I’d first heard this Urdu/Arabic/Farsi song in praise of the Prophet (ﷺ) in the 1990 Bollywood movie Hina, musically composed by the Indian music director Ravindra Jain and sung by Mohammad Aziz. It has popularly been rendered across the Indian subcontinent in many different tunes – many variant renditions can be found online on YouTube.
The familiar opening quatrain in Arabic and Farsi was reportedly composed by Shaykh Sa’di Shirazi, the legendary poet and preacher, but it’s hard to trace the lyrics of the actual verses of this song to the original poet who’d composed them. There is an all-Farsi version attributed to Mawlana Qudsi, that I intend to record and release on a future album, God willing.
The album’s producer Mohammed Dbooni masterfully crafted this song to make it stand on its own, and it has been a favourite among Urdu speakers who’ve bought the album. Very upbeat and celebratory, it’s a real joy to sing it whenever I’m called to do so. You can stream a clip below (also has lyrics and translation), and follow the instructions to buy it directly from iTunes.