Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Mawṣilī (; 742–804) was an Arab musician of Persian origin who was among the greatest composers of the early Abbasid period. After Arab and Persian musical training in Ray, he was called to the Abbasid capital of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

where he served under three successive

Abbasid caliphs The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The family came to ...

Al-Mahdi Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله المنصور; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name Al-Mahdī (, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abb ...

, Al-Hadi and

Harun al-Rashid Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar , أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...

. He became particularly close with the latter and emerged as the leading musician of his time. He championed the conservative school of Arab music against progressives such as Ibn Jami. His son and student

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 ...

would succeed him as the leader of the conservative tradition and his other pupils included the musicians Mukhariq, Zalzal and

Ziryab Abu l-Hasan 'Ali Ibn Nafi, better known as Ziryab, Zeryab, or Zaryab ( 789– 857) ( ar, أبو الحسن علي ابن نافع, زریاب, rtl=yes) ( fa, زَریاب ''Zaryāb''), was a singer, oud and lute player, composer, poet, and teach ...

. He appears in numerous stories of '' One Thousand and One Nights''.

Life and career

Born in

Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf a ...

, in his early years his parents died and he was trained by an uncle. After a year he went to

Rayy Shahr-e Ray ( fa, شهر ری, ) or simply Ray (Shar e Ray; ) is the capital of Ray County in Tehran Province, Iran. Formerly a distinct city, it has now been absorbed into the metropolitan area of Greater Tehran as the 20th district of municip ...

, where he met an ambassador of the

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ar, أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور‎; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Manṣūr (المنصور) w ...

, who enabled him to come to

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 han ...

and take singing lessons. Singing, not study, attracted him, and at the age of twenty-three he fled to

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

, where he joined a band of wild youths. His fame as a singer spread, and the caliph

al-Mahdi Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله المنصور; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name Al-Mahdī (, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abb ...

brought him to the court. There he remained a favorite under al-Hadi, while

kept him always with him until his death, when he ordered his son al-Ma'mun to say the prayer over his corpse. He had many pupils, chief among them his son

, the freedman slave Mukhariq, the lutenist Zalzal, as well as the musician

. See the Preface to Ahlwardt's ''Abu Nowas'' (Greifswald, 1861), pp. 13–18, and the many stories of his life in the ''

Kitab al-Aghani ''Kitab al-Aghani'' ( ar, كتاب الأغاني, kitāb al-‘aghānī, The Book of Songs), is an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions, attributed to the 10th-century Arabic writer Abu al- ...

'', V. 2-49.

References

Sources

;Books * ;Journal and encyclopedia articles * * ** * * * * * ** ** * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibrahim Al-Mawsili 742 births 804 deaths 8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate 9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate 8th-century writers 9th-century writers Musicians from the Abbasid Caliphate Composers of the medieval Islamic world Courtiers of the Abbasid Caliphate Medieval singers People from Kufa 8th-century Arabic poets 8th-century Iranian people 9th-century Iranian people Iranian male singers One Thousand and One Nights characters 9th-century Arabic poets Medieval Arabic singers