Qasidat al-Burda

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".