موسیقی

It is narrated from Umama al-Bahili (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ṣalla’llahu ʿalayhi wa-sallam said: “Indeed, Allah Most High has sent me as a guidance and a mercy for the Muslims, and has commanded me to wipe out the flute, the tambura (lute), the cross, and the affairs of the Age of Ignorance.” (Abu Dawud)

Today the practice of singing has become very widespread in our society; house by house, street by street, they resound with film songs and the sound of music. Radio, television, the VCR, dish and cable and the like have carried these to their peak, with the result that the sense of its being a sin has departed from the hearts of the Muslims — rather it is being described as nourishment for the soul. Yet in the Holy Qur’an Allah, the Lord of Glory, has declared it forbidden. Allah Most High says: “And among people are those who purchase idle talk to lead others astray from the way of Allah without knowledge and to take it in mockery. For them there will be a humiliating punishment.” (Luqman 6)

In this verse, “lahw al-hadith” (idle talk, that which makes one heedless) means singing and playing, together with its instruments and paraphernalia. Thus when Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about this verse, he said: “By the One besides whom there is no god, what is meant by it is singing.” He repeated this sentence three times. The occasion of the revelation of this verse is that Nadr ibn al-Harith, who was a bitter enemy of Islam and wished that people should not turn towards the Qur’an, kept making various efforts to that end. One of these was that he kept a singing slave-girl. Whomever he saw inclining towards Islam, he would have this girl sing to him and would ask: tell me, is the pleasure in singing or in the Qur’an? By this his aim was that people should be kept away from the Qur’an and become occupied in singing and playing; and through this verse Allah declared it forbidden.

But the method of turning people away from the religion which Nadr ibn al-Harith displayed, his followers are using even today. In this sense it includes singers, male and female, who nowadays are called by all sorts of refined, attractive and deceptive names — “artist,” “film star,” “cultural ambassador,” and who knows what else. Nowadays, through the media, this aim is being amply achieved by showing obscene films, indecent dramas, dancing and singing, and programmes of theft, robbery, killing and plunder. Indeed, the sole remedy for all the ills of the nation is being presented as nakedness, indecency and singing and playing. In reality this is an intoxicant such that when a nation becomes drunk on it, it forgets everything — let alone religion, it becomes heedless even of its worldly life.

Safwan ibn Umayya says: we were present in the service of the Master of both worlds ṣalla’llahu ʿalayhi wa-sallam when Amr ibn Muzza came and made a request: “Sir, I am in straitened means; my only source of livelihood is playing the daff (drum). Please grant me permission.” Upon this the Prophet ṣalla’llahu ʿalayhi wa-sallam said: “Enemy of Allah, you lie! Allah Most High has given you lawful provision, and you have made it unlawful. If you do not repent from this evil work, I will have your head shaved and expel you from Madinah, and I will command the youths of Madinah to plunder your wealth. This is your fate in the world; and on the Day of Resurrection you will be raised naked and deaf. Your mental state will be like that of a person whose mental balance has been destroyed by epilepsy.” Then when he had gone, the Prophet ṣalla’llahu ʿalayhi wa-sallam said: these are the disobedient ones; if any of them dies without repentance, on the Day of Resurrection Allah will raise him deaf and naked, with not a shred of cloth on his body; whenever he stands up he will fall down unconscious. (Reported by Ibn Majah)

Those who declare music lawful on the basis of the daff should reflect on this narration and correct their thinking and their view. Some pleasure and gratification of the self is obtained by the devotees of music and the like, but the tranquillity of the hearts of the believers lies in the remembrance of Allah. “Those who believe, their hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allah. Remember, it is by the remembrance of Allah that hearts find rest.” (ar-Ra‘d 28)