Al-Jazuli is commonly placed around 807 AH / 1404 CE by later Moroccan biographical tradition and modern cataloguing. He came from the Jazula/Sus region of southern Morocco, reflected in his nisbas al-Jazuli and al-Simlali. The exact day, month, and village of birth are not securely established in the strongest evidence reviewed, so the regional origin is more reliable than narrower local claims.
Imam Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli al-Shadhili
Genealogy research note — view details
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli was a fifteenth-century Moroccan Sufi scholar and compiler of Dala'il al-Khayrat; the al-Jazuli and al-Simlali nisbas link him with Jazula/Sus, and the stable patronymic Muhammad ibn Sulayman makes Sulayman the only father-name that can be retained with confidence. Later biographies give differing extended genealogies, sometimes including Dawud and Bishr, and claims of Hasanid/sharif descent; these remain attributed lineage traditions, not a verified biological chain. The reviewed evidence does not securely establish his mother, spouse, or any named biological son or daughter, and varying hagiographical references to female household members do not support firm family claims.
PER-000878
Righteous person
Confirmed
Attributed place
Sunni source scope
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Imam Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli al-Shadhili was a fifteenth-century Moroccan Maliki scholar, Sufi teacher, and the central founder-figure of the Jazuliyya within the wider Shadhili tradition. He came from the Jazula/Sus region of southern Morocco, pursued advanced study in Fez, and later travelled in the Muslim East before returning to Morocco and gathering a large circle of disciples. His life unfolded during a period of political fragmentation, the final contraction of Muslim rule in al-Andalus, and growing Portuguese pressure on Morocco's Atlantic coast. Within that unsettled setting, al-Jazuli's teaching placed intense love of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), regular salawat, spiritual discipline, and collective devotion at the heart of a movement that soon became influential far beyond his own lifetime.
His enduring work is Dala'il al-Khayrat wa Shawariq al-Anwar fi Dhikr al-Salat 'ala al-Nabi al-Mukhtar, a carefully organized collection of prayers and blessings upon the Prophet (peace be upon him). The book's own introduction gives the strongest evidence for al-Jazuli's purpose: he sought to gather salawat and their virtues in a form that could be memorized and recited easily, deliberately omitting long chains of transmission from the devotional arrangement. Modern scholarship places its formation in mid-fifteenth-century Morocco, probably in stages and perhaps around the early 1450s. Dala'il al-Khayrat became one of the most widely copied Sunni devotional works of the Islamic world, recited from Morocco and the Ottoman lands to Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and China. Al-Jazuli died in the mid-1460s, was first buried at Afoughal according to later Moroccan tradition, and was subsequently reinterred in Marrakesh under the Saadians, where his shrine became one of the city's major sacred institutions and later a station in the Seven Saints devotional circuit.
Al-Jazuli died in the mid-1460s CE. Sources and modern scholarship preserve a variant between 869 AH and 870 AH, while 1465 CE is commonly used in modern references; later Moroccan tradition often gives 16 Rabi al-Awwal 870 AH. A poisoning account is widely repeated, but it comes through later sources and even al-Zirikli reports it cautiously as something that was said. The safest historical conclusion is therefore that al-Jazuli died in the mid-1460s, while poisoning remains an attributed later report rather than an established forensic fact.
Later Moroccan biographical tradition places al-Jazuli's first burial at Afoughal. His remains were subsequently transferred to Marrakesh under Saadian rule, where the Zawiya and Tomb of Sidi Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli became a major religious site. Traditional accounts sometimes place the transfer seventy-seven years after his death and add an incorrupt-body miracle, while modern historical reconstruction places the reburial more plausibly around 930 AH / 1523-24 CE, near the Saadian consolidation of Marrakesh. The present mapped point, approximately 31.63645, -7.99191 in the northern Medina / Riad Laarous area, identifies the current tomb and zawiya; it is not the original Afoughal burial place. For that reason the current location remains conservatively treated as an attributed later burial site rather than the immediate original grave.
