Skiredj Library of Tijani Studies
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
Among the many literary and devotional contributions of the great scholar and knower of Allah, Sidi Ahmed ibn al-Hajj al-‘Ayyashi Skiredj al-Khazraji al-Ansari, are a series of works devoted to praising the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, through creative engagement with Imam al-Busiri’s celebrated poem al-Burda.
Based on the material provided here, five major works are explicitly presented. All five revolve around the Burda, yet each treats it in a different way: adaptation, transformation, expansion, embellishment, or poetic reworking. Together, they show the depth of Skiredj’s love for the Prophet and his extraordinary mastery of Arabic literary art.
Sidi Ahmed Skiredj and His Deep Engagement With the Burda
Sidi Ahmed Skiredj did not approach al-Busiri’s Burda as a mere reader or admirer. He interacted with it in multiple literary forms. He reworked it through:
changing its meter
changing its rhyme
expanding its verses
splitting its hemistiches
embellishing it with rhetorical devices
This rich engagement shows both his literary brilliance and his profound attachment to the Prophetic tradition of praise poetry.
What follows is a presentation of the five works explicitly mentioned in your source.
1. Shifa’ al-‘Alil: Transforming the Burda from al-Basit to al-Tawil
The first work is titled:
Shifa’ al-‘Alil bi Tahwil al-Burda min Bahr al-Basit ila Bahr al-Tawil“Healing the Ailing by Transforming the Burda from the Basit Meter to the Tawil Meter”
In this work, Skiredj took the Burda, originally composed in the basit meter, and recast it into the tawil meter.
He opens it with lines corresponding to the famous beginning of the Burda, but now in a new metrical form.
This is presented as a rare and highly original achievement. According to the author of the source, no earlier example was known of a full transformation of the Burda from basit into tawil. That makes this work a genuine literary innovation.
More importantly, the poem is not a dry technical exercise. Skiredj uses this transformation to immerse the reader in the Prophet’s qualities, virtues, noble traits, and spiritual realities. The work moves through themes of Sacred Law, spiritual path, and spiritual truth, drawing out hidden pearls from the Prophetic praise tradition.
For that reason, the title Shifa’ al-‘Alil is especially fitting: it is portrayed as a true healing for hearts.
2. Al-‘Udda: Turning the Burda into a Hamziyyah
The second work is titled:
Al-‘Udda min Insha’ Hamziyyah min al-Burda“The Preparation: Composing a Hamziyyah from the Burda”
In this work, Skiredj again reworks the Burda, but in a different way. He moves it:
from the basit meter to the khafif meter
from its original mim rhyme to a hamzah rhyme
This is not merely a formal change. It is a fresh poetic recreation of the Prophetic praise material in a new soundscape and structure.
The work highlights many of the Prophet’s signs, virtues, spiritual ranks, noble character, intelligence, insight, firmness in hardship, and patience in trials. It becomes a sweeping portrait of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, rendered through a new poetic architecture.
This kind of transformation shows how Skiredj combined classical poetic discipline with living devotion.
3. Al-Warda: A Takhmis of the Burda
The third work is titled:
Al-Warda fi Takhmis al-Burda“The Rose: A Five-Line Expansion of the Burda”
This work is a takhmis, meaning that Skiredj expanded each original line of the Burda into a five-part poetic structure.
The result is a fuller and more contemplative meditation on the original poem. Rather than merely echoing al-Busiri, Skiredj enters into direct conversation with him, extending the meanings and emotional power of the text.
This work is described as drawing the reader into a singular world centered on:
the Prophet’s noble traits
his unmatched virtues
his beauty of character
his moral perfection
The text emphasizes that the Prophet’s qualities rise to a level unmatched by any other human excellence. In this sense, Al-Warda is not only a literary expansion but also a spiritual flowering of the Burda.
4. Tafrij al-Shidda: A Tashtir of the Burda
The fourth work is titled:
Tafrij al-Shidda fi Tashtir al-Burda“Relieving Distress Through a Half-Line Expansion of the Burda”
This is a tashtir, a poetic technique in which the original poem is reworked by adding corresponding half-lines to its verses.
As with the other works, Skiredj does not treat the Burda mechanically. He transforms it into a renewed path of contemplation on the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.
The very title suggests the work’s aim: relief from distress. That is a familiar theme in devotional poetry centered on the Prophet, whose remembrance has long been tied to consolation, healing, hope, and nearness to Allah.
This work therefore stands at the meeting point of poetic craftsmanship and spiritual benefit.
5. Al-Tarsi‘: A Brilliant Rhetorical Recasting of the Burda
The fifth work is titled:
Al-Tarsi‘ fi Tadmin al-Burda ‘ala Naw‘ Badi‘ min ‘Ilm al-Badi‘“The Ornamentation: Embedding the Burda in a Brilliant Mode of Rhetorical Art”
This work is especially striking because it turns the Burda into a field for rhetorical beauty.
Here, Skiredj fills the poem with a vast range of literary embellishments drawn from the science of balaghah and badi‘, including:
double meanings
contrast
semantic pairing
elegant causation
suggestive ambiguity
antithesis
and other rhetorical refinements
The result is a dazzling artistic tribute to the Prophet. Yet it remains devotional, not merely ornamental. The purpose of these devices is to intensify the beauty of praise, not to distract from it.
The text also notes that Skiredj gave a particularly rich and graceful treatment to the Burda’s opening love prelude, deepening its emotional resonance and linking it more explicitly to longing for the Beloved Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
Why These Works Matter
These five works are important for several reasons.
1. They show Skiredj’s mastery of Prophetic praise poetry
He was not simply copying the Burda. He was re-engaging it creatively, with command of meter, rhyme, rhetoric, and devotional meaning.
2. They reveal the living afterlife of the Burda
Skiredj shows that al-Busiri’s poem was not a closed monument. It remained a living source of reflection, creativity, and love.
3. They combine literary brilliance with spiritual devotion
These are not technical exercises detached from faith. They are acts of reverence shaped by knowledge and adab.
4. They enrich the tradition of praise for the Prophet
Each work opens a different way of contemplating the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.
A Note on the Number of Works
Your instruction mentioned seven books, but the material provided here explicitly details five works, all connected to al-Busiri’s Burda. To avoid inventing titles not present in your source, this article presents the five that are clearly named and described.
If you send the remaining two titles or excerpts, they can be integrated into the same style immediately.
Final Reflection
The five works presented here—Shifa’ al-‘Alil, Al-‘Udda, Al-Warda, Tafrij al-Shidda, and Al-Tarsi‘—show the remarkable way Sidi Ahmed Skiredj served the Prophetic praise tradition.
He did not merely admire al-Busiri’s Burda. He entered its world, expanded it, transformed it, adorned it, and offered it anew to readers and lovers of the Prophet.
These works stand as a testimony to three things at once:
Skiredj’s love for the Messenger of Allah
his high literary genius
and his place among the great scholars who served the Prophetic tradition through both knowledge and beauty
For anyone interested in Islamic devotional poetry, the Burda tradition, or the literary legacy of Sidi Ahmed Skiredj, these five works deserve close attention.
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