Yunus al-Katib al-Mughanni () was a well-known musician and writer on music in the first half of the 2nd/8th century. He was the son of a jurist ('' faqih'') of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

origin and a ''

mawla Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet ...

'' (non-Arab, Muslim freedman or client) of the family of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam. Beside music, he was also a famous poet.

‌Biography

He was born and grown up in

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

. Since he was a scribe in local

divan A divan or diwan ( fa, دیوان, ''dīvān''; from Sumerian ''dub'', clay tablet) was a high government ministry in various Islamic states, or its chief official (see ''dewan''). Etymology The word, recorded in English since 1586, meanin ...

, he became known as "al-katib". But soon he became interested in music and took lessons from Ma'bad, Ibn Suraydi, Ibn Muhriz, al-Gharid and Muhammad ibn Abbad al-katib. During a trip to Syria at the time of Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (), his fame on music brought him the patronage of Caliph al-Walid II. This event is mentioned in the book of One Thousand and One Nights in 684th and 685th nights. He was still alive in the early years of

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

(post 750) and his best pupil was Siyat who in turn was a teacher of Ibrahim al-Mawsili.

Works

* Kitab al-Nagham (partly survived) * Kitab al-Kian * Kitab al-Mudjarrad Yunus * Kitab fi 'l-Aghani (also called Diwan Yunus, according to

Ibn Khordadbeh Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh ( ar, ابوالقاسم عبیدالله ابن خرداذبه; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking Persian bureaucrat and ...

, this book contained 825 song texts by 35 singers)

References

{{authority control 8th-century Iranian people People from Medina Poets from the Umayyad Caliphate Persian-language poets