Naat ( and ) is

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

in praise of the Islamic prophet,

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. The practice is popular in South Asia (Bangladesh, Pakistan and India), commonly in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, Punjabi, or Hindustani. People who recite Naat are known as ''Naat Khawan'' or ''sanaa-khuaan''. Exclusive "Praise to Allah" and Allah alone is called

Hamd Hamd () is a word that exclusively praises God - whether written or spoken. Thus, The word "Hamd" is always followed by the name of God (Allah) - a phrase known as the Tahmid - "al-ḥamdu li-llāh" (Arabic: ) (English: "praise be to God"). The ...

, not to be confused with 'Na'at'. 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 Na'ats in honor of Muhammad. His poetry defended Muhammad in response to rival poets who attacked him and his religion. Tala al Badru Alayna is a traditional Islamic poem known as nasheed recited to Muhammad when he moved to Medina in 622 CE.

Language

Commonly, the term ''naʽat shareef'' () is reserved for poetry in the praise of Muhammad. In Arabic, na'at is usually called '' madih'' () or ''

nasheed A ''nasheed'' (, ) is a work of vocal music, partially coincident with hymns, that is either sung ''a cappella'' or with instruments, according to a particular style or tradition within Sunni Islam. Nasheeds are popular throughout the Islamic ...

'' (), although the latter can describe any type of religious poetry.

Urdu

Naat Valley
' is a non-commercial digital archive that catalogs approximately 12,000 ''naʿat'' compositions in Urdu, performed by over 400 ''naʿat khawans'' (reciters).

Urdu Na'at anthologies

*''Hadaiqe Bakshish'' by Ahmad Raza Khan *''Wasail e Bakhsish'' by Muhammad Ilyas Qadri *''Tajalliyāt'', by Syed Waheed Ashraf First Ed.(1996), Second Ed.(2018) , Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh 202002, India *''Urdū zabān men̲ naʻt goʼī kā fann aur tajallīyāt'', 2001 () by Syed Waheed Ashraf *''Safeena e Bakhshish'' by

Akhtar Raza Khan Akhtar Raza Khan (born Muhammad Ismail Raza; 23 November 1943 – 20 July 2018), also known as Tajush Shari'ah, and Azhari Miyan, was an Indian Islamic scholar. A mufti of the Barelvis, he was the great-grandson of Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi who w ...

(Azhari Miya)

Notable Na'at khawans

Na'at poets

Hassan ibn Thabit Hassan ibn Thabit () (born c. 563, Medina died 674) was an Arabian poet and one of the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who was best known for poems in defense of the prophet. He was born in Medina, and was a member of the Banu Khazr ...

(c. 563–674) * Pir Syed Meher Ali Shah (1859–1937) *

Amir Khusro Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253 – 1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau, sometimes spelled as, Amir Khusrow or Amir Khusro, was an Indo-Persian culture, Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar, who lived during the per ...

(1253 – 1325 AD) *

Mian Muhammad Bakhsh Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh (, ; – 22 January 1907) was a Punjabi Muslim poet from Khari Sharif, in present-day Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He wrote 18 books during his lifetime of 77 years, especially remembered for his romantic epic poem, "'' S ...

(c. 1830–1907) *

Ahmed Raza Khan Ahmad Raza Khan Baraylawi (14 June 1856–28 October 1921), known reverentially as A'la Hazrat, (Grand Master), was an Islamic scholar, mufti, polymath, gnostic, poet from (undivided) India, he is considered as the founder of the Barelvi move ...

(1856 – 1921) * Pir Syed Naseer-uddin-Naseer (1949–2009) *

Mustafa Raza Khan Qadri Mustafa Raza Khan Qadri (1892–1981), was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar and author, and leader of the Sunni Barelvi movement following the death of its founder, his father Ahmed Raza Khan. He was known as ''Mufti-Azam-i-Hind'' to his follo ...

(1892–1981) * Muhammad Ilyas Qadri (b. 1950) * Syed Waheed Ashraf (b. 1933) *

Muzaffar Warsi Muzaffar Warsi (23 December 1933 – 28 January 2011; ) was a Pakistani poet, essayist, lyricist, and a scholar of Urdu. He began writing more than five decades ago. He wrote a rich collection of na`ats, as well as several anthologies of ghaza ...

(1933–2011) *

(1943–2018) *

Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

(1877–1938) *

Behzad Lucknavi Behzad lakhnavi (بہزاد لکھنوی) (born name Sardar Hussain Khan; 1 January 1900 10 October 1974) and pen name behzad (بہزاد) was a Indo-Pak Urdu poet and lyricist. He primarily wrote naat (نعت), ghazal (غزل)، nazm (نظم ...

(1900–1974) *

Tabish Mehdi Tabish Mehdi (3 July 1951 – 22 January 2025) was an Indian poet specialising in naʽat, a literary critic, journalist, and author who made contributions to Urdu literature. His literary career spanned several decades, during which he worked i ...

(1951–2025)

Urdu Na'at reciters

* Syed Sabihuddin Rehmani (b. 1965) *

Junaid Jamshed Junaid Jamshed Khan (3 September 1964 – 7 December 2016) was a Pakistani Islamic preacher, singer-songwriter and television personality. Jamshed first gained nationwide and international recognition as the vocalist of Vital Signs. Their ...

(1964–2016) *

Abrar-ul-Haq Abrar-ul-Haq () is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and a politician. His debut 1995 album ''Billo De Ghar'' sold over 40.3million albums worldwide, which made him a household name and granted him the title of "King of Pakistan ...

(b. 1969) *

Syed Fasihuddin Soharwardy Syed Fasihuddin Soharwardy (; born 15 June 1957) is a leading nasheed Khawan or Naat Khawan from Pakistan. Most of his work is in the Urdu language. However, he has performed nasheeds (Naats) in multiple languages including Punjabi language, P ...

(b. 1957) * Siddiq Ismail (b. 1954) * Khursheed Ahmad (1956–2007) * Abdul Rauf Rufi * Bekal Utsahi (1924–2016) * Ajmal Sultanpuri (1923–2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naat Cultural depictions of Muhammad Islamic worship Islamic poetry Islamic culture Urdu-language poetry Sufism Bengali poetry Devotional literature Islamic terminology Islam in South Asia