The Burda of al-Busiri: The Poem of The Cloak (Book and 3 CD Set)

The Poem of the Cloak, known as the Burda in Arabic, is arguably the most memorized and recited poem in the Muslim world. Its subject is the meritorious character and exalted rank of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him blessings and peace. Written between 1260 and 1268 CE in Mamluke Egypt by the poet, scholar, and spiritual master, Imam Sharaf ad-Din al-Busiri, the poem is sublime in its Arabic. The ratified and celestial Arabic language provided its author with a linguistic vehicle for its subtlety and loftiness. From The Introduction​ I felt compelled to translate the Burda after a trip to Mauritania having realized it was everywhere, on everyone’s tongue, always ready to alter the ambience, enhance the state, bring the presence of the beloved into the gathering. Once, sitting with one of my teachers, Abd Allah Ould Ahmadna, I heard for the first time a line from Imam al-Busiri’s other great poem, the Hamziyya: “If God places a people in the service of the blissful, then they too become b