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Music: The Priceless Jewel
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
People disagree about [the propriety of] singing (ghinā). And most of the people of Al-Ḥijāz permit it, whilst most of the people of Al-'Irāq abhor it. And one argument of those who permit it is that it has its origin in poetry, [an art] which the Prophet (May Allāh bless him and give him peace) commended; he incited to it, and urged his Companions to it, and found help in it against the unbelievers. And he said to Ḥassān [ibn Thabit, d. 674], “Pour out [an incitement to] the raid upon the Banū 'Abd Manāf for, by Allāh, your poetry is more potent against them than the falling of arrows in the utter darkness of the late night.” And it [i.e. poetry], is the register (dīwān) of the Arabs, and declares their precepts, and is the witness of their noble actions.
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References
Page 127 note 1 al-Makkī, Abū Ṭalib (d. 996) said, “The people of Al-Ḥijāz did not cease to listen to singing even in the most excellent of the days of the year.” Qūl al-qulūb, iii, 91Google Scholar, Al-Ghazālī, op. cit., ii, 183, JRAS. (1901), 202.
Page 127 note 2 Abu'l-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī (d. 1058) said, “All the people of Kūfa . . . made listening to singing a sin.” Al-ghazālī, loc. cit.
Page 128 note 1 The text is corrupt. I have used that of the Aghanī (Sāsī edit.), xvi, 15. Cf. the line on p. 14.
Page 128 note 2 [
is the gravelly plain south of Damascus. According to Yāqūt it comprises modern Transjordania. Dr. F. Krenkow.]
Page 128 note 3 He wept because he was blind. Al-Mubarrad, , Al-kāmil, p. 388Google Scholar.
Page 128 note 4 'Āisha has handed down several traditions on the permissibility of audition. Al-Ghazālī, op. cit., ii, 189. JRAS. (1901), pp. 224–6. Al-Hujwīrī, op. cit., p. 401. Robson, , Tracts, pp. 78–9Google Scholar.
Page 128 note 5 [He is Ibn Suwaid al-Thaqafī. Dr. F. Krenkow.]
Page 128 note 6 Al-Sharīd was evidently singing not reciting.
Page 129 note 1 From time immemorial the Arabs have scanned their verse by means of melodic phrases. In the Maghrib to-day there are melodies for establishing the metrical form of verses which are called naghamāt al-buḥūr.
Page 129 note 2 See Schiaparelli, Vocabulista in Arabico, s.v.
Page 129 note 3 [The text has Mālik ibn 'Auf, but it is a mistake for Mālik ibn Anas. Dr. F. Krenkow.]
Page 129 note 4 Ẓill qāri' may be a place name. [As a place name it is unlikely. If it is not “in the shade of a gourd” it may be 
“in the shade of a tall date palm.” Dr. F. Krenkow.]
Page 130 note 1 Al-Barā' ibn Mālik was camel-driver to the Prophet, who used to make him sing the caravan-song (ḥudā') for the men. It was Anjusha who sang it for the women.
Page 130 note 2 [The text has Al-Jamānī, but Yaḥyā ibn 'Abd al-Ḥamīd al-Ḥimmānī is intended.— Dr. F. Krenkow.]
Page 130 note 3 The Arabic word means “foul, evil, abominable talk”.
Page 131 note 1 [The text has Qurra b. Khālid b. 'Abdallāh b. Yaḥyā, but it is corrupt. We do not know the grandfather of Qurra. Probably the text should read 
instead of 
Dr. F. Krenhow.]
Page 131 note 2 It must have been a naṣb or a ḥudā' that he sang.
Page 131 note 3 Cf. the story of Ibn Juraij, 'Aṭā, and Suraij, Ibn the singer in the Aghānīi;, i, pp. 123, 157Google Scholar.
Page 131 note 4 [He was a story-teller (qaṣṣ) in Al-Medīna at the time of the Prophet.— Dr. F. Krenkow.]
Page 131 note 5 The only direct reference to the musical life of David, in the O.T. is in 1 Samuel, xxvi, 23Google Scholar, but there are references in the Talmud.
Page 132 note 1 Sūra, xxxi, 5.
Page 132 note 2 Al-Ghazālī, ii, 194, says that Ibn Mas'ūd (d. 652–3), Al-Nakha'ī (d. 714–15) and Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 728) held the opinion that “a ludicrous story” refers to singing.
Page 132 note 3 Meaning, if the verses are moral the singing is moral, and if the verses are immoral, the singing is immoral.
Page 132 note 4 [The text has al-Khuzā'ī, but it should be al-Ḥizāmī.—Dr. F. Krenkow.]
Page 132 note 5 At the court of the Caliph Al-Hādī (d. 786) Ibn Jāmi' was presented with 30,000 pieces of gold, with which he retired to Mecca. See his life in the Aghanī, vi, 65.
Page 132 note 6 Meaning the Ka'ba.
Page 132 note 7 Meaning the Qur'ān.
Page 133 note 1 It refers to the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. See Sūra, xii.
Page 133 note 2 The text has kashkār.
Page 133 note 3 Sura, xvi, 117.
Page 134 note 1 The text has 'Umar.
Page 134 note 2 Cf. the stories in the Aghānī, i, pp. 95, 121.
Page 134 note 3 Sūra, 1, 17.
Page 134 note 4 These are the two angels, sitting on the right and left of everyone, taking an account of everything, Sūra, 1, 17.
Page 135 note 1 Lit. “Then where is this from this ?”
Page 135 note 2 Meaning “singing”.
Page 136 note 1 Cf. the story in the Aghānī, ii, 238. According to the Aghānī, Mālik, as a youth, wished to become a professional singer but was diverted from this by his mother.
Page 136 note 2 Lit. “loving.”
Page 136 note 3 There is a hiatus here. Evidently the barbaṭ was mentioned in the original. See Robson and Farmer, op. cit., pp. 6–7.
Page 136 note 4 Meaning Mecca.
Page 136 note 5 Ibn Muḥiz was, with Ibn Misjaḥ one of the founders of Arabian music theory. See my article “Mūsīqī” in the Ency. of Islām, iii, pp. 749 et seq., and my History of Arabian Music, pp. 70, 78.
Page 137 note 1 [The text has 'Alāqī which is most likely an error for Ghalābī. See Sam'ānī, , Al-ansāb, p. 413Google Scholar.—Dr. F. Krenkow.]
Page 137 note 2 The point in this is that whilst the singer praises “wine, war, and woman” in his singing, the Caliph prefers “war, truth, and justice” as his ideals. This ruler was fond of music in his early days and was even claimed as the author of songs. See Aghānī. viii, pp. 144, 152, 153.
Page 137 note 3 [Although all the editions have Jarīr, I believe that the name is Ḥuraiz.—Dr. F. Krenkoiv.]
Page 137 note 4 The text has ma'āzif (“stringed instruments”). See Ency. of Islām, iii, 528. The sound of the jinn is called 'azīf and the instrument producing this is the mi'zaf.
Page 138 note 1 The latter is Suwaid b. Naṣr al-Marwazī (d. 854–5). The former is possibly Ḥassān (not Ḥaṣan) b. 'Aṭiya (d. ca. 844–55).
Page 138 note 2 He is Abū Khālid Muḥammad b. 'Abd al-Raḥman b. Hishām (d. 785–6).
Page 139 note 1 Al-Sha'bī is quoted by Abu'l-Tayyib al-Ṭabari, together with Abū Ḥanīfa, Sufyān al-Thaurī, and Al-Nakha'ī, as being averse to singing. Al-Ghazālī, op. cit., ii, 183. JRAS. (1901), p. 202.
Page 139 note 2 Bishr ibn Marwān was a patron of music and when he became governor of Al-'Irāq he rescinded the edict of Khālid ibn 'Abdallāh al-Qasrī, the previous governor, which had interdicted music. Aghānī, ii, 119–120.
Page 139 note 3 The highest and lowest strings of the lute and similar instruments were the zīr and the bamm. The passage implies that it was a two-stringed lute ('ūd), but such an instrument has not been recorded either descriptively or iconographically elsewhere. It is more likely to have been a rubāb or ṭunbūr.
Page 139 note 4 Meaning, “How did you know that the pitches of the notes were false ?”
Page 140 note 1 Bish'r rejoinder appears to be sheer banter. A somewhat similar story is told in the Aghānī (ii, 120) about the minstrel Ḥunain al-Ḥīrī in the presence of Bishr and Al-Sha'bī.
Page 141 note 1 The tall qalansuwa hat worn by legists.
Page 141 note 2 The aversion of 'Īsā to music is testified in the Aghānī, xv, 33.
Page 141 note 3 lit. “kings”.
Page 141 note 4 That Abū Ḥanīfa did not directly proscribe “audition” is sustained by Majd al-Dīn. See Robson, , Tracts, pp. 87–91Google Scholar. On the other band, Abū'l Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī says that the founder of the Ṭanafī school “disliked” it. See Al-Ghazālī, op. cit., ii, 183. JRAS. (1901), p. 202.
Page 141 note 5 Meaning his abandonment of a pious life.
Page 142 note 1 Cf. the Aghānī, iii, 45.
Page 142 note 2 Cf. the verses and story in the Aghānī, xxi, 108.
Page 143 note 1 Lit. “my liver.”
Page 143 note 2 The text has 'Abdallāh. Al-Ibshīhī has 'Abd al-Malik. I have substituted 'Abd al-Raḥmān on the authority of the Aghānī, viii, p. 6.Cf. viii, p. 14.
Page 143 note 3 Sallāmat al-Qass derived her nickname from that of 'Abd al-Raḥmān. She was a famous songstress who was later purchased by the Caliph Yazīd II (d. 724). She and her sister Rayyā are the subject of a verse by Ibn Qais al-Ruqayyāt.
Page 144 note 1 Lit. “place the mouth.”
Page 144 note 2 Sūra, xl, 67.
Page 144 note 3 Meaning “people of ber profession”, i.e. the purveyors of malāhī.
Page 144 note 4 See Aghānī, viii, 8, for the preceding lines.
Page 144 note 5 Jarīr, as the name of a minstrel, does not occur in the Aghānī, although Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi mentions one himself, Jarīr al-Madanī. Cf. ante p. 137. Both Al-Gharīḍ and Ma'bad (d. 743) are included among the “four great singers” of the Golden Age of Islām. It was the latter who taught Sallāmat al-Qass, and she sang one of his elegies beside his bier.