Music therapy: Exploring soul harmony within the ethical cultivation in Ottoman Sifahanes, makam, ethics, and therapy in Ottoman music

Abstract

Ottoman Sifahanes were comprehensive treatment centers for mental health patients and they were specialized in music therapy. Music therapy was also comprehensively used for ethical transformation with the meşk system in daily life apart from Sifahanes. The close relationship between the meşk system and music therapy reflects their capacity to facilitate over all psychological well-being via ethical character formation which creates a preventive health care system of Ottoman Empire. Moreover, Safiyuddin Urmevî, Gevrekzâde Hafız Hasan Efendi, Şirvânî, and Haşim Bey were the influential Muslim Scholars on the historical trace of music therapy in Ottoman Empire era (1299-1922). These scholars have studied the critical role of music in the treatment of spiritual ailments, and they developed specific musical prescriptions which tailor the needs of the clients based on their temperaments, nationalities and the professions. The framework of optimal well-being within the music therapy reflected intertwined nature of meşk system with the Islamic philosophy. Furthermore the complex relationship between tasawwuf and the meşk system (music education) showed the multifaceted role of music in the development of ethical personality. In other words, meşk system resulted in refinement of character via releasing from spiritual ailments, and the music also played a facilitator in this spiritual journey.

Keywords

• music therapy
• psychology of religion
• Ottoman sifahanes
• Islam
• Meshk
• Sufism

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