eight sections known as ḥizb, with each one containing Ṣalāts to be recited on a specific day of the week, starting from Monday and ending on the following Monday. Apart from being divided into eight daily sections, the text is also divided into quarters and thirds.
5. Dua’ of completion.

As part of my research on Dalāʾil, I collected a few editions currently in use in Morocco and Malabar and observed that the core content (types of Ṣalāt) differed between them. According to Yūsuf al-Nabhānī’s commentary on the Dalāʾil, the primary cause of these divergences is that “Imam al-Jazūlī’s disciples rewrote his Dalāʾil text according to his specific orders repeatedly until his death,  changing in it what he noted to be mistakes or content needing clarification. This process of correction and rewriting occurred after some copies of the initial text had already spread across the country. As a result, an “A” copy would spread, and then the disciples would rewrite the text based on the Imam’s order, producing a “B” copy. Subsequently, the “B” copy would spread before they produced a “C” copy, and so on. Thus, many variants circulated among both the disciples and the common people. It is important to note that these corrections were structural rather than factual. (al-Nabhānī, 2007)

One of the most authentic and widely circulated copies is the one written by his disciple, Muḥammad al-Sahlī al-Ṣughayyir, known as Nuskha al-Sahlīyya (the Sahlīyya version). This manuscript version was written just before Imam al-Jazūlī’s passing. It was praised by Muḥammad al-Mahdī al-Fāsī, one of the prominent and first commentators of Dalā’il, in his commentary Maṭāliʿ al-Masarrāt li Jalā’ Dalā’il al-Khayrāt. This process of disciples writing down corrections or new versions as instructed by their master is a well-established practice in the Islāmic scholarly tradition and intellectual history, where scholars would often have their disciples take notes or write down their words. 

It is important to note that Dalā’il al-Khayrāt was composed during a period when Morocco was caught between Spanish and Portuguese colonial aggression and faced severe political instability. This era was marked by military invasions, internal conflicts between sultans and viziers, and widespread social disruption. For Moroccan Muslims, pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina was often impossible in that period. In such circumstances, Ṣūfī leaders believed that love and devotion to the Prophet could serve as a spiritual solution and a rallying factor against foreign dominance. Al-Jazūlī himself, regarded as a distinguished scholar, became a notable leader in this devotional and resistance milieu. So, the influence of political instability and colonial aggression in the Moroccan region is also evident in Dalā’il al-Khayrāt, as the author prays for safety from tribulations: 

اللهمّ ارحمني من زَمَانِي هَذَا وأحدَاقِ الفِتَنِ وتَطَاوُلِ أَهْلِ الجَرَاءَةِ عَلَيَّ واستضعافِهِمْ إِيَّايَ
اللهمّ اجعلني منك في عِيَاذٍ مَنيعٍ وَحرزٍ حصينٍ من جَميعِ خَلقِكَ حَتّى تُبلِغَني أَجَلِي مُعافى

O Allah, have mercy on me from my present era, the encirclement of tribulations, and the aggression of the bold against me and their belittling of me.
O Allah, place me in Your strong protection and a fortified safeguard from all of Your creation until You bring me to my appointed end in well-being. 

When examining the transnational spread or popularization of Ṣūfī litanies and practices, it becomes evident that specific crises and environmental factors, such as plagues, cholera outbreaks, or colonial invasions and aggressions, significantly influenced their proliferation, just as Jazuli’s circumstances influenced him to author Dalā’il. Let’s explore its journey across the world.

Transnational journey of Dalā’il

ان الطريق شريعة وطريقة            وحقيقة فاسمع لها ما مثلا

فشريعة كسفينة وطريقة             كالبحر ثم حقيقة در غلا

وطريقة أخذ بأحوط كالورع              وعزيمة كريضة مبتلا

“The original path is Sharīʿah, Ṭarīqah, and Ḥaqīqah. Listen to it carefully with examples. Sharīʿah is like a ship, and Ṭarīqah is like the sea. Haqīqa is like a pearl in the sea. Ṭarīqah means to follow precautions, like Warāʿ (to avoid lawful things in fear of getting into unlawful things), and to make a strong determination, like Riyāḍah (to exercise the soul and body to be accustomed to doing good deeds and engaging in only Allah’s thoughts).”

