Discussion on Music in the Philosophical Treatise Entitled Resale-ye Sena’iye by Mir Fendereski

In his most notable work entitled Resale-ye Sena’iye, Abulqasim Mir Fendereski (c. 1562–1640), the Hakim and philosopher of the Safavid era, examines theoretical music. In this regard, he stands exceptional among the philosophers of the period. But unlike the philosophers of the early Islamic epoch, Mir Fendereski's purpose was not to teach music technically through the written text but to employ the example of theoretical music to clarify different kinds of crafts. Using the qualitative method of text analysis and historical resources, the present paper, written with the aim of investigating Mir Fendereski's philosophical views on music under a category within the crafts, briefly reviews the time, works and ideas of Mir, and explains the theoretical basis and terms of the treatise to analyze the author’s purpose by exemplary usage of theoretical music, so that one can comprehend his true intention. The most important conclusion of musical fragments is that in this period, scholars made a clear and decisive distinction between the science and practice of music. It was likely that a prominent religious figure, despite having full knowledge of theoretical music, an ear for music, and even instructing it, might have avoided practising music and even banned his pupils from it. This fact can be thought of as an obvious indication of the separation between musical science and practice in this era.