The famous Mamluke minister Ibn Hinna, who served under the legendry sultan, Barbys, took Imam al-Busiri under his patronage and freed him to write his poems in material security. However, art often suffers when the artist is freed from suffering, and comes to life when calamities call. His greatest poem would result from a powerful tribulation: he woke up to find he was paralysed; half his body without movement. Suddenly, this man, whose erudition and art had elevated him to the status of prince of poets of his time, was reduced to an invalid unable to rise from his bed. This state of affliction stirred him to write the Burda. Centuries later the poem is still able to move listeners to tears. Imam al-Busiri himself related the experience.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/features/al_burda/
Listen to a beautiful rendition: http://www.islamlatino.com/Flash/Presentacion-7/index-7.htm
Photo: Mexico