Ṣalāt al-Badriyya — Sever Musalla Harvard University (Arabic and English Translation)

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Mawlid gathering at Sever Hall 311 (Sever Musalla) at Harvard University on February 10 2024.

Ṣalāt al-Badriyya (Salutations of the People of Badr) was penned by Shaykh Kiyai Ali Mansur (d. 1971) who was born in East Java, Indonesia. He was a member of the religious movement Nahdatul Ulama (NU) and wrote Ṣalāt al-Badriyya during a time of political unrest in Indonesia in the 1960s, and since then, the NU has made the recitation of this prayer a custom before any political action. It was said that Kiyai Ali was inspired to write this prayer seeking the intercession of the people of Badr after dreaming of meeting people in white and green robes, which was later interpreted by al-ʿĀrif bi-'Llāh Ḥabīb Ḥādī bin ʿAbdullāh al-Ḥaddār to him as being the people who took part in the battle of Badr.
The following day, he was visited by a group of highly respected ḥabā'ib led by Ḥabīb ʿAlī bin Abd al-Raḥmān al-Ḥabshī, better known as Ḥabīb ʿAlī Kwitang. After a brief conversation about the political situation, Ḥabīb ʿAlī asked Kiyai Ali Mansur about the poem he had written the previous night. Kiyai Ali was surprised as he hadn’t made mention of the poem. Ḥabīb ʿAlī asked him to recite Ṣalāt al-Badriyya in front of the group of ḥabā'ib, which moved the group to tears. Ḥabīb ʿAlī immediately stood up following the recital and said, “O Ali Mansur! Let us fight the enemies of Islam with Ṣalāt al-Badriyya!” This visit took place on Wednesday, September 26, 1962 at 8 am according to Kiyai Ali Mansur’s diary.