JAZULI, Muhammad al-.

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Dalā'il al-khairāt ("The Guide of Good Deeds"). Rare lithographed edition, in an attractive contemporary Turkish binding and with two views of Mecca and Medina, of this famous collection of prayers for the Prophet Muhammad.Muhammad al-Jazūli (d. 1456 CE) was a Moroccan Sufi saint of the Shadhili order and a sharif (descendant of Muhammad). Dalā'il al-khairāt gathers litanies and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad for daily recitation, and it is divided into sections for different parts of the day or the week. When in Medina, al-Jazūli would recite these litanies twice a day at the Prophet's grave in al-Masjid al-Nabawi. Dalā'il al-khairāt is one of the most copied texts in the Islamic world, with hundreds of extant manuscripts, often embellished with fine illuminated bird's-eye views of the holy sites of Mecca and Medina. The present edition is a fine example of mid-19th-century Istanbul lithographic printing, which borrows the two illustrations from the manuscript tradition. "In its ability to replicate the aesthetic qualities of hand-written texts and cursive scripts, lithography 'eased the transition from manuscript to printed word, and provided the first effective means of mass book publishing' (Proudfoot, p.131)... Lithography did not threaten the monopoly of professional scribes but established continuity with the manuscript tradition. In a period of declining court patronage, the new lithographic presses helped keep the calligraphic arts alive by providing a livelihoo

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