Qiyān (Arabic:قِيان,Arabic:[qi'jæːn]; singularqayna,Arabic:قَينة,Arabic:['qɑjnæh]) were a social class of women, trained as entertainers, which existed in the pre-modernIslamic world. The term has been used for women who were both free, including some of whom came from nobility, andnon-free women.[1] It has been suggested that "thegeisha of Japan are perhaps the most comparable form of socially institutionalized female companionship and entertainment for male patrons, although, of course, the differences are also myriad".[2][3]
Historically, theqiyān flourished under theUmayyad Caliphate, theAbbasid Caliphate, and inAl-Andalus.[4]
Qiyān is often rendered in English as'singing girls' or'singing slave girls', but these translations do not reflect the fact thatqiyān might be of any age, and were skilled entertainers whose training extended well beyond singing, including for example, dancing,[5] composing music and verse, reciting historical or literary anecdotes (akhbar), calligraphy, orshadow play. Other translations include'courtesan',[6]'musical concubines', or simply'women musicians'.[1]
In some sources,qiyān were a subset ofjawāri ('female slaves',جَوار; singularjāriya,جارِية), and often more specifically a subset of'imā' ('slave girls',إِمَاء; singular'ama,أمة).Qiyān are thus at times referred to as'imā' shawā'ir ('slave-girl poets',اِماء شَوَاعِر) or asmughanniyāt ('songstresses',مُغَنِّيات; singularmughanniyyah,مغنية).[7] Manyqiyān were free women.[8] One of them was evenan Abbasid princess,Ulayya bint al-Mahdi.
The term originates as a feminine form of thepre-Islamic termqayn (قين), whose meaning was'blacksmith, craftsman'. The meaning ofqayn extended to include manual labourers generally, and then focused more specifically on people paid for their work, and then more specifically again'to anyone engaged in an artistic performance for reward'. From here, its feminine form came to have the meaning of a female performer of various arts, in a specific role.[9]
Like other enslaved women in the Islamicate 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 beensex workers.[6]
However, there were also commonqiyān who performed for the public in commonqiyān houses; these werebrothels in some cases.[10]
It is not clear how early the institution of theqiyān emerged, butqiyān certainly flourished during the Abbasid period.[11][10] According to Matthew S. Gordon, "it is not yet clear to what extent courtesans graced regional courts and elite households at other points of Islamic history".[12]
Ibrahim al-Mawsili (742–804 CE) is reported to have claimed that his father was the first to train light-skinned, beautiful girls asqiyān, raising their price, whereas previouslyqiyān had been drawn from among girls viewed as less beautiful, and with darker skin, although it is not certain that these claims were accurate.[13] One social phenomenon that can be seen as a successor to theqiyān is the Egyptianalmah,courtesans or female entertainers inmedieval Egypt, educated to sing and recite classical poetry and to discourse wittily.[14]
Because of their social prominence,qiyān comprise one of the most richly recorded sections of pre-modern Islamicate female society, particularly female slaves, making them important to thehistory of slavery in the Muslim world. Moreover, a significant proportion ofmedieval Arabic female poets whose work survives today wereqiyān. For a fewqiyān, it is possible to give quite a full biography.[15] Important medieval sources ofqiyān include a treatise byal-Jahiz (776–868/869 CE),Abu Tayyib al-Washsha'sKitāb al-Muwashsha (كتاب الموشى'The Brocaded Book'), and anecdotes included in sources such as theKitab al-Aghani ('Book of Songs') andal-Imā' al-Shawā'ir ('The Slave Poetesses') byAbu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (897–967 CE),Nisā' al-Khulafā ('The Consorts of the Caliphs') byibn al-Sāʿī, andal-Mustazraf min Akhbar al-Jawari ('Choice Anecdotes from the Accounts of Concubines') byal-Suyuti (c. 1445–1505 CE).[16] Many of these sources recount therepartee of prominentqiyān, though there are hints thatqiyān in less wealthy households were used by their owners to attract gifts.[17] In the Abbasid period,qiyān were often educated in the cities ofBasra,Ta'if, andMedina.[6]
The institution ofqiyān declined with the waning fortunes of theAbbasid Caliphate.[18] Theinitial fracture of the Abbasids did not have immediate impact. Theqiyān did not take sides in political disputes.[19] However, political instability led to fiscal mismanagement, and during the Abbasids' heyday, the finances were mismanaged.[20] Further, the new class of Turkish soldiers demanded better pay, leading to the emptying of the treasury; the resulting austerity meant artistic activity could not be funded, and thus flourish, as it had previously.[21] In addition, soldiers extorted money from citizens perceived as rich, which made ostentatious behavior risky.[21]
It seems that for the first century or so in al-Andalus,qiyān were brought west after being trained in Medina orBaghdad, or were trained by artists from the east. It seems that by the 11th century, with the collapse of theCaliphate of Córdoba,qiyān tended to be trained inCórdoba 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.[22]
Qiyan-slave-girls were initially imported to al-Andalus fromMedina,[23] which was first noted during the reign ofal-Hakam I (r. 796–822).[24] However, qiyan soon started to be trained in Cordoba and from 1013 in Seville; it is however unknown if the tradition was preserved in theEmirate of Granada. Qiyan-slaves were selected to be trained for this function as children, and underwent a long training to fit the demands.[23] The qiyan-slaves were not secluded from men inharem as free women or slave concubines, but in contrast performed for male guests — sometimes from behind a screen and sometimes visible — and are perhaps the most well documented of all female slaves. While trained qiyan-slaves were sexually available to their enslaver, they were not categorized or sold as concubines and, with their training, were the most expensive female slaves.[25]