Biography and historical profile
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli, also known as al-Simlali and al-Shadhili, emerged from the Jazula/Sus region of southern Morocco in the first half of the fifteenth century. Later biographical tradition commonly places his birth around 807 AH / 1404 CE, although the exact year and village are not established with the same certainty as his regional origin. His nisbas preserve the strongest geographical clue: he belonged to the southern Moroccan Jazula/Sus environment, while his later education and career connected him to the major scholarly and devotional centres of Morocco.
Al-Jazuli was sent to Fez for advanced learning. Moroccan institutional histories and later biographical sources associate him with the Saffarin madrasa and with the scholarly world surrounding al-Qarawiyyin. He was remembered as a serious student of Maliki law, and later accounts credit him with intensive study or memorization of major legal works such as al-Mudawwana and writings associated with Ibn al-Hajib. The broad picture of a substantial Maliki education is well supported, even though precise teacher lists and exact dates from his student years are less secure.
His scholarly formation was joined by Sufi training. Modern research identifies Muhammad Amghar, a master associated with the Sanhajiyya/Shadhili milieu, as an important initiator in al-Jazuli's spiritual development. The order that later took shape around al-Jazuli belonged to the wider Shadhili world but developed its own strong emphasis on devotion to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). In the Jazuliyya, prayer upon the Prophet was not merely an occasional act of piety; it became a disciplined method of remembrance, formation, and communal identity.
Al-Jazuli also travelled beyond Morocco and spent a significant period in the Muslim East. Later narratives variously name Egypt, the Hijaz, Jerusalem, Mecca, and Medina, and sometimes attach very long periods to these journeys. The evidence is strongest for the broad fact of eastern travel rather than for one exact itinerary. It is therefore safest to understand these journeys as an important stage in his scholarly and spiritual maturation without forcing the later accounts into a single precise travel calendar.
After returning to Morocco, al-Jazuli gathered a growing body of disciples and developed the movement later known as the Jazuliyya. Sources and modern scholarship connect phases of his activity with places such as Safi, Azemmour, and Afoughal. His influence grew in a society facing serious political strain. Marinid authority was weakening, Muslim power in al-Andalus had contracted dramatically, and Portuguese expansion was pressing upon Morocco's Atlantic coastline. Modern historians have consequently read the Jazuliyya not only as a circle of private mysticism but also as a form of religious organization capable of strengthening communal discipline in a period of political and military insecurity.
At the centre of al-Jazuli's legacy stands Dala'il al-Khayrat wa Shawariq al-Anwar fi Dhikr al-Salat 'ala al-Nabi al-Mukhtar. The full title may be rendered as 'Guides to Good Deeds and Brilliant Lights in the Remembrance of Blessings upon the Chosen Prophet.' The work is a devotional manual devoted principally to salawat upon the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), together with materials on the virtues of such prayer, names and praises of the Prophet, and descriptions associated with his sacred resting place.
The strongest evidence for why al-Jazuli compiled the work comes from the book's own introduction. There he explains, in substance, that he wished to gather prayers upon the Prophet (peace be upon him) and their virtues in a form suited to easy memorization and recitation. He also explains that he omitted detailed chains of transmission from the arrangement for this practical purpose. This authorial statement is historically more secure than later stories about the moment of inspiration. It shows that Dala'il al-Khayrat was conceived as a usable devotional handbook rather than as a conventional hadith collection arranged around full isnads.
Modern scholarship suggests that the text took shape in mid-fifteenth-century Morocco and may have existed as an initial handbook for al-Jazuli's disciples around 1453 CE. Moroccan institutional memory also associates its composition with his scholarly years in Fez. These traditions need not be forced into a single moment: the surviving manuscript history allows for compilation, revision, copying, and recensional development over time. What can be said confidently is that the book arose from al-Jazuli's devotional program and quickly became central to the spiritual life of his followers.
