Qaṣīdat al-Burda

1 Is it from remembering neighbours at Dhū Salam That you shed tears admixed with blood from your eyes?

2 Or because wind has blown from the direction of Kāẓima And lightning has flashed in the dark of Iḍam?

3 So what ails your eyes that when you tell them ‘stop’, they continue to weep still more? And what ails your heart that when you bid it awake, it wanders further in distraction?

4 Does the lovelorn man think that love can be hidden Behind a torrent from his [eyes], or a heart’s raging fire?

5 But for passion, you would not shed tears at an abandoned camp, Or lie awake at night recalling the fragrant willow or the mountain;

6 So how can you deny this love when tears and sickness, truthful witnesses, have testified to it against you?

7 Lovesickness has etched two lines, of tears and gauntness, Upon your cheeks, like yellow spice and red ʿanam

8 Yes, my beloved’s apparition came to me and denied me sleep, For love always opposes pleasures with pain!

9 O you who blame me for this chaste love, pardon me! But had you judged fairly, you would not have blamed me.

10 May you be spared my condition! My secret cannot be concealed From detractors, nor is there any cure for my ailment!

11 You have given me sincere advice, but I cannot hear it; A lover’s ears are deaf to the reproaches of critics.

12 I hold suspect even the advice of my own grey hairs, Even though their advice is far from deception.

1 Because of its ignorance, my ill-commanding ego has paid no heed To the warner of grey hair and approaching old age;

2 Nor has it prepared good deeds in welcome For an unannounced guest who has settled on my head.

3 Had I realised, I would not have honoured it; I would have used [black] katam-dye to hide what it showed

4 Who will help me restrain my bolting ego from its wilfulness As a rebellious horse may be restrained with reins?

5 Do not try to thwart unlawful desires by satisfying them, For food only increases a glutton’s desires.

6 The ego is like a child: neglect it and it will grow up loving To suckle; but if you wean it, it will be weaned.

7 Divert its vain desires and beware of giving it power, For vain desires pollute or destroy whatever they control.

8 Guard it as it grazes in the field of actions; And should it find the grazing sweet, do not let it roam.

9 How often it has found delight in something fatal, For [one] cannot tell that there is poison in the fat!

10 Beware of the snares of hunger and of satiety, being hungry at times can be worse than gorging oneself!

11 Empty out the tears from an eye that has filled itself up with forbidden sights. Maintain a strict diet of remorse.

12 Oppose the self and Satan and disobey them; If they offer you advice, be suspicious of them.

13 Obey neither of them, whether they oppose or give judgment, For you know the wiles of opponent and judge.

14 I seek Allah’s forgiveness for words bereft of deeds, As by them I attributed progeny to a sterile man.

15 I enjoined goodness upon you while failing to heed the same. I was not upright, so what use is my enjoining uprightness?

