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The Prohibition of Music

Adapted from an answer given by

Islam Q&A

(www.islam-qa.com

)

Evidence of prohibition in the Qur’an and Sunnah:

Allah says in Surah Luqman (interpretation of the meaning):

“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing)

to mislead (men) from the path of Allah…”

[Luqmaan 31:6]

The scholar of the ummah, Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: this

means singing. Mujaahid (may Allah have mercy on him) said: this means playing the

drum (tabl). (Tafseer al-Tabari, 21/40).

Al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This ayah was revealed

concerning singing and musical instruments. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 3/451).

Al-Sa’di (may Allah have mercy on him) said: this includes all manner of haraam

speech, all idle talk and falsehood, and all nonsense that encourages kufr and

disobedience; the words of those who say things to refute the truth and argue in support

of falsehood to defeat the truth; and backbiting, slander, lies, insults and curses; the

singing and musical instruments of the Shaytaan; and musical instruments which are of

no spiritual or worldly benefit. (Tafseer al-Sa’di, 6/150)

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The interpretation of the Sahaabah

and Taabi’in, that ‘idle talk’ refers to singing, is sufficient. This was reported with saheeh

isnaads from Ibn ‘Abbaas and Ibn Mas’ood. Abu’l-Sahbaa’ said: I asked Ibn Mas’ood

about the ayah (interpretation of the meaning), ‘“And of mankind is he who purchases

idle talks’ [Luqmaan 31:6]. He said: By Allah, besides Whom there is no other god, this

means singing – and he repeated it three times.

It was also reported with a saheeh isnaad from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with

them both) that this means singing. There is no contradiction between the interpretation

of “idle talk” as meaning singing and the interpretation of it as meaning stories of the

Persians and their kings, and the kings of the Romans, and so on, such as al-Nadr ibn

al-Haarith used to tell to the people of Makkah to distract them from the Quran. Both of

them are idle talk. Hence Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “Idle talk” is falsehood and singing. Some of

the Sahaabah said one and some said the other, and some said both. Singing is worse

and more harmful than stories of kings, because it leads to zinaa and makes hypocrisy

grow (in the heart); it is the trap of the Shaytaan, and it clouds the mind. The way in

which it blocks people from the Quran is worse than the way in which other kinds of

false talk block them, because people are naturally inclined towards it and tend to want

to listen to it. The ayat condemn replacing the Quran with idle talk in order to mislead

(men) from the path of Allah without knowledge and taking it as a joke, because when

an ayah of the Quran is recited to such a person, he turns his back as if he heard them

not, as if there were deafness in his ear. If he hears anything of it, he makes fun of it. All

of this happens only in the case of the people who are most stubbornly kaafirs and if

some of it happens to singers and those who listen to them, they both have a share of

this blame. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/258-259)

Allahsays (interpretation of the meaning):

“and befool them gradually those whom you can among them with your voice (i.e.

songs, music, and any other call for Allah’s disobedience)…” [al-Israa’ 17:64]

It was narrated that Mujaahid (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “And befool them

gradually those whom you can among them with your voice” – his voice [the voice of

Iblees/Shaytaan] is singing and falsehood. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on

him) said: This idaafah [possessive or genitive construction, i.e., your voice] serves to

make the meaning specific, as with the phrases [translated as] “your cavalry” and “your

infantry” [later in the same ayah]. Everyone who speaks in any way that is not obedient

to Allah, everyone who blows into a flute or other woodwind instrument, or who plays

any haraam kind of drum, this is the voice of the Shaytaan. Everyone who walks to

commit some act of disobedience towards Allah is part of his [the Shaytaan’s] infantry,

and anyone who rides to commit sin is part of his cavalry. This is the view of the Salaf,

as Ibn ‘Abi Haatim narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas: his infantry is everyone who walks to

disobey Allah. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan).

