Nashīṭ was a Persian slave in the service ʿAbdallāh b. Jaʿfar (d. c.85/704), an amateur musician who made his palace a meeting place for artists. Nashīṭ was amongst the prisoners who were captured in the Persian wars and worked as slaves in Medina, and whose Persian melodies attracted much attention. As a result, Arab singers were compelled to learn and imitate Persian songs. Both ʿAzza al-Maylāʾ (d. late first/seventh or early second/eighth century) and Maʿbad (d. c.125/743), two giants of Arab…