#busiri

The third most well-known qaṣīda of Imām al-Busīrī (d. 1294) is the Hamziyya. A Hamziyya is a panegyric poem (madḥ) all of whose verses rhyme in the Arabic letter hamza. Imām al-Busīrī wrote this 400+ verse poem which contains the biography and history of our Beloved Liege, the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ. It is well known that Ḥassān bin Thābit, a companion of Prophet ﷺ (may Allāh ﷻ be well-pleased with him), wrote a Hamziyya in his honour, as well. This particular one was a favourite of my shaykh, Sīdī Aḥmad at-Tijānī al-Ḥasanī.

Imam Al-Busiri Mosque in Alexandria, Egypt

By the Praise of Muhammad ( Salla Llahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam)

Imam al-Busiri (may Allah be pleased with him) started one of his poems with this line:

بمدح محمد تحيا القلوب * وتغتفر الخطايا والذنوب

By the praise of Muhammad hearts come to life and errors and sins are forgiven

Shaykh Salih al-Ja’fari (may Allah be pleased with him) expanded it by the poetic art form known as tashteer where you split the line in half and insert another line in between. It’s a way of honoring a line of poetry that one loves by adding to it. It became:

بمدح محمد تحيا القلوب * وتندفع المصائب والكروب وتنهلّ العطايا من كريم * وتغتفر الخطايا والذنوب

By the praise of Muhammad hearts come to life and troubles and catastrophes are pushed away And generous gifts shower down from a Generous One and errors and sins are forgiven