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Arabic Musical Maqams: Another Persian Legacy?*

By: M.S. Tajar, Ph. D.

When I was a young boy I would listen to the Arabic Music from Egypt (i.e. Umm
Kulthum, etc.) or the Holy Qur’an recitations Tawashih, Nashid or the Islamic Azan, that the
first American Black President “Barak Husayn Ubama” called: “The most touching voice that I
heard on the Indonesian Sea shores, during the sunsets, in my childhood!”
I, too, was mesmerized by those Arabic chants i.e. the trinity of Music, Qur’an and Azan!
It sounded to me as a distant “Sindbad” (i.e. The Persian Sind Bud”/ or the Indian Hero!) or
“Aladdin” of Bagh-dad (i.e. Bagh Data, another Persian term meaning “God-given” or Diosdado
in Latin / Spanish.) of the 1,001 Arabian Nights! (i.e. Persian stories).

Till My Eyes Opened

It took me some 60 years of “blindness” or innocent ignorance, till I found out that what I
considered to be “Arabic” or even “Islamic” was actually neither Arabic, nor originaly Islamic,
but rather thousands of years older than those two, and it was Persian - - my own lost and now
found story.
It also reminded me of the Great Persian poet Hafiz, (i.e. the ideal poet of Goethe) who
some 700 years ago said:
“My crazy heart,
Was seeking what I couldn’t give - -
The “gazing bowl” of King Jam-shid!
Until finally it realized,
That all was deep inside!
How foolish my heart
Wandering here and there!”
Persian Diwan of Hafiz (1325-1390 A.D.)

After wasting many years in schools, where my teachers did not teach me the truth about
the “Art of Islamic Chants”, the time came for me to teach, what I myself was not taught before.
In our college, I was assigned to teach the subject of “Arabic poetry, art of eloquence and
the chants of the Holy Qur’an”. Because the school had no such text books, then I had to do my
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own “homework”! I went into the Internet to look for the art of poetry and its very close sister
i.e. the music - - and to my great shock I found the following:

Arabic Music is Basically Persian

What I found out was that the so-called Arabic Music was nothing but “the same old
Persian, which like a traditional Arab woman, was hidden behind a “Burqa!”
It must not be very surprising to the well educated people, to know that actually 90% of
what we call the “Arab civilization”/ Arabesque Art, etc. are nothing but “The Persian lady
muse, raped and carried away by the Arab hords, from the 7th century Islamic invasion of Persia,
until this very moment!”
Just to know this truth well, let me quote two very outstanding “non-Persian scholars”,
one Arab, and one Indian, to help us out.
1) Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406 A.D.) the Great Andalusian/ The Spanish-Arab
scholar, the first sociology teacher in history said, and I quote:
“Every great scholar in the Islamic civilization that I studied was
either a Persian, or else the student of a Persian master!” (Ref. Ibn
Khaldun “Al-Muqaddimah”)
2) The second great scholar, who is an Indian and our own contemporary, Dr.
Muhammad Iqbal, (1875-1938 A.D.) the national poet of Pakistan, once
wrote:
“Islam was very lucky to have conquered Persia, and made it a part
of its own civilization!” (Ref. Muhammad Iqbal “The
Development of Metaphysics in Persia”/ London, 1928 A.D.)

It would be unfair to the great Dr. Iqbal’s soul, if I don’t add also here that “This great
Indian Poet-Philosopher composed most of his own poems in Persian / Not his mother tongue of
“Urdu” / and he also used to say: “My soul is Persian, too!” (Ref. “The Persian Letters”/ Tehran/
Iran/ 2003/ p. 82)

