Rehâvî

In the old sources it is written Râhevî; it has been suggested that the name may originally have been Ruhâvî, meaning "of Urfa." It is one of the twelve cycles of Safiyyüddin and Merâgī. Today it stands very close to Rast: it comes to rest on the rast note, and its dominant is nevâ. In its simple form it descends as far as yegâh, leaps to segâh, and settles on rast; its compound form arises from adding Bayatî to the Rast scale. Kantemiroğlu counts it as subordinate to Rast and calls it a makam "that has a name but no body." Yet there are works in it, reaching from Itrî to Hâfız Post.

In the account attributed to Safiyyüddin, Rehâvî is called "the note of weeping"; Şirvânî counts it among the makams that give sorrow and stillness, and says it should be sung in the gatherings of those far from home, because it reminds them of their homeland. In Şuûrî, a play on words opens another door: "Fikr-i kayd ü gussadan versin rehâ," he says, may Rehâvî grant release (rehâ) from the bond of worry. In both sources its hour is the threshold of the day: Şuûrî places it at dawn, while in the list Şirvânî relates on the authority of Ibn Sina it is the makam of the false dawn. Şuûrî assigns it to the gathering of the Sufis, and among the signs of the zodiac, to Libra.

Sources: Scale and Kantemiroğlu: Özkan, "Rehâvî", TDV İA, XXXIV, 537-538 (2007). Twelve cycles: Özkan, "Makam", TDV İA, XXVII, 410-412. Ruhâvî and weeping, the gathering of exiles, the false dawn: Akdoğan, AÜİFD XLVIII/1, 79-81. Weeping: Kalender, AÜİFD XXIX, 362. Hour, gathering, couplet, zodiac sign: Şuûrî, Turabi edition, 160, 163-166.