Bibliographic Sources

DiArMaqAr maintains rigorous bibliographic attribution across all data, enabling scholarly verification, academic citation, and further research. Every tuning system, jins, and maqām includes complete source references.

Source Attribution System

Integration Levels

Tuning Systems:

• Creator attribution (historical theorist or modern scholar)
• Publication year
• Source citation with page references
• Commentary providing theoretical context

Ajnās:

• Bibliographic references
• Source and page citations
• Historical context
• Cross-references to related sources

Maqāmāt:

• Complete bibliographic references
• Source and page citations
• Bilingual commentary (Arabic/English)
• Suyūr from original sources

Historical Sources Database

The sources.json corpus maintains a comprehensive bibliographic database supporting all platform content with:

• Complete academic citations in both Arabic and English
• Books and articles with full publication details
• Contributor information
• DOI links where available
• Access dates for digital sources

Source Types

Historical Treatises (9th-13th centuries):

• Al-Kindī (d. 847)
• Al-Fārābī (d. 950)
• Ibn Sīnā (d. ca. 1037)
• Al-Urmawī (13th century)

Modern Scholarship (19th-20th centuries):

• Meshshāqa (1899)
• Al-Khulʿī (1904/2011)
• Al-Shawwā (1946)
• Allāh Wīrdī (1949)
• Al-Ṣabbāgh (1954)
• Al-Ḥilū (1961)

Contemporary Sources:

• Beyhom (2010)
• Modern theoretical works
• Performance practice documentation

Note Name Compilation

The Persian-Arab-Ottoman note naming convention is compiled from:

• Meshshāqa (1899:18)
• Al-Khulʿī (1904/2011:50-54 and 77-78)
• Al-Shawwā (1946:11-12)
• Allāh Wīrdī (1949:58, 153, 157, 177, 198, 203, 207)
• Al-Ṣabbāgh (1954:47)
• Al-Ḥilū (1961:69)

Extended ranges (qarār prefixes, jawāb prefixes) follow conventions documented in:

• Allāh Wīrdī (1949:203)
• Al-Ḥilū (1961:70)

Source Selection Methodology

Where Note Names Exist in Sources

Where Persian-Arab-Ottoman note name associations to pitch classes exist in bibliographic sources, they are explicitly used.

Where Note Names Must Be Inferred

Where direct associations are not documented, note names are inferred based on:

• Compiled note names list
• Relationship to Al-Kindī's 9th century 12-tone chromatic tuning system
• Al-Fārābī's comprehensive 10th century tunings
• 20th century sources (Al-Ṣabbāgh 1954, Allah Wīrdī 1949)

Commentary and Context

Each tuning system includes commentary by Dr. Khyam Allami providing:

• Theoretical context: How the system fits in historical development
• Bibliographic analysis: Discussion of source and its significance
• Mathematical explanation: How the system was calculated/rendered
• Practical implications: How the system affects maqāmic practice

Example Commentary

From "Contemporary Arabic 19-Tone" system by Al-Ṣabbāgh (1950:173):

"This tuning system by Tawfīq Al-Ṣabbāgh is built on a theoretical 53-comma per octave division, resulting in 19-tones that are used in the maqāmāt he recounts in his book. Ṣabbāgh gives the comma a value of 1/81th of a string length of 10,000 = 123.4567901235 (1950:38), erroneously defined by Shawqī as 0,012346 (1969:147). This is a syntonic comma, also known as Didymus' comma, the meantone comma or the Ptolemaic comma, with a frequency ratio of 81/80..."

Accessing Source Information

Via REST API

# Get sources database
curl http://localhost:3000/api/sources

# Maqām responses include source references
curl "http://localhost:3000/api/maqamat/maqam_bayyat?tuningSystem=alfarabi_950g&startingNote=ushayran&pitchClassDataType=cents"

# Response includes:
# - source references
# - page numbers
# - bibliographic citations

Via TypeScript Library

import { getSources } from '@/functions/import'

// Get all bibliographic sources
const sources = getSources()

// Each source includes:
// - Full citation (Arabic and English)
// - Publication details
// - Contributor information
// - DOI links (if available)

Academic Citation

All data is ready for academic citation with:

• Complete bibliographic references: Full citations in Arabic and English
• Page numbers: Specific locations in sources
• Transparent methodology: How data was derived
• Version tracking: Platform version and data version

Citation Format

Citations follow international scholarly standards:

• Library of Congress Arabic Romanization
• Standard academic citation formats
• Bilingual support (Arabic/English)
• DOI links where available

Historical Context

Manuscript Availability

Challenge: Many historical treatises exist only as copies in Anglo-European libraries due to colonial expatriation:

• Leyden, London, Oxford, Madrid, Paris, Berlin, Munich
• Initiated by Napoleon's 1798 invasion of Egypt
• Continuing through 2003 plunder of Iraq

Response: DiArMaqAr provides access to content from:

• Critical editions collating multiple manuscripts
• Scholarly publications with textual variants
• Documented commentary and annotations

Theoretical Evolution

Sources span:

• 8th century: Early theoretical works
• 9th-13th centuries: Medieval polymath theorists
• 19th-20th centuries: Modern systematization
• Contemporary: Recent scholarship

DiArMaqAr enables immediate access to over a thousand years of musical and mathematical scholarship.

Verification and Validation

Scholarly Verification

The transparent source attribution enables:

• Verification: Checking original sources
• Validation: Confirming theoretical accuracy
• Replication: Reproducing results
• Extension: Building upon existing work

Critical Edition Approach

Following principles of critical editions:

• Multiple sources: Collated from various manuscripts
• Reliable text: Established through scholarly comparison
• Documented variants: Textual differences noted
• Commentary: Scholarly analysis included

Research Applications

Academic Research

• Citation: Ready-to-use bibliographic references
• Verification: Transparent data origin
• Extension: Building upon documented theory
• Comparative study: Multiple source comparison

Musicological Analysis

• Historical development: Tracing theoretical evolution
• Source comparison: Analyzing different approaches
• Validation: Confirming theoretical claims
• Contextualization: Understanding historical setting

Next Steps

• Explore Research Applications
• Learn about Cultural Framework
• Understand Theoretical Framework