Methodology of Sharaf od-Din Yazdi’s Commentary on and Persian Translation of Al-Busiri’s Al-Burda

One of the most complete and valuable commentary on Sharaf od-Din al-Busiri’s Qasidat al-Burda is Sharaf od-Din Ali Yazdi’s, the ninth century scholar whose death date is not known; however, it is certain that he died in the middle of the ninth century and has various works such as Zafarnāme. The present essay seeks to answer the following question: What
methods did the commentator use in describing the ode? Yazdi’s commentary is in Persian, and its introduction, titled “al-tanbihat”, includes twenty tanbih (remarks) with regard to the position of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and his mystical status in the universe. This commentary consists of three levels. The first one or the word level titled “al- mufardāt” is the literal explanation of the verses, accompanied by morphological points, and sometimes refers to the dictionaries. The second level which is titled “at-tarkib” contains the syntactic and rhetorical points of the verses, and also talks about conjunction and disjunction. The third level is called “hāsel al-fahvā” and is about the meaning and translation of the verses based on the two preceding levels, as well as about the relationship between the verses. This commentary has five manuscripts. It has been attributed to another person named Abdulwahhāb Istarābādi by mistake; however, after
studying and comparing, one can definitely conclude that it belongs to Yazdi.