Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Mawṣilī

Background

Ibrahim al-Mawsili was born in 742 in Kufa, Iraq, of Persian parents.

Education

In his early years his parents died and Ibrahim al-Mawsili was trained by an uncle.

Career

Singing, not study, attracted Ibrahim al-Mawsili, and at the age of twenty-three he fled to Mosul, where he joined a band of wild youths. After a year he went to Rayy, where he met an ambassador of the caliph al-Mansur, who enabled him to come to Basra and take singing lessons. His fame as a singer spread, and the caliph al-Mahdi brought him to the court. There he remained a favorite under al-Hadi, while Harun al-Rashid kept him always with him until his death, when he ordered his son al-Ma'mun to say the prayer over his corpse. Ibrahim, as might be expected, was no strict Muslim. Two or three times he was knouted and imprisoned for excess in wine-drinking, but was always taken into favor again. His powers of song were far beyond anything else known at the time. Two of his pupils, his son Ishaq al-Mawsili and the freedman slave Mukhariq, attained celebrity after him.

Achievements

• Ibrahim al-Mawsili was a famous singer.

Connections

Son:

Ishaq al-Mawsili