The Story behind the Composition of Dala’il al-Khayrat

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

On the story behind the composition of Dala’il al-Khayrat, Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad asw-Swawi al-Maliki (q.s.) related that one day, Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli (q.s.) went to perform his ablutions for the prescribed prayer from a nearby well but could not find any means to draw the water up.  While thus perplexed, he was seen by a young girl who called out from high above, “You are the one people praise so much, and you cannot even figure out how to get water out of a well?”  So, she came down and spat into the water, which welled up until it overflowed and spilled across the ground. 

Imam al-Jazuli (q.s.) made his ablutions, and then turned to her and said, “I adjure you to tell me how you reached this rank.” 

She said, “By saying the Blessings upon him whom beasts lovingly followed as he walked through the wilds.”  But she did not tell him the exact swalawat she recited then. 

Imam al-Jazuli (q.s.) thereupon vowed to compose the book of Blessings on the Prophet (s.a.w.) which came to be known as his Dala’il al-Khayrat or “Waymarks of Benefits.”  Within this book of swalawat, there is one that was eventually Given to Shaykh Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad at-Tijani (q.s.), and that is the Swalawat al-Fatih.  This was the swalawat recited to raise the water of the well.