Mīr Abulqāsim Mīr Findiriskī (1562-1640), Iranian Philosopher of the Safavid era, has presented some discussions on theoretical music in his most famous work entitled Risālah Ṣanāiyyah, which has made him unique among the philosophers of this period. However, unlike the
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Mīr Abulqāsim Mīr Findiriskī (1562-1640), Iranian Philosopher of the Safavid era, has presented some discussions on theoretical music in his most famous work entitled Risālah Ṣanāiyyah, which has made him unique among the philosophers of this period. However, unlike the philosophers of early Islamic period, Mīr Findiriskī uses the example of theoretical music in order to explain different types of profession rather than teach music based on written texts. The present paper aims to investigate Mīr Findiriskī’s philosophical views in relation to music as a profession following the qualitative method of content analysis and using historical and library resources. Here, while providing a brief historical review of Mīr Findiriskī’s life, works, and thoughts, the authors have explained the theoretical foundations of the treatise and the technical terms used there in order to clarify the writer’s intention of resorting to the example of theoretical music. The most important implication of music-related discussions in this work is that, during this period, scholars made a clearly explicit distinction between the knowledge and practice of music. In fact, it was possible for prominent religious scholars to have complete mastery over theoretical music but avoid listening to music, teaching it, or practically dealing with it and warn their seminary students against any practical involvement with music. This fact can be considered as one of the clear signs of the separation of the knowledge and practice of music during the Safavid era.
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