Allah is the Arabic word for the Creator Islam is the Arabic word for submission to Allah © 2006 www.Allah.com © 2006 www.Muhammad.com Please print and distribute as long as you keep reference of copyright and url links as appears above Version 4.0 updated September, 2006 Bor'a The Poem of the Cure (famous as Burdah) By Al-Busairi In Love of Our Master, the Messenger of Allah, praise and peace be upon him 1ST SECTION: LOVE AND REPROACH Is it because of the remembrance of the neighbors of Salami (a place between Mecca and Medina) that mixed tears run from blood-shot eyes? Or is it because of the breeze that blows from the direction of Kaazimah (a valley in Medina)? Or, is it because of the flashes of lightning in the darkness of the night at Idam? What has happened to your eyes? You tell them to cease its tears, but the more they continue to flow. What is the matter with your heart? You tell it to come to its senses but it only increases its love, Does the lover think that his love can be concealed while his eyes shed tears and his heart is aflame! Had it not been for love, you would not have shed tears at the ruins of the City of your beloved. Nor would you become restless at the remembrance of the Moringa tree, or the high mountain (both in Mecca). How do you deny love after the testimony, borne against you by (such) reliable witnesses of tears Love has ingrained two lines of tears and withering, on your cheeks like a yellow rose and the reddish flower. Yes, shadowy images of the beloved came to me at night and kept me awake, and love confronts pleasure with pain. You who reproach me, regarding my pure love, excuse me, from me to you, if you are just, you would not reproach me. My state of love has reached you, my secret is no longer concealed (warning of oneself desire to err) from those who malign me; and my disease does not cease. You advised me sincerely; though I did not hear it indeed, a lover is deaf to those who reproach. And I accused the advice of reproachful elders, and the elders are above suspicion in their advice. 2ND SECTION: THE WARNING OF SELF-DESIRE Indeed, my soul is laden with evil and did not benefit from admonishment, on account of its ignorance of the warning of gray hair and old age. And I have not prepared, for good deeds, a feast for the guest (that) has lodged uncovered in my head, Had I known that I would not be able to honor him, I would have concealed my secret that has appeared with its marking, Who is there that can restrain my wayward-self from its waywardness just as unmanageable horses are restrained by reins? Do not seek with sinning to break its desires, indeed, food only increases the desire of the insatiable. The self is like an infant, if it is neglected it is raised in continuous suckling, yet, when it is weaned it stops. Then direct its inclination far from you and beware that it does not overpower you. Indeed, lust whenever it overpowers (will) kill or shame (your character). And guard it while it is grazing in (the field of) deeds if it enjoys pasture, do not let it roam freely. How often has pleasure been considered good, but in reality it was deadly, because he does not know there is poison in the fat. And fear the evil of (both) hunger and satiation; most times hunger (poverty) is more evil that overeating. And shed tears from those eyes that have become full of the forbidden, and incline to the way of regret, and oppose (your) self (nafs) and satan - disobey them both! And should both of them give you sincere advice accuse them of lying, and neither obey them as an enemy nor yet as a ruler, for you know well the deception of (such) an enemy or a ruler. I seek forgiveness from Allah from such sayings without practice, indeed, I have attributed (claimed), through this, offspring from the owner of the barren. I command you to do good, but, I do not command myself to do the same. And I was not straight so what then is the use of my saying to you: "Be straight!" I have made no provisions of voluntary worship before death, neither did I offer the prayer nor fast other than that which was obligatory. 3RD SECTION: PRAISING THE PROPHET I harmed by neglect, the way of the Prophet, who revived the night (in worship), until his feet complained of injury due to their swelling. And around his stomach he tied and bound, on account of hunger, a stone upon his delicate skin. And high mountains of gold (tried to) tempt him, his need assured his self-denial in it, he showed them his higher eliteness his self-denial increased despite his need, indeed, need never prevails (overpowers) the infallible. How can such necessities invite to the world? For he who, had it not been for him this world would not have emerged from its non-existence. Muhammad is the master of both worlds, (here and in the Hereafter) and both creations (mankind and jinn), and of both groups, Arabs and non-Arabs. Our Prophet, the one who commands good and forbids evil. There is none parallel to him, more truthful than he in saying "no" or "yes". He is the most beloved and for whose intercession is hoped for every fear and sudden fear that will come (on the Day of Agony). He invited