The Reception of the Poem al-Burda in the Far Maghrib: From the Classical Qaṣīda to Ritual Practice and Musical Performance (1st/7th Century–15th/21st Century)

Abstract

This article examines the Moroccan reception of al-Burda as a historically mobile text whose meaning was reshaped by changing regimes of use rather than by textual variation alone. Focusing on the Far Maghrib, it traces the poem’s passage from scholastic reading and devotional memorisation to collective recitation, Sufi samāʿ, Mawlid settings, and selected forms of performance associated with the Moroccan-Andalusian nūba. The argument situates al-Burda within a wider genealogy of prophetic praise while giving particular attention to the Moroccan devotional environment formed around works such as al-Jazūlī’s Dalā’il al-Khayrāt. It then considers how manuscript circulation, nineteenth-century printing, oral performance, and later sonic mediation altered the relations between reader, listener, text, and community. Rather than treating the Moroccanization of al-Burda as a narrow linguistic adaptation, the article defines it as a sequence of pragmatic relocations through which the poem moved between lesson, ritual gathering, musical time, and public memory. This approach clarifies how classical Arabic poetry became embedded in North African religious practice, performative culture, and changing media of transmission.

Keywords: al-Burda; praise of the Prophet; Far Maghrib; Dalā’il al-Khayrāt; samāʿ; Moroccan-Andalusian nūba; reception; printing.

Received Date: June 19, 2026

Accepted Date: July 10, 2026

Published Date: August 01, 2026

Available Online at: https://www.ijsrisjournal.com/index.php/ojsfiles/article/view/883