An Introduction to a Poem from the Musical Treatise Attributed to Abu al-Wafa Kharazmi and Discussing its Validity and Origin

The present study investigates a brief poem attributed to Abu al-Wafa Kharazmi and verifies the attribution. The verse has been composed to explain the suitability of the hours of an entire day with the twelve modes (maqāms) of ancient Persian music, and its content has a history in older writings that can be traced back to its origins. The purpose of the study is to introduce, describe, analyze, and critically correct this literary piece using recorded materials and sources as well as library documents and manuscripts. In the course of the discussion, the content of the poem has been comparatively studied with two other musical treatises, an earlier work (Kanz al-Tuhaf by Hassan Kashani), and a later one (Treatise on the Science of Music written by Mir Sadr al-Din Mohammad Qazvini). The findings show that the aforementioned trans-musical topic is one of the favourite subjects among the authors of the transition period of Persian music (late fourteenth century AH to the end of the Safavid era), which can be detected with the slightest modification in several treatises of this period. The actual source of this topic is the Kunz al-Tuhaf treatise, but it is allegedly based on the ideas of Avicenna; however, this attribution is quite far from the historical truth. Based on the evidence, the authors have concluded that the work in question in this study is by a lesser-known poet and Sufi named Khajeh Abu al-Wafa Kharazmi (760-835 AH) who, according to historical accounts, was familiar with the science of music (Advār) and had a treatise on music, which is not available today. Most likely, the poem was extracted from his lost musical treatise. So far, the validity of the attribution of this work to Khajeh Abu al-Wafa has not been scrutinized and no research has been done regarding its content.