Naat

A Na`at (Arabic: نعت‎) is a poetry that specifically praises the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Many of the famous scholars in the earlier days of Islam wrote Naat. People who recite Naat are known as Naat-Khua’an or Sana’a-Khua’an.

History of Naat

It is difficult to trace the history of Na’at Khawani since no authenticated record of when it was initiated can be found. On a more regularized basis, Muhammad’s companion Hassan ibn Thabit started this work. He was also known as Shair-e-Darbaar-e-Risalat. Even before accepting Islam he was a poet, but after embracing Islam he gave a new turn to his poetry and started writing Na’ats in honor of Muhammad.^[1] He was famous for his poetry that defended Muhammad in response to rival poets that attacked him and his religion. Therefore Hassan is known as the first Sana-Khawaan (Naat reciter) of that time. After that many a poet followed this trend and totally dedicated themselves to writing Naats.

Islamic poetry is rich in the praise of Muhammad. Rarely has there been any Muslim poet who has not written about him. This is mainly inspired from the Islamic Hadith that each act of veneration will result in ten blessings of God on the person who venerates.^{[citation needed]}.

Language of Naat

Commonly the term Naat-Shareef (Exalted Poetry) is reserved and used for poetry in the praise of Muhammad written in Urdu, Turkish, Persian, Arabic and also in Punjabi.

In the Arabi language, Naat is usually referred as Madih (praise), or simply as Nasheed (poetry) or Anasheed (plural). The latter two terms can describe any type of religious poetry.

Anasheed or Naat usually is not accompanied by musical instruments. However some scholars have allowed the use of the daf (small drum). Usually poetry that is accompanied by musical instruments is called Ghinaa (music).