Risālah fī al-mūsīqī رسالة في الموسيقى Ibn al-Munajjim, Yaḥyá ibn ʿAlī ابن المنجّم، يحيى بن علي

Content

A treatise on the modal systems of the early Islamic era by the ʿAbbasid theologian and courtier Abū Aḥmad Yaḥyá ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Munajjim (أبو أحمد يحيى بن علي ابن المنجّم, d. 300/912-13 ). The text is addressed to the ʻAbbasid Caliph al-Muʻtaḍḍid bi-llāh ( المعتضد بالله, r. 892-902). Ibn al-Munajjim's father had trained under the great performer and teacher Isḥāq al-Mawṣīlī (إسحاق الموصلي, d. 850) whose teachings are frequently cited in the treatise. He represents a conservative school of thought, resistant to the increasing musical innovation and non-Arab influences in cosmopolitan ninth-century Baghdad.

The present copy was completed on 2 Jumādá I 1073/13 December 1662 and collated in the city of Kashmir (Srinagar) on 25 Muḥarram 1074/29 August 1663 (see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 238v, transcribed below).

Begins (f. 236v, lines 1-4):

رسالة يحيى بن علي بن يحيى المنجم مولى أمير المؤمنين المعتضد بالله في الموسيقي نقول

قد ذكرنا في كتابنا الذي قبل هذا صفة المغني وما يجب أن يكون عليه ووصفنا ما فيه نهاية

من ذلك ونصف الآن أمر النغم وعددها وما يأتلف منه ويختلف ومواقع أصبع أصبع من وتر

وتر وموضع كل نغمة من كل دستان ونبين ما سماه إسحاق ابن إبراهيم الموصلي المحرر في الأصوات...

Ends (f. 238v, lines 6-7):

...فإن أكثرهم ممن يدّعي الحذق بهذه الصناعة لو أمتحن بالمسئلة

عن بعض ما ذكرنا في هذا الكتاب لقصرت معرفته عنه

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 238v, lines 7-8):

تمت الرسالة يوم پنجشنبه ٢ شهر حمد (!) الأولى سنة ١٠٧٣

تم مقابلته بالأصل يوم الأربعاء ٢٥ محرم سنة ١٠٧٤ في بلدة كشمير

Extent and format

Ff. 236v-238v

It is part of

A collection of fourteen treatises on music theory in Arabic and Persian

556 images

Ref: Or 2361

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript item

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 2361, ff 236v-238v

History of this record

Date(s)

2 Jumādá I 1073 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Related material

Finding aids

• Farmer, Henry George, The Sources of Arabian Music. An Annotated Bibliography of Arabic Manuscripts which Deal with the Theory, Practice, and History of Arabian Music , (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965), No. 143, p. 24
• Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 823, XI, p. 561
• Shiloah, Amnon, The Theory of Music in Arabic Writings (c. 900-1900): Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in Libraries of Europe and the U.S.A. (Munich: G. Henle Verlag, 1979), pp. 200-01

Select Bibliography

Edition:

• Ibn al-Munajjim, Risālah fī al-mūsīqá, ed. by Zakarīyā Yūsuf (al-Qāhirah: Dār al-Qalam, 1964)

Studies:

• Shawqī, Yūsuf, Risālat Yaḥyá ibn al-Munajjim fī-l-mūsīqá wa kashf rumūz kitāb al-aghānī (al-Qāhirah: Maṭābiʻ al-Hayʼah al-Misrīyah al-ʻĀmmah li-l-Kitāb, 1976)
• Wright, Owen, 'Ibn al-Munajjim and the Early Arabian Modes', Galpin Society Journal , 19 (1966), pp. 27-48

People & organisations

Yaḥyá ibn ʻAlī Ibn al-Munajjim

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Risālah fī al-mūsīqī رسالة في الموسيقى Ibn al-Munajjim, Yaḥyá ibn ʿAlī ابن المنجّم، يحيى بن علي, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 2361, ff 236v-238v, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100131607039.0x000004> [accessed 1 July 2026]

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