Now, Back to the “Arabic” Music

After knowing the background, now for a better view of the whole picture, let’s go back
once again to the main topic of this article, which is the “Persian foundations of the Arabic
Music”.
The first thing that got my attention, was the closeness of those melodies in Persian and
Arabic music and chants. But, I dismissed that as normal, considering the fact that, as they say
“Music is a universal language” so, it could just be an accident, that the Persian and Arabic
Music are so very similar. Even in a neighborhood, a ball from one house can accidentally fall
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into another house! As in the Persian Rose gardens or “Paradise” / Firdaus in Arabic
Pronunciation / the flowers petals can “fly” into another orchard!
But then I came across many famous Arab singers and musicians with “Old Persian
Names / Monikers” like “Fairuza” / Shahin / Sirin or Shirin / Al-Oryan / Qand Al-Farsi / May-
Hanah/ Khurshid / Naqsh-Bandi, etc. etc.
Even before that, there were those Persian Musicians in the Arabian Nights / i.e. Persian
Stories / of the Arab Caliphs, like “Ali Zaryab” of Andalusia, and his Music Academy in
Moorish Spain, 8th century A.D. Even Zaryab’s teachers “Abu Is-haq Musili” (of Shiraz) and his
musician father “Ibrahim Musili” (=Mussolini, too?) and a lot of the family members of the
Persian tradition of music Arts, especially in Iran’s neighboring land of Iraq (not to mention the
entire Indian sub-continent, or even Turkey and the Balkans upto the Turkistan and Turfan of
China /i.e. the Uighur Muslims).
But, even much older than those, were the Persian Master “Masons” who built the
Arabian cities and towns of the “Arabia Felix” / today’s Yemen / and even the Arabia “Non-
Felix”, in today’s Saudi Arabia. These “Masons” were not only building those Arab cities (From
the beduin tents, for a change!) but they were also teaching the desert Arabs, the Art of pine
music, as well: Because those Persian “Masons” were also great “singers” / Musicians, who used
to sing, during their work in the construction sites!
Some of the names of those early Persian Musicians in Arabia are “Ibn Suraij”/ Dalal/
Tuwais “Sirin” (=Shirin)/ Ibn Ayisha / Barda / Bash-shar, etc. but the most well known in the
history of Islam was a guy known as “The Persian Sugar” / Qand Al-Farsi / the “favorite” of
Ayisha, the youngest widow of the Prophet Muhammad A.S. (I don’t know if he was only a
“sugar” or a “sugar baby”, too!)
Then comes the most famous “Arab” poet-musician “Abu Nawas” / Nawaz = singer in
Persian, and his close associates, who were Persian / or half Persians from “Ahvaz” / Kufah /
Basrah, and the ancient Sasanid Capital of the Persian Empire, called “Baghdad” / Bagh-data, i.e.
“God’s own City!”
Also worth mentioning here are:
Al-Maraghi / Al-Azzawi/ Al-Shahrabani/ Yusof Patau / Zuhur Husayn, (1930’s) etc. in Iraq.

All Arab Musical Maqams Are Persian

Then I came across the basic “Arabic Maqams” which are 7 or 8 or 12 or upto 70, that
not only the “Melodies” are Persian, but even their very names are Persian, until this moment
that we speak!
In short, there is no such thing as “Arabic Maqams”, but only the Persian Music,
bastardized once in a while, from Iraq and the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, upto
Morroco and Tunisia in North Africa, and from there to Moorish Spain (711-1509 A.D.),
resulting in what we know now as, “The Latin Music” that spread from Spain and Portugal into
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South America--, “brought to you by the Spanish and Portugese Colonizers in the 15 century
A.D.

The Arabic Word “Ghina” / Song / Itself is Persian

“The truth is that during the first century A.H. (After Hijra/ calendar/ 700 A.D.) the
Persian civilization influenced the Arabic as the musical instruments and “Maqams” were all
Persian. Ibn Suraij (= A Persian Musician) used to sing in Mecca city, during the Caliphate of
Othman (the 3rd Caliph 644-656 A.D.) His “Lute” (i.e. Oud/ Sarood) was of the Persian Models.
He was the first person (in the history of Arabia) who started singing in Arabic and playing lute
in Mecca! Later on, even Ibn Muraj-ja, (An Arab musician) used to copy those songs that the
Persian masons used to sing, while building the “Ka-bah” during the rule of “Abdullah Bin
Zubair”. Most of the musical instruments were Persian – e.g. 1) Bandir, 2) Musafiq, 3) Shah-
rood, 4) Tanbur, 5) Booq, 6) Kubah (just like “Baad Kubah”/ Baku the capital of Azirbaijan,
today!) 7) Bar-bat (=Bar-bud) 8) Shahin, 9) Oud, 10) Sarood etc.
“Even Harun Al-Rashid (the greatest Muslim Caliph /Abbasid 764-809 A.D.) adopted the
musical standards of the early Persian emperors like Ardashir Babakan, Anush Ravan and
others”. (Ref. “The Persian Letters”/ Spring 2003/ p. 83)
It’s not very well known to many people (both Arabs and the Persians, too) that the word
“Ghina” in Arabic, meaning song (and its many other conjugations “Mughan-ni”/ Mughan-nia/
Oghniyah, etc) is itself of the Persian origin. The Arabic word “Ghina” is a mispronunciation of
the Persian word “Khuniya” which means “song” (Ref. “The Persian Names”/ India / 1994/ P.
232)
This needs a lot of explanations and the understanding of its historical background, which
we leave for another research work, but suffice it to say here that: “If it walks like a duck and
talks like a duck, it must be a duck!” Here is a brief quotation from an Arab researcher, Mr.
Mohammad Mustafa Hawadah, in the Iranian magazine “Naameh Parsi”/Tehran/Spring 2003/
P.82 and we quote: “The first Musicians of Madinah/ Arabia / were the Persians, in the 7th
Century A.D.”
Here Are Those “Maqams”
To make it very short, I would like just to bring here the list of the names, and some
meanings of those Persian maqams, which are mistakenly called “Arabic”. For the full details,
you may need to search “Moorish Music” or so-called Arab Maqams or even the Persian Music.
The first classification of the “Arab” Maqams are what the Arab Music teachers
call by the acronym “S-N-A-B-S-H-R-K” or “Suni-a Be-Sihrik” (Litterally means Made
by your Magic):
1) S- Refers to the Persian Melody of “Saba” (i.e. Shamal wind in Persian
literature)
a) Saba Zam-zam
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2) N- Refers to Nahawand / Nahavand, the ancient Persian City of “Nahavand”

