Shāriyah


Shāriyah was an ‘Abbasid qayna, who enjoyed a prominent place in the court of Al-Wathiq.

Biography

The main source for Shāriyah's life is the tenth-century Kitāb al-Aghānī of Abū ’l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī.
Shāriya seems to have been an illegitimate daughter of a Qurashī and was sold into slavery by a woman claiming to be her mother to the ‘Abbasid prince Ibrahīm ibn al-Mahdī, son of third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi, and half-brother of the fifth caliph Harun al-Rashid and the poet and princess ‘Ulayya bint al-Mahdī. There was later some dispute about the sale, as Shāriyah's alleged mother tried to claim that she was freeborn, in an effort to cash in on her daughter's success; but Ibrahīm retained ownership of Shāriya until she was manumitted during the reign either of al-Muʿtaṣim or al-Wathiq. Her greatest success was at al-Wathiq's court.

Works

The most important attestation of Shāriyah's poetry and skill comes in the form of an account of a musical contest between her and her older rival ‘Arīb al-Ma’mūnīya in Sāmarrā’, reported in Abū ’l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī's Kitāb al-Aghānī. It probably took place in the reign of al-Mutawakkil. The description is also an important attestation of the activities of female musicians in ‘Abbasid courtly life. According to the account, "at that time, the refined and well-bred people were divided into two communities – one supported ‘Arīb and the other backed Shāriya. Each party favored the singer whom they admired in terms of applause, ṭarab , and improvisation".
The account opens:

One day we sat together at Abū ‘Isa ibn al-Mutawakkil’s, who had invited us for a morning drink. With me were also Ja‘far ibn al-Ma’mun, Sulaymān ibn Wahb and Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mudabbir, furthermore ‘Arīb and Shāriya and their singing-girls. We were all filled with joy, when Bid‘a, ‘Arīb’s slave-girl, sang:
This song was by ‘Arīb. Then ‘Irfān sang:
This song was by Shāriya.