قَصِيدَةُ الْبُرْدَة
Qasida Burda, Root by Root
The Burda is probably the most recited Arabic poem in history — sung in mosques from Fez to Jakarta for seven hundred years. Most people who love it have never been shown what the words actually say. This is a word-by-word reading of its most famous verses: every word traced to its three-letter root, every ḥarf named.
You will recognise more of it than you expect. The Burda is built almost entirely from roots you already meet in the Quran — ذ ك ر, س ل م, ح م د, ع ل م. That is the whole argument for learning roots instead of words.
Where the poem comes from
Its author, Muhammad ibn Sa'id al-Busiri, was an Egyptian poet of the 13th century (d. circa 1294 CE). He suffered a stroke that left him paralysed down one side. The story he tells is that he composed this poem in praise of the Prophet ﷺ, fell asleep, and saw him in a dream — and that the Prophet ﷺ passed a hand over his face and placed his mantle over him. Al-Busiri woke healed.
That mantle is the بُرْدَة (burda), and it gives the poem its popular name. Its formal title is الْكَوَاكِبُ الدُّرِّيَّة فِي مَدْحِ خَيْرِ الْبَرِيَّة — “The Pearly Stars, in Praise of the Best of Creation.”
It runs to roughly 160 verses across ten chapters, every line rhyming in م — which is why it is also called al-Mīmiyya.
A note in fairness: the Burda is beloved across much of the Muslim world and recited devotionally, while some scholars have objected to particular verses as going too far in praise. This article takes no position in that discussion — it is a language lesson, and the verses below are chosen because of what they teach about Arabic.
The opening
أَمِنْ تَذَكُّرِ جِيرَانٍ بِذِي سَلَمِ
مَزَجْتَ دَمْعًا جَرَى مِنْ مُقْلَةٍ بِدَمِ
a-min tadhakkuri jīrānin bi-Dhī Salami / mazajta damʿan jarā min muqlatin bi-dami
Is it from remembering the neighbours at Dhī Salam that you mixed tears, flowing from an eye, with blood?
| Word | Root / Ḥarf | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| أَa- | ḥarf istifhām | Question particle — turns the whole line into a question.The same hamza that opens أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ |
| مِنْmin | ḥarf jarr | From, out of — here meaning "because of". |
| تَذَكُّرِtadhakkur | ذ ك ر | The act of recalling, calling to mind.Form V verbal noun (تَفَعُّل). Same root as ذِكْر. |
| جِيرَانٍjīrān | ج و ر | Neighbours — broken plural of جَار. |
| بِbi- | ḥarf jarr | At, in, by. |
| ذِيdhī | — | Possessor of. One of the five nouns (al-asmāʼ al-khamsa), which take letters rather than vowels as case endings. |
| سَلَمِSalam | س ل م | A place near Madinah. The root means soundness, safety, peace. |
| مَزَجْتَmazajta | م ز ج | You mixed, you blended.Form I past tense, 2nd person masculine singular. |
| دَمْعًاdamʿan | د م ع | Tears — the object of the verb, hence the naṣb ending. |
| جَرَىjarā | ج ر ي | It flowed, it ran. |
| مُقْلَةٍmuqla | م ق ل | The eyeball; the eye. |
| دَمِdam | د م و | Blood. |
What to notice
Four of these roots are Quranic vocabulary you already carry. ذ ك ر is the root of dhikr — al-Busiri does not say “memory”, he says the same word the Quran uses for remembrance of God. س ل م is the root behind Islām, salām and Muslim. And ج ر ي is the flowing of تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَار — rivers flowing beneath the gardens. Here it is tears that flow.