The text was designed to be recited. Its repeated formulas, rhythmic prose, and practical organization made it suitable for individual devotion, memorization, and collective performance. In one important textual tradition studied by modern scholars, more than four hundred prayers are arranged into eight ahzab across a Monday-to-Monday cycle; many later printed traditions instead speak of seven daily divisions. This difference is part of the book's genuine transmission history rather than an error that can be solved by imposing one modern edition on every manuscript.
Other well-known features also helped shape the book's devotional identity. A major section transmits a long list of Names of the Prophet (peace be upon him), with approximately 201 names in the textual tradition examined by modern scholarship. Dala'il al-Khayrat also includes material describing the Prophet's tomb or rawda, and many manuscripts developed schematic and later increasingly elaborate images of the sacred precincts of Mecca and Medina. These visual elements became a notable part of the manuscript culture surrounding the work, turning many copies into objects of both recitation and sacred art.
A famous later devotional story offers a different explanation for the book's origin. According to this account, al-Jazuli once needed water for ablution or prayer but was unable to draw it from a deep well. A young girl then caused the water to rise and explained that her spiritual rank came through abundant salawat upon the Prophet (peace be upon him), inspiring al-Jazuli to compile a book of blessings upon him. The story became influential in devotional memory, but it appears in sources many centuries after al-Jazuli, including transmission through Ahmad al-Sawi as reported by Yusuf al-Nabhani. It should therefore be read as a later hagiographical tradition, not as a verified eyewitness account of the composition of Dala'il al-Khayrat.
The book's success was already visible among the generation after al-Jazuli. His disciple Abd al-Aziz al-Tabba', who became an important successor in the Jazuliyya, is associated by modern scholarship with organized collective recitations at the Madrasa al-Attarin in Fez by the late fifteenth century. This early communal use is important: Dala'il al-Khayrat did not remain a private manuscript belonging to a small circle. It became a performed devotional practice that could bind communities through a shared schedule of salawat.
As copies multiplied, the work travelled far beyond Morocco. It became one of the most widely copied Sunni devotional texts of the early modern Islamic world, circulating through North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, the Hijaz, sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Ottoman manuscripts in particular show extensive copying, illumination, and use among different social groups. Across regions, scribes and artists adapted its visual program, especially representations of Mecca, Medina, and the Prophet's rawda, while readers preserved the central practice of regular prayer upon the Prophet (peace be upon him). The enormous manuscript tradition also produced textual variation. Copies differ in ordering, wording, divisions, and imagery, and later scholars compared manuscripts in an effort to establish authoritative recensions. This history matters because Dala'il al-Khayrat should not be reduced to a single modern printed arrangement. Its influence was carried through a living manuscript and recitation tradition in which communities copied, taught, corrected, illuminated, and transmitted the work over centuries.
Al-Jazuli's final years are associated in later Moroccan tradition with Afoughal. His death is placed in the mid-1460s, with 869 AH and 870 AH both appearing in the sources and 1465 CE commonly used in modern references. Later tradition often specifies 16 Rabi al-Awwal 870 AH. A report that he died by poisoning became widespread, but even later biographical authorities such as al-Zirikli present it cautiously, and the more detailed poisoning stories belong to later hagiography. The secure historical conclusion is his death in the mid-1460s; the precise mechanism should remain attributed rather than treated as established fact.
According to later Moroccan biographical tradition, al-Jazuli was first buried at Afoughal. His remains were later transferred to Marrakesh during the rise of Saadian power. Traditional accounts sometimes say that the transfer occurred seventy-seven years after his death and add the devotional motif that his body was found incorrupt, whereas modern historical reconstruction places the reburial around 930 AH / 1523-24 CE, near the Saadian consolidation of Marrakesh. The transfer itself and the Marrakesh shrine are secure in broad outline, but the exact interval and miraculous details belong to different evidentiary layers.
