English translation and introduction by Hamza Yusuf.

Calligraphy by Mohamed Zakariyya.

Performed by the Fez Singers.

Produced by Abdullateef Whiteman.

Publication of a new translation of the Burda by well known scholar and teacher Hamza Yusuf, with parallel Moroccan calligraphy by Mohamad Zakariya, the distinguished American master calligrapher.

It comes in a useful CD size format with 3 audio CDs in a protective presentation slip-case. This rare audio recording performed here by contemporary Moroccan masters of the art, the Fez Singers, is the complete Burda, interwoven with other poems by al-Busiri and Harraq, sung in the traditional Andalusian manner.

The Burda by al-Busiri is arguably the greatest classic poem in the Arabic language in praise of the character and exalted rank of the prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him) composed by Imam al-Busiri in the 13th century CE in Mamluke Egypt it has been recited ever since throughout Muslim lands from east to west and north to south, and has always been perceived as containing real benefits, blessings and miracles.

(from the Introduction) I was compelled to translate The Burda after a trip to Mauritania in which I realized it was everywhere, on everyone's tongue, always present, always ready to ignite the instant, alter the ambience, enhance the state, bring the presence of the beloved into the room, the tent or wherever we happened to be. Sitting once with my teacher Abd Allah Ould Ahmadna, I heard for the first time a line from Imam Busiri, "If Allah places a people in the service of the serene, then they too become serene." As those words flowed from the tongue of my serene teacher, I realized in that moment the reason for my existence, my soul was branded with the power of those words forever. That is Imam al-Busiri.

I have heard the Burda many times in many places. In Morocco, I was transported to another world, a perfect world free of sin, free of vice, free of temptation and upon leaving the gathering, I felt as if was once again, we were exiled from the Garden. I have seen Yemenis filled with the same joyful spirit singing in their own unique way like innocent children freed from fear while praising the one who on the day all have fear shows none. Once in Madina, two Sudanese sang a section in a way that brought the poem back to its home, Africa. While it is sung in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Kosovo, Chechnya, Bosnia, even in China, it is and always will be from Africa. It is like Africa, as deep as the oceans that surround her, as powerful as her Nile, as vast as her Sahara and containing as many lights as a starry desert night in Niger.

Hamza Yusuf