The verse everyone knows
مُحَمَّدٌ سَيِّدُ الْكَوْنَيْنِ وَالثَّقَلَيْـ
ـنِ وَالْفَرِيقَيْنِ مِنْ عُرْبٍ وَمِنْ عَجَمِ
Muḥammadun sayyidu'l-kawnayni wa'th-thaqalayn / wa'l-farīqayni min ʿurbin wa-min ʿajami
Muhammad, master of the two worlds and the two weighty ones, and of the two groups — Arabs and non-Arabs.
| Word | Root / Ḥarf | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| مُحَمَّدٌMuḥammad | ح م د | The one praised much and repeatedly.Form II passive participle (مُفَعَّل). Same root as الْحَمْد. |
| سَيِّدُsayyid | س و د | Master, chief, lord. |
| الْكَوْنَيْنِal-kawnayn | ك و ن | The two worlds — this life and the next.Dual. Same root as كَانَ, "to be". |
| وَwa- | ḥarf ʿaṭf | And — a conjunction joining what follows to what came before. |
| الثَّقَلَيْنِath-thaqalayn | ث ق ل | The two weighty ones: jinn and mankind.Dual. Quran 55:31 — يَا أَيُّهَ الثَّقَلَانِ |
| الْفَرِيقَيْنِal-farīqayn | ف ر ق | The two groups, the two parties.Dual. Same root as فُرْقَان. |
| عُرْبٍʿurb | ع ر ب | Arabs. |
| عَجَمِʿajam | ع ج م | Non-Arabs; those whose speech is unclear to an Arab ear. |
What to notice
Three duals in a single line — الْكَوْنَيْنِ, الثَّقَلَيْنِ, الْفَرِيقَيْنِ — all carrying the ـَيْنِ ending because each follows a preposition or is joined to something that does. If you want to feel how the dual works, this line is the best drill in classical Arabic. See singular, dual and plural. And note the name itself: Muḥammad is not a label, it is a participle — the one who is much praised, from the same root as the first word of the Fātiḥa.
One root, two vowellings
فَاقَ النَّبِيِّينَ فِي خَلْقٍ وَفِي خُلُقٍ
وَلَمْ يُدَانُوهُ فِي عِلْمٍ وَلَا كَرَمِ
fāqa'n-nabiyyīna fī khalqin wa-fī khuluqin / wa-lam yudānūhu fī ʿilmin wa-lā karami
He surpassed the prophets in form and in character; they did not draw near him in knowledge or in generosity.
| Word | Root / Ḥarf | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| فَاقَfāqa | ف و ق | He surpassed, he was above.Same root as فَوْق, "above". |
| النَّبِيِّينَan-nabiyyīn | ن ب أ | The prophets — sound masculine plural, in naṣb. |
| فِيfī | ḥarf jarr | In, with respect to. |
| خَلْقٍkhalq | خ ل ق | Physical creation; outward form. |
| خُلُقٍkhuluq | خ ل ق | Character; inward disposition.Quran 68:4 — وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ |
| لَمْlam | ḥarf jazm | Did not — negates a present-tense verb and pushes it into the past, putting it in jazm. |
| يُدَانُوهُyudānūhu | د ن و | They drew near to him.Form III. Same root as دُنْيَا — "the nearer life". |
| عِلْمٍʿilm | ع ل م | Knowledge. |
| وَلَاwa-lā | ḥarf nafy | And not — continuing the negation. |
| كَرَمِkaram | ك ر م | Generosity, nobility. |
What to notice
This is the line to memorise if you want to understand why Arabic works the way it does. خَلْق and خُلُق are the same three letters — خ ل ق — separated only by their vowels. One means the body you were made with; the other means the character you were made with. Al-Busiri puts them side by side deliberately: the Prophet ﷺ surpassed others outwardly and inwardly, and the language lets him say it with one root and two vowellings. English needs two unrelated words.
