Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa

17. Account of musical practices in Shīrāz sanctuaries

Shiraz (Shīrāz)
Title
Account of musical practices in Shīrāz sanctuaries
Short description
Account of some of the sanctuaries at Shīrāz, including qurʾānic cantillation, drums, straight and coiled trumpets sounded.
Text on source
فمنها مشهد أحمد بن موسى أخي علي الرضا بن موسى بن جعفر بن محمد بن علي بن الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب رضي لله تعالى عنهم، وهو مشهد معظم عند أهل شيراز يتبركون به ويتوسلون إلى لله تعالى بفضله، وبَنَتْ عليه طاش خاتون أم السلطان أبي إسحاق مدرسة كبيرة وزاوية فيها الطعام للوارد والصادر، والقراء يقرءون القرآن على التربة دائمًا، ومن عادة الخاتون أنها تأتي إلى هذا المشهد في كل ليلة اثنين، ويجتمع في تلك الليلة القضاة والفقهاء والشرفاء، وشيراز من أكثر بلاد للهشرفاء، سمِعْتُ من الثقات أن الذين لهم بها المرتبات من الشرفاء ألف وأربعمائة ونيف بين صغير وكبير، ونقيبهم عضد الدين الحسيني، فإذا حَضَرَ القوم بالمشهد المبارك المذكور ختموا القرآن قراءة في المصاحف، وقرأ القراء بالأصوات الحسنة وأتُِيَ بالطعام والفواكه والحلواء، فإذا أكل القوم وَعَظَ الواعظ، ويكون ذلك كله من بعد صلاة الظهر إلى العشي، والخاتون في غرفة مطلة على المسجد لها شباك، ثم تُضْرَب الطبول والأنفار والبوقات على باب التربة كما يُفْعَل عند أبواب الملوك [ص. ١٥٠-١٥١]
English translation
One of these is the mausoleum of Ahmad b. Musa, the brother of al-Riḍā ʿAlī b. Mūsā b. Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (God be pleased with them); it is a sanctuary highly venerated by the people of Shīrāz, who visit it in order to obtain blessing by him and make their petitions to God by his virtue. Ṭāsh Khātūn, the mother of the sultān Abū Iḥāq, built over it a large college and hospice, in which food is supplied to all comers, and Qurʾān-readers continually recite the Qurʾān over the tomb. The Khātūn makes a practice of coming to this sanctuary on the eve of every Monday, and on that night the qāḍīs, the doctors of the law, and sharīfs assemble [there]. Shīrāz is of all cities in the world the one which most abounds in sharīfs; I heard from trustworthy persons that the number of sharīfs in it who are in receipt of stipends is more than fourteen hundred, counting both children and adults. Their Naqīb is ʿAḍud al-Dīn al-Ḥusaynī. When these persons are assembled in this blessed sanctuary, they 'seal' the Qurʾān by reading from copies, and the readers recite [it] with beautiful modulations. Food, fruit and sweetmeats are brought in, and when those present have eaten, the homiletic preacher delivers a sermon. All this takes place from after the midday prayer until the night prayer, while the Khātūn occupies an upper chamber with a grilled window which overlooks [the nave of] the mosque. To end with, kettledrums [ṭubul], straight trumpets [anfār] and coiled trumpets [būqāt] are sounded at the gate of the tomb, exactly as is done at the gates of kings.
Folios/Pages
313-314
Date
1330 circa
Observations on the events description
Here the author uses what seems to be a sort of formula recurring in the whole travelogue consisting of a list of drums, straight and coiled trumpets. About qur'anic recitation, see Tadjwīd, EI-2.
The dots on the map indicate the places where sound and music events were described. They don't represent travel stages.

Participants
No other participants in this event description.


How to quote
Pintimalli A., "Account of musical practices in Shīrāz sanctuaries" (Event description), Echos. Sound Ecosystems in Travelogues. Published 2024 07 09.

doi: 10.25430/echos.travels.130

This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0