Abstract:
Mīr Abulqāsim Mīr Findiriskī (1562-1640) , Iranian Philosopher of the Safavid era, has presented some discussions on theoretical music in his most famous work entitled Risālah Ṣanāiyyah, which has made him unique among the philosophers of this period. However, unlike the philosophers of early Islamic period, Mīr Findiriskī uses the example of theoretical music in order to explain different types of profession rather than teach music based on written texts. The present paper aims to investigate Mīr Findiriskī’s philosophical views in relation to music as a profession following the qualitative method of content analysis and using historical and library resources. Here, while providing a brief historical review of Mīr Findiriskī’s life, works, and thoughts, the authors have explained the theoretical foundations of the treatise and the technical terms used there in order to clarify the writer’s intention of resorting to the example of theoretical music. The most important implication of music-related discussions in this work is that, during this period, scholars made a clearly explicit distinction between the knowledge and practice of music. In fact, it was possible for prominent religious scholars to have complete mastery over theoretical music but avoid listening to music, teaching it, or practically dealing with it and warn their seminary students against any practical involvement with music. This fact can be considered as one of the clear signs of the separation of the knowledge and practice of music during the Safavid era.
Machine summary:
In the present article, which is written with the aim of examining Mir Fendereski's philosophical views in connection with music under the classification of industries, using qualitative methods of text analysis and historical and library materials, we have provided a brief historical review of Mir's life, works, and thoughts, and explained the theoretical preliminaries of the treatise and the terminology used therein, so that the author's intention behind the theoretical music examples can be understood.
The most important implicit conclusion we draw from the musical discussions of the work is that during this period, scholars maintained a clear and decisive distinction between the science and practice of music, to the extent that a prominent religious scholar, despite full knowledge of theoretical music, having a musical ear, and even teaching it, would avoid practical engagement with music and warn his students PhD graduate in Art Research, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran: Iran (Corresponding Author); sahand.
* * * Introduction and Problem Statement Philosophers of the early Islamic centuries and their students and followers have played an effective role in the evolutionary course of theoretical music in Iran and Arabic and Persian writings on this subject, to the extent that the first scientific treatises on theoretical music were essentially authored by philosophers such as Al-Kindi, Abu Nasr al-Farabi, Abu Ali Sina, Abu Ubayd al-Juzjani, Ibn Zilah, and the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al-Safa).
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