The Religious Music of Islām

Extract

Islām, notwithstanding its immediate and overwhelming triumph, was unable to eradicate the paganism which had preceded it. In pagan Arabia the jinn and spirit world could be conjured by music, and even in ʻAbbāsid times such famous musicians as Ibrāhīm al-Mauṣilī of Baghdad and Ziryāb of Cordova claimed to derive some of their music from the jinn and even shaiṭān himself. This conceit is understandable. The voice of the jinn was termed ʻazf, and when we know this, we can appreciate the occult significance of the word ʻazīf or miʻzaf for a harp-like instrument. We read in the ʻIqd al-Farīd (tenth century) that David the Prophet played a miʻzaf when he wanted to gather the jinn unto himself. Even to-day the Arabic name for an instrumentalist is ʻazzāf.