to Allah, so those who cling to him cling to a rope that will never break. He transcends all the prophets in creation and in character, and the other prophets cannot come near to him in knowledge nor yet his noble nature. All of them did but acquire from the Messenger of Allah many scoops of water from the ocean, or the sucking of two lips from the rain, and they all stopped before him at their assigned limits, either at a point of knowledge or to gain the puzzlement of wisdom. For all his meaning and image are complete, and then the Creator of all souls selected him as His most beloved. He is removed from having an equal in his magnificence the jewel of excellence in him is indivisible. Discard the like of the claim of the Christians about their prophet, and freely decide and say what you wish in praise (of Prophet Muhammad,) and attribute towards his personality whatever you wish of excellence, and attribute to his dignified status as much honor as you wish, indeed, the excellence of the Messenger of Allah has no bounds, that a speaker might be able to express by his tongue. If his miracles were proportionate to his rank, in greatness, then his name would have, when called out, brought crumbling bones back to life. He did not try to test us with that which would render our minds incapable about him, out of his care for us, neither were we suspicious, nor wondered. Understanding his meaning rendered the creation incapable. so it was not understood by those near and far, just as the sun is seen by the eyes from afar, it is small yet it weakens the eye when closed. How can his reality be comprehended in this world? A sleeping nation amuses themselves with dreams instead of him, so the ultimate conclusion of our knowledge concerning him, is that he is a human. And indeed, he is the best of all the creation of Allah and every miracle brought by other honorable messengers is connected to them from his light. Indeed, he is the sun of virtue in which they, (the prophets) are its planets, that only display their light to people in the dark. How noble is the creation of the Prophet, adorned with such an excellent character, who was vested with beauty and distinguished by glad tidings. He is like a blooming flower in its freshness, and the splendor of the full moon, and the ocean in generosity, and the power of the determination of time, even when alone, it appears because of his grandeur, as though he is in the midst of a large army and its retinue. It is like a pearl well preserved in an oyster, from the two mines, of his speech and smiles. No perfume equals the dust that touches his body. Glad tidings be to he who inhales him and kisses him! 4th SECTION – HIS BIRTH His birth distinctly showed his pure, good origin, Oh, the excellence, of his beginning and his end! On that day (of birth) the Persians discovered and were warned of the approach of misfortune and punishment. The walls of the palace of Chosroes trembled and crumbled, and his army became scattered, never again to be united. And the fire of the Persians took a cool breath (and died), out of regret. While the rivers of Persia had sleepless eyes (became still) from excessive sorrow. (The Persian village) Sawah became grief stricken with the drying up of its lake. And the water-drawer returned in anger; disappointed. It was as though fire contained the wetness of water through grief, while water contained the blaze of the fire. And the jinn hailed and the lights shone, and the truth appeared from the meaning and its word. They became blind and deaf to the heralding of glad tidings, they did not hear, nor yet was the light of warning seen by them, even though soothsayers had informed the people that their crooked religions would not stand. And even after they witnessed shooting stars on the horizon, falling, just as their idols were falling on earth, so much so that they kept running from the path of Revelation, defeated, the devils - one after the another defeated as though in their running away they were the heroes of Abrahah. Or, like the army upon whom pebbles were thrown from the palm of his hand, after they (the pebbles) had exalted Allah in his blessed palms. Or, as the exalter, (Prophet Jonah) was cast out of the stomach of the whale. SECTION 5 – THE MIRACLES OF THE PROPHET The trees answered his call, prostrating, walking towards him on their stumps without feet, as though they were ruling lines that were drawn, and with their branches they wrote perfect calligraphy everywhere. Like the cloud wherever he went walking, sheltering him from the intense, oven like heat, of the blaze of mid-day. I take an oath by the moon that was split – that for him In his heart is the relationship of a valid oath. What good and generosity the cave contained, while every eye of the disbelievers was blind to him. In the cave, the truth and the truth verifier never left and they said with certainty, "There is no one in the cave!" They thought a pigeon and a spider would neither lay an egg, nor spin a web for the best of creation. The protection of Allah dispensed with double from armory and high forts, whenever time burdened with harm and I