Safi al-Din al-Urmawi

Safi ad-Din Abd al - Mu'min bin Yusuf bin al - Fachir Urmawi al - Baghdadi (Arabic صفي الدين عبد المؤمن بن يوسف بن فاخر الأرموي البغدادي, DMG Safi ad - Dīn ʿ Abd al -Mu ʾ min b. Yūsuf b. Fahir al - al - Baghdadi Urmawī; * 1216, † January 28, 1294 in Baghdad ) was an important Arabic- Islamic musicians and music theorists of Kurdish origin.

Al - Urmawis family originally came from Urmia in northwest of Iran. He grew up in Baghdad. al - Urmawi received an excellent education in the Arabic language, calligraphy, literature and history. He earned a reputation as a calligrapher and worked as a copyist and librarian in the library of the Caliph al - Musta'sim bi- ' llah in Baghdad. Through his ability on the lute, he caught the attention of the Caliph and received 5,000 dinars per year. This allowed him a life of luxury.

When the Mongols conquered Baghdad a year later, he bribed a Mongolian officer and was introduced by the Mongols this prince Hulagu, he was also impressed by his virtuosity. Hulagu took al - Urmawi for 10,000 dinars a year into his service.

After the death of a patron al - Urmawi fell into oblivion. He impoverished and died in debtor's prison.

The history of science knows him alongside Abū Alī al - Husayn ibn Sīnā Abdullāh ibn Abu Nasr Muhammad and al -Farabi as one of the most important music theorists of his time. In his book Kitaab al - Adwar ( "Book of the modes " ), he presented a sound system that is based on the division of the octave into 17 subintervals. Another book al - Urmawis is called ar - Risala al- Scharafiyya. The former work has been widely translated into Turkish, and Persian and was for centuries a standard work in musicology.