al-Umda fi Irab al-Burda Qasidat al-Busiri
- Author died
- 850 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Yamamah for Printing and Publishing
Al-Umda fi Irab al-Burda (The Pillar in the Grammatical Analysis of the Burda) is an Arabic grammatical work by an anonymous author, likely dating to the eighth or ninth century AH (c. 850 AH / 1446 CE), that provides a comprehensive syntactic parsing (iʿrāb) and lexical commentary on the renowned prophetic panegyric Qasidat al-Burda by al-Busiri (d. 696 AH / 1296 CE).
Purpose and Scope
The author states in the introduction that parsing is among the subtle and esteemed disciplines, and that Qasidat al-Burda is among the most beneficial and finest of poems. He explains that his objective was to parse all of its verses, clarify difficult or obscure vocabulary (gharīb), and establish the correct voweling of ambiguous words in order to make the text accessible to those who memorize it.
Content and Method
The work opens with the basmala and a standard praise of God, noting that God elevated those He chose from His servants and established evidence for His oneness. Before turning to the poem, the author parses the basmala itself, citing the differing grammatical positions of the Basran and Kufan schools regarding the implicit governor of the prepositional phrase, as well as the view of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi.
The text then analyzes the poem verse by verse from beginning to end, parsing individual words, phrases, and sentences according to classical grammatical rules, and concludes with the grammatical parsing of the poem's final words.
Influence and Reception
Later grammarians and commentators on Qasidat al-Burda drew upon al-Umda:
- Khalid al-Azhari (d. 905 AH / 1499 CE) exhibits extensive linguistic and grammatical parallels with al-Umda in his commentary on the Burda, to the extent of near-verbatim alignment, indicating that he either relied directly on the work or shared a common source.
- Badr al-Din al-Ghazzi (904–984 AH / 1499–1577 CE) was influenced by its author and utilized its analyses in his commentary al-Zubda fi sharh al-Burda.
- Ibrahim al-Bajuri (1198–1276 AH / 1784–1860 CE) adopted several of its parsing positions in his supercommentary (ḥāshiya) on the poem.
Manuscript and Publication
The work is preserved in a manuscript in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus under manuscript number 8453, consisting of 27 folios. The copy was completed on Monday, 11 Dhu al-Qiʿda 1179 AH, by the copyist Abd Allah al-Ghubayt al-Shafiʿi, and bears an ownership mark dated 14 Shaʿban 1281 AH by Mahmud ibn Abd al-Muhsin al-Husayni.
The text was edited by Abd Allah Ahmad Jajah and published in Damascus by Dar al-Yamama in 1423 AH (2002 CE).
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