The Meaning of Imam Al Busiris Qasida Burda

Y.A. Khamissa

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No information available at this time. Author will provide once available.

Sujets

• Religious
• Alá
• Musulmán
• Muslim
• Allah
• Muslim ben al-Hajjaj
• Music

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 21 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781669866435
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

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The Meaning of Imam Al Busiris Qasida Burda
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Y.A. KHAMISSA
 
Copyright © 2023 by Y.A. Khamissa.
 
ISBN:
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978-1-6698-6644-2

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
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Rev. date: 02/20/2023
 
 
 
 
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Contents
The Meaning of Imam al-Busiri’s Qasida Burda
A critical appreciation of the Busiri’s Burda.
About the author- Al Busiri
al-Busiri---the enlightened sufi_
The Origin of the Burda
Translations of the Burda
The Prologue
On translating al-Busiri’s al-Burda.
Section One
Section Two
Section Three
Section Four
Section Five
Section Six
Section Seven
Section Eight
Section Nine
Section Ten
 
The Meaning of Imam al-Busiri’s Qasida B urda
Y.A. KHAMISSA
“…God said: ‘wait Muhammad, for thy sake I shall create paradise, the world, and a great multitude of creatures, whereof I make thee a present, in so much that whoso shall bless thee shall be blessed and whoso shall curse thee shall be cursed’…”
(Gospel of Barnabas ch.97.)
A critical appreciation of th e Busiri’s B urd a.
Abdul Hakim Murad (translator par excellence of the Burda) of Cambridge University, UK, makes the following reference to Busiri’s Burda: -
“…, we very soon realise that what we are dealing with is probably the most influential and most popular single poem in the history of any language…”
Qasida (arabic) etymologically means neck, alluding to communication-+ -the brain sends messages with the neck as a conduit to all parts of the body, but terminologically it refers to the arabic poem, usually in monorhyme, that may be satirical, elegiac, threatening or laudatory. Qasida was often panegyric written in praise of a king or nobleman. This kind of Qasida is known as madih meaning praise. Burda (arabic) means mantle. It is an ode of praise for the Prophet . There are two popular Burda viz. the “Banat Suád” (Su’ad has departed) composed by Ka’b ibn Zubair, who lived in the era of the Prophet and that composed by al- Busiri originally entitled as “Al-Kawakib ad-Durriya fi madh khayr al-Barriya”(“Celestial Lights in praise of the best creation”). The name was changed to “Qasida Burda” (poem of the mantle) because of his blessed dream of the Prophet and the mantle incident associated with it.
Praise is one thing, and flattery is another—and the genre Qasida Burda (two referred to above) is not flattery. It can be safely said that al-Busiri’s Qasida Burda is the poetization in ornate badi style of historical data of the Prophet . Also, it underscores the esoteric aspects of the Prophet and his eschatological intercessional functionality. His thought soliciting the Prophet for help is God sent and does not emanate from his own psyche.
The metaphor,” like the sun in generosity”-v.55, reflects the Prophet’s characteristic attitude of primacy of community (Ummah) over self .For the Prophet his practice at all times is others not self. Traditions abound to testify this.
The verses of the Burda adorned the Rowza Mubarak for many centuries until the anti-sufi and Salafi based Saudi dynasty defaced them (excepting for two verses).
The manuscripts of the Burda stretching from al-Busiri’s time down to the present printed editions when compared furnish overwhelming evidence of its authenticity.
It is always insisted that the Burda cannot be literally translated because in each line(verse) much is comprehended. ” To translate poetry into prose is always a folly.” It is probably impossible to find a precise modern English equivalent to the extraordinary dense music of Busiri’s al-Basit meter. In its place one may work with the unrhymed pentameter or the iambic pentameter. The flexible beat line with five, six or and seven main stresses may be used. Also, in place of the mono-rhyme a line may be divided into two parts and the couplet rhymed---e.g.,in the couplet:
“While,he the undoubted author of our harms,
The man who menances us with arms.”,
“harms” and “arms” rhyme.