Allahsays (interpretation of the meaning):

“Do you then wonder at this recitation (the Qur’an)? And you laugh at it and weep

not, wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)”

[al-Najm 53:59-61]

‘Ikrimah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: it was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas that al-

sumood [verbal noun from saamidoon, translated here as “Wasting your (precious)

lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)” means “singing”, in the dialect of

Himyar; it might be said “Ismidi lanaa” [‘sing for us’ – from the same root as

saamidoon/sumood] meaning “ghaniy” [sing]. And he said (may Allah have mercy on

him): When they [the kuffaar] heard the Qur’an, they would sing, then this ayah was

revealed.

Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Allah says (interpretation of the

meaning) “Wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)”

Sufyaan al-Thawri said, narrating from his father from Ibn ‘Abbaas: (this means)

singing. This is Yemeni (dialect): ismad lana means ghan lana [sing to us]. This was

also the view of ‘Ikrimah. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer).

It was reported from Abu Umaamah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the

Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Do not sell

singing slave women, do not buy them and do not teach them. There is nothing good in

this trade, and their price is haraam. Concerning such things as this the ayah was

revealed (interpretation of the meaning): ‘And of mankind is he who purchases idle

talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of Allah…’ [Luqmaan

31:6].” (Hasan hadeeth)

The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Among my

ummah there will certainly be people who permit zinaa, silk, alcohol and musical

instruments…” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari ta’leeqan, no. 5590; narrated as mawsool by

al-Tabaraani and al-Bayhaqi. See al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 91).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This is a saheeh hadeeth narrated

by al-Bukhaari in his Saheeh, where he quoted it as evidence and stated that it is

mu’allaq and majzoom. He said: Chapter on what was narrated concerning those who

permit alcohol and call it by another name.

This hadeeth indicates in two ways that musical instruments and enjoyment of listening

to music are haraam. The first is the fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah

be upon him) said: “[they] permit” which clearly indicates that the things mentioned,

including musical instruments, are haraam according to sharee’ah, but those people will

permit them. The second is the fact that musical instruments are mentioned alongside

things which are definitely known to be haraam, i.e., zinaa and alcohol: if they (musical

instruments) were not haraam, why would they be mentioned alongside these things?

(Adapted from al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 1/140-141)

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This hadeeth indicates that

ma’aazif are haraam, and ma’aazif means musical instruments according to the

scholars of (Arabic) language. This word includes all such instruments. (al-Majmoo’,

11/535).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: And concerning the same topic

similar comments were narrated from Sahl ibn Sa’d al-Saa’idi, ‘Imraan ibn Husayn,

‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Amr, ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Abbaas, Abu Hurayrah, Abu Umaamah al-Baahili,

‘Aa’ishah Umm al-Mu’mineen, ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib, Anas ibn Maalik, ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn

Saabit and al-Ghaazi ibn Rabee’ah. Then he mentioned it in Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, and it

indicates that they (musical instruments) are haraam.

It was narrated that Naafi’ (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Ibn ‘Umar heard a

woodwind instrument, and he put his fingers in his ears and kept away from that path.

He said to me, O Naafi’, can you hear anything? I said, No. So he took his fingers away

from his ears and said: I was with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon

him) and he heard something like this, and he did the same thing. (Saheeh Abi

Dawood).

Some insignificant person said that this hadeeth does not prove that musical

instruments are haraam, because if that were so, the Messenger of Allah (peace and

blessings of Allah be upon him) would have instructed Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased

with them both) to put his fingers in his ears as well, and Ibn ‘Umar would have

instructed Naafi’ to do likewise! The response to this is: He was not listening to it, but he

could hear it. There is a difference between listening and hearing.

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Concerning (music) which a person

does not intend to listen to, there is no prohibition or blame, according to scholarly

consensus. Hence blame or praise is connected to listening, not to hearing. The one

who listens to the Quran will be rewarded for it, whereas the one who hears it without

intending or wanting to will not be rewarded for that, because actions are judged by

intentions. The same applies to musical instruments which are forbidden: if a person

hears them without intending to, that does not matter. (al-Majmoo’, 10/78)

Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdisi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the listener is the one

who intends to hear, which was not the case with Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with

them both); what happened in his case was hearing. The Prophet (peace and blessings

of Allah be upon him) needed to know when the sound stopped because he had moved

away from that path and blocked his ears. So he did not want to go back to that path or

unblock his ears until the noise had stopped, so when he allowed Ibn ‘Umar to continue

hearing it, this was because of necessity. (al-Mughni, 10/173)

(Even though the hearing referred to in the comments of the two Imams is makrooh, it

was permitted because of necessity, as we will see below in the comments of Imam

Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him). And Allahknows best).

