THE INFLUENCE OF BUSAYRI AND HIS BURDAH ON THE ‘ULAMA’ AND SOCIAL ETHICS IN YORUBALAND (Review Completed - Accepted)
Sharaf din Busayri whose panegyric poem is the subject of this paper held in high esteem for his hall mark spiritual desire. The paper is not intended to present all his lines, rather the aim is to call attention to some areas in his poem. The paper begins with an introduction. Sketchy biographical information about the family background and youth of al-Busayri is provided. His literary activities as well as the reason surrounding the production of al-Burdah are carefully discussed. Selected areas of influence are adequately examined. We have discovered that in spite of medical breakthrough in diagnosing some diseases, many other ailments are curable through spiritual exercises as the case of our author, Busayri. We noted that Muslims in Yoruba land name their children and living areas after the poet in an attempt to perpetuate his work, and to immortalize his memory. Verses from the work are still recited as charms in Yoruba land in particular and Nigeria in general as well as in some other parts of the Muslim world.