Ziryab and Selena Gomez

Abul-Hasan Alí Ibn Nafí, nicknamed Ziryab, was Chief Entertainer of the Court of Cordoba. He was known as The Songbird of Andalusia because of his melodic voice and his dark complexion, features which people compared with a singing bird of black plumage.

Ziryab is well known to be the one responsible in enriching the Andalusia’s culture as he revolutionized medieval music, as well as introducing fashionable outfits that followed the mood of each season. And of course, various hairstyles too.

Ziryab transformed social customs as seen in the kitchen and the way people eat. He introduced new culinary recipes. New tableware, from gold glasses to those of glass and crystal, as well as complex cutleries. And white table cloth too.

Ziryab established the first conservatoire in the world where he developed new musical instruments and theories. These included the teaching of harmony and composition and was to be developed even further in the following centuries.

Henry Terrace (d. 1971) a French archaeologist and art Historian wrote about his admiration of Ziryab: “After the arrival of this oriental (Ziryab), a wind of pleasure and luxurious life blew through Cordoba.

Ziryab became connected to themes of elegance; with his refined and luxurious tastes he defined the court of the Caliphs.

Without a doubt, a lone man could not achieve this huge transformation. It is rather the development, which shook the Muslim world in general although this historical legend attributed all these changes to Ziryab and his promoter, Abd-Al-Rahman II (the Caliph of that time).”

The civilization of Andalusia somehow did not start as how Ziryab found Andalusia when he fled from the wariness of other musicians in Baghdad. The golden age of Andalusia did not begin with a hedonistic and ostentatious culture that engages in the pursuit of sensual pleasure.

Musa Ibn Nusayr and Tariq Ibn Ziyad were far from pursuing for sensual indulgence when they first entered Andalusia. Andalusia was in her dark age when the tyrannical Visigoth ruler of Spain, Roderick was in reign.

Commanding 7,000 soldiers, Tariq Ibn Ziyad confronted a force more than 10 times his. But in pursuit of spreading justice, liberty and peace as per Allah’s command, the famous warrior did not enter Andalusia with melodious tune from his mouth, but with a spirited speech:

“Oh my warriors, whither would you flee? Behind you is the sea, before you, the enemy.

“You have now left only the hope of your courage and your constancy. Remember that in this country you are more unfortunate than the orphan seated at the table of the avaricious master.

“Your enemy is before you, protected by an innumerable army; he has men in abundance, but you, as your only aid, have your own swords, and, as your only chance for life, such chance as you can snatch from the hands of your enemy….. At the moment when the two armies meet hand to hand, you will see me, never doubt it, seeking out this Roderick, tyrant of his people, challenging him to combat, if God is willing.

“If I perish after this, I will have had at least the satisfaction of delivering you, and you will easily find among you an experienced hero, to whom you can confidently give the task of directing you. But should I fall before I reach to Roderick, redouble your ardor, force yourselves to the attack and achieve the conquest of this country, in depriving him of life. With him dead, his soldiers will no longer defy you.”

It was the spirit of spreading enjoining good and to forbidding evil that drove the Muslims to transform Andalusia. It was discipline, hard work and strategy that delivered the team of Musa Ibn Nusayr and Tariq Ibn Ziyad successfully to Andalusia.

And it was the love of justice and peace, intelligence and diligence that made the Muslim Andalusia governors Abdurrahman Ad Dakhili (138H – 172H), Hisham Ibn Abdurrahman Ad-Dakhil (172H – 180H), Al Hakam Ibn Hisham bin Abdurrahman (180H – 206H) and Abdurrahman Al Awsath (206H – 238H) able to keep peace and stability intact in Andalusia.

Andalus was the main route of Islamic civilization and the most important bridge through which Islamic civilization moved to Europe and had an impact on various scientific, intellectual, social, and economic fields.

A contemporary historian, Dr Raghib Al Sarjani described the “Ziryab Phenomenon” as one of the contributing factors to the downfall of Andalusia. Ziryab was the key player who place hedonism in Andalusia. Islam that was initially the way of life for the Andalusians, promoting moderation and balance in all aspects of life, had been limited to Islam that only covered personal worship.

Andalusia did not fall in a single day, nor did its collapse come with a sudden stroke. Rather, it was the last breath of a decaying society which had lost the capacity to defend itself against a sustained offensive from the Christian Crusaders. On top of that, Andalusia had lost its internal aptitude to preserve a society that sustain the spirit of enjoining good and forbidding evil; always ready to shield its sovereignty.

Thanks to Ziryab for converting an ummah of groundbreakers and forerunners to an ummah who only worry about how to eat, what songs to hear and what garments to wear. And of course, Ziryab did not work in silo. He had his sponsor and promoter, Abd-Al-Rahman II (the Caliphs of that time).

The “Ziryab Phenomenon” is indeed creeping more intensely day by day in our beloved country. Malaysians have shown to have high absorptive capacity for all sort of entertainment, be it local entertainment, Bollywood, Hollywood, K-Pop, Pinoy drama series, Indonesian sinetron, and more.

In spite of JAKIM’s guideline on entertainment, unfortunately some Muslim leaders in Malaysia reveal their hedonism tendency when they give official permission to concerts, gigs and performances that defy the guidelines given. Moreover, trifling effort has being done to ensure Malaysians, especially the youths to be more cultured and have higher intellectual capacity.

Though entertainment in Islam is not forbidden per se, but when entertainment becomes the focus and main purpose of human being’s life, the impact is severe. As severe as what had happened in Andalusia.

Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski a political scientist and geostrategist, who served as a counselor to the President of America, Lyndon B. Johnson, depicts the obsession of Americans to obtain an overflowing cup of possessions and excessive pleasurable entertainment, while lacking the self-respect, morality or social grace to constrain behavior within civilized boundaries.

He said in his book ‘Out of Control’: “Yet the dominant culture of the country has become increasingly fixated on mass entertainment that has been heavily dominated by personally hedonistic and socially escapist themes.” He went again saying, “both America and Western Europe have been finding it difficult to cope with the cultural consequences of social hedonism and the dramatic decline in the centrality of religious-based values in society.”

Since most Malaysians look up so much to America, it is so unfortunate if our beloved Malaysians are also heading the same way.

Selena Gomez, is just a symptom. Should Malaysians think that celebrities are as important as oxygen supply, we are indeed rolling ourselves into decadence that is deliberately dumbing down Malaysian generation.

God forbid.

Norhidayah Ismail
Wanita Isma Activist