The views of the scholars (Imams) of Islam

Al-Qaasim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Singing is part of falsehood. Al-Hasan

(may Allah have mercy on him) said: if there is music involved in a dinner invitation

(waleemah), do not accept the invitation (al-Jaami by al-Qayrawaani, p. 262-263).

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The view of the four Imams is that

all kinds of musical instruments are haraam. It was reported in Saheeh al-Bukhaari and

elsewhere that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that there

would be among his ummah those who would allow zinaa, silk, alcohol and musical

instruments, and he said that they would be transformed into monkeys and pigs… None

of the followers of the imams mentioned any dispute concerning the matter of music.

(al-Majmoo’, 11/576).

Al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The four madhhabs are agreed that all

musical instruments are haraam. (al-Saheehah, 1/145).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The madhhab of Abu Haneefah is

the strictest in this regard, and his comments are among the harshest. His companions

clearly stated that it is haraam to listen to all musical instruments such as the flute and

the drum, even tapping a stick. They stated that it is a sin which implies that a person is

a faasiq (rebellious evil doer) whose testimony should be rejected. They went further

than that and said that listening to music is fisq (rebellion, evildoing) and enjoying it is

kufr (disbelief). This is their words. They narrated in support of that a hadeeth which

could not be attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). They

said: he should try not to hear it if he passes by it or it is in his vicinity. Abu Yoosuf said,

concerning a house from which could be heard the sound of musical instruments: Go in

without their permission, because forbidding evil actions is obligatory, and if it were not

allowed to enter without permission, people could not have fulfilled the obligatory duty

(of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil). (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/425).

Imam Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about playing the drum or

flute, if a person happens to hear the sound and enjoy it whilst he is walking or sitting.

He said: He should get up if he finds that he enjoys it, unless he is sitting down for a

need or is unable to get up. If he is on the road, he should either go back or move on.

(al-Jaami’ by al-Qayrawaani, 262). He (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “The only

people who do things like that, in our view, are faasiqs.” (Tafseer al-Qurtubi, 14/55).

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Among the types of earnings

which are haraam by scholarly consensus are ribaa, the fee of a prostitute, anything

forbidden, bribes, payment for wailing over the dead and singing, payments to fortune-

tellers and those who claim to know the unseen and astrologers, payments for playing

flutes, and all kinds of gambling. (al-Kaafi).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said, explaining the view of Imam al-

Shaafa'i: His companions who know his madhhab (point of view) stated that it is haraam

and denounced those who said that he permitted it. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/425).

The author of Kifaayat al-Akhbaar, who was one of the Shaafa’is, counted musical

instruments such as flutes and others, as being munkar (evil), and the one who is

present (where they are being played) should denounce them. (He cannot be excused

by the fact that there are bad scholars, because they are corrupting the sharee’ah, or

evil faqeers – meaning the Sufis, because they call themselves fuqaraa’ or faqeers –

because they are ignorant and follow anyone who makes noise; they are not guided by

the light of knowledge; rather they are blown about by every wind. (Kifaayat al-Akhbaar,

2/128).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: With regard to the view of Imam

Ahmad, his son ‘Abd-Allah said: I asked my father about singing. He said: Singing

makes hypocrisy grow in the heart; I do not like it. Then he mentioned the words of

Maalik: the evildoers (faasiqs) among us do that. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan)

Ibn Qudaamah, the researcher of the Hanbali madhhab – (may Allah have mercy on

him) said: Musical instruments are of three types which are haraam. These are the

strings and all kinds of flute, and the lute, drum and rabaab (stringed instrument) and so

on. Whoever persists in listening to them, his testimony should be rejected. (al-Mughni,

10/173). And he said (may Allah have mercy on him); If a person is invited to a

gathering in which there is something objectionable, such as wine and musical

instruments, and he is able to denounce it, then he should attend and speak out against

it, because then he will be combining two obligatory duties. If he is not able to do that,

then he should not attend. (al-Kaafi, 3/118)

