Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt wa Shawāriq al-Anwār fī Dhikr al-Ṣalāt ʿAlā al-Nabī al-Mukhtār or ‘The Guide Book of Blessings and Enlightenment [that comes from] Invoking the Chosen Prophet in Prayer’

c. 1804/05

Shoults MS. 12

Unpublished

While Europe was experiencing its supposed ‘Dark Ages’, the Arab World was going through a time of great learning and scholarship – its ‘Golden Age’. It began with the dissemination of the Islamic religion and culture throughout the Middle East in the 8th century. Many ancient works in Greek, Persian, Chinese, Indian, and Phoenician were translated into Arabic. This ‘Golden Age’ petered out with the invasion of the Mongols in the 13th century but scholarship continued. This Arabic manuscript is a copy from a 15th century original concerning religious matters – the title, as outlined on these pages above, essentially means ‘The Guide Book of Blessings and Enlightenment [that comes from] Invoking the Chosen Prophet in Prayer’.