(Hidāyat al-Adhkiyāʾ ilā Ṭarīq al-Awliyāʾ of Zain al-Dīn Makhdūm)

In Islāmic history, various Ṣūfī Ṭarīqas have been instrumental in spreading Islām across many nations. Among these influential transnational Ṣūfī orders are the Qādirīyah, Rifāʿīyah, Chishtīyah, Suhrawardīyah, Naqshbandīyah, Kāzarūniyah, Shādhilīyah, Jazūlīyah, ʿAlawīyah , Aydarūsīyah, Tijāniyyah and Nūrīshīyah. These orders played a significant role in creating spiritual and educational networks that promoted Islāmic teachings and mysticism across a broad geographical area.

A Ṣūfī litany, like all Islāmic literary works, always circulates across the nations with the help of Ṣūfī Ṭarīqas, its shaykhs, spiritual lineage (called Sanad), and Ijaza. If one shaykh of a Ṭarīqa used to recite a litany or prayer, the followers of that particular Ṭarīqa are also ordered to recite it compulsorily for their spiritual merits. It means a Ṭarīqa institutionalizes a litany, whether it was written by a shaykh or not, and it circulates among the followers with direct Ijāzah from the Ṭarīqa’s shaykh through the Khalīfah (spiritual successors of the Shaykh). 

The transnational spread of the Dalā’il from a North African country to regions worldwide was facilitated by its integration into the Wirds of various Ṣūfī Ṭarīqas, enabling its widespread adoption and practice. Shādhilīyah, Qādirīyah, Jazūlīyah, Tijāniyyah, and Nūrīshā Ṣūfī Ṭarīqas played a key role in this process. As long as Ṣūfīs of these Ṭarīqas traveled, the Dalā’il came along, thus circulating worldwide in manuscript form, allowing local artistic traditions to be integrated into their copies. Codicologists note that by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the text spread widely across Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, often accompanied by distinctive regional styles. It initially entered India via Kashmir, where Ṣūfī centers called Dalā’il Khānas emerged alongside Qurʾān schools, a phenomenon that made it the most widely circulated Ṣūfī text after the Qurʾān.  

Outside North Africa, an early commentary was composed in Persian in 1716 by the Gujarati scholar Muḥammad Fāḍil ibn Muḥammad ʿĀrif al-Dihlawī, titled Masraʿ al-Ḥasanāt. This version gained more popularity in North India, Soviet Central Asia, and parts of the Middle East. Numerous copies of manuscripts from eighteenth-century Eastern Turkistan, nineteenth-century Bukhara, and beyond survive in manuscript collections in Afghanistan, Malaysia, Berlin, Leiden, Moscow, Paris, and Tashkent.  

As Farouk Yahya observes, “In Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, the recitation of Dalā’il was, and continues to be, practiced by various Muslim communities across the region on Friday nights, during festivals and ceremonies related to funeral rites. In Central East Java, it is accompanied by a ritual of fasting known as Puasa dalail Khairat. He also mentions that “the Dalā’il were also popular in times of hardships and war, such as during struggles against non-Muslim forces in Southeast Asia.” As evidence, he quotes Jan Just Witkam’s compilation of “inventory of the oriental manuscripts of the library of the University of Leiden.” It records some Dalā’il manuscripts from Aceh that were impounded by the colonial Dutch authority from local resistance fighters as war booty .

