Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
The instruments which are delicate and complex in their sounds and shapes usually have the power of evoking in men and women sexual passions and they are looked upon by Islam with strong disapproval. It is of these that the Holy Prophet said ”Allah has commanded me to destroy the lute and guitar”. However, the music continued to progress during the rule of the pleasure-loving Umayyads and reached its highest excellence during the golden days of Caliph Harun and Mamun. During iSiese periods music was developed as an an free fro:;’! an> restriction. The Umayyad rulers : Yazid !, Abdul Malik, Walid I, Ya/id II, Hisham and Vvalid II were fond of music and other eninvincnts of life. Their subjects copied them in this respect and the demand for singers and playeis of musical instruments, particularly for young and beautiful women became great. Theac singers some times enjoyed great influence over their masters. History bears eloquent testimony to this fact that the music was highly patronised by the Umayyad Caliphs. Large sums of money were spent on singers and musicians, who were summoned to the court from the most distant parts. By the time of Yazid I the taste for music had grown on a large scale, and the holy cities of Makkah and Medina had become centres of music and song where flocked
’ H.G. farmer. History ofAiabian Muvc P 158

492 Political and Cultural History of Islam

the Persian and Byzantine singing girls in increasing numbers and from where musicians were recruited for the court of Damascus. It would not be out of place to mention here that Caliph Yazid II was so passionately attracted to Salma and Hubbaba, two singing beauties, that he could not leave them and attend to the affairs of his vast empire. And when of them died, the Caliph could not survive her death and died in his grief.
There were many reputed musicians and singers who flourished under the Umayyads The earliest Muslim professional musician was Tuwais (632-710 A.D.) He was the inhabitant of Medina and was considered the father of song in Islam. It is said that he was the first to introduce rhythm into Arabic music. He is supposed to have been first to sing in Arabic language to the accompaniment of an instrument called the tambourine. Tuwais had a number of students, chief of whom was ibn Suraij (634-726 A.D.). Ibn Suraij who belonged to Makkah, was ’’regarded as one of the four great singers of Islam” (Aghani). Sa’id ibn Misjah (d. 714 A.D.) of Makkah is generally regarded as the first person to adapt Persian music to Arabic. He was perhaps the greatest musician of the Umayyad period and was responsible for a new theory of Arabian music. He is said to- have travelled in Syria and Persia and to have been the first to put the Byzantine and Persian song into Arabic. He was the court musician of Abdul Malik.
Muslim bin Muhriz was a prominent musician of Persian origin. He received his first lessons in the art of music from Sa’id ibn Misjah. He used to live at Medina and Makkah alternately. He travelled in Persia and Syria and learnt the tunes of Persian and Byzantine music. After this he combined the best of all the diverse elements and out of this amalgam he derived the airs which he put into Arabic verses. He was called the Sannaju’1-Arab (the cymbalist of the Arabs). He was the first to sing Arabic verses in paris, an example which was imitated by later musicians. He was of opinion that single lines of verse could not produce a complete melody. Ma’bad, a Medinite, held a special favour of the courts of Walid, Yazid II and WaJid II. Among the songstresses, the name of Jamilah draws our attention first. In short, during the Umayyad period, Makkah and Medina became the centre of song and the best singers used to flock at the Damascus court. ARCHITECTURE
History of Islamic Arts and a crafts is rich with the cultural activities like painting, wood carving, ivory work, metal work and
Cultural Activities under the Unia\j\jads
493
many other types of minor arts in Islam. Architecture in Islam is very attractive factor of the Islamic culture. Arabia, at the rise of Islam, does not appear to have possessed any thing worthy of the name of architecture. Only a small proportion of the population was settled and lived in dwelling which ueie scarcely more than hovels. These who lived in mud-brick houses were called ahl-al-Madar and Bedouin from their tents of camels here cloth, ahl- al-wabar.
World of Islam possesses a unique architectural heritage in the shape of standing monuments and archaeological mounds. They represent cities and towns, mosques and mausolea, and pavilions, Maktabs and serais, suqs and market places, and forts and fortifications, built during the past fourteen hundred years at various places of different geographical, geological, social and political set up, but under a common inspiration of Islam and Islamic traditions. The beginnings of this unique experimentation took its place where Islam itself began. The re-building of the Ka’ba in the shape of a hollow cube in stone at Makkah and the construction of the first mosque of Islam at Medina, where ihe two events of far-reaching effect in the history of Islamic Architecture.
Various school of architecture of Muslim world have varied in structures and patterns with the difference of geography and other physical differences. These schools as follows:
1. Umayyads of Damascus.
2. Abbasids of Baghdad.
3. Fatimids of Egypt.
4. Umayyads of Spain.
5. Tulunids of Egypt.
6. Ottomans of Turkey.
7. Saljukes of Persia.
8. Safavids of Persia.
9. Aghalabids of Sicily.
10. Timurids of Central Asia.
It was first introduced in 706 A.D. by Caliph al-Walid when he rebuilt the mosque which had been Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) House at Medina. His Coptic workmen followed an Egyptian Christian model which drew some criticism from the more conservative Muslims. At Basra, Ziyad also ordered a door made giving direct access from the Dar-al-Imara to the maqsura. Clearly the appurtenances and symbols of power had already begun to

494
Political and Cultural History of Islam

accumulate around the early leaders of [slam of the great mosque and Dar-al-lmara at Kufa.