A line built on a conditional
وَكَيْفَ تَدْعُو إِلَى الدُّنْيَا ضَرُورَةُ مَنْ
لَوْلَاهُ لَمْ تَخْرُجِ الدُّنْيَا مِنَ الْعَدَمِ
wa-kayfa tadʿū ila'd-dunyā ḍarūratu man / lawlāhu lam takhruji'd-dunyā mina'l-ʿadami
How could worldly need call to this world the one but for whom the world would never have come out of nothingness?
| Word | Root / Ḥarf | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| كَيْفَkayfa | ism istifhām | How — a question word. |
| تَدْعُوtadʿū | د ع و | It calls, it summons.Same root as دُعَاء. |
| إِلَىilā | ḥarf jarr | To, towards. |
| الدُّنْيَاad-dunyā | د ن و | The world; literally "the nearer one". |
| ضَرُورَةُḍarūra | ض ر ر | Necessity, pressing need. |
| مَنْman | ism mawṣūl | The one who — a relative pronoun for people. |
| لَوْلَاlawlā | ḥarf sharṭ | Were it not for — introduces an unreal condition. |
| تَخْرُجِtakhruji | خ ر ج | It comes out, it emerges. |
| الْعَدَمِal-ʿadam | ع د م | Non-existence, nothingness. |
What to notice
Notice how much of this line is ḥurūf and pronouns rather than content words: كَيْفَ, إِلَى, مَنْ, لَوْلَا, لَمْ. Particles are what carry the logic of a sentence, and there are only a few dozen of them in common use. Learn the particles and long sentences stop being intimidating — you can see the skeleton even when the vocabulary is new.
The closing prayer
وَاللهُ يَحْرُسُهُ مِنْ كُلِّ حَادِثَةٍ
وَالنَّاسُ فِي حَرَمٍ مِنْهُ وَفِي حَرَمِ
wa'llāhu yaḥrusuhu min kulli ḥādithatin / wa'n-nāsu fī ḥaramin minhu wa-fī ḥarami
And God guards him from every calamity; and the people are in a sanctuary because of him, and in a sanctuary.
| Word | Root / Ḥarf | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| يَحْرُسُyaḥrusu | ح ر س | He guards, he watches over. |
| كُلِّkulli | ك ل ل | Every, all. |
| حَادِثَةٍḥāditha | ح د ث | An event; a calamity.Active participle, feminine. Same root as حَدِيث. |
| النَّاسُan-nās | ن و س | The people, mankind. |
| حَرَمٍḥaram | ح ر م | A sanctuary; an inviolable place.Same root as حَرَام and إِحْرَام. |
| مِنْهُminhu | jarr + ḍamīr | From him — the preposition مِنْ with the attached pronoun ـهُ. |
What to notice
ح ر م is one of the most productive roots in the Quran. The same three letters give you ḥarām (forbidden), iḥrām (the pilgrim's state), maḥram (an unmarriageable relative) and ḥaram (sanctuary). They all share one idea: something set apart and made inviolable. Learn the root once and four words arrive together — which is exactly why we teach this way.
Roots from this poem you already knew
Every one of these appears in the Quran, most of them many times over. If you have prayed in Arabic, you have been saying them for years.
ح م د
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ
Quran · Burda
مُحَمَّد
ذ ك ر
الذِّكْر
Quran · Burda
تَذَكُّر
س ل م
الإِسْلَام
Quran · Burda
ذِي سَلَم
ع ل م
الْعَلِيم
Quran · Burda
عِلْم
خ ل ق
خَلَقَ
Quran · Burda
خَلْق · خُلُق
ح ر م
الْحَرَام
Quran · Burda
حَرَم
د ن و
الدُّنْيَا
Quran · Burda
يُدَانُوه
ك و ن
كُنْ فَيَكُون
Quran · Burda
الْكَوْنَيْن
ج ر ي
تَجْرِي
Quran · Burda
جَرَى
Key Takeaways
- 1. The Burda is built from Quranic roots. Learning the Quran's vocabulary unlocks classical poetry for free.
- 2. خَلْق vs خُلُق — same root, different vowels, different meaning. Vowelling is not decoration.
- 3. Three duals in one line make مُحَمَّدٌ سَيِّدُ الْكَوْنَيْن the best dual drill you will find.
- 4. The particles carry the logic. A few dozen ḥurūf unlock the structure of any long sentence.
- 5. Muḥammad is a participle before it is a name: the one much praised, from the same root as الْحَمْد.
Every root in this article has its own page — all ten verb forms, conjugations, and every place it appears in the Quran.
Explore the roots