16 I have not gathered provisions of voluntary prayers before death, or prayed and fasted beyond what is obligatory.

1 I have wronged the Sunna of him who enlivened the dark nights By praying till his feet complained of painful swelling.

2 He placed a stone over his belly and soft skin, Tightening a belt over it to diminish the hunger pangs.

3 Lofty mountains tried, to tempt him with turning to gold, But he showed them the height of his own loftiness!

4 His dire neediness only strengthened his detachment; neediness like his never leads to transgression.

5 How could need tempt him with worldliness, when but for him The world would not have emerged from non-existence?

6 Muhammad is the master of both abodes, of both kinds, And both classes [of people]: Arabs and non-Arabs.

7 Our Prophet, who commands and who forbids; None is more true than him in saying “yes” or “no”.

8 He is the Beloved whose intercession is hoped for, Victorious over every terror and disaster.

9 He called [people] to Allah, so those who hold fast to him Are holding fast to a rope that never shall break.

10 He excelled the other Prophets in form and qualities; Their knowledge and nobility did not come near his.

11 They all seek something from Allah’s Emissary – handfuls from the sea, or small sips of drizzle.

12 They all stand before him, observing their limits; Dots to his knowledge, or vowel-marks to his wisdom.

13 It is he whose meaning and form attained perfection Then the Maker of Souls chose him for His beloved.

14 Exalted above having a rival in his perfections; In him is the undivided essence of beauty.

15 Eschew the claim Christians have made for their Prophet. Then say in his praise what you will, but wisely!

16 Ascribe whatever honour you will to his essence, And ascribe what greatness you will to his worth;

17 For the worth of Allah’s Emissary has no limit That could be expressed by a human mouth.

18 If his miracles were commensurate with his greatness, The mere mention of his name would give life to dry bones.

19 He did not try us with things that confound the mind Out of concern for us, so we neither doubted nor strayed.

20 Man’s mind is exhausted trying to understand his meaning; All of them, near or far, appear as if dumbstruck.

21 He is like the sun: small to the eye when seen from afar, But dazzling to the sight when seen close up.

22 How can his reality be grasped in this world By sleeping folk, distracted from him by dreams?

23 The extent of our knowledge is that he is a mortal – And that he is the best of Allah’s creation!

24 Every miracle produced by the noble Emissaries Came to them by virtue of his light alone

25 For he is the sun of virtue, and they are its planets; They display its lights to mankind in the darkness.

26 How noble the qualities of a Prophet beautified by such traits: Full of beauty, and marked by smiles and good cheer!

27 Like flowers in delicate beauty, like the full moon in honour; like the sea in generosity, like time in persistence.

28 So majestic was his presence that even when alone he appeared surrounded by a large army and retinue.

29 It is as if precious hidden pearls, sparkling from their shells, came from the treasure-mine of his speech and smile.

30 No perfume can match the ground that holds his bones. Blessed are those who breathe in its fragrance or kiss it!

1 His birth made the purity of his pedigree evident; O how pure were his beginning and his end!

2 On that day the Persians intuited that they Had been warned of looming misery and retribution.

3 That night the throne room of Khusraw became cracked, Khusraw’s people, too, crumbled, never to be restored.

4 The sacred fire, grief-stricken, breathed its last, And the river [Euphrates] dried up out of worry.

5 Sāʾa was saddened by its lake drying up; the thirsty who went to drink there came back in a rage!

6 As if the fire, from sorrow, took on the water’s wetness And water assumed the fire’s quality of blazing.

7 There were jinn calling out, and dazzling lights As truth was manifested in both word and reality.

8 They were blind and deaf, so the glad tidings proclaimed Went unheard, and the warning lightning-flash was not seen.

9 Even after the soothsayers had informed their peoples That their crooked religion would not endure,

10 And even after their eyes saw meteors on the horizon Plunging downwards, as idols were toppled on earth;

11 Until devils, routed, from the path of revelation, Fled in the wake of those who had been overpowered.

12 Fleeing like the brave warriors of Abraha Or the army pelted by pebbles thrown by his hand,

13 Cast by him after glorifying Allah in the palm of his hand, As he who glorified his Lord was cast from the whale.

1 Trees came prostrating to him when he called, Walking towards him on trunks without feet

2 As though they had inscribed lines of splendid calligraphy With their branches along the path.

3 Like the cloud that hovered over him wherever he went, Shielding him from the intense oven of the midday heat.

4 I swear by the [Lord of the] moon that was split in two a true oath: it has truly a connection with his heart.

5 And by the goodness and nobility contained in the cave While the disbelievers’ every glance was blind to him.

6 Truthfulness and the True One in the cave wavered not While they said ‘No one who breathes is in the cave!’

7 They supposed that a dove would never perch, Or a spider would spin its web, for the Best of Creation

8 Their protection by Allah absolved them of need for additional armour or for lofty fortresses.

9 Never, when fate oppressed me, have I sought refuge in him but that I found sanctuary with him and was oppressed no more.

10 And never have I sought wealth in both worlds from his hand Without receiving largesse from the best of givers.

11 Do not deny the revelations he received in his dreams; For though his eyes slept, he had a heart that slept not.

12 That was when he attained his Prophetic status; the night dreams of mature men cannot be denied!

13 Blessed is Allah! Revelation is not something acquired! Nor can a Prophet’s knowledge of the Unseen be deemed suspect.