Modern codicologists have also examined the remarkable global diffusion of this fifteenth-century Moroccan work. Scholars such as Hiba Abid (Center for Social Research on Religion, Paris), Sabih Göloğlu (Hamburg University), Alexandre Papas (French National Center for Scientific Research), Vincent Cornell (Emory University), and Jan Just Witkam (Leiden University) have conducted extensive research on Dalā’il manuscripts. The Islāmic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur published a comprehensive catalog featuring Dalā’il manuscripts from the 16th to the 19th centuries, including over 100 examples of calligraphy, illumination, and Ottoman courtly artistry. The earliest extant copy dates to 1595 in Morocco and contains abstract depictions of the Prophet’s tomb alongside those of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, serving as symbolic ziyāra experiences for readers. Such illustrations bridged the sensory gap for devotees who, being unable to perform pilgrimage due to political, financial, physical, or other reasons, could spiritually imagine the holy sites and cultivate love as a true Muslim, thereby providing a “mental ziyāra” that evoked the sanctified spaces.  (Abid, 2020)

North African manuscripts frequently included designs of the Prophet’s sacred sandals, models of the minbar used in his mosque, and Miḥrābs denoting proximity to his presence. In Central Asian and Indian manuscripts, Chinese, Indian, and Ottoman stylistic influences are evident. Over time, monochrome manuscripts gave way to color symbolism; red and green replaced simple black, which, according to Witkam, marked a major pictorial shift by the nineteenth century. 

Dalā’il  and Malabar

In Kerala, particularly in Malabar, Ṣūfīs and religious scholars played a key role in spreading Islām in southern and northern India. While Islam in North India arrived through kingdoms and dynasties that ruled India for over six centuries, the Ṣūfīs later popularized Islam in North India and became a major factor in spreading it across the country. 

According to studies of the Indian Ocean, Islāmic Sufism reached Malabar during the same centuries in which it emerged. Arab maritime connections formed the foundation for the transnational journeys of scholars and Ṣūfīs. It was not only goods that circulated within this commercial cosmopolis, but also individuals, ideas, texts, allegiances, and reputations.²⁰

Furthermore, maritime businessmen often sought camaraderie with these spiritual figures, relying on their presence and divine intervention during risky sea voyages. Over time, the southern littoral regions became increasingly hospitable to Ṣūfī-scholar circles due to their socio-environmental suitability, encouraging them to settle and play a significant role in spreading Islām throughout these areas. Locations such as Kozhikode, Ponnani, Kannur Coromandel,  and Keelakkara stand as notable examples, where Arabs, particularily Yemeni, and North African Ulama (scholars), Ṣūfīs, and Sayyids (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ) established vibrant scholarly and spiritual communities, some making these regions their temporary destinations, others leaving lasting legacies through permanent settlement and ongoing influence.

There are historical records in Ibn Baṭṭūṭah’s The Rihla, the great Moroccan traveler who visited the Malabar region approximately between 1342 and 1345, describing his meetings with Ṣūfīs along this littoral. Though he arrived in Malabar as a Moroccan traveler and not a scholar who brought with him the Dala’il, he mentions encountering Ṣūfīs in the region. One example is “Saʿīd” from Ezhimala (Kannur), who had journeyed across Mecca, Madinah, China, and India. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah also met a Ṣūfī scholar from Baghdad in Kannur and another from Oman at Panthalayani (present-day Koyilandy in Kozhikode district). Additionally, travel accounts of global travelers, along with other sources, acknowledge the presence of Ṣūfīs and the spread of diverse Ṭarīqas across Malabar and other parts of Kerala by the late sixteenth century. Especially Qādirī, Chishtī, Shādhilī, ʿAlawiyyah, Suhrawardī, Naqshbandī, Rifāʿīyyah, ʿAydarūsī, and Tijaniyyah. Over time, these Ṭarīqas and their structured practices of Dhikr and Wirds gained widespread acceptance and became deeply rooted among the Muslims of Malabar.  

The spread of the Qādirī and Chishtī Ṣūfī orders in Kerala was significantly facilitated by the Ponnani Makhdūm family and the Qāḍīs of Kozhikode, especially by leading figures such as Shaykh Zain al-Dīn Makhdūm ibn Shaykh Abdul Azīz , also known as Makhdūm I, Zayn al-Dīn al-Makhdūm II, and Qāḍī Muhammad (author of Muhyadheen Māla). Local Arabi-Malayalam literary works and Ṣūfī litanies written within the Qādirī circle, like Muhyadheen Māla, Muhyadheen Rātīb, Noolmadh Māla (composed by Kunhayan Musliyar in 1785), and Rifāʿī Māla (Rifāʿīyyah Ṣūfī order), profoundly influenced the lives of Malabar Muslims, who commonly recited them for Baraka (blessing) and as spiritual protection against worldly tribulations. Another Ṣūfī litany is “Rātīb al-Ḥaddād,” which was formalized by the Yemeni-origin Ṣūfī order Ṭarīqa ʿAlawiyya and subsequently disseminated among Malabar Muslims. Ḥaddād, with its devotional chants and prayers for the Prophet ﷺ and his descendants, particularly those from Hadramawt, became integrated into daily Muslim practices in Malabar via the networks of Hadrami Sayyid immigrants.

