Qasidat al-Burda

Qasidat al-BurdaThe Qasidat al Burdah has had a great impact upon the history of the qasida genre as a whole. No other Arabic poem has been more frequently recited, translated, imitated or commented upon in so many languages of the Islamic world. The Qasidat al Burdah, al Busiri's most famous poem in praise of the Prophet. Its appellation "al Burdah", meaning a mantle of woollen cloth in Arabic, refers to another highly esteemed poem in praise of Muhammad Sallallahu

The Qasidat al-Burdah has had a great impact upon the history of the qasida genre as a whole. No other Arabic poem has been more frequently recited, translated, imitated or commented upon in so many languages of the Islamic world. The Qasidat al-Burdah, al-Busiri's most famous poem in praise of the Prophet. Its appellation "al-Burdah", meaning a mantle of woollen cloth in Arabic, refers to another highly esteemed poem in praise of Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam which is known after its opening words as "Banat Su«ad" and was composed by Ka`b b. Zuhayr. After the recitation Ka`b received, as a reward for his poem, the Prophet's mantle. When al- Busiri, some 650 years later, suffered a stroke and remained semi-paralysed, the Prophet appeared to him in dream guise, touched him with his hand and threw his mantle over his shoulders. al- Busiri was instantly cured and set about to compose his poem called, in reference to this miraculous healing, the "Ode of the Mantle".