Na'at (Urdu: نعت) refers to poetry in praise of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The practice is popular in South Asia (Bangladesh, Pakistan and India), commonly in Pashto, Bengali, Urdu or Punjabi language. People who recite Naat are known as Naat Khawan or sana'a-khua'an. Exclusive "Praise to God" and God alone is called Hamd, not to be confused with 'Naat', which contains "praise to The Prophet Muhammad" ﷺ. In Arab countries, lyrics and praises said for the Muhammad are called Nasheeds.
History
It is difficult to trace the history of Na'at khawani since no authenticated record of when it was initiated can be found. One early author, Hassan, was 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 ﷺ. He was famous for his poetry that defended Muhammad ﷺ 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 towards writing of nNats.
Tala' al Badru 'Alayna, a song sung to Muhammad ﷺ during his completion of migration to Medina in 622 CE, is believed to be one of the earliest naats.
Language
Commonly the term Naat-Shareef (exalted poetry) is reserved and used for poetry in the praise of Muhammad ﷺ written in Pashto, Bengali, Urdu, English, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Punjabi and Sindhi Language.
In Arabic, Naat is usually called madih (praise) or Nasheed (poetry), although the latter can describe any type of religious poetry.