I have striven to write readable English which does honour to the richness and sublimity of Busiri’s language. I have amended the verses (adding, diminishing, substituting & intensifying words) to bring out al-Busiri’s sense (I hope) in polished English. In vv 15; 16; 24; 25; 31;33; 35; 44;50; 76; 85;104; 128; 129;133 ; 134; 140; 143 &155, amongst others, I could not resist the temptation to resort to enjambment(tashtir).For aesthetic purposes I used English palindromes (vv.12& 15); anagram (v.15);prospoeia (v.25); chiasmatic(v. 33); doublet(Vv. 33;101;103;148);adynaton (134); name-play (v.151);anthypophora(as he asks a question and answers it himself:vv 17 and 24);paralipsis(in v.142 using his youth as a scapegoat);metaphor(eg vv 3;53); intensifying words – eg.in v.120,longed long & using “en” to nouns to make verbs(e.g. v21 envenom);in v.3 the epithet,crying, produces a vivid but economical use of language; ecetera.
In Stetkevych’s charging of al-Busiri’s Burda as polemic there is a tincture of malice. At the time of his Burda he was too great a master of his art to make a blot which may so easily be hit. Al-Busiri was a consummate artist. He is too accomplished a craftsman to make such a blunder and certainly the charge weakens him in the estimation of his audience.
Also, the overconfident authoress Stetkevych says, mutatis mutandis, “_____the poem itself has generated the myth of the donation of the mantle. Furthermore the myth then generated an actual relic_______ it was only a matter of time before an actual mantle became identified in the mythical one.” I would argue that there is no competing antique documentation extant (see below,The Origin of the Burda.) against the supernatural feat to support her assumption.(Notwithstanding on being at odds on certain points I am indebted to the learned professor very much for leading me out of the semantic jungle of the Burda)
So small, it seems, is the faith of some critics in Busiri’s intrinsic originality that they prefer to look not only to Ibn Farid and Ka’b ibn Zuhayr but also to pre -Islamic traditions and poets such as al -Nabighah al Dhub Yani for sources of his Burda innovative.
Succinctly, al-Busiri’s al Burda may be subordinated under the rubric, “immitation” (muarada), of the sufi gazal of Ibn-al-Farid and the “Banat Suad” of panegyric poet of the Prophet, Kaab ibn Zuhayr.
Al Busiri’s Burdah, “imitates” but does not reiterate. In fact, where can we find a truly great poet who has not received aid and inspiration from the literature of the world? Shakespeare,Coldridge,Aeschylus,and all the “greatest” borrowed for their works upon the literature of others.
The true appreciation of Busiri’s al- Burda is an aesthetic process which ought to be entirely unaffected by any such considerations.Of course, more important is the Burda’s moral, social and religious message.
The Burda lends to the expansion of knowledge and its purpose is not to alter beliefs. The Burda is obviously not an Epicurean reading, nor is it a Stoic work where time is cyclic (see note#4, below)and obviously the Muslim soldiers fighting, killing and getting angry for the just cause of defending religion (Vv.118 et seq.) is not Stoic; the Burda orients towards the practicing of a religious life based on rationality, namely Islam(see v.47); it advocates passion management by reasoning(Vv.16 et seq.)—for instance, justified anger is acceptable and anger for self- deriving pleasure is not acceptable. Busiri does not want to extirpate passions from human life (vv.16ff.); for instance, in v. 16 he uses the word ”control” and not”eliminate”. In fact not to feel anything in certain situations (e.g. not getting angry at sin/crime being committed) is wrong. Passions if dealt with correctly perform an important additional stimulus towards morally good deeds.
The verses of the Burda are insightful; for instance, by extrapolation of the verses 33 (1 st hemistich) and 35(2 nd hemistich) it would be ridiculous for a contemporary of the Prophet’s time to think that the Prophet was lying when he said that the Quran was revealed to him by Allah.That is why in 10:16(Quran) reads,”Indeed a whole lifetime I have dwelt among you before this(revelation came to me). Will you not then use your reason?” (To the community of the Prophet it was preposterous to entertain the idea that he ever lied and his habit of an austere lifestyle was well known, contra-ambition.)
The Burda’s meter al-basit and mono-rhyme “mi” (both bereft in the present work) create when recited an uncannily alluring sweet music which strikes the chords of our souls. It is easy to argue that al-Busiri’s Burda is among the greatest poems of the world . Criticism of the Burda has always recognised its superlative artistry.The Burda is a composition with complex movements and intricate harmonies, all arranged and ably perfected with consummate skill.That alliteration is most prominent in the Burda is clearly evident and easily recognised even in a cursory reading of the poem.Throughout the poem we find