Arabian Poetry: El-Būsīrī's Poem of the Mantle: Preface
Bordah.—Manteau des Arabes contre la pluye, et habit grossier des Religieux et des pauvres. C’est ainsi qu’on appelle aussi un excellent Poëme composé par Scherefeddin al Busiri à la louange de Mahomet, duquel il se vantait d’avoir été guéri en songe.
Cet ouvrage est si fort estimé parmi les Mahometans, que plusieurs l’apprennent par cœur, et en citent les vers comme autant de sentences. Plusieurs aussi l’ont paraphrasé et commenté; et on en trouve un grand nombre de versions Persiennes et Turquesques, tant en prose, qu’en vers.—D’Herbelot: Bibliothèque Orientale.
PREFACE.
THIS Poem was composed by Abū-‘Abdi-’llāh Muhammad, son of Sa‘īd, of Būsīr, in Upper Egypt (whence his surname of "Būsīrī"), whose cognomen was Sherefu-’d-Dīn (Honour of Religion). His prænomen of Abū-‘Abdi-’llāh merely states, as is usual with Arabians, that he had a son named ‘Abdu-’llāh (Abdallah), and would seldom be used by any but very intimate friends. Generally, he is known as Sherefu-’d-Din Muhammad, El-Būsīrī. He is said to have been born a.h. 608 (a.d. 1211), and to have died between 691 and 700 (a.d. 1291-1300).
The exact date of the Poem is not known; but it would appear to have acquired celebrity while a certain Bahā’u-’d-Din was the Vazīr of El-Maliku-’t-Tāhir, one of the Mamlūk (slave) Kings of Egypt, successors to the dynasty of the great Salāhu-’d-Dīn (Saladin).
Various reasons have been assigned by commentators, without any better foundation than surmise or tradition, for the composition of the Poem. The author himself, however, in verse 140, gives the most satisfactory account of what prompted him to undertake the task: "by which I seek pardon for the sins of a lifetime passed in poetry and services." It was a doxology and a prayer composed in old age by a pious man who repented and regretted the futilities in which his years had been spent.
With regard to the title of the panegyric, "The Mantle Poem," as many opinions have been expressed as separate commentaries have been written. This title legitimately belongs solely to the eulogy pronounced on Muhammad, the great Arabian reformer and lawgiver, in his presence, by
The entire Poem, and also selected portions of it, are much used as chanted recitations in cases of sickness; and even when a corpse is being prepared by ablution for interment, as is mentioned in Lane's "Modern Egyptians" (p. 513, l. 12. edition of 1860, Murray, London); also during the funeral procession (p. 517, l. 12). They are used, too, as charms or amulets, to avert evil and to secure blessings, by being written out and suspended, in frames, in rooms, &c., or, in cases, on the person. The Poem is known everywhere in the world of Islām, and enjoys a much greater veneration than the original eulogy by Ka‘b, since it recites in detail most of the chief acts of Muhammad's life, and of his highest titles.
J. W. REDHOUSE.
LONDON, August, 1880.