14 How many sick people were healed by the touch of his hand; how many released from the tight knots of madness!

15 His supplication brought life to a grey year [of drought] – Marked it out from dark years like [a horse’s] white blaze.

16 With generous rainclouds, so much that you would have thought That the valleys flowed with sea water or the flood of ʿArim.

1 Let me describe to you the signs that were manifested for him, Visible like the village beacons lit atop hills at night.

2 Though a pearl is more lovely when strung [with others], Its value is not diminished when alone and unstrung.

3 To what hope can the giver of praise aspire Of doing justice to his noble qualities and traits?

4 Signs of truth from the All-Merciful—revealed within time Yet pre-eternal; the attribute of Him who is pre-eternal.

5 They are not connected with time, yet they inform us About the Resurrection, and about ʿĪd and Iram.

6 They remained with us, thus surpassing every miracle Of the other Prophets, which came but did not last.

7 Unequivocal verses leaving no doubt to remain in dissenters, and requiring no arbiter.

8 No implacable foe has attacked them But that he retreated from battle and sued for peace.

9 Their sheer eloquence refutes the claim of their opponent, As a jealous man wards off an assailant’s hand from his wife.

10 They contain meanings like the sea’s bountiful waves, And surpass the sea’s jewels in beauty and value.

11 Their marvels can neither be counted nor numbered, And frequent repetition never gives rise to tedium.

12 They delighted the one who recited them, so I told him, ‘You have the Rope of Allah, so hold fast to it!’

13 If you recite them out of fear of a blazing fire’s heat from their cool wells they will quench the blazing heat

14 Like the Pool, they brighten the faces of the sinful, Though they had come to it as black as charcoal.

15 Like the Traverse and like Scales in justice; True justice amongst men cannot be upheld from any other source.

16 Do not be amazed at an envious person who denies them Feigning ignorance, though he has perception and understanding.

17 For the eye, when inflamed, may be averse to the sun’s light; And the mouth, when ailing, may loathe water’s taste.

1 O best of those to whose courtyard seekers turn to Hastening on foot or the backs of strong camels!

2 O Greatest Sign for those who contemplate! O Supreme Grace for those who seek to gain!

3 You journeyed by night, from Sanctuary to Sanctuary as the full moon travels through the pitch black sky.

4 That night you ascended till you reached a station Of Two Bows’ Length—one never attained or hoped for!

5 There all the Prophets and Emissaries gave you precedence, As a master is given precedence by those who serve him.

6 You traversed the seven heavens with them [behind you] In a procession wherein you were the standard-bearer.

7 Until your proximity left no space for the avid seeker, Nor any higher summit for one seeking elevation.

8 You surpassed all other stations in comparison When acclaimed on high as ‘The Matchless and Eminent’–

9 So that you might triumph through a tryst hidden From sight. How hidden a secret that was!

10 So you received every glory without rival And gained every station alone, unbeset.

11 How glorious is the worth of the ranks you were given How difficult it is to grasp the graces conferred!

12 Glad tidings for us, O people of Islam, For we have an indestructible pillar of divine care.

13 When Allah named the one who called us to obey Him The Noblest of Emissaries, we became the noblest of nations!

1 The news of his being sent had cast fear into the hearts of foes as heedless sheep are startled by sudden noise.

2 He continued to meet them on every battleground Until spears cut them, like meat on a butcher’s block.

3 They longed to flee, almost jealous of The dead flesh carried off by hawks and vultures.

4 The nights passed with them unaware of their number, Apart from the nights of the Sacred Months.

5 As if the religion were a guest that had arrived at their courtyard, With every honoured chieftain eager for the flesh of their foes.

