Ha 'Ali Bashar Kayfa Bashar (Laudative Qasida)

Hā, ʿAlīyyun basharun, kayfa bashar (Arabic: ها عليٌّ بَشَرٌ کَيْفَ بَشَر) lit: ʿAli is a human, but what a human! is a verse of a well-known qasida (or ode) known as “Madhiyya” (laudative) or “Ghadiriyya,” which is composed in Arabic in praise of Imam ʿAli (a). The ode was composed by Mulla Mihr 'Ali Tabrizi Khu'i, a poem of Ghadir in the thirteenth/nineteenth century, who is known for this ode.

The ode has twenty to forty verses, and it was composed between 1216/1801-2 and 1240/1824-5. It attracted the attentions of Shiite orators and poets, as many poems have been composed with a similar metre and rhymes, some of which have borrowed its verses.

Madhiyya or Ghadiriyya

The Persian calligraphy of Ha 'Ali Bashar Kayfa Bashar by Mustafa Abidini, Iranian calligrapher

The qasida or ode of “Ha ʿAli bashar, kayfa bashar,” known as Madhiyya or Ghadiriyya, is an ode in Arabic composed by Mulla Mihr ʿAli Tabrizi Khuʾi in praise of Imam ʿAli (a).

The ode is said to have twenty to forty verses, and it was composed between 1216/1801-2 and 1240/1824-5. Farhad Mirza, a contemporary of Mulla Mihr ʿAli, cites twenty-nine verses of the ode in his book, Zanbil.

The qasida, “Ha ʿAli bashar, kayfa bashar,” has attracted the attention of Shiite orators and poets. A number of poems are composed in the same metre and rhyme (takhmis, or cinquain or pentastich), in which some of its verses are borrowed. The ode is translated into forty Persian verses with the same metre and rhymes by Mirza Muhammad Rida Basirat Shirazi.

The Poet

Main article: Mihr 'Ali Tabrizi

Mulla Mihr ʿAli Tabrizi Khuʾi (1182/1768-9-1262/1845-6), with the pen-name Fadawi, was a poet of Ghadir in the thirteenth/nineteenth century. He wrote poems in Turkish, Persian, and Arabic. He is said to be a mystic, philosopher, a scholar, and a master of most of the sciences of his time. Mulla Mihr ʿAli is mainly known for his Madhiyya or Ghadiriyya ode. He wrote another qasida or ode in eighteen verses in praise of the Prophet (s).

Seeing the Prophet (s) in the Dream

There is an anecdote reported in the book, Wilayatnama, by Mulla 'Ali Wa'iz Khiyabani, the author of the book 'Ulama' mu'asirin (Contemporary scholars), to the effect that, after writing the qasida of “Ha ʿAli bashar, kayfa bashar,” Mulla Mihr ʿAli saw the Prophet (s) in his dream, alongside Imam ʿAli (a). The Prophet (s) told Mulla Mihr ʿAli: “Recite the poem you wrote in praise of my cousin.” Mulla Mihr ʿAli began to recite the poem, and when he finished the first verse, the Prophet (s) said: “What a human! What a human! What a human!”