The Marrakesh zawiya of Sidi Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli became a major religious institution and, in later urban devotional geography, one of the stations of the Seven Saints of Marrakesh. This development belongs to the history of his posthumous reception rather than to an institution he personally established in its later form. It nevertheless shows how firmly his memory became embedded in the sacred landscape of the city. Al-Jazuli's influence ultimately rested on more than the fame of a single book. Through the Jazuliyya and through Dala'il al-Khayrat, he helped turn regular salawat into a portable devotional discipline that could be memorized, recited collectively, copied beautifully, and transmitted across languages, regions, and political frontiers. Later Sunni institutions continued to defend the work as a valued form of devotion, while some modern Salafi-oriented critics objected to particular formulas. That later debate is part of the book's reception history; it does not alter the historical evidence for al-Jazuli's authorship or the extraordinary scale of the work's manuscript, artistic, and devotional legacy.
Al-Jazuli was sent to Fez for advanced learning. Moroccan institutional histories and later biographical sources associate him with the Saffarin madrasa and with the scholarly world surrounding al-Qarawiyyin. He was remembered as a serious student of Maliki law, and later accounts credit him with intensive study or memorization of major legal works such as al-Mudawwana and writings associated with Ibn al-Hajib. The broad picture of a substantial Maliki education is well supported, even though precise teacher lists and exact dates from his student years are less secure.
His scholarly formation was joined by Sufi training. Modern research identifies Muhammad Amghar, a master associated with the Sanhajiyya/Shadhili milieu, as an important initiator in al-Jazuli's spiritual development. The order that later took shape around al-Jazuli belonged to the wider Shadhili world but developed its own strong emphasis on devotion to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). In the Jazuliyya, prayer upon the Prophet was not merely an occasional act of piety; it became a disciplined method of remembrance, formation, and communal identity.
Al-Jazuli also travelled beyond Morocco and spent a significant period in the Muslim East. Later narratives variously name Egypt, the Hijaz, Jerusalem, Mecca, and Medina, and sometimes attach very long periods to these journeys. The evidence is strongest for the broad fact of eastern travel rather than for one exact itinerary. It is therefore safest to understand these journeys as an important stage in his scholarly and spiritual maturation without forcing the later accounts into a single precise travel calendar.
After returning to Morocco, al-Jazuli gathered a growing body of disciples and developed the movement later known as the Jazuliyya. Sources and modern scholarship connect phases of his activity with places such as Safi, Azemmour, and Afoughal. His influence grew in a society facing serious political strain. Marinid authority was weakening, Muslim power in al-Andalus had contracted dramatically, and Portuguese expansion was pressing upon Morocco's Atlantic coastline. Modern historians have consequently read the Jazuliyya not only as a circle of private mysticism but also as a form of religious organization capable of strengthening communal discipline in a period of political and military insecurity.
At the centre of al-Jazuli's legacy stands Dala'il al-Khayrat wa Shawariq al-Anwar fi Dhikr al-Salat 'ala al-Nabi al-Mukhtar. The full title may be rendered as 'Guides to Good Deeds and Brilliant Lights in the Remembrance of Blessings upon the Chosen Prophet.' The work is a devotional manual devoted principally to salawat upon the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), together with materials on the virtues of such prayer, names and praises of the Prophet, and descriptions associated with his sacred resting place.
The strongest evidence for why al-Jazuli compiled the work comes from the book's own introduction. There he explains, in substance, that he wished to gather prayers upon the Prophet (peace be upon him) and their virtues in a form suited to easy memorization and recitation. He also explains that he omitted detailed chains of transmission from the arrangement for this practical purpose. This authorial statement is historically more secure than later stories about the moment of inspiration. It shows that Dala'il al-Khayrat was conceived as a usable devotional handbook rather than as a conventional hadith collection arranged around full isnads.
