A Forgotten Kurdish Sage: Ziryab

Dear readers!

If you notice, I try to dedicate my articles mostly to topics related to Iğdır. There is so much unknown and so much that needs to be told! However, in today's article, I wanted to invite you to a certain period of history and introduce you to a wise person whose name is almost never heard in Turkey. I hope the article interests you.

MY INTRODUCTION TO THE NAME ZIRYAB

It was 1988. I was working as an engineer in France. At the same time, I was enrolled in a certificate program in Art and Philosophy at the Sorbonne University. Since the classes were usually in the evenings or on weekends, they did not interfere with my work schedule. As my girlfriend was Spanish, I had developed an interest in the language and was at a level where I could speak it comfortably. In June of that year, I was invited to a symposium in Madrid titled "Art in Spain." I thought it was a good opportunity both to see Madrid and to improve my Spanish.

It was the second day of the symposium. Journalist Manuel Martorell, who would later write the book Los Kurdos (The Kurds), took the podium. After a general assessment, he used a surprising phrase: "Dear guests! I want to say this much: the foundations of today's art in Spain were laid during the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus. The leader of that movement was a Kurd named Ziryab."

Hearing the word "Kurd" from a foreigner in Madrid, far from Turkey, and especially hearing that Spain's modern art rose thanks to this Kurd and on the principles he established, filled me with pride. When the symposium ended, I asked the Spanish journalist questions about Ziryab. He said that when the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus fell, all source books were moved either to Morocco or Tunisia. He stated that if I wanted to learn more about him, I should go to these countries. So I did. I accumulated quite a lot of sources and documents. While in America, I wrote the book. Due to some difficult times in my personal life, I didn't have the chance to publish it immediately. I released the book in 2013 under the pseudonym Ben Kevan, titled "Andalusian Sun Ziryab." It is currently available on the market.

I would like to draw my reader's attention to an important point. Most sources state that Ziryab's origin is not precisely known. This is incorrect. When you go to the University of Tunis, all historians know by heart that Ziryab was Kurdish. Furthermore, these lines, said about him in his own time due to jealousy, provide clear information about Ziryab's origin: The Arab poet Abu Dulama, who lost an argument with Ziryab, subtly said at the meeting:

Oh Abu Muslim Khorasani,

You wanted to betray Caliph Mansur.

It is true, because your (Ziryab's) Kurdish ancestors are traitors.

As can be understood from this statement, Abu Muslim was also known to be of Kurdish origin in those years. Some sources claim that Ziryab was of Iranian (Persian) origin. This cannot be true because the hatred towards the Abbasids and Iranians was so deep that it was impossible for even a single Shiite to go to the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UMAYYAD CALIPHATE OF AL-ANDALUS

The Umayyad state was established in 661 with Muawiyah's declaration of his caliphate. In 750, a commander named Abu Muslim, who rebelled in Khorasan, played an important role in the collapse of the Umayyad state. The Abbasid state was established. Abu Mansur was declared Caliph, but he trapped and killed Abu Muslim, who had made him Caliph.

My readers should know that the hatred between the Abbasids and the Umayyads was so deep that humanity had never witnessed such strong hatred in any period or phase of history. There were many reasons why the Umayyads were disliked. To quickly list a few:

· Their Arab nationalism and disregard for non-Arabs.

· The Umayyads' mistreatment of descendants of Prophet Muhammad.

· The rivalry between Arab tribes escalating into wars.

· The increase in divisions within Islam.

As soon as the Abbasid state was established, a ruthless massacre against the Umayyad dynasty began. So much so that bones were exhumed from graves and scattered. Only one young man from the Umayyad dynasty named Abd al-Rahman managed to save himself with difficulty. He took refuge in Morocco, where his mother's tribe was. From there, he crossed into Spain with an army he had prepared. He established the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus (756). Thus, two Islamic states coexisted at the same time.

AND THE EXTRAORDINARY TALENT: ZIRYAB

It was during this period that a genius, whose real name was Abu l-Hasan Ali Ibn Nafi but who was known by the nickname Ziryab, left his mark on the era.

Ziryab was the only child of a Kurdish family from Mosul. He was first known as an artist, a great musician, and a composer student in places under Abbasid rule, such as Baghdad, Iraq. His jealous rivals in the palace multiplied. His Sunni denomination created a disadvantage for him. Realizing he would be killed, he took refuge in the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus. Ziryab (789-857) was a multifaceted personality. He was a poet, musician, singer, astronomer, philosopher, physician, botanist, and geographer.

In the ninth century, the Christian West and the Muslim East drew closer to each other through his music and aesthetic understanding, forming friendships. The philosophy, astronomy, medicine, and many other fields that Islam inherited from Indian and Greek cultures and matured, passed through the Bridge of Love and Culture that Ziryab established in Al-Andalus, met with Europe's medieval darkness, enlightened hearts and minds, and initiated the Early Renaissance movement.

Here, there is a need to open another parenthesis. There are two Renaissance periods in Europe. The first is the Early Renaissance movement of the tenth century, which emerged particularly under the influence of Ziryab and the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus. During that period, Charlemagne reigned in Europe. The Early Renaissance first took root in Italy, and the Second Renaissance movement, which would emerge in later centuries, would fundamentally shake Europe.

In no period of history were Islamic, Christian, and Jewish philosophers and astronomers as close and intertwined as they were in the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus. With the synergy born from this togetherness, the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus perhaps experienced one of humanity's most peaceful and happy periods. Ziryab's influence in this was immense.

Ziryab's impact on universal art, culture, and science is far beyond estimation. He founded the world's first music conservatory and medical school. He was the first to introduce chess and glass cups to Europe. He designed the first flying human. He invented the use of tablecloths, leather furniture, hairstyles, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, the rule of three meals a day, and many more. Gastronomy culture reached its most proficient stage with him. He was the father of today's guitar and Flamenco. Samba, Milonga, and Tango, considered the foundation of Latin music, were ultimately a continuation of his music. The Arabian Nights stories first settled in hearts and minds through his narration. He had over ten thousand song lyrics and melodies memorized.

The twentieth-century French writer Henry Terress wrote about him: "A human society could only be influenced and changed so deeply." The Arab historian Al-Maghri said: "No one before or after Ziryab was or will be the subject of such love and admiration in their lifetime." The famous Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, whose ancestors were Andalusian, went even further: "Ziryab's influence and power swept across all of Spain and North Africa like the giant waves of the ocean, leaving behind an immortal legacy." The English writer R. Nicholson confessed: "Ziryab was the only model that continued its existence without hesitation for centuries, and so it will remain. No one in history has been able to penetrate the human mind and the depths of the soul as powerfully as he did at the same time."

So, who was this ZIRYAB?