Qiyan

Qiyān (Arabic: قِيان, Arabic: [qi'jæːn]; singular qayna, Arabic: قَينة, Arabic: ['qɑjnæh]) were a social class of women which existed in the pre-modern Islamic world. They were trained as entertainers. The term was used for both slaves, and free women who had this role. Some of these women came from the nobility. The qiyān flourished under the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate, and in Al-Andalus.

Very often the word is translated as 'singing girls' or 'singing slave girls'. There were also older Quiyan. They were skilled entertainers, and their skills were more than singing; it included for example dancing, composing music and verse, reciting historical or literary anecdotes (akhbar), calligraphy, or shadow-puppetry. Other translations include courtesan, musical concubines, or simply women musicians.

Some sources see quiyan as a subset of jawāri, female slaves, or even more specific, slave girls. Sometimes, qiyan are called slave-girl poets. Many qiyān were free women. One of them was even an Abbasid princess.

The word comes from the female form of blacksmith, craftsman. The term was used for manual labourers, anyone paid to do work. Later, it referred to people doing an artistic performance for a reward. From here, its feminine form came to have the meaning of a female performer of various arts, in a specific role.

Like other slaves in the Islamic world, qiyān were legally sexually available to their owners. They were often associated in literature with licentiousness, and sexuality was an important part of their appeal, but they do not seem to have been prostitutes.

There were also common qiyān who performed for the public in common qiyān-houses, and these houses were in some cases brothels.

It is not clear how early the institution of the qiyān emerged, but qiyān certainly flourished during the ‘Abbasid period.

Often, slave girls that were not that beautifuil were made Qiyan; often they also had a darker skin. It is not certain that these claims were accurate. One social phenomenon that can be seen as a successor to the qiyān is the Egyptian almah, courtesans or female entertainers in Medieval Egypt, educated to sing and recite classical poetry and to discourse wittily.

There are many stories about qiyan, especially of female slaves. For this reason, they are important in the history of slavery in the Islamic world. Many female poets of the Arab world in the Middle ages were qiyan. For a few qiyān, it is possible to give quite a full biography. Important medieval sources of qiyān include a treatise by al-Jahiz (776–868/869 CE), Abu Tayyib al-Washsha's Kitāb al-Muwashshà (كتاب الموشى} The Brocaded Book), and anecdotes included in sources such as the Kitab al-Aghani Book of Songs) and al-Imāʼ al-Shawāʼir (The Slave Poetesses) by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (897–967 CE), Nisāʼ al-Khulafā (The Consorts of the Caliphs) by ibn al-Sāʿī, and al-Mustazraf min Akhbar al-Jawari (Choice Anecdotes from the Accounts of Concubines) by al-Suyuti (c. 1445–1505 CE). Many of these sources recount the repartee of prominent qiyān, though there are hints that qiyān in less wealthy households were used by their owners to attract gifts. In the 'Abbasid period, qiyān were often educated in the cities of Basra, Ta'if, and Medina.

It has been suggested that "the geisha of Japan are perhaps the most comparable form of socially institutionalized female companionship and entertainment for [men]", but there are also many differences.

Decline

The institution of qiyān declined with the Abbasid Caliphate. When it first broke apart, this did not have a direct impact. The qiyān did not take sides in political disputes. However, political instability led to tax mismanagement. Also, the new class of Turkish soldiers wanted to be paid more. This meant there was less money in the treasury. It also meant that artistic activity could not be funded.

Citizens who used the services of qiyān, were thought to be rich. Soldiers also asked citizens for money, who they thought would be rich. This made ostentatious behavior risky.

Al-Andalus

It seems that for the first century or so in al-Andalus, qiyān were brought west after being trained in Medina or Baghdad. They might also have been trained by artists from the east. In the 11th century the Caliphate of Córdoba collapsed. At that time, qiyān were often trained in Córdoba rather than imported after training. It seems that while female singers still existed, enslaved ones were no longer found in al-Andalus in the 14th century CE.

Famous qiyān

• Atika bint Shuhda (عاتكة بنت شُهدة)
• 'Inān (عِنان, d. 841)
• Djamila (جميلة‎, d. 720)
• Tawaddud (a fictional but famous character, c. 800)
• Dananir al Barmakiyya (دنانير البرمكية‎, d. 810s)
• Ulayya bint al-Mahdi, daughter of the caliph Al-Mahdi (d. 825)
• Arib al-Ma'muniyya (عَرِيب المأمونية, CE 797–890)
• Shāriyah (شارِية, c. 815–70 CE)
• Farida (born c. 830)
• Faḍl al-Shā'irah (فضل الشاعرة, d. 871 CE)

References

Sources

• Caswell, F. Matthew (2011). The Slave Girls of Baghdad: The Qiyān in the Early Abbasid Era. I.B.Tauris. pp. ix–x, 1–2. ISBN 978-1-84885-577-9.
• Reynolds, Dwight F. (2017). "The Qiyan of al-Andalus'". In Gordon, Matthew S.; Hain, Kathryn A. (eds.). Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190622183.003.0006.

Further reading

• Hekmat Dirbas, "Naming of Slave-girls in Arabic: A Survey of Medieval and Modern Sources", Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik, 69 (2019), 26–38, doi:10.13173/zeitarabling.69.0026, JSTOR 10.13173