Al-Tabari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The scholars of all regions are agreed

that singing is makrooh and should be prevented. Although Ibraaheem ibn Sa’d and

‘Ubayd-Allah al-‘Anbari differed from the majority, (it should be noted that) the

Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Adhere to the

majority.” And whoever dies differing from the majority, dies as a jaahili. (Tafseer al-

Qurtubi, 14/56). In earlier generations, the word “makrooh” was used to mean haraam,

then it took on the meaning of “disliked”. But this is to be understood as meaning that it

is forbidden, because he [al-Tabari] said “it should be prevented”, and nothing is to be

prevented except that which is haraam; and because in the two hadeeths quoted, music

is denounced in the strongest terms. Al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) is the

one who narrated this report, then he said: Abu’l-Faraj and al-Qaffaal among our

companions said: the testimony of the singer and the dancer is not to be accepted. I

say: if it is proven that this matter is not permissible, then accepting payment for it is not

permissible either.

Shaykh al-Fawzaan (may Allah preserve him) said: What Ibraaheem ibn Sa’d and

‘Ubayd-Allah al-‘Anbari said about singing is not like the kind of singing that is known

nowadays, for they would never have allowed this kind of singing which is the utmost in

immorality and obscenity. (al-I’laam)

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It is not permissible to make

musical instruments. (al-Majmoo’, 22/140). And he said: According to the majority of

fuqahaa’, it is permissible to destroy musical instruments, such as the tanboor [a

stringed instrument similar to a mandolin]. This is the view of Maalik and is the more

famous of the two views narrated from Ahmad. (al-Majmoo’, 28/113). And he said: …Ibn

al-Mundhir mentioned that the scholars were agreed that it is not permissible to pay

people to sing and wail… the consensus of all the scholars whose views we have

learned about is that wailing and singing are not allowed. Al-Shu’bi, al-Nakha’i and

Maalik regarded that as makrooh [i.e., haraam]. Abu Thawr, al-Nu’maan – Abu

Haneefah (may Allah have mercy on him) – and Ya’qoob and Muhammad, two of the

students of Abu Haneefah said: it is not permissible to pay anything for singing and

wailing. This is our view. And he said: musical instruments are the wine of the soul, and

what it does to the soul is worse than what intoxicating drinks do. (Majmoo’ al-Fataawa,

10/417).

Ibn Abi Shaybah (may Allahhave mercy on him) reported that a man broke a mandolin

belonging to another man, and the latter took his case to Shurayh (the renowned judge

for his excellent judgements). But Shurayh did not award him any compensation – i.e.,

he did not make the first man pay the cost of the mandolin, because it was haraam and

had no value. (al-Musannaf, 5/395).

Al-Baghawi (may Allah have mercy on him) stated in a fatwa that it is haraam to sell all

kinds of musical instruments such as mandolins, flutes, etc. Then he said: If the images

are erased and the musical instruments are altered, then it is permissible to sell their

parts, whether they are silver, iron, wood or whatever. (Sharh al-Sunnah, 8/28)

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.

Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: But the Prophet (peace and

blessings of Allah 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 Allah) 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 A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), when her

father (may Allah 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 Allah be pleased with him) said: “Musical instruments of the Shaytaan in the

house of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)!” The

Messenger of Allahhad turned away from them and was facing the wall – hence some

scholars said that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) would not tell anybody off

in front of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), but he

thought that the Messenger of Allah(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was not

paying attention to what was happening. And Allah knows best. He (the Prophet (peace

and blessings of Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah 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

Allah 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 Allah 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. Imam Abu ‘Ubayd (may Allah 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. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“They ask you (O Muhammad) about the spoils of war. Say: ‘The spoils are for

Allah and the Messenger.’ So fear Allah 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 Allah 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 Allahbe 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah (peace and blessings of Allah 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 Allah! How people can be led astray! (Madaarij al-

Saalikeen, 1/493)

Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A’ishah (may Allah 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 Allah 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 A’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 Allah 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 Allah 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: Imam Muslim mentioned in his introduction to his Saheeh that

‘Abd-Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah, 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 imams 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 ayah such as the following (interpretation of

the meaning):

“Verily, he used not to believe in Allah, 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 Allah 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 above.

