Selected tales from the Book of Songs

It is said that Al-Isfahani spent fifty years writing this book, and therefore it is not surprising that Ibn Khaldun said about him: "Al-Qadi Abu Al-Faraj Al-Asbahani, who is he, wrote his book on songs, in which he collected news of the Arabs, their poetry, their genealogies, their days, and their countries. He made its basis on singing in The hundred voices that the singers chose for Al-Rashid, and he fully comprehended and fulfilled this, and to my life, it is the collection of the Arabs' various virtues that preceded them, in every art of poetry, history, singing, and all other conditions, and no book is equal to it in that, as far as we know, and it is the goal to which they reach. The writer stops at it, and how can he get it."
Singing reached its peak in the first Abbasid era, and when this art was completed and matured, a group of scholars wrote a book on singing and attributed it to Ishaq bin Ibrahim Al-Mawsili, but its benefit was little. Therefore, Abu Al-Faraj Al-Isfahani was entrusted with writing a book on the art of Arabic singing in which he would immortalize its origins and its most famous melodies, and this was his motivation for composing songs.
The Book of Songs by Abu Al-Faraj Al-Isfahani (284-362 AH) occupies a great place among the books of the Arab and human heritage. It is one of the books that took on a universal character, and texts from it were translated and studies were written about it in several languages. It is indispensable for any researcher in heritage and literature.