sought refuge in him, I received shelter from him that was not unfulfilled. I never asked for the wealth of the two worlds from his hand, but, I received a generous gift, the best hand that ever gave. Do not deny that his vision is a Revelation for him indeed a heart that when eyes slept it did not sleep, And such was at the beginning of his prophethood, in which the status of maturity cannot be denied. Blessed be Allah that the Revelation is not earned, nor was the Prophet accused about the Unseen. How often has his palm cured sickness by his touch, and set free the seeker of forgiveness from the chain of sins. He revived the year of famine through his supplication, until it resembled a white blaze on black times, by means of a cloud that rained so abundantly you would think that upon the plains a flow of water had come from the sea, or, like the torrential flood in the valley of Arim. SECTION 6: THE HONOR OF KORAN AND ITS PRAISE Allow me to describe his clear miracles, as clear as that of the hosting beacons for guests on the hillside at night. The beauty of a pearl is further enhanced in a necklace, but its value does not diminish if it is not strung. So why shouldn’t the ambitions of those who praise increase towards him, he of noble character and good habits. Verses of truth from the Merciful, freshly revealed, eternal, an attribute of who is described with eternity. They are never joined with time, yet they inform us of the Day of Appointment as well as (the bygone times of) Aad and Iram. They remain with us forever, therefore they are superior to any miracle from all the prophets as they appeared but did not remain. They are absolutely clear, so that there is no room left for doubt by its dividers, they do not want a judge. Whenever (the verses) were fought against, the outcome of the war was that the vehement enemy surrendered to them. Their eloquence refuted the accusations of their objectors, just as a jealous person protects the forbidden from a transgressor. For them the meaning is like the waves of the ocean in continuous increase, and they transcend its reality in both beauty and value. Their wonders cannot be counted, nor yet comprehended, and they are not faced by tiredness through its constant repetition. They cool the eye of its reciter, so I said to him “You have won with the hope of Allah, therefore, hold steadfastly to it. If you recite them through fear of the heat of the Blazing Fire, then you have doused the Blazing Fire with its sweet water.” They are the Pool (of Al Kawthar) with which faces of those sinners are whitened, as they come to it with faces as coal. It is like the Straight Bridge, like the scales in equilibrium, justice, without which, people cannot be established. Do not be astonished if the jealous person sets about rejecting them feigning ignorance while their understanding is shrewd. Indeed, the eye denies the ray of the sun due to cataracts, the mouth denies the sweet taste of water due to sickness. SECTION 7: THE NIGHT JOURNEY AND ASCENT O best (Prophet Muhammad), to whom the seeker of knowledge and virtue aim for his hosting as they stride and mount upon the backs of sturdy camels. It is he who has the grand sign for whosoever heeds, and it is he who is the greatest favor for whosoever avails themselves of it. You traveled by night from one Sacred Place (Mecca) to another (Jerusalem), just as the full moon travels through the intense darkness. And you continued ascending until you attained a rank, (a nearness) just a distance of two bows' length; that has never been attained nor sought. But you were preferred because of it (rank) by all the prophets and messengers, just as lovers give to their beloved. You passed through the seven heavens in which they were in a procession and you were the standard bearer, until you left no aim for which a runner might strive in nearness nor any advancement for a seeker. You lowered every rank by your advance when you were called, elevated, as the exclusive center-point. In order that you win to connect anyone hidden from all eyes, and (the winning) of well concealed secrets. So you attained every pride without sharing, and you surpassed every rank in which there is no crowd, and what you were given of ranks was glorified in value and above all comprehension are the favors conferred upon you! Glad tidings people of Islam for us, from his caring, a pillar that will never be destroyed. When Allah called to His worship, our inviter the most honorable Messenger, we became the most honorable among nations SECTION 8: THE STRUGGLE OF THE PROPHET The hearts of his enemies were struck with terror by the news of his advent, just as heedless goats stray, the herd becomes scattered by a powerful cry. In every battle he never ceased to encounter them until, by the thrust of spears they became like meat on a chopping block. They wish they could flee and would be about to be envied on account of it and their limbs were carried off by vultures and eagles. Nights would pass without them knowing the number - as long as it was not a night in the Sacred Months. It is as though the religion of Islam was a guest that visited