An
appropriate exception
The exception to the above
is the daff – without any
rings (i.e., a hand-drum which looks like a tambourine, but without any rattles)
– when used by women on Eids and at weddings. This is indicated by saheeh
reports. Shaykh al-Islam (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: But the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) made allowances for certain types
of musical instruments at weddings and the like, and he made allowances for
women to play the daff at weddings and on other joyful occasions. But the men
at his time did not play the daff or clap with their hands. It was narrated
in al-Saheeh that he said: “Clapping
is for women and tasbeeh (saying Subhaan Allaah) is for men.” And he cursed
women who imitate men and men who imitate women. Because singing and playing
the daff are things that women do, the Salaf used to call any man who did that
a mukhannath (effeminate man), and they used to call male singers effeminate
– and how many of them there are nowadays! It is well known that the Salaf
said this.
In a similar vein is the
hadeeth of ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her), when her
father (may Allaah be pleased with him) entered upon her at the time of Eid,
and there were two young girls with her who were singing the verses that the
Ansaar had said on the day of Bu’aath – and any sensible person
will know what people say about war. Abu Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him)
said: “Musical instruments of the Shaytaan in the house of the Messenger
of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)!” The Messenger of Allaah
had turned away from them and was facing the wall – hence some scholars
said that Abu Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him) would not tell anybody off
in front of the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), but he thought that the Messenger
of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was not paying attention to what
was happening. And Allaah knows best.
He (the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)) said: “Leave them alone,
O Abu Bakr, for every nation has its Eid, and this is our Eid, the people of
Islam.” This hadeeth shows that it was not the habit of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his companions to gather to
listen to singing, hence Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq called it “the musical instruments
of the Shaytaan”. And the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) approved of this appellation and
did not deny it when he said, “Leave them alone, for every nation has
its Eid and this is our Eid.” This indicates that the reason why this
was permitted was because it was the time of Eid, and the prohibition remained
in effect at times other than Eid, apart from the exceptions made for weddings
in other ahaadeeth.
Shaykh al-Albaani explained this in his valuable book Tahreem
Aalaat al-Tarab (the Prohibition of Musical Instruments). The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) approved of young girls singing
at Eid, as stated in the hadeeth: “So that the mushrikeen will know that
in our religion there is room for relaxation.” There is no indication
in the hadeeth about the two young girls that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was listening to them. The commands
and prohibitions have to do with listening, not merely hearing, just as in the
case of seeing, the rules have to do with intentionally looking and not what
happens by accident. So it is clear that this is for women only.
Imaam Abu ‘Ubayd
(may Allaah have mercy on him) defined the daff as “that which is played
by women.” (Ghareeb
al-Hadeeth, 3/64).
An
inappropriate exception
Some of them make an exception
for drums at times of war, and consequentially some modern scholars have said
that military music is allowed. But there is no basis for this at all, for a
number of reasons, the first of which is that this is making an exception with
no clear evidence, apart from mere opinion and thinking that it is good, and
this is wrong.
The second reason is that what the Muslims should do at times
of war is to turn their hearts towards their Lord. Allaah says (interpretation
of the meaning):
“They
ask you (O Muhammad) about the spoils of war. Say: ‘The spoils are for
Allaah and the Messenger.’ So fear Allaah and adjust all matters of difference
among you…” [al-Anfaal 8:1]. But using music
is the opposite of this idea of taqwa and it would distract them from
remembering their Lord.
Thirdly, using music is one of the customs of the kuffaar,
and it is not permitted to imitate them, especially with regard to something
that Allaah has forbidden to us in general, such as music. (al-Saheehah,
1/145)
“No people go astray
after having been guided except they developed arguments amongst themselves.”
(Saheeh)
Some of them used the hadeeth
about the Abyssinians playing in the mosque of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as evidence that singing is allowed!
Al-Bukhaari included this hadeeth in his Saheeh
under the heading Baab al-Hiraab wa’l-Daraq
Yawm al-‘Eid (Chapter on Spears and Shields on the Day of Eid).
Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: This indicates that it is permissible
to play with weapons and the like in the mosque, and he applied that to other
activities connected with jihaad. (Sharh
Muslim). But as al-Haafiz ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on
him) said: whoever speaks about something which is not his profession will come
up with weird ideas such as these.
Some of them use as evidence
the hadeeth about the singing of the two young girls, which we have discussed
above, but we will quote what Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said,
because it is valuable:
I am amazed that you quote
as evidence for allowing listening to sophisticated songs the report which we
mentioned about how two young girls who were below the age of puberty sang to
a young woman on the day of Eid some verses of Arab poetry about bravery in
war and other noble characteristics. How can you compare this to that? What
is strange is that this hadeeth is one of the strongest proofs against them.
