Atika bint Shuhda () was an 8th-century Arabian

Qiyan ''Qiyān'' ( ar, قِيان, ; singular ''qayna'', ar, قَينة, ) were a social class of women, trained as entertainers, which existed in the pre-modern Islamic world. The term has been used for both non-free women and free, including some ...

musician, composer, singer and poet.Hilary Kilpatrick:
Making the Great Book of Songs: Compilation and the Author's Craft in Abū L
' She was born in

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

, but settled in

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

. She was the daughter of Shuhda, a female professional singer and mourner from

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

who was herself a slave-singer for the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

caliph al-Walid II ibn Yazid (r. 743–744). Atika was particularly noted for her ability as a

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

-player, and was described by

Ishaq al-Mawsili Ishaq al-Mawsili ( ar, إسحاق الموصلي; 767/772 – March 850) was an Arab musician of Persian origin active as a composer, singer, music theorist and writer on music. The leading musician of his time in the Abbasid Caliphate, he served ...

(d. 850) as the most skilled ''oud'' player he had ever heard. She is also known to setting lyrics by Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah to music. Atika also acted as the instructor of other slave singers, and known as the teacher of the noted musicians

and Mukhariq ibn Yahya.

References

8th-century women musicians 8th-century musicians Arabian slaves and freedmen Qiyan Slaves from the Abbasid Caliphate 8th-century women from the Abbasid Caliphate 8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate 8th-century Arab people People from Medina Medieval Arabic-language singers 8th-century slaves {{singer-stub