Al-Qurtubi(may Allah have mercy on him) said: This – the view that it means singing –

is the best that has been said concerning this ayah, and Ibn Mas’ood swore three times

by Allah besides Whom there is no other god, that it does refer to singing. Then he

mentioned other imams 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 Allah have mercy on him), after quoting this Tafseer, said: Al-

Haakim Abu ‘Abd-Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah!

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah 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 Allahand His Messenger? … How can anyone who has the least amount

of insight and faith in his heart draw near to Allah 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)

Ibn Taymiyyah 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’an 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’an, 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 behavior 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

Allah without knowledge. They sought to avoid fisq (evildoing) and ended up committing

bid’ah – may Allah not bless them in it. It would have been better for them to follow the

path of the believers.

And Allah knows best. May Allah 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 Allah

have mercy on him)

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The Prohibition of Music

Adapted from an answer given by

Islam Q&A

(www.islam-qa.com

)

Evidence of prohibition in the Qur’an and Sunnah:

Allah says in Surah Luqman (interpretation of the meaning):

“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing)

to mislead (men) from the path of Allah…”

[Luqmaan 31:6]

The scholar of the ummah, Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: this

means singing. Mujaahid (may Allah have mercy on him) said: this means playing the

drum (tabl). (Tafseer al-Tabari, 21/40).

Al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This ayah was revealed

concerning singing and musical instruments. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 3/451).

Al-Sa’di (may Allah have mercy on him) said: this includes all manner of haraam

speech, all idle talk and falsehood, and all nonsense that encourages kufr and

disobedience; the words of those who say things to refute the truth and argue in support

of falsehood to defeat the truth; and backbiting, slander, lies, insults and curses; the

singing and musical instruments of the Shaytaan; and musical instruments which are of

no spiritual or worldly benefit. (Tafseer al-Sa’di, 6/150)

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The interpretation of the Sahaabah

and Taabi’in, that ‘idle talk’ refers to singing, is sufficient. This was reported with saheeh

isnaads from Ibn ‘Abbaas and Ibn Mas’ood. Abu’l-Sahbaa’ said: I asked Ibn Mas’ood

about the ayah (interpretation of the meaning), ‘“And of mankind is he who purchases

idle talks’ [Luqmaan 31:6]. He said: By Allah, besides Whom there is no other god, this

means singing – and he repeated it three times.

It was also reported with a saheeh isnaad from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with

them both) that this means singing. There is no contradiction between the interpretation

of “idle talk” as meaning singing and the interpretation of it as meaning stories of the

Persians and their kings, and the kings of the Romans, and so on, such as al-Nadr ibn

al-Haarith used to tell to the people of Makkah to distract them from the Quran. Both of

them are idle talk. Hence Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “Idle talk” is falsehood and singing. Some of

the Sahaabah said one and some said the other, and some said both. Singing is worse

and more harmful than stories of kings, because it leads to zinaa and makes hypocrisy

grow (in the heart); it is the trap of the Shaytaan, and it clouds the mind. The way in

which it blocks people from the Quran is worse than the way in which other kinds of

false talk block them, because people are naturally inclined towards it and tend to want

to listen to it. The ayat condemn replacing the Quran with idle talk in order to mislead

(men) from the path of Allah without knowledge and taking it as a joke, because when

an ayah of the Quran is recited to such a person, he turns his back as if he heard them

not, as if there were deafness in his ear. If he hears anything of it, he makes fun of it. All

of this happens only in the case of the people who are most stubbornly kaafirs and if

some of it happens to singers and those who listen to them, they both have a share of

this blame. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/258-259)

Allahsays (interpretation of the meaning):

“and befool them gradually those whom you can among them with your voice (i.e.

songs, music, and any other call for Allah’s disobedience)…” [al-Israa’ 17:64]

It was narrated that Mujaahid (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “And befool them

gradually those whom you can among them with your voice” – his voice [the voice of