Modern scholarship suggests that the text took shape in mid-fifteenth-century Morocco and may have existed as an initial handbook for al-Jazuli's disciples around 1453 CE. Moroccan institutional memory also associates its composition with his scholarly years in Fez. These traditions need not be forced into a single moment: the surviving manuscript history allows for compilation, revision, copying, and recensional development over time. What can be said confidently is that the book arose from al-Jazuli's devotional program and quickly became central to the spiritual life of his followers.
The text was designed to be recited. Its repeated formulas, rhythmic prose, and practical organization made it suitable for individual devotion, memorization, and collective performance. In one important textual tradition studied by modern scholars, more than four hundred prayers are arranged into eight ahzab across a Monday-to-Monday cycle; many later printed traditions instead speak of seven daily divisions. This difference is part of the book's genuine transmission history rather than an error that can be solved by imposing one modern edition on every manuscript.
Other well-known features also helped shape the book's devotional identity. A major section transmits a long list of Names of the Prophet (peace be upon him), with approximately 201 names in the textual tradition examined by modern scholarship. Dala'il al-Khayrat also includes material describing the Prophet's tomb or rawda, and many manuscripts developed schematic and later increasingly elaborate images of the sacred precincts of Mecca and Medina. These visual elements became a notable part of the manuscript culture surrounding the work, turning many copies into objects of both recitation and sacred art.
A famous later devotional story offers a different explanation for the book's origin. According to this account, al-Jazuli once needed water for ablution or prayer but was unable to draw it from a deep well. A young girl then caused the water to rise and explained that her spiritual rank came through abundant salawat upon the Prophet (peace be upon him), inspiring al-Jazuli to compile a book of blessings upon him. The story became influential in devotional memory, but it appears in sources many centuries after al-Jazuli, including transmission through Ahmad al-Sawi as reported by Yusuf al-Nabhani. It should therefore be read as a later hagiographical tradition, not as a verified eyewitness account of the composition of Dala'il al-Khayrat.
The book's success was already visible among the generation after al-Jazuli. His disciple Abd al-Aziz al-Tabba', who became an important successor in the Jazuliyya, is associated by modern scholarship with organized collective recitations at the Madrasa al-Attarin in Fez by the late fifteenth century. This early communal use is important: Dala'il al-Khayrat did not remain a private manuscript belonging to a small circle. It became a performed devotional practice that could bind communities through a shared schedule of salawat.
As copies multiplied, the work travelled far beyond Morocco. It became one of the most widely copied Sunni devotional texts of the early modern Islamic world, circulating through North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, the Hijaz, sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Ottoman manuscripts in particular show extensive copying, illumination, and use among different social groups. Across regions, scribes and artists adapted its visual program, especially representations of Mecca, Medina, and the Prophet's rawda, while readers preserved the central practice of regular prayer upon the Prophet (peace be upon him). The enormous manuscript tradition also produced textual variation. Copies differ in ordering, wording, divisions, and imagery, and later scholars compared manuscripts in an effort to establish authoritative recensions. This history matters because Dala'il al-Khayrat should not be reduced to a single modern printed arrangement. Its influence was carried through a living manuscript and recitation tradition in which communities copied, taught, corrected, illuminated, and transmitted the work over centuries.
Al-Jazuli's final years are associated in later Moroccan tradition with Afoughal. His death is placed in the mid-1460s, with 869 AH and 870 AH both appearing in the sources and 1465 CE commonly used in modern references. Later tradition often specifies 16 Rabi al-Awwal 870 AH. A report that he died by poisoning became widespread, but even later biographical authorities such as al-Zirikli present it cautiously, and the more detailed poisoning stories belong to later hagiography. The secure historical conclusion is his death in the mid-1460s; the precise mechanism should remain attributed rather than treated as established fact.
According to later Moroccan biographical tradition, al-Jazuli was first buried at Afoughal. His remains were later transferred to Marrakesh during the rise of Saadian power. Traditional accounts sometimes say that the transfer occurred seventy-seven years after his death and add the devotional motif that his body was found incorrupt, whereas modern historical reconstruction places the reburial around 930 AH / 1523-24 CE, near the Saadian consolidation of Marrakesh. The transfer itself and the Marrakesh shrine are secure in broad outline, but the exact interval and miraculous details belong to different evidentiary layers.
