Assalam alaikum, Amongst the Muslims runs the opinion that Music did not take part of early Islamic life nor was there an influence of Music amongst the Muslim communities. The disputed text, Kitab al-Aghani (Book of Songs), suggests otherwise. Many have criticised the author as being a liar of fabricator, however the short summary below will show that Abu al-Faraj as well as compiling his text also took knowledge from great scholars such as Tabari (the commentator of the Quran) and even gave knowledge to scholars of hadith such as Darqutni.
The e-mail is a selection of extracts from a text, cited at the end. The Aghani chronicles how music and singing under the Umayyads and the early Abbasids became a highly developed art The Kitab al-aghani is the product of a particular cultural milieu, the court of fourth/tenth century Baghdad, with which Abu al-Faraj was closely associated. It is also marked by the author's general approach to writing and compilation, which emerged from other works of his too. The following sketch of his life, times and oeuvre presents the context in which the Aghani took shape Abu al-Faraj was born in 284 AH in Baghdad He was a direct descendant of the last Umayyad Caliph, Marwan bn Muhammad His great uncle was a leading official in Samara under Caliph al-Mutawakkil and his uncle was a katib in Samara In the Kitab al-aghani, Abu al-Faraj quotes members of his family, his father, his great uncle, his grandfather and his cousin Abu al Faraj was a Zaydi, the shia sect which is the closest to Sunni theology He studied at two intellectual centers, Kufa and Baghdad. In Kufa one of his teachers was al-Kindi, the preacher at the Qadisiya mosque. Kufa was the center of study for Arabian antiquity, it had its own grammar school, and the indigenous Iraqi musical tradition lived there. Abu al-Faraj spent much of his time with Kufa scholars but also with local singers Two major sources list the scholars from whom Abu al-Faraj acquired his information. Al-Kitab al-Baghdadi, whose concern is with hadith transmission, names the authorities from which he acquired hadith, and also those to whom he had handed them onto, while Yaqut gives the literary scholars whom he quoted Speaking of al-Yazdi, Abu al-Faraj said, `The last surviving scholar of this family (the Yazdis) was Abu Abdullah Muhammad. He was outstanding, learned and a reliable transmitter, unique in his truthfulness and extremely prudent in what he related. We and other students and transmitters learnt a lot from him.' Yahya al-Suli (d. 335 AH) is another scholar to whom the Aghani owes much, at one point Abu al-Faraj wrote, `Al-Suli, may God have mercy on him, recited to me ' Al-Barmaki (d. 324 AH) was a virtuoso on the long-necked lute, compiler of a book on lute-players, and transmitter of one version of the list of one hundred songs; Abu al-Faraj also studied with him Abu al-Faraj had a wide circle of teachers and acquaintances in Kufa and Baghdad from whom he acquired information. There were mostly specialists in historical and literary reports (akhbar), poetry, or philology. Some were obscure like his most frequently named informer in the Aghani, Ali al-Khaffaf, others celebrities, such as the great historian and Quranic commentators, at-Tabari. He turned to anyone whom he thought would help him Qualities such as wit, a sharp tongue and skill in satire, and gifts as a raconteur combined with vast culture made up for Abu al-Faraj's eccentricities (e.g. his neglected appearance) Abu al-Faraj's patron was al-Muhallabi, and in the preface to Aghani he writes, `The reason why I embark on writing it (the Aghani) was that one of the chief officers of state asked me to compile it for him ' When al-Muhallabi died in Basra in 352 AH, Abu al-Faraj took to another profession as a teacher. From the completion of his first book many years previously (Maqatil al talibiyin) he built up a reputation for an amazing knowledge of historical, literary and musical reports Abu al-Faraj is also recorded as having transmitted hadith to al-Daraqutni, Abu Ishaq al-Tabari, Ibn Makhlad, Abi al-Farwais, Ahmad al-Razzaz and Ali Ibn Duma Abu al-Faraj also supplied the Umayyads of Spain with books, it was at this time period that the scholars and men of letters in Cordoba were engaged in taking the learning of the Mashriq Abu al-Faraj spent most of his life among officials, men of letters and eminent scholars. After al-Muhallabi's death his life became difficult, and he is said to have suffered a stroke living the last few years of his life in mental difficulty. He wasn't of course the only renowned scholar to suffer in this way, another example includes al-Baladhuri The Aghani which is constructed round songs, falls into three parts. In the first (vols I-IX, 249) the core of given information is provided by the Three Choicest Songs and then the other songs making the Top Hundred, followed by other groups of songs: those that combined ten or eight tones, the three songs in the ramal rhythmic mode, Mabad's five songs with nicknames, his Seven Cities, and Ibn Surayj's corresponding Seven songs. In the second part (IX, 250-X, 286) caliphs and their descendants who composed songs from the core, and how they are treated in chronological order, the caliphs from Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz to al-Mutadid being followed by princes (and one princess) from Ibrahim al-Mahdi to Abdullah ibn Mutazz. The third part (X, 286-XXIV, 261) is constructed round a core of songs chosen by Abu al-Faraj himself Although the Aghani starts out with articles on poets and composers regularly alternating, the fact that there were fewer composers and their lives were less well documented than those of poets means that in the later volumes treatments of musicians are fairly uncommon [Source: Kilpatrick, Making the Great Books of Songs: Compilation and the author's craft in Abu al-Faraj'sal-Isbahani's Kitab al-aghani, pp 14-33 abridged] May Allah Almighty have mercy and bless us with knowledge of our past, ameen. fi amanillah, assalam alaikum, f ------------------------ Yahoo! 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