or “Noah-Avand” the “Ark of Noah” where Noah’s ship docked near its
mount “Judi” (Not the Turkish Ararat!)
a) Nawa (sub-group of Nahawand)
b) Farah Afza
c) Maqam Al-Oshaaq
d) Maqam Sunbulah
3) A- Refers to Ajam, literally means “Non-Arab”, and especially the “Persians”.
4) B- Refers to Bayati, a well known Persian musical art, related to the ancient
Turkish-Iranian tribes from Central Asia, called “Bayati Tribes” The Bayati
Maqam has three branches:
a) Bayati Shuri b) Bahir-zawi c) Laamy
5) S-Refers to Sika, an Arabic pronunciation, or actually “Bastardization” of the
Persian musical technique of “Se-gah” or 3rd level. This melody has several
other related melodies, like:
a) Doka (from Persian “Doh-gah” or 2nd level) of which branch out
“Danah”/ Danat. (pl.)
b) Sika (Mentioned already)
c) Jahar-ka, another Arabic bastardization of the Persian melody called
“Chahar-gaah” or the 4th level
d) Banj-ka, another Arabization of the Persian “Panj-gaah” or the 5th
level (Note: This Persian word of “Panj” meaning Five is also related
to the English drink “Punch”, as well as to the Indian-Pakistani
province of “Punjab” or “the five rivers” and as far as the Indonesian
“principles of Panjasila” or five principles by the first Indonesian
President in 1945, Dr. Ahmad Sukarno, with his signature hat called
“Sukarno Cap”, which is from the ancient Persian “Tajik”/ of
Tajikistan! Or “Taj” meaning “crown of the Aryans of Central Asia/
Ancient Persia. You can add to it the well-known “Jinnah Cup” in
Pakistan and the “Kharzai Cup” in Afghanistan upto Tartars of Russia,
and Turkistan of China! (i.e. Taji or Ta-shi as well as “Tazi” in Shah-
Namah of Firdausi referring to the “Persian Aristocrats in Arabia Felix
some 3,000 years ago!/ see “Ali Akbar Deh-Khoda”/ Ensyclopedia
Iranica/ Under “Tazi”)
e) Haft-kah or Haft-gah, the Persian word for the 7th level, etc.
6) H- Refers to Hijaz the present day Saudi Arabia, but this is not from Arabia,
rather it’s another Persian Melody, which was often used in the “Andalusian
Moorish Spain”, popularized by the Persian Master “Ali Zaryab” and his
company (i.e. Institute of Music, in 8th Century A.D. Spain and Portugal)
a) Hijaz “Diwan” / A Persian word meaning “Palace, Government,
Ministry, Official - - A music for “Dur-bar” or “Palace of the Caliphs”.
b) Hijaz “Kar-Kard” or the “work music” used by the Persian Masons in
Arabia.
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c) Hijaz Ashiq Kurdi

d) Hijaz Raast (Rast)
7) R- Refers to Rast / Raast, meaning “straight” in Persian, which is another of
the most popular melodies in the Arabian music, and especially in recitation
of the Holy Qur’an.
a) Dil-Kusha (Del-Gosha)
8) K- Refers to Kurd / Kord, the name driven from the Persian tribes of
Kurdistan, the descendants of the “Medes” / of Medea – Ancient Persia,
whose capital was Hamadan in today’s Iran.
Under this “Kurdish Melody” come several other “Arab” Maqams, as
follows:
a) Zanjaran / or Zangaran
b) Khonbad / Khunbat, originally “Khonya-Bud” from the Persian
words “Khunya” (now in Arabic “Oghniya”) meaning music,
plus the title “Bud” / Baad, which means “Master” like the
famous Sasanid musician “Baar-bud” or Sindbad and others.
c) Barzanji / or Barzani, from the Kurdish tribe of “Barzani”, also
the famous musical chant, which is very popular in South East
Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, etc.
(something like “Qawwali” in Pakistan, India, Khasmir,
Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, all originating
from ancient Persia, too.
d) Athar Kurd

The Sub-Maqams
There are many sub-maqams under those main eight, that were mentioned above. Here
are some more:
1) Auj (Kurdi) a branch of “Shayda”
2) Abu Ata …. a) Dasht, b) Shur
3) Dasht (Dashti)
4) Homayun
5) Sharqi Isfahan
6) Sharqi Doga (Doh Gah)
7) Sharqi Rast
8) Khush Rank or “Khosh-Rang”(Moorish / Andalucian-Persian)
9) Nawa (Andalus)
10) Mahur
11) Nawa (Nava) Athar
12) Nairuz (Niruz = Nowruz)
13) Nikriz
14) Shah-Naz
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15) Shauq Afza