The Marrakesh zawiya of Sidi Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli became a major religious institution and, in later urban devotional geography, one of the stations of the Seven Saints of Marrakesh. This development belongs to the history of his posthumous reception rather than to an institution he personally established in its later form. It nevertheless shows how firmly his memory became embedded in the sacred landscape of the city. Al-Jazuli's influence ultimately rested on more than the fame of a single book. Through the Jazuliyya and through Dala'il al-Khayrat, he helped turn regular salawat into a portable devotional discipline that could be memorized, recited collectively, copied beautifully, and transmitted across languages, regions, and political frontiers. Later Sunni institutions continued to defend the work as a valued form of devotion, while some modern Salafi-oriented critics objected to particular formulas. That later debate is part of the book's reception history; it does not alter the historical evidence for al-Jazuli's authorship or the extraordinary scale of the work's manuscript, artistic, and devotional legacy.
Historical importance and legacy
Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli occupies an important place in the history of Sunni devotional life because Dala'il al-Khayrat transformed prayer upon the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) into a highly structured and widely transmissible discipline. Its arrangement encouraged memorization, regular recitation, and collective practice, allowing communities far removed from Morocco to participate in a shared pattern of Prophetic devotion. The work's durability came not from a single political institution but from its ability to function in homes, mosques, madrasas, Sufi circles, pilgrimage environments, and manuscript cultures across very different regions.
His career also marks a significant stage in the development of the Shadhili tradition in fifteenth-century Morocco. The Jazuliyya combined inherited Sufi training with an unusually concentrated emphasis on salawat and attachment to the Prophet (peace be upon him). In the generation after al-Jazuli, figures such as Abd al-Aziz al-Tabba' helped transmit both the order and the communal recitation of Dala'il al-Khayrat. The resulting network influenced Moroccan religious life and fed into later Sufi lineages long after al-Jazuli's death.
Al-Jazuli's movement also belongs to the social history of a Morocco under pressure. Modern scholarship situates its rise amid Marinid decline, political fragmentation, Portuguese expansion along the Atlantic coast, and the broader sense of loss created by the collapse of most Muslim rule in al-Andalus. Within this context, collective Prophetic devotion could serve as spiritual formation and as a language of communal solidarity. This interpretation should remain distinct from al-Jazuli's own explicit explanation of his book, which was devotional and practical rather than a political manifesto.
The manuscript history of Dala'il al-Khayrat made al-Jazuli important to Islamic art as well as devotional literature. Copies were produced and illuminated across North Africa, the Ottoman world, Africa, Asia, and as far as China. Representations of Mecca, Medina, and the Prophet's rawda became especially recognizable features of many manuscripts. Textual variants, different recitation divisions, and later scholarly attempts to collate authoritative versions reveal a living tradition that was copied and used rather than frozen in a single form.
His posthumous importance is equally visible in Morocco. The transfer of his remains from Afoughal to Marrakesh under the Saadians helped establish his zawiya as a major sacred institution, and he was later incorporated into the Seven Saints of Marrakesh circuit. At the same time, the global history of Dala'il al-Khayrat carried his name far beyond that shrine. Traditional Sunni institutions continue to esteem the book, while some modern reformist and Salafi critics dispute particular formulations. Recording both reactions is part of an accurate reception history: the disagreement concerns later theological evaluation, whereas al-Jazuli's authorship, the scale of the manuscript tradition, and the book's long cultural influence are historically well established.
His career also marks a significant stage in the development of the Shadhili tradition in fifteenth-century Morocco. The Jazuliyya combined inherited Sufi training with an unusually concentrated emphasis on salawat and attachment to the Prophet (peace be upon him). In the generation after al-Jazuli, figures such as Abd al-Aziz al-Tabba' helped transmit both the order and the communal recitation of Dala'il al-Khayrat. The resulting network influenced Moroccan religious life and fed into later Sufi lineages long after al-Jazuli's death.
