The Hamziyya: the opening

Tap a word for its root, or a number for the verse's notes.

1. No prophet reaches your height

كَيْفَ تَرْقَى رُقِيَّكَ الْأَنْبِيَاءُيَا سَمَاءُ مَا طَاوَلَتْهَا سَمَاءُ١ 1. Kayfa tarqā ruqiyyaka l-anbiyāʾu / yā samāʾu mā ṭāwalathā samāʾuHow could the prophets climb as high as you climbed? O sky that no sky has ever matched in height!لَمْ يُسَاوُوكَ فِي عُلَاكَ وَقَدْ حَالَ سَنًا مِنْكَ دُونَهُمْ وَسَنَاءُ٢ 2. Lam yusāwūka fī ʿulāka wa-qad ḥā / la sanan minka dūnahum wa-sanāʾuThey did not equal you in your height, for a radiance and a nobility from you stood between them and it.إِنَّمَا مَثَّلُوا صِفَاتِكَ لِلنَّاسِ كَمَا مَثَّلَ النُّجُومَ الْمَاءُ٣ 3. Innamā maththalū ṣifātika li-n-nā / si ka-mā maththala n-nujūma l-māʾuThey only showed people a likeness of your qualities, as water shows a likeness of the stars.أَنْتَ مِصْبَاحُ كُلِّ فَضْلٍ فَمَا تَصْــدُرُ إِلَّا عَنْ ضَوْئِكَ الْأَضْوَاءُ٤ 4. Anta miṣbāḥu kulli faḍlin fa-mā taṣ / duru illā ʿan ḍawʾika l-aḍwāʾuYou are the lamp of every excellence, so no lights shine out except from your light.لَكَ ذَاتُ الْعُلُومِ مِنْ عَالِمِ الْغَيْــبِ وَمِنْهَا لِآدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءُ٥ 5. Laka dhātu l-ʿulūmi min ʿālimi l-ghay / bi wa-minhā li-Ādama l-asmāʾuYours is the very substance of knowledge, from the Knower of the unseen, and from it came the names to Adam.

2. Chosen through the generations

لَمْ تَزَلْ فِي ضَمَائِرِ الْكَوْنِ تُخْتَاـرُ لَكَ الْأُمَّهَاتُ وَالْآبَاءُ٦ 6. Lam tazal fī ḍamāʾiri l-kawni tukhtā / ru laka l-ummahātu wa-l-ābāʾuIn the hidden depths of creation, mothers and fathers were always being chosen for you.مَا مَضَتْ فَتْرَةٌ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ إِلَّابَشَّرَتْ قَوْمَهَا بِكَ الْأَنْبِيَاءُ٧ 7. Mā maḍat fatratun mina r-rusuli illā / bashsharat qawmahā bika l-anbiyāʾuNo interval between the messengers passed without the prophets giving their people good news of you.تَتَبَاهَى بِكَ الْعُصُورُ وَتَسْمُوبِكَ عَلْيَاءُ بَعْدَهَا عَلْيَاءُ٨ 8. Tatabāhā bika l-ʿuṣūru wa-tasmū / bika ʿalyāʾu baʿdahā ʿalyāʾuThe ages take pride in you, and through you one height after another rises higher.وَبَدَا لِلْوُجُودِ مِنْكَ كَرِيمٌمِنْ كَرِيمٍ آبَاؤُهُ كُرَمَاءُ٩ 9. Wa-badā li-l-wujūdi minka karīmun / min karīmin ābāʾuhu kuramāʾuAnd in you a noble one appeared to the world, born of a noble one whose fathers were noble.نَسَبٌ تَحْسَبُ الْعُلَا بِحُلَاهُقَلَّدَتْهَا نُجُومَهَا الْجَوْزَاءُ١٠ 10. Nasabun taḥsabu l-ʿulā bi-ḥulāhu / qalladat-hā nujūmahā l-jawzāʾuA lineage whose ornaments make you think Gemini has hung its stars as a necklace on high rank itself.حَبَّذَا عِقْدُ سُؤْدُدٍ وَفَخَارٍأَنْتَ فِيهِ الْيَتِيمَةُ الْعَصْمَاءُ١١ 11. Ḥabbadhā ʿiqdu suʾdudin wa-fakhārin / anta fīhi l-yatīmatu l-ʿaṣmāʾuHow fine a necklace of lordship and glory, and you are its matchless pearl, kept safe.

The opening of al-Būṣīrī's long poem in praise of the Prophet, rhymed on hamza: no prophet climbs as high, and the generations before him were chosen for him.

The poem, and why these verses

Sharaf al-Dīn al-Būṣīrī, the poet of the Burda, also wrote this longer poem in praise of the Prophet, Umm al-qurā fī madḥ khayr al-warā. It is called the Hamziyya because every verse rhymes on hamza (-āʾu). It runs to about 450 verses, and later scholars wrote long commentaries on it, among them Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī and Sulaymān al-Jamal.

This page gives verses 1–11 only, the opening as the poem itself shapes it. Verses 1–5 say that no prophet climbs as high as he did, and that the other prophets only showed people a likeness of his qualities, «as water shows a likeness of the stars». Verses 6–11 turn to his ancestry, chosen for him through the generations, and close on the image of a necklace with him as its matchless pearl. At verse 12 the poem moves on to the night of his birth. The opening is also where a recitation of the poem starts.

