Naats and Qualies

NAAT is an Arabic word and it means, literally, praise. In Urdu, naat means the praise of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). A poem with praise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is also called naat in Urdu. In Arabic poetry, the genre naat does exist but it is called ‘madh’ or ‘madeeh’. The earliest naat was written in Arabic during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). From Arabic, naat reached a large number of world literatures, including Persian, Urdu, Turkish, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtu, Seraiki and many more. The tradition of composing naat poetry in Urdu has a long history. Since almost every Urdu poet has composed at least a few couplets in praise of the Prophet (PBUH), the history of Urdu naat poetry is as old as Urdu poetry itself.