16) Farah Afza
17) Suzi-dil (Suz Del)
18) Suz-Nak
19) Aushar (Au-Shar = Aab Shar) which in Persian means “water falls”
20) Nawa (=Tahrir) or Introduction = starting
21) Bish-Takh-ta (= Pish Takh-ta)
22) Sanginah
23) Takht (= Orchestra) or seat
24) Bastah/ Basta Nikar (=Bastah Negaar) i.e. “Tahrir”
25) Bayat Shuri
26) Husayni
27) Zanjaran
28) Banjka (=Al-Banja/ Panj-Gaah)
29) Haban (in Oman/ or “Au-man”/ Persian Gulf)
30) Zanjaran (Also “Zankaran”/ Zankalah/ Shauq Afza/ from Persian “Zang” Sanj/ Sang,
meaning harp/ cymbal)
31) Danah (in Banj-kah) Suz-Naak/ Banj-kah/
32) Au-shar (water falls/ Persian)
33) Afshar (see “au-shar”)
34) Shur (=Abu Ata)
35) Khunbaat (Khun Baad)
36) Hijaz/ 1) Kaar Kard, 2) Hijaj Diwan, 3) Achuq Kurdi
37) Gusheh (=Persian)
38) Dast-gaah (Persian)
39) Avaaz (Persian)
40) Khanah (=Persian) pl. Khanaat
41) Hizam (= Sika = Seh-gaah)
42) Nakriz
43) Zam-zam
44) Mansuri
45) Shayda
46) Urfah
47) Bahir-zawi (A branch of Bayat)
48) Danah ( pl. Danat)
49) Rahawi /Raahwi
50) Saba (saba zam-zam)
51) Miyanah (wal Jawab) meaning “Octav”. (Minyanah Ulaa)
52) Del-Neshin
53) Laamy (=Mourning/ wailing/ 1) Samai (pl. “Sama-iyyah”) 2) Shaji, 3)
Mahmadawi, 4) Sha-aary, 5) Kurdaan, 6) Al-Qaban-chi/ Qapanchi
54) Nairuz – 1) Nairuz Ajam, 2) Nairuz Raast
55) Bestan-Kaar (from Saba to Sika/ Seh gaah)
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56) Takht (=Persian) Orchestra

57) Khalwati
58) Bakht-yari (Persian Tribe)
59) Ashiran
60) Yeka/ Duka (=Doh Gaah)/Sika/Jarka/Banjka/Haft-kah 1) Dar Aamad (=Persian) or
“Tahrir” 2) Auj or Meyanah (=the highest point) 3) Forud (Persian) to back down or
“Taslim”
61) Basharaf (from Persian “Pish-ro” =The progressive/opening music).
62) Farah Afza (in Egypt: “Farah Faza”)
63) Sunbulah
64) Dil-Kusha (Del-Gosha)

In conclusion, I would like to quote three interesting statements from an Arab researcher,
that shows the depth of the “Persian Music” in the early Arabic art of music. The Jordanian
researcher, Mr. M.M. Hadarah, writes:
1) “The first Musicians in Madinah (the Holy city in Saudi Arabia) during the 6th and 7th
centuries were the Persian. (Ref. “The Persian Letters/ Summer 2003/ p.82)
2) “The Music orchestras in Mecca (6th – 7th centuries A.D.) were performed by the
Persian Masons, too” (Ibid)
3) The word “Music” in the Islamic Literature was first used by the eminent Persian
Muslim Scholar. “Abul Faraj Al-Isfahani” in his great book on music called “Al-
Aghani” (Ibid) Then came the great Persian scholar Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, with his
master piece “Musiqi Al-Kabir (the Greater Musical Book).
4) The term “Maqam” (pl. Maqamat) was first used in Islamic literature, by the great
Persian Muslim Scholar Shaikh “Al-Maraghi” in 1252 A.D. (Ibid)

References:
1) “Al-Munjid Arabic Dictionary”/ Beirut/ Lebanon/ 1999.
2) “Al-Maurid” Arabic Dic./ Damascus/ Syria/ 2,000.
3) “Ameed Persian Dic.”/ Tehran / Iran / 2002.
4) “Taj Al-Asami Dic. / Tehran/ Iran/ 1992.
5) “The Persian Names”/ Maneka Gahdhi/ India/ 1994.
6) “Persian Letters”/ Iran Quarterly/ 2003.
7) “The Arabic Poetry”/ Cairo/ Egypt/ Darul Ma-arif/ 2014.