Philosophies of Music in Medieval Islam

Description

This surveys the philosophies of music of the most important thinkers in Islam between the 9th and the 15th centuries A.D. It covers topics ranging from the physics and aesthetics of sound, the nature of music, its place in the total scheme of things and in human life, the relation between music, astronomy, astrology and meteorology, the relation between music and human feelings character and behaviour, to the question of whether a good Muslim should be allowed to listen to music at all, and if so, to which type. The book traces the influence of Greek, in particular Pythagorean and Aristoxenian, thinking in Islam on this subject, and aims to provide a philosophically coherent statement of thinking of the Islamic writers concerned, a clarification of their central arguments, as well as a critical evaluation of their line of thought. The author introduces a wide range of material from manuscript sources, including much that has not been published before. Preface vii Introduction 1 PART ONE: GREECE WITHIN THE CRESCENT Music in the Larger Scheme of Things Chapter One: Kindi 15 Chapter Two: Ikhwan al-Safa 34 Focus on Music and Its Elements Chapter Three: Farabi 50 Chapter Four: Ibn Sina 66 Music, Knowledge and Appreciation Chapter Five: Al-Hasan al-Katib 81 PART TWO: LISTENING TO MUSIC AND ISLAM Mostly Prohibited Chapter Six: Ibn Taymiyyah 95 The Moderate View Chapter Seven: Ghazali 115 Mostly Permitted Chapter Eight: Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi 131 And Some Others Chapter Nine: Ibn Khaldun, Majd al-Din al-Ghazali, and Ibn al-'Arabi 146 Appendix 163 Bibliography 165 General Index 171