Al-Jazuli's movement also belongs to the social history of a Morocco under pressure. Modern scholarship situates its rise amid Marinid decline, political fragmentation, Portuguese expansion along the Atlantic coast, and the broader sense of loss created by the collapse of most Muslim rule in al-Andalus. Within this context, collective Prophetic devotion could serve as spiritual formation and as a language of communal solidarity. This interpretation should remain distinct from al-Jazuli's own explicit explanation of his book, which was devotional and practical rather than a political manifesto.
The manuscript history of Dala'il al-Khayrat made al-Jazuli important to Islamic art as well as devotional literature. Copies were produced and illuminated across North Africa, the Ottoman world, Africa, Asia, and as far as China. Representations of Mecca, Medina, and the Prophet's rawda became especially recognizable features of many manuscripts. Textual variants, different recitation divisions, and later scholarly attempts to collate authoritative versions reveal a living tradition that was copied and used rather than frozen in a single form.
His posthumous importance is equally visible in Morocco. The transfer of his remains from Afoughal to Marrakesh under the Saadians helped establish his zawiya as a major sacred institution, and he was later incorporated into the Seven Saints of Marrakesh circuit. At the same time, the global history of Dala'il al-Khayrat carried his name far beyond that shrine. Traditional Sunni institutions continue to esteem the book, while some modern reformist and Salafi critics dispute particular formulations. Recording both reactions is part of an accurate reception history: the disagreement concerns later theological evaluation, whereas al-Jazuli's authorship, the scale of the manuscript tradition, and the book's long cultural influence are historically well established.
Family relationships
Sources
Dala'il al-Khayrat wa Shawariq al-Anwar manuscript record | Sharjah Manuscripts House | Manuscript 20190015; incipit states purpose, omission of isnads for ease of memorization, and full title | https://imh.ac.ae/manuscript/20190015/ | author identity, full title, author's stated purpose and editorial methodProphetic Piety, Mysticism, and Authority in Premodern Arabic Devotional Literature: al-Jazuli's Dala'il al-Khayrat (15th Century) | Rachida Chih | International Journal of Middle East Studies 54/3 (2022), pp. 462-483; DOI 10.1017/S0020743822000496 | https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743822000496 | composition context, c.1453 reconstruction, structure, disciples, collective recitation, political-social setting, circulation
Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli and the Place of Dala'il al-Khayrat in Jazulite Sufism | Vincent J. Cornell | Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 12/3-4 (2021), pp. 235-264; DOI 10.1163/1878464X-01203002 | https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464X-01203002 | biography, Jazuliyya, Shadhili links, Prophetic devotion and place of Dala'il in the order
Dala'il al-khayrat manuscript | Library of Congress | Item 2015481293; North African manuscript; author dates listed d.1465 | https://www.loc.gov/item/2015481293/ | author identification and manuscript transmission
Dala'il al-khayrat manuscript | Library of Congress | Item 2008486687; manuscript description | https://www.loc.gov/item/2008486687/ | prayers upon Prophet, Prophet's names and tomb description; author 1404-1465
Dala'il al-Khayrat manuscript | Metropolitan Museum of Art | Accession 2017.301 | https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/752280 | mid-fifteenth-century Moroccan composition; wide circulation across North Africa and as far as China; major Sunni devotional manuscript tradition
Dala'il al-Khayrat manuscript record | King Saud University Manuscripts | Manuscript 7020 | https://makhtota.ksu.edu.sa/makhtota/7020/1 | author Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli and 870 AH death tradition
Dala'il al-Khayrat manuscript | Qatar National Library | Digital manuscript record QNL:00025647 | https://ediscovery.qnl.qa/ar/islandora/object/QNL%3A00025647 | manuscript transmission and attribution
Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli | Jamal Bami / al-Rabita al-Muhammadiyya lil-Ulama | biographical article; electronic pagination | https://www.mithaqarrabita.ma/%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%A8%D9%86-%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A | Moroccan biography, Jazula/Sus origin, Fez education, chronology and travel traditions
Da'wat al-Haqq article on Moroccan saints / al-Jazuli | Moroccan Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs | electronic article; pagination not applicable | https://www.habous.gov.ma/daouat-alhaq/item/5494 | Moroccan institutional biography, Fez/Saffarin association, Dala'il composition tradition, Afoughal burial and later Marrakesh transfer
Fatwa on Dala'il al-Khayrat | Egyptian Dar al-Ifta | Fatwa/article 16417; cites Kifayat al-Muhtaj 2/181 and Mumti al-Asma p.6 | https://dar-alifta.org/ar/fatwa/details/16417/ | Maliki scholarly formation, book contents, later Sunni institutional reception and defense
al-A'lam, entry on Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli | Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli | Vol. 6, p. 151 in displayed digital edition | https://ablibrary.net/book_content/182/151 | name variants, 807-870 AH chronology, Fez study, Dala'il authorship, Afoughal death/burial tradition, cautious poisoning report and transfer tradition
Collating The Signs of Benevolent Deeds: Muḥammad al-Mahdī al-Fāsī's Textual Criticism of Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt | Guy Burak | Philological Encounters 4/1-2 (2019), pp. 135-157; DOI 10.1163/24519197-12340066 | https://doi.org/10.1163/24519197-12340066 | manuscript variants, later collation and attempts to establish an authoritative recension
Dala'il al-Khayrat in the Ottoman Empire: Manuscripts and Readership | Sabiha Göloğlu | Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 12/3-4 (2021); DOI 10.1163/1878464X-01203009 | https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464X-01203009 | Ottoman copying, printing, readership, visual culture and devotional use
L’itinérance de “morts très spéciaux” sur les routes du Maroc médiéval: Des destins singuliers | Hicham Rguig | Hespéris-Tamuda LVIII/2 (2023), pp. 301-327; al-Jazuli discussion around p. 317 | https://www.hesperis-tamuda.com/Downloads/2020-2029/2023/Fascicule-2/11.pdf | historical reconstruction of al-Jazuli's transfer from Afoughal to Marrakesh, favoring c. 930 AH/1523-24; distinguishes the incorrupt-body account as hagiographical tradition
The Story Behind the Dala'il al-Khayrat | Dar al-Hadith introductory booklet | p. 6; transmits Yusuf al-Nabhani quoting Ahmad al-Sawi | https://www.daralhadith.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Dalail-al-Khayrat-Introduction-Dua-Khatam-Booklet.pdf | directly inspectable later witness for the well/young-girl composition story; used only as LATE_TRADITION
Sa'adat al-Darayn fi al-Salat 'ala Sayyid al-Kawnayn | Yusuf al-Nabhani | later salawat compilation; accessible 394-page electronic copy | https://shamela.org/pdf/2ad7c65c6422e5f3223cff9b0fc79c13 | later devotional reception and salawat tradition; not relied upon as the sole evidence for the well story
Zawiya of Sidi Muhammad Ben Slimane al-Jazuli | Wikidata / linked heritage data | Entity Q95149901; Saadian-era shrine, founder Ahmad al-Araj, 16th century | https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q95149901 | current shrine identity and later Saadian institutionalization
Tomb of Sidi Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli | OpenStreetMap-derived Mapcarta | OSM node 5734277151; current coordinate 31.63645,-7.99191 | https://mapcarta.com/N5734277151 | present tomb point and Marrakesh site identity
Modern critical reception of Dala'il al-Khayrat | Islamweb | Fatwa 10519 | https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/10519/ | later Salafi-oriented objections to some formulas; used only to document modern reception dispute, not biography
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