Editing Muwashshah (section)

== History ==
While the ''[[qasida]]'' and the ''[[maqama]]'' were adapted from the [[Mashriq]], [[strophe|strophic poetry]] is the only form of [[literature of al-Andalus|Andalusi literature]] known to have its origins in the [[Iberian Peninsula]].<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Rosen|first=Tova|title=The muwashshah|date=2000-08-31|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/chol9780521471596.010|work=The Literature of Al-Andalus|pages=163–189|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/chol9780521471596.010|isbn=978-0-521-47159-6|access-date=2021-06-16|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Andalusi strophic poetry exists in two forms: the ''muwaššaḥ'': a more complex version in Standard Arabic with the exception of the concluding couplet, or the ''[[kharja]]'', and ''[[zajal]]'': a simpler form entirely in vernacular Arabic.<ref name=":1" /> The earliest known ''muwaššaḥs'' date back to the eleventh century.<ref name=":1" />

It was exported to the east, and celebrated there by figures such as [[Ibn Sanāʾ al-Mulk]] and [[ibn Dihya al-Kalby]].<ref name=":1" /> The corpus of ''muwaššaḥs'' is formed by pieces in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Andalusi Arabic]].<ref name=":1" /> [[Tova Rosen]] describes the ''muwaššaḥ'' as "a product and a microcosm of the cultural conditions particular to [[al-Andalus]].<ref name=":1" /> The linguistic interplay between the standard written languages—Arabic and Hebrew—and the oral forms—Andalusi Arabic, [[Andalusi Romance]], Hebrew, and other [[Romance languages]]—reflect the fluidity and diversity of the linguistic landscape of al-Andalus.<ref name=":1" />

The earliest known source on the ''muwashshah'' is [[Ibn Bassam]]’s '{{Interlanguage link|Dhakhīra fī mahāsin ahl al-Jazīra|ar|الذخيرة في محاسن أهل الجزيرة|italic=y}}'. He ascribes the invention of the ''muwashshah'' to the 10th century blind poet Muhammad Mahmud al-Qabri or ibn ‘Abd Rabbih.<ref name=":1"/>{{rp|page=170}} Nonetheless, there are no extant ''muwashshah'' poems attributed to these authors.<ref name="EAL">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature|editor-last1=Scott Meisami|editor-first1=Julie|editor-last2=Starkey|editor-first2=Paul|publisher=Routledge|year=1998}}</ref>{{rp|page=563}}

[[Ibn Sanāʾ al-Mulk]] (d. 1211), author of ''Dār aṭ-ṭirāz fī ʿamal al-muwashshaḥāt'' ({{Lang|ar|دار الطراز في عمل الموشحات}}), wrote the most detailed surviving musical description of the ''muwashshaḥ.<ref name=":02">{{Citation |last=Reynolds |first=Dwight |title=Music |date=2000 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/literature-of-alandalus/music/433B07F1E27EA2A4316D81F2CCB954DC |work=The Literature of Al-Andalus |pages=60–82 |editor-last=Menocal |editor-first=María Rosa |access-date=2023-04-21 |series=The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-47159-6 |editor2-last=Sells |editor2-first=Michael |editor3-last=Scheindlin |editor3-first=Raymond P.}}</ref>''<ref>{{Citation |last= |title=Ibn Sanāʾ al-Mulk |date=2012-04-24 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/ibn-sana-al-mulk-SIM_3358 |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |edition=Second |editor-last=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs |access-date=2023-04-21 |publisher=Brill |language=en}}</ref> He wrote that some of the ''muwashshaḥāt'' had lyrics that fit their melodies (sometimes through [[melisma]]), while others had [[Scat singing|improvised nonsense syllables]] to fill out the melodic line—a practice that survives to the present with relevant sections labeled as ''shughl'' ({{Lang|ar|شُغل}} 'work') in songbooks.''<ref name=":02" />''