their hosting, with every brave warrior anxious for the flesh of the enemy of Islam. He would lead an ocean of the army on galloping horses and the enemy were struck by a massive wave of courageous warriors. For each responding warrior, his reward is with Allah, attacking to uproot disbelief and to sever it, until the religion of Islam became of them, reunited after estrangement from her family, yet always protected by the best righteous father and the best righteous husband so she neither became an orphan, nor a widow. They were mountains, so ask their opponents, what saw of them in each struggle. Ask Hunain, and ask Badr, and ask Uhud. The types of death were more bitter than an epidemic to them. The white shinning swords became wetted with blood after they were plunged into every blackened neck of their enemies. As if they are writers in black ink with spears in which their pens did not leave a single letter of the body unwounded. Unsheathed weapons is the characteristic that distinguished them, just as a rose is distinguished by its aroma from that of a flower with none. The winds of victory would gift you with their fragrance, so you would think of a field of flowers in which every brave man is a flower in bloom. As though they were, when on horse-back, like sturdy shrubs on hills, because of the firmness of their strength, not because of the firmness of the strap of their saddle. The hearts of the enemies shook in terror due to their strength, they could not distinguish between a lamb and a mighty warrior. He who has the victory of the Messenger of Allah with him - even if a lion should meet him in its den, it becomes fearful, and you would never see a friend unvictorious by him, nor yet would you find an enemy, except defeated.. He lodged his nation in the fort of his religion, like a lion that lodges with its cubs in a den. How many times did the Words of Allah render the debater incapable concerning him, and many clear proofs overcame the adamant debater. Knowledge suffices you in the unlettered for a miracle in an era of ignorance, and such noble etiquette in an orphan. SECTION 9: ASKING ALLAH BY THE MESSENGER I served him with praise asking with it to be pardoned the sins of a lifetime passed in poetry and servitude (to others), these two have garland me with consequences that I fear, due to them I am as if, like an animal to be offered as a ransom. I obeyed the misleading passions of youth in both conditions and achieved nothing except sin and remorse. What a loss of oneself in its trading! It did not purchase the Everlasting life with this life, nor did it barter. And whosoever sells his Hereafter for his present life the loss will be clear to him in his sale, and later in delivery. If I come upon a sin my covenant is not broken with the Prophet, nor is my rope severed, for indeed, I have a covenant from him because of my name, by being named Muhammad, while he is the most of all creation in fulfillment of covenants. And if at my resurrection, he should not take me by my hand through kindness, then say, “O, what a slipping of the foot”, Perfection is his where no seeker of generosity will be prevented or an implorer will return from him without a response. And since I have devoted my thoughts to his praising I have found him to be the best sponsor for my salvation. Richness from him will never bypass the hand of the needy for indeed, rain causes flowers to bloom on the high-lands. And I did not wish for the pleasures of life which were taken by the hands of (the poet) Zuhair for his praise (of King Harem). O most generous of mankind, I have no one with whom to seek refuge except you at the occurrence of the Grand Eventful Day. And, O Messenger of Allah, your universal generosity will not diminish, because of me when the Most Generous One is beautified with the Name of Vengeance.. For in truth, amongst your bounties is this life, and its counterpart and from your knowledge is the knowledge of the (Protected) Tablet and the Pen. O my soul, do not become despondent because of your grievous sins, indeed, major sins, when pardoned are minor. Perhaps, when the mercy of my Lord is distributed it will be proportionate to the sins. O my Lord (Allah)! Do not let my hopes be reversed with You, and make my reckoning of deeds demolished. Be kind to Your worshipper in both the worlds, indeed for him patience when called upon by hardship does not count. So permit clouds of perpetual praising from You upon the Prophet, overflowing and continuous, for as long as the branches of the Moringa tree sway with its good perfumed breeze and as long as the camel singer enchants the camels with melodies. And let the pleasure be upon Abu-Bakr and Omar, Othman and Ali; those of nobility, and upon his family, the Companions, then upon those who follow them for they are the people of piety, purity, clemency and generosity. Allah is the Arabic word for the Creator Islam is the Arabic word for submission to Allah © 2006 www.Allah.com © 2006 www.Muhammad.com Please print and distribute as long as you keep reference of copyright and url links as they appear above Version 4.0 updated September, 2006