al-Busiri

Sharaf ad-Din Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Sa'id al-Busiri al-Misri (608-694 AH / 1211-1294 CE) was an Egyptian poet of Moroccan Berber origin who composed the most celebrated praise poem for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in Islamic literary history. Born in Delas, Upper Egypt, he was of Berber origin from the Banu Busir tribe of Morocco, though he grew up and spent his life in Egypt.

Al-Busiri studied under the Shadhili Sufi master Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi, the second grand master of the Shadhiliyyah order, in Alexandria. He was known both as a gifted poet and as a devoted follower of the Prophet ﷺ. He worked as a scribe for government officials.

His Qasida al-Burdah (The Mantle Poem), also called al-Kawakib ad-Durriyyah fi Madh Khayr al-Barriyyah (The Radiant Stars in Praise of the Best of Creation), is universally regarded as the greatest praise poem in Islamic literary history. According to traditional accounts, he composed it during an illness and experienced a dream in which the Prophet ﷺ wrapped him in his mantle (burdah), and he awoke healed. The poem praises the Prophet ﷺ with extraordinary eloquence and became one of the most memorized, recited, and commented-upon texts in Islamic literature, generating hundreds of commentaries and translations into dozens of languages.

Al-Busiri passed away in Alexandria in approximately 694 AH. The Burdah is recited at religious gatherings across the Muslim world and has been set to music in numerous traditional styles. It remains a living expression of love for the Prophet ﷺ across Muslim traditions.