Iblees/Shaytaan] is singing and falsehood. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on

him) said: This idaafah [possessive or genitive construction, i.e., your voice] serves to

make the meaning specific, as with the phrases [translated as] “your cavalry” and “your

infantry” [later in the same ayah]. Everyone who speaks in any way that is not obedient

to Allah, everyone who blows into a flute or other woodwind instrument, or who plays

any haraam kind of drum, this is the voice of the Shaytaan. Everyone who walks to

commit some act of disobedience towards Allah is part of his [the Shaytaan’s] infantry,

and anyone who rides to commit sin is part of his cavalry. This is the view of the Salaf,

as Ibn ‘Abi Haatim narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas: his infantry is everyone who walks to

disobey Allah. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan).

Allahsays (interpretation of the meaning):

“Do you then wonder at this recitation (the Qur’an)? And you laugh at it and weep

not, wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)”

[al-Najm 53:59-61]

‘Ikrimah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: it was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas that al-

sumood [verbal noun from saamidoon, translated here as “Wasting your (precious)

lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)” means “singing”, in the dialect of

Himyar; it might be said “Ismidi lanaa” [‘sing for us’ – from the same root as

saamidoon/sumood] meaning “ghaniy” [sing]. And he said (may Allah have mercy on

him): When they [the kuffaar] heard the Qur’an, they would sing, then this ayah was

revealed.

Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Allah says (interpretation of the

meaning) “Wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)”

Sufyaan al-Thawri said, narrating from his father from Ibn ‘Abbaas: (this means)

singing. This is Yemeni (dialect): ismad lana means ghan lana [sing to us]. This was

also the view of ‘Ikrimah. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer).

It was reported from Abu Umaamah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the

Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Do not sell

singing slave women, do not buy them and do not teach them. There is nothing good in

this trade, and their price is haraam. Concerning such things as this the ayah was

revealed (interpretation of the meaning): ‘And of mankind is he who purchases idle

talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of Allah…’ [Luqmaan

31:6].” (Hasan hadeeth)

The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Among my

ummah there will certainly be people who permit zinaa, silk, alcohol and musical

instruments…” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari ta’leeqan, no. 5590; narrated as mawsool by

al-Tabaraani and al-Bayhaqi. See al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 91).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This is a saheeh hadeeth narrated

by al-Bukhaari in his Saheeh, where he quoted it as evidence and stated that it is

mu’allaq and majzoom. He said: Chapter on what was narrated concerning those who

permit alcohol and call it by another name.

This hadeeth indicates in two ways that musical instruments and enjoyment of listening

to music are haraam. The first is the fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah

be upon him) said: “[they] permit” which clearly indicates that the things mentioned,

including musical instruments, are haraam according to sharee’ah, but those people will

permit them. The second is the fact that musical instruments are mentioned alongside

things which are definitely known to be haraam, i.e., zinaa and alcohol: if they (musical

instruments) were not haraam, why would they be mentioned alongside these things?

(Adapted from al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 1/140-141)

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This hadeeth indicates that

ma’aazif are haraam, and ma’aazif means musical instruments according to the

scholars of (Arabic) language. This word includes all such instruments. (al-Majmoo’,

11/535).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: And concerning the same topic

similar comments were narrated from Sahl ibn Sa’d al-Saa’idi, ‘Imraan ibn Husayn,

‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Amr, ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Abbaas, Abu Hurayrah, Abu Umaamah al-Baahili,

‘Aa’ishah Umm al-Mu’mineen, ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib, Anas ibn Maalik, ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn

Saabit and al-Ghaazi ibn Rabee’ah. Then he mentioned it in Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, and it

indicates that they (musical instruments) are haraam.

It was narrated that Naafi’ (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Ibn ‘Umar heard a

woodwind instrument, and he put his fingers in his ears and kept away from that path.

He said to me, O Naafi’, can you hear anything? I said, No. So he took his fingers away

from his ears and said: I was with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon

him) and he heard something like this, and he did the same thing. (Saheeh Abi

Dawood).

Some insignificant person said that this hadeeth does not prove that musical

instