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 of which came from the nobility. It has been suggested that "the ''geisha'' of Japan are perhaps the most comparable form of socially institutionalized female companionship and entertainment for male patrons, although, of course, the differences are also myriad".

Historically, the ''qiyān'' flourished under the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate, and in Al-Andalus.

Terminology

''Qiyān'' is often rendered in English as 'singing girls' or 'singing slave girls', but these translations do not reflect the fact that ''qiyān'' might be of any age, and were skilled entertainers whose training extended well beyond singing, including for example dancing, composing music and verse, reciting historical or literary anecdotes (''akhbar''), calligraphy, or shadow-puppetry. Other translations include ''courtesan'',Matthew S. Gordon, 'Introduction: Producing Songs and Sons', in ''Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History'', ed. by Matthew S. Gordon and Kathryn A. Hain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. 1-8 (pp. 5-6); . "musical concubines", or simply "women musicians".

In some sources, ''qiyān'' were a subset of '' jawāri'' ('female slaves', ; s. ''jāriya'', ), and often more specifically a subset of ''imā’'' ('slave girls', ; s. ''ama'', ). ''Qiyān'' are thus at times referred to as ''imā’ shawā‘ir'' ('slave-girl poets', ) or as ''mughanniyāt'' ('songstresses', ; s. ''mughanniyyah'', ). Many ''qiyan'' were free women. One of them was even an Abbasid princess.

The term originates as a feminine form of pre-Islamic ''qayn'' (), whose meaning was 'blacksmith, craftsman'. The meaning of ''qayn'' extended to include manual labourers generally, and then focused more specifically on people paid for their work, and then more specifically again 'to anyone engaged in an artistic performance for reward'. From here, its feminine form came to have the sense discussed in this article.

Characteristics and history

Like other slaves in the Islamicate world, ''qiyān'' were legally sexually available to their owners. They were often associated in literature with licentiousness, and sexuality was an important part of their appeal, but they do not seem to have been prostitutes.

However, there were also common qiyans who performed for the public in common qiyan-houses, and these houses were in some cases often brothels.

It is not clear how early the institution of the ''qiyān'' emerged, but ''qiyān'' certainly flourished during the ‘Abbasid period; according to Matthew S. Gordon, 'it is not yet clear to what extent courtesans graced regional courts and elite households at other points of Islamic history'. Ibrahim al-Mawsili (742-804 CE) is reported to have claimed that his father was the first to train light-skinned, beautiful girls as ''qiyān'', raising their price, whereas previously ''qiyān'' had been drawn from among girls viewed as less beautiful, and with darker skin, though it is not certain that these claims were accurate. One social phenomenon that can be seen as a successor to the ''qiyan'' is the Egyptian ''Almeh'', courtesans or female entertainers in Arab Egypt, educated to sing and recite classical poetry and to discourse wittily.

Because of their social prominence, ''qiyān'' comprise one of the most richly recorded sections of pre-modern Islamicate female society, particularly female slaves, making them important to the history of slavery in the Muslim world. Moreover, a significant proportion of medieval Arabic female poets whose work survives today were ''qiyān''. For a few ''qiyān'', it is possible to give quite a full biography. Important medieval sources of ''qiyān'' include a treatise by al-Jahiz (776–868/869 CE), al-Washsha's ''Kitab al-Muwashsha'' (''The Brocaded Book''), and anecdotes included in sources such as the ''Kitab al-Aghani'' (''Book of Songs'') and '' al-Ima al-shawa‘ir'' (''The Slave Poetesses'') by al-Isbahani (897–967 CE), '' Nisa al-khulafa'' (''The Consorts of the Caliphs'') by Ibn al-Sa‘i, and '' al-Mustazraf min akhbar al-jawari'' (''Choice Anecdotes from the Accounts of Concubines'') by al-Suyuti (c. 1445–1505 CE). Many of these sources recount the repartee of prominent ''qiyān'', though there are hints that ''qiyān'' in less wealthy households were used by their owners to attract gifts. In the ‘Abbasid period, ''qiyān'' were often educated in the cities of Basra, Ta’if, and Medina.

Al-Andalus

It seems that for the first century or so of Arab culture in Al-Andalus, ''qiyān'' were brought west after being trained in Medina or Baghdad, or were trained by artists from the east. It seems that by the eleventh century, with the collapse of the Caliphate of Cordoba, ''qiyān'' tended to be trained in Cordoba rather than imported after training. It seems that while female singers still existed, enslaved ones were no longer found in Al-Andalus in the fourteenth century CE.

Decline

The institution of ''qiyan'' declined with the waning fortunes of the Abbasid Caliphate. The initial fracture of the Abbasids did not have immediate impact. The qiyan did not take sides in political disputes. But political instability led to fiscal mismanagement. During the Abbasids' heyday, the finances were mismanaged. Further, the new class of Turkish soldiers demanded better pay. This led to the emptying of the treasury. Austerity meant artistic activity could not flourish as before. In addition, soldiers extorted money from citizens perceived as rich. This made ostentatious behavior risky.

Famous ''qiyān''

* Atika bint Shuhda ()
* ‘Inān (, d. 841)
* Djamila (, d. 720)
* Tawaddud (a fictional but famous character, putatively flourishing c. 800)
* Dananir al Barmakiyya (, d. 810s)
* Ulayya bint al-Mahdi, daughter of the caliph Al-Mahdi (d. 825)
* Arib al-Ma'muniyya (, CE 797-890)
* Shāriyah (, c. 815–70 CE)
* Farida (born c.830)
* Faḍl al-Shāʻirah (, d. 871 CE)

References

Citations

Sources

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Further reading

* Hekmat Dirbas, "Naming of Slave-girls in Arabic: A Survey of Medieval and Modern Sources", ''Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik'', 69 (2019), 26–38, ,

{{Medieval Perso-Arab music

Islam and slavery
Sexual slavery
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Arabic-language women poets
Arabic-language poets
History of slavery
Arabian slaves and freedmen

Slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate