A Content Analysis of the Treatise on Music by Amir Khan Kokabi Gorji: A Comparative Analysis of Bahjat al-Rūh by Abd al-Mu’min ibn Safi al-Din and the Treatise on Music by Abd al-Rahman ibn Sayf Ghaznavi

Soltandoost, Sahand; Davoodvandi, Amir Hossein; Bayat, Masoud

doi:10.22034/chs.2025.519477.1096

A Content Analysis of the Treatise on Music by Amir Khan Kokabi Gorji: A Comparative Analysis of Bahjat al-Rūh by Abd al-Mu’min ibn Safi al-Din and the Treatise on Music by Abd al-Rahman ibn Sayf Ghaznavi

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Sahand Soltandoost ¹

Amir Hossein Davoodvandi ²

Masoud Bayat ³

¹ Assistant professor, Art Research Department, Art and Architecture Faculty, University of Science and Culture, Tehran, Iran

² PhD Candidate in Iranian Islamic History, Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

³ Associate Professor, Department of Islamic History and Civilization, Faculty of Humanities, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22034/chs.2025.519477.1096

Abstract

The musical treatise of Amir Khan Kokabi Gorji, a court musician and instrumentalist during the reign of Shah Sultan Hoseyn Safavi, represents one of the last major works on music composed in the Safavid era and reflects the earliest stages of Iran’s transition from the modal (Maqām) system to the emerging Dastgāh framework. The treatise consists of an extensive preface and two main sections: the first, comprising fifteen chapters, addresses theoretical aspects of music, while the second is devoted primarily to rhythmic cycles (buḥūr al-uṣūl), metric patterns, and compositions authored by Amir Khan and his contemporaries. This study aims to analyze the content of the treatise and to assess its place within the continuity of Iranian musical treatise-writing tradition by undertaking a comparative examination with two preceding seminal texts—Bahjat al-Rūh by ‘Abd al-Mu’min ibn Safi al-Din and the treatise of ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Sayf Ghaznavi. Employing a descriptive–analytical method, codicological and textual data from the manuscripts were collected and systematically analyzed through comparison of chapters and theoretical structures. The findings indicate that Amir Khan, drawing on the theoretical foundations of ‘Abd al-Qadir Maraghi and influenced by the aforementioned treatises, articulated a more coherent yet simplified version of Safavid theoretical music. His emphasis on concepts such as ‘bāng’, ‘shudūd’ (modal transpositions), ‘buḥūr al-uṣūl,’ and especially ‘gūsheh’ demonstrates both his awareness of contemporary musical transformations and his intellectual connection to the later Dastgāh tradition. In comparison with the works of Safi al-Din and Ghaznavi, Amir Khan’s rational organization of chapters and reduction of extra-musical elements reveal a stronger inclination toward empirical analysis of music. Consequently, Amir Khan Kokabi Gorji’s treatise may be regarded as a crucial link between the Safavid-era modal tradition and the post-Safavid Dastgāh system—an important document that, while reflecting the decline of the Safavid court, simultaneously attests to the enduring intellectual and aesthetic vitality of Iranian music in the twelfth century AH (18^th century CE).

Keywords

Musical Treatise

Amir Khan Kokabi Gorji

Safavid-era Music

Ancient Iranian Music

Bahjat al-Rūh

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