Haltunnabi

Halat-un-Nabi

First page of the puthi in Sylheti Nagri script.
Author	Munshi Sadeq Ali
Language	Dobhashi Bengali (written in Sylheti Nagri script)
Genre	Sīrat (Biography), Poetry
Published	1855 (manuscript)[1] c. 1869 (first printed edition)[2]
Publication place	British India
Media type	Puthi
Pages	275 (first printed edition)

Halat-un-Nabi (Bengali: হালত-উন-নবী; Sylheti: ꠇꠦꠔꠣꠛ ꠢꠣꠟꠔꠥꠘ꠆ꠘꠛꠤ), literally meaning "The Condition of the Prophet," is a seminal Dobhashi Bengali puthi (poetic narrative) written by Munshi Sadeq Ali in the mid-19th century.^[3] It is considered his magnum opus and the most famous and widely circulated work composed in the Sylheti Nagri script.^[4] The book details the life and times of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and its publication marked a significant milestone, ushering in the printed era for Sylheti Nagri literature.

The author, Munshi Muhammad Sadeq Ali (c. 1800–1862), was born into a Bengali Baidya Hindu family as Gaur Kishore Sen in the village of Daulatpur in the Langla pargana (near present-day Kulaura in Moulvibazar District, Bangladesh). After being orphaned at a young age, he developed an interest in Islam and converted to the faith, formally changing his name to Sadeq Ali and adhering to the Hanafi school of thought. He later served as a munsif (local judge). His literary work was part of a reformist trend that sought to move Bengali Muslim literature away from the syncretic, often Vaishnava-influenced, folk tales of the time and towards more scripture-based Islamic narratives.^[5]

Halat-un-Nabi is a biography (sīrat) of the Prophet Muhammad, composed in verse. The 275-page puthi covers key events in his life, his teachings, and his virtues.^[1] The work is written in the Dobhashi literary dialect, a highly Persianised and Arabicised variant of colloquial Bengali that was customary for Muslim literature of the period. However, its phonology and rhythm are strongly influenced by the Sylheti vernacular, making it particularly accessible and resonant with the local population of the Sylhet region.^[3]

The opening stanza of Ketab Halatunnabi is often quoted, demonstrating the distinct Sylheti Nagri script and the poetic style:

A rough translation of these opening lines is: "Glorified is the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful Allah, The Able, With stars, He beautified the seven heavens, With many things, He beautified the earth, We are all needy except the All-Sufficient Provider."

While the manuscript was completed in 1855, the work's monumental legacy began when it became one of the first books to be mass-printed in the Sylheti Nagri script.^[2][1] Around 1869, a munshi named Abdul Karim, who had learned the printing trade in London, returned to Sylhet and founded the Islamia Printing Press in Bandar Bazar. He designed a woodblock type for the Nagri script and published Halat-un-Nabi, bringing it to a much wider audience.^[2]

The book's popularity was immense and unprecedented. It became a household staple for Bengali Muslim families across Greater Sylhet and the Barak Valley (Cachar), cementing its place as the most popular and widely printed book in the history of the Sylheti Nagri script.^[1][4] Its fame led to it being transcribed and published in the standard Bengali script as well, ensuring its survival even after the Nagri printing presses, including the original Islamia Press (destroyed in a fire during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971), ceased to operate.^[6]

In 2014, as part of a major revival of Sylheti Nagri literature, the Dhaka-based publishing house Utsho Prokashon included Halat-un-Nabi in their 25-volume collection, Nagri Grantha Sambhar.^[7] The work is frequently recited at cultural events in Sylhet as a cherished part of the region's heritage.^[8]

• List of works written in Sylheti Nagri
• History of Sylhet
• Ashraf Hussain, researcher of the script

• Bhuiya, Md. Abdul Musabbir (2000). Jalalabadi Nagri: A Unique Script & Literature of Sylheti Bangla. Badarpur, Assam: National Publishers.
• d'Hubert, Thibaut (2018). "The khādim and the munshī: Śāh Garībullāh and Sādek Ālī". Foundational Maḥabbat-nāmas: Jāmī's Yūsuf u Zulaykhā in Bengal (ca. 16th–19th AD) (Thesis). University of Chicago.