The greatest speaker of the truth [Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq] called them musical
instruments of the Shaytaan, and the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) approved of that appellation, but
he made an exception in the case of these two young girls who had not yet reached
the age of responsibility and the words of whose songs could not corrupt anyone
who listened to them. Can this be used as evidence to allow what you do and
what you know of listening (to music) which includes (bad) things which are
not hidden?! Subhaan Allaah! How people can be led astray! (Madaarij
al-Saalikeen, 1/493).
Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allaah
have mercy on him) said: ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her)
was young at that time; nothing was transmitted from her after she reached the
age of puberty except condemnation of singing. Her brother’s son, al-Qaasim
ibn Muhammad, condemned singing and said that it was not allowed to listen to
it, and he took his knowledge from her. (Talbees Iblees, 229).
Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar (may
Allaah have mercy on him) said: A group of the Sufis used this hadeeth –
the hadeeth about the two young girls – as evidence that singing is allowed
and it is allowed to listen to it, whether it is accompanied by instruments
or not. This view is sufficiently refuted by the clear statement of ‘Aa’ishah
in the following hadeeth, where she says, “They were not singers.”
She made it clear that they were not singers as such, although this may be understood
from the wording of the report. So we should limit it to what was narrated in
the text as regards the occasion and the manner, so as to reduce the risk of
going against the principle, i.e., the hadeeth. And Allaah knows best. (Fath al-Baari, 2/442-443).
Some people even have the
nerve to suggest that the Sahaabah and Taabi’een listened to singing,
and that they saw nothing wrong with it!
Al-Fawzaan (may Allaah preserve him) said: We demand them
to show us saheeh isnaads going back to these Sahaabah and Taabi’een,
proving what they attribute to them. Then he said: Imaam Muslim mentioned
in his introduction to his Saheeh
that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn al-Mubaarak said: The isnaad is part of religion.
Were it not for the isnaad, whoever wanted to could say whatever he wanted to.
Some of them said that the
ahaadeeth which forbid music are full of faults. No hadeeth was free of being
criticized by some of the scholars. Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him)
said: The ahaadeeth which were narrated concerning music being haraam are not
full of faults as has been claimed. Some of them are in Saheeh
al-Bukhaari which is the soundest of books after the Book of Allaah,
and some of them are hasan and some are da’eef. But because they are so
many, with different isnaads, they constitute definitive proof that singing
and musical instruments are haraam.
All
the imaams agreed on the soundness of the ahaadeeth which forbid singing and
musical instruments, apart from Abu Haamid al-Ghazzaali, but al-Ghazzaali did
not have knowledge of hadeeth; and Ibn Hazam, but al-Albaani (may Allaah have
mercy on him) explained where Ibn Hazam went wrong, and Ibn Hazam himself said
that if any of (these ahaadeeth) were saheeh, he would follow that. But now
they have proof that these reports are saheeh because there are so many books
by the scholars which state that these ahaadeeth are saheeh, but they turn their
backs on that. They are far more extreme than Ibn Hazam and they are nothing
like him, for they are not qualified and cannot be referred to.
Some of them said that the
scholars forbade singing because it is mentioned alongside gatherings in which
alcohol is drunk and where people stay up late at night for evil purposes.
Al-Shawkaani (may Allaah
have mercy on him) said: The response to this is that mentioning these things
in conjunction does not only mean that what is haraam is what is joined together
in this manner. Otherwise this would mean that zinaa, as mentioned in the ahaadeeth,
is not haraam unless it is accompanied by alcohol and the use of musical instruments.
By the same token, an aayah such as the following (interpretation of the meaning):
“Verily,
he used not to believe in Allaah, the Most Great,
And
urged not on the feeding of Al‑Miskeen (the poor).”
[al-Haaqqah
69:33-34]
would imply that it is not haraam to disbelieve in Allaah unless that
is accompanied by not encouraging the feeding of the poor. If it is said that
the prohibition of such things one at a time is proven from other reports, the
response to that is that the prohibition of musical instruments is also known
from other evidence, as mentioned above. (Nayl
al-Awtaar, 8/107).