6 Bringing forth a sea of soldiers on swift steeds, Tossing wave upon wave of onrushing heroes.

7 All responding to Allah’s call and anticipating reward, Boldly charging on, and uprooting disbelief.

8 Until the religion of Islam was, through them, Reunited in kinship after being in exile.

9 Forever protected from [foes] by the best of fathers and husbands, So that she was no longer an orphan or a widow.

10 They were mountains! Ask those who came to blows with them What they saw from them on every field of battle.

11 Ask Ḥunayn, ask Badr, ask Uḥud— Seasons of death, more disastrous for them than the plague!

12 White swords returned, dripping red after taking drink From beneath the black heads of all their enemies.

13 Like scribes with wielded spears for pens, Leaving no letter of a body unmarked with dots.

14 Well-armed, they were distinguished by a clear sign, as a rose differs from an acacia tree in its features.

15 The winds of victory bring you their scent as a gift; You would think each armed hero a flower in bud!

16 As if, riding their steeds, they were flowers on a hill-top Held firm not by strong stirrups, but by strength of resolve.

17 Their forceful onslaught so put their foes’ hearts to flight that you could not have told a herd from a warrior.

18 For the one whose help comes from the Emissary of Allah Even lions finding him in their dens will be loth to face him.

19 You will not see one saint who is not victorious through him; Or a single foe of his who is not dealt mortal blows.

20 He gave his nation sanctuary in the stronghold of his faith, As a lion settles in with its cubs in a thicket.

21 How often have Allah’s words felled his opponents, And how often the Qur’an has defeated its enemies!

22 The erudition of an unlettered one is miracle enough in an Age of Ignorance, as is an orphan’s education.

1 By this eulogy I have served him, seeking absolution For the sins of a life spent in poetry and patronage.

2 For these two have yoked me, with consequences I fear; as if I were, on their account, a ritual lamb for slaughter.

3 In both I obeyed the reckless folly of youth, And gained nothing except sins and regrets.

4 Alas, what abject loss for a soul in its transaction! It did not buy the Next World at the price of this – or even try to!

5 Anyone who sells the Hereafter for the ephemeral Will be cheated in their present and future transactions.

6 I have sinned, yet my pledge to the Prophet is unbroken; Nor has the rope binding me to him been severed.

7 For I have a protective covenant with him owing to my name— Muḥammad—and he is the most loyal of mankind to covenants.

8 If, in the Hereafter, he does not take me by the hand From pure grace, what a terrible slip of the foot!

9 Far be it for him to deprive one hopeful of his generous gifts, Or for a neighbour to turn back without being honoured by him!

10 Ever since I have focused my thoughts on his praises, I have found him the one most committed to my salvation.

11 His wealth will not overlook a dusty, needy hand; For showers cause flowers to bloom on hill-tops.

12 I sought not the flowers of this world Which Zuhayr picked for his praise of Harim.

1 O Noblest of Creation, whose protection can I seek But yours, when the Universal Event comes to pass?

2 O Emissary of Allah, your rank will not be diminished By me when the Generous One appears, named as the Avenger.

3 For this world and its companion the Next come from your bounty, And part of what you know is knowledge of the Tablet and Pen.

4 O soul, despair not over a fault that is immense; Enormities, with divine forgiveness, are like minor errors.

5 Perchance my Lord’s mercy, when He apportions it, Will be distributed in accordance with the measure of sins.

6 O my Lord, let not my hope in You be overturned And do not make my account devoid of value.

7 Be gentle with Your servant in this life and the Next; For his patience flees when he is visited by terrors.

8 And may clouds of Your blessings rain down constantly Upon the Prophet, pouring down in abundance.

9 For as long as the east wind stirs the branches of willows, And camel-drivers bring joy to their camels with melody.

10 Then extend Your good-pleasure to Abū Bakr and to ʿUmar And to ‘Ali, and to ʿUthmān, the generous

11 And to the Family and the Companions, and then the Followers—the people of Godfearingness, purity, forbearance and generosity.

12 O Lord, by the Chosen One, allow us to attain our hopes And forgive us for what has gone past, O Vastly Generous.

13 And forgive, O God, all of the Muslims, by virtue Of what they recite in the Furthest Mosque [al-Aqṣā] and the Sacrosanct Mosque [al-Ḥaram]

14 By the rank of him whose house is a sanctum in Ṭayba [Medina] And whose name is an oath—from the greatest of oaths!

15 This Burda Ode of the Chosen One is thus complete And all praise is due to Allah in its beginning and its end.

16 Its couplets—numbering one hundred and sixty—have come; Relieve us our difficulties by them, O Vastly Generous!