Also known as: Umm al-qurā fī madḥ khayr al-warā · al-Qaṣīda al-Hamziyya · Qasidah Hamziyyah · Kayfa tarqā · أم القرى في مدح خير الورى · كيف ترقى رقيك الأنبياء.

Listen

Recorded by others, on their own channels; the Listen button follows it. Its verses were timed automatically against a local transcript and no person has yet checked them by ear.

The whole poem, recited by ʿAmmār Muḥsin ↗ About an hour, on the reciter's own channel; verses 1–11 are at the start.
Students of the Zāwiya al-Tāghiyya school, the opening ↗ About 5 minutes, sung by a school's students.

This edition

The wording is that of Sulaymān al-Jamal's gloss on the Hamziyya, which prints the poem verse by verse in the margin with al-Ṣāwī's notes: Cairo, al-Maṭbaʿa al-Maymaniyya, Rabīʿ al-Awwal 1306/1888 (public domain; date and press from the colophon, p. 120; the scan has no title page). It was read from the page images, and each verse links to its page. The print has no vowels.

AI The vowels are AI, set to the metre (khafīf). They were then checked against a vowelled printing, al-Maktaba al-Maḥmūdiyya al-Tijāriyya, Cairo, undated, which has the same words in these verses. Four vowels were changed to its reading; those verses have a Reading note. The Latin reading is AI too. Word study (tap a word for its root) comes from the analyser, with the corrections and cautions described under Word analysis below.

AI The English and the notes are AI, and no person has reviewed them. We have not found a public-domain English translation of these verses to compare.

Word analysis (tap a word): roots, patterns and grammar from CAMeL Tools and, for Qurʾān lines, the Quranic Arabic Corpus. Corrections were checked against Lisān al-ʿArab and other opened sources, with AI assistance, and await a reader's review; most words have not been checked by a person.

The whole text, to copy or print

ScriptTranslationLayout

al-Būṣīrī's Hamziyya, verses 1–11

الهمزية

كَيْفَ تَرْقَى رُقِيَّكَ الْأَنْبِيَاءُ يَا سَمَاءُ مَا طَاوَلَتْهَا سَمَاءُ

How could the prophets climb as high as you climbed? O sky that no sky has ever matched in height!

لَمْ يُسَاوُوكَ فِي عُلَاكَ وَقَدْ حَا لَ سَنًا مِنْكَ دُونَهُمْ وَسَنَاءُ

They did not equal you in your height, for a radiance and a nobility from you stood between them and it.

إِنَّمَا مَثَّلُوا صِفَاتِكَ لِلنَّا سِ كَمَا مَثَّلَ النُّجُومَ الْمَاءُ

They only showed people a likeness of your qualities, as water shows a likeness of the stars.

أَنْتَ مِصْبَاحُ كُلِّ فَضْلٍ فَمَا تَصْـ ـدُرُ إِلَّا عَنْ ضَوْئِكَ الْأَضْوَاءُ

You are the lamp of every excellence, so no lights shine out except from your light.

لَكَ ذَاتُ الْعُلُومِ مِنْ عَالِمِ الْغَيْـ ـبِ وَمِنْهَا لِآدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءُ

Yours is the very substance of knowledge, from the Knower of the unseen, and from it came the names to Adam.

لَمْ تَزَلْ فِي ضَمَائِرِ الْكَوْنِ تُخْتَا ـرُ لَكَ الْأُمَّهَاتُ وَالْآبَاءُ

In the hidden depths of creation, mothers and fathers were always being chosen for you.

مَا مَضَتْ فَتْرَةٌ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ إِلَّا بَشَّرَتْ قَوْمَهَا بِكَ الْأَنْبِيَاءُ

No interval between the messengers passed without the prophets giving their people good news of you.

تَتَبَاهَى بِكَ الْعُصُورُ وَتَسْمُو بِكَ عَلْيَاءُ بَعْدَهَا عَلْيَاءُ

The ages take pride in you, and through you one height after another rises higher.

وَبَدَا لِلْوُجُودِ مِنْكَ كَرِيمٌ مِنْ كَرِيمٍ آبَاؤُهُ كُرَمَاءُ

And in you a noble one appeared to the world, born of a noble one whose fathers were noble.

نَسَبٌ تَحْسَبُ الْعُلَا بِحُلَاهُ قَلَّدَتْهَا نُجُومَهَا الْجَوْزَاءُ

A lineage whose ornaments make you think Gemini has hung its stars as a necklace on high rank itself.

حَبَّذَا عِقْدُ سُؤْدُدٍ وَفَخَارٍ أَنْتَ فِيهِ الْيَتِيمَةُ الْعَصْمَاءُ

How fine a necklace of lordship and glory, and you are its matchless pearl, kept safe.

The translation is AI and has not yet been reviewed by a person.

Arabic: the Cairo print of 1306/1888 (al-Jamal's gloss, the poem in the margin), unvowelled. Vowels: AI, checked against a vowelled Cairo printing. Latin reading and English: AI, not reviewed by a person.