an evening of recitation and praise
This is a short video clip of a recitation of Imam al-Busiri’s Burdah* (Poem of the Cloak) at Zaytuna Institute. Absolutely beautiful. The reciter is Shaykh Murtaza, who heads a masjid in San Francisco. I heard him recite the Burdah in person at Zaytuna’s Evening of Gratitude tribute dinner in early February as well as at the MSA-West Conference at UC Berkeley just a couple of weeks ago. He has an amazing voice, doesn’t he? The man in white who is weeping during the recitation is Shaykh Habib Ali al-Jifri from Tarim, Yemen, who is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf is the goateed man to the right of him.
I didn’t know I could find anything of Shaykh Murtaza’s online, although I’ve been raving about him to everyone I’ve come across. My sister and I have been self-proclaimed “Shaykh Murtaza groupies” ever since we first heard him recite at the Zaytuna Conference last December, and hopefully you will now understand why.
*NOTE: This one is actually a link to a Burdah recitation by the Fez Singers of Morocco. I linked this just so those of you who don’t know much about it can scroll down to read Hamza Yusuf’s description on that page to get a sense of the worldwide significance and collective spirit of the Burdah to Muslims everywhere.
[p.s. You’ll need QuickTime. If you don’t have it, download it for free here.]