Another connection between Moroccan Sufism and Malabar is one specific Ṣūfī order. As litanies became integral to Malabar Muslim life as Ṭarīqas spread, accordingly, Dalā’il al-Khayrāt gained prominence with the arrival of the Shādhilī order, named after the 13th-century Moroccan saint Abū al-Hasan ʿAlī al-Shādhilī. He traces a spiritual lineage to the Prophet ﷺ through chains such as Muḥyiddīn ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, Junayd al-Baghdādī, and Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī. Originating in North Africa, the Shādhilī Ṭarīqa expanded to the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa, and the Indian Ocean, maintaining its teachings while adapting to regional cultures. Its emphasis on spiritual practice fostered diversity, leading to the emergence of branches in different regions, including Fāssiyya, Darqāwiyya, ʿAṭṭāsīyah, Baqariyyah, and Jazūlīyah.

In the 1800s, scholars returning from major Islāmic centers like Yemen, Mecca, and Madinah brought Shādhilī litanies and practices to Malabar, where they blended with pre-existing local customs. Later, two significant branches of the Shādhilī order became well-known in Malabar. First, the Kozhikode Qāḍī Abū Bakr Kunji Qāḍī actively propagated the Fāssiyya branch, established by Shaikh Muḥammad al-Fāssī (d. 1863). Second, the Shādhilī Darqāwiyya offshoot, named after Shaikh Ahmad Darqāwi (d. 1825), spread across Malabar by the efforts of the Syrian Ṣūfī scholar Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir ʿĪsā and his Khalīfah, Saʿduddīn Murādī. The spread of these offshoots was aided by Ḥajj pilgrimages, Gulf migration, and scholarly journeys. Athippatta Muḥyiddīn Kuṭṭī Mūsliyar, Darqāwiyya Shādhilī’s first formal Khalīfah in Kerala, also received numerous ijāzahs in Shādhilī Ṣūfī litanies from his Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir ʿĪsā and Saʿduddīn Murādī and disseminated them among his Murīds (disciple). 

A noteworthy document was obtained during my fieldwork in Malabar: a Sanad (chain of transmission, or ijāzah) granting authorization to recite the works Dalā’il al-Khayrāt and Hizb al-Bahr. This important manuscript was collected from the private collection of Abdul Kader Faizy, a teacher at Darul Huda Islamic University in Malappuram. It had previously belonged to his father, Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn Saʿīd, and contains an unbroken lineage directly to the original author, Imām Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī. The specific ijāzah for Muḥyī al-Dīn was initially granted by Shāh ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Waylūrī (founder of Bāqiyāt Swālihath Arabic College in Vellore, Tamil Nadu). The manuscript, penned by Shāh ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, formally includes the chain of transmission along with blessings upon his disciple, stating explicitly that the ijāzah to recite both Dalā’il al-Khayrāt and Hizb al-Bahr was granted to Muḥyī al-Dīn just as the authority had been conferred upon Shāh ʿAbd al-Wahhāb by his own Shaykhs. (Fig. 03)

The complete Sanad documents the transmission is detailed below, directly linking the Malabar scholar to  Imām Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī.

 (Sanad of Dalā’il from Muḥyī al-Dīn to Imam al-Jazūlī, extracted from the above-mentioned manuscript)

The journey of the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt to South India, particularly to Malabar, reveals three major source hubs responsible for its spread. The primary hub is identified as Mecca and Madinah in the Hijaz; the secondary hub is the Vellore Baqiyath (Baqiyathus Salihath Arabic College) in Tamil Nadu, and the third is Kakkaḍippuram Abū Bakr Musliyār in Malappuram. This structure is evident because the initial phase of nearly all checked chains of transmission reaches a scholar based in Mecca or Madinah, and the subsequent, common secondary phase often transits through the Vellore Baqiyath institution, and the third is often Kakkaḍippuram Musliyār.

1. Primary hub, Mecca and Madinah

Before the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent rise of Salafism and Wahhabism in the Arabian Peninsula, Mecca and Madinah were the supreme centers of an Islamic education that valued Sanad above all else. The mosques functioned as intellectual hubs where Muslim scholars congregated, disseminating ‘ilm (knowledge) among both common pilgrims gathered for Hajj, ‘Umrah, and ziyārah, and dedicated Muslim intellectuals traveling globally for Ṭalab al-‘ilm (the pursuit of knowledge). Along with formal knowledge transactions, the practice of granting ijāzahs was a crucial part of their scholarly service. Following the Ottoman institutionalization of the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt, its transmission flourished in Mecca and Madinah, and manuscripts and copies were disseminated worldwide from there. Consequently, it became a trend for Indian scholars, especially the Malabar-Ponnani ‘ulamā, to travel to Mecca and Madinah for advanced Islamic studies. Scholars there utilized both public licensing (Ijāzah ‘Āmmah) and private licensing (Ijāzah Khāṣṣah) to popularize the litanies and Wirds, especially Dalā’il al-Khayrāt. 

The Muslim scholar Ali Musliyār, a prominent leader in the Indian freedom struggle and the Malabar resistance against British colonial power, received the Ijāzah for the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt from Muhammad Muhsin Riḍwānī, a Meccan Ṣūfī scholar who taught in Mecca. This same master also granted the ijāzah for the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt to the Ṣūfī scholar Kōyamuṭṭy Musliyār, father of Valakkuḷam Abdul Bāri Musliyār. Valakkuḷam Abdul Bāri Musliyār (1881-1965) also visited Mecca five times and actively participated in mosque-based classes during these visits. Consequently, he was granted the ijāzah for the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt from Sayyid ʿAbbās ibn Sayyid Muḥammad Riḍwān in 1904. He, too, became a key figure in spreading the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt among his disciples in Malabar.

2. Secondary source hub, Bāqiyāt Swālihath Arabic College

The secondary source hub for the spread of the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt in South India is the “Bāqiyāt Swālihath Arabic College” in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. This institution, founded in 1857 by Shāh ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Waylūrī, earned the title Umm ul-Madāris (Mother of all Madrasas) due to its crucial role in formalizing and standardizing the teaching of Islamic sciences in the region. The most important example of its intellectual influence is found in its graduates, known as Bāqavis, who disseminated its educational model by founding and leading numerous Madrasas and Makātib (libraries) throughout South India. Specifically, the Bāqavis had a notable impact on the religious and cultural landscape of Malabar, where they played a key role in the growth and resurgence of Ḥadīth scholarship and other Islamic sciences. By successfully combining its traditional way with the contemporary educational system, Bāqiyat effectively shaped a generation of scholars who served as crucial religious and intellectual leaders throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries in South India.

Along with the formal teachings of Islamic sciences, the founder, Shaykh Shāh ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, actively transmitted the formal ijāzahs of Ṣūfī litanies, such as the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt, to his disciples through public licensing (ijāzah ‘Āmmah). Shāh ʿAbd al-Wahhāb himself received the ijāzah of the Dalā’il al–Khayrāt from the Madinan scholar ʿAlī ibn Yūsuf Malik Bāshlī, who led mosque-based classes and spread the Dalā’il globally. This same Shaikh, ʿAlī Bāshlī, is frequently cited in numerous Sanads of the Dalā’il as “Shaykh  al-Dalā’il of Madinah,” serving as a key hub for sources from Madinah. This widespread citation emphasizes his extensive authorization and circulation of the Dalā’il among the disciples. Consequently, most of the Baqavis received the ijāzah of the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt directly from Shāh ʿAbd al-Wahhāb or his successors, who taught at the Vellore Baqiyath. The previously mentioned Sanad (Fig. 03) of the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt belonging to Muḥyī al-Dīn further confirms that the Shaykh utilized both private (ijāzah Khāṣṣah) and public licensing methods to disseminate this devotional work.

3. Third source hub, Kakkaḍippuram Abū Bakr Musliyār  

The third source hub for the dissemination of the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt is the Ṣūfī scholar Kakkaḍippuram Abū Bakr Musliyār (1902–1990), who played a pivotal role in spreading the work not only across Malabar but throughout Kerala. He is revered as the “Shaykh al-Dalā’il of Kerala” due to his widespread authorization and circulation of the text. Kakkaḍippuram Musliyār adhered to several Ṣūfī orders, having received approval directly from contemporary masters, including the Qādiriyya, Rīfā’iyya, Thabaqāthiyya, Bā‘alawiyya, and Shādhiliyya. He received the ijāzah of the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt from his Ṣūfī master, Malkān ibn Fāriḍ, who was known among Ṣūfīs as “Arakkal Mūppar.” This master’s educational lineage traces back through Ponnani and ultimately to Mecca and Madinah. For illustrative purposes, the Sanad of the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt, taken from Kakkaḍippuram’s biography, has been included here to show the chain of transmission from him back to the author, Imām al-Jazūlī.

Source: Biography of Kakkaḍippuram Abū Bakr Musliyār

A critical observation in tracing the Sanads reveals that the fourth and fifth phases of the two aforementioned chains converge at the Moroccan Ṣūfī scholar Muḥammad ibn al-Sayyid Aḥmad al-Madgharī. From this scholar, the chain of transmission goes straight back to the author, Imām al-Jazūlī, through the same lineage. My additional research, cross-checking sanads related to other major Ṣūfī orders such as the Nūrīsha and Tijāniyya ṭarīqas, consistently shows that while all chains initially connect through a scholar based in the Hijaz region, almost all subsequently lead back to Muḥammad al-Madgharī. This finding strongly suggests that al-Madgharī served as a vital link, facilitating the reliable transmission and circulation of these authoritative chains between the Ṣūfī circles of North Africa and the major scholarly hubs in the Hijaz.

Kakkaḍippuram Musliyār widely granted the ijāzah for the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt to both lay individuals and numerous prominent Muslim scholars throughout Malabar. Notable figures who received this authorization include Shamsul Ulama E.K. Abū Bakr Musliyār, C. Ānakkara Kōyākkuṭṭy Musliyār, Cherusseri Zainudheen Musliyār, Kānthapuram A.P. Abū Bakr Musliyār, Sayyid Husain Jifrī, and Uḷḷāl Thangal. These personalities span across Kerala and lead various religious organizations and institutions, ensuring the wide proliferation of the text. From them, the Dalā’il continued to spread from one to another, cherished for the utmost spiritual satisfaction and ethical self-cultivation it imparts to Malabar Muslims. This vibrant, living chain of transmission, originating with the author Imām al-Jazūlī, remains a key factor in popularizing and sustaining the recitation of the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt to the present day.

Conclusion 

The fifteenth-century Moroccan Ṣūfī text, Dalā’il al-Khayrāt, achieved a widespread global presence, transcending geographical borders through the network of Muslim scholars, Ṣūfī ijāzah (authorization), maritime trade routes, and royal patronage. Ranging from golden copies exchanged by Ottoman rulers to personal manuscripts valued by all social sections, the text became a universal vessel for never-ending prophetic love. In places as far from Morocco as Malabar, its spread was facilitated by three main hubs: the scholarly centers of Mecca and Madinah, the institutional influence of Vellore Bāqiyāt, and the widespread dissemination by local masters like Kakkaḍippuram Abū Bakr Musliyār. This ensured the text’s evolution from a foreign Ṣūfī text from North Africa to a key part of local Friday rituals in southwestern India. More than a mere Ṣalāt manual, the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt is the continuing medium for a powerful spiritual ziyāra, maintaining a living chain of devotion that connects Muslims from Morocco to the Malabar Coast to this day.

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