************
Some of them said that “idle talk” does not refer to
singing; the refutation of that has been mentioned earlier. Al-Qurtubi (may Allaah
have mercy on him) said: This – the view that it means singing –
is the best that has been said concerning this aayah, and Ibn Mas’ood
swore three times by Allaah besides Whom there is no other god, that it does
refer to singing. Then he mentioned other imaams who said the same thing. Then
he mentioned other views concerning the matter. Then he said: The first view
is the best of all that has been said on this matter, because of the marfoo’
hadeeth, and because of the view of the Sahaabah and the Taabi’een. (Tafseer
al-Qurtubi).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him), after quoting this
Tafseer, said: Al-Haakim Abu ‘Abd-Allaah
said in the Tafseer of Kitaab
al-Mustadrak: Let the one who is seeking this knowledge know that
the Tafseer of a Sahaabi who witnessed the revelation is a hadeeth
with isnaad according
to the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhaari and Muslim). Elsewhere in his book, he said:
In our view this hadeeth has the same strength as a marfoo’ report. Although
their tafseer is still subject to further examination, it is still more readily
acceptable than the tafseer of those who came after them, because they are the
most knowledgeable among this ummah of what Allaah meant in his Book. It was
revealed among them and they were the first people to be addressed by it. They
heard the tafseer from the Messenger
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in word and in deed. And they were
Arabs who understood the true meanings of (Arabic) words, so Muslims should
avoid resorting to any other interpretation as much as possible.
Some of them said that singing
is a form of worship if the intention is for it to help one to obey Allaah!
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah
have mercy on him) said: How strange! What type of faith, light, insight, guidance
and knowledge can be gained from listening to tuneful verses and music in which
most of what is said is haraam and deserves the wrath and punishment of Allaah
and His Messenger? … How can anyone who has the least amount of insight
and faith in his heart draw near to Allaah and increase his faith by enjoying
something which is hated by Him, and He detests the one who says it and the
one who accepts it? (Madaarij al-Saalikeen, 1/485)
Shaykh al-Islam said, discussing
the state of the person who has gotten used to listening to singing: Hence you
find that those who have gotten used to it and for whom it is like food and
drink will never have the desire to listen to the Qur’aan or feel joy
when they hear it, and they never find in listening to its verses the same feeling
that they find when listening to poetry. Indeed, if they hear the Qur’aan,
they hear it with an inattentive heart and talk whilst it is being recited,
but if they hear whistling and clapping of hands, they lower their voices and
keep still, and pay attention. (Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 11/557 ff)
Some say that music and
musical instruments have the effect of softening people’s hearts and creating
gentle feelings. This is not true, because it provokes physical desires and
whims. If it really did what they say, it would have softened the hearts of
the musicians and made their attitude and behaviour better, but most of them,
as we know, are astray and behave badly.
Conclusion
Perhaps – for fair-minded
and objective readers – this summary will make it clear that the view
that music is permissible has no firm basis.
There are no two views on this
matter. So we must advise in the best manner, and then take it step by step
and denounce music, if we are able to do so. We should not be deceived by the
fame of a man in our own times in which the people who are truly committed to
Islam have become strangers.
The one who says that singing and musical instruments
are permitted is simply supporting the whims of people nowadays, as if the masses
were issuing fatwas and he is simply signing them!
If a matter arises, they
will look at the views of fuqahaa’ on this matter, then they will take
the easiest view, as they claim. Then they will look for evidence, or just specious
arguments which are worth no more than a lump of dead meat. How often have these
people approved things in the name of sharee’ah which in fact have nothing
to do with Islam!
Strive to learn your Islam from the Book of your Lord and
the Sunnah of your Prophet. Do not say, So-and-so said, for you cannot learn
the truth only from men.
Learn the truth and then measure people against it.
This should be enough for the one who controls his whims and submits himself
to his Lord.
May what we have written above heal the hearts of the believers
and dispel the whispers in the hearts of those who are stricken with insinuating
whispers.
May it expose everyone who is deviating from the path of Revelation
and taking the easiest options, thinking that he has come up with something
which none of the earlier generations ever achieved, and speaking about
Allaah without knowledge.
They sought to avoid fisq (evildoing) and ended up
committing bid’ah – may Allaah not bless them in it.
It would have
been better for them to follow the path of the believers.
And Allaah knows best. May
Allaah bless and grant peace to His Messenger who made clear the path of the
believers, and to his companions and those who follow them in truth until the
Day of Judgement.
Summary of a paper entitled
al-Darb bi’l-Nawa li man abaaha al-Ma’aazif
li’l-Hawa by Shaykh Sa’d al-Deen ibn Muhammad al-Kibbi.
For more information, please
see:
Al-I’laam
bi Naqd Kitaab al-Halaal wa’l-Haraam, by Shaykh al-‘Allaamah
Saalih ibn Fawzaan al-Fawzaan
Al-Samaa’
by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn al-Qayyim
Tahreem
Aalaat al-Tarab, by Shaykh Muhammad Naasir al-Deen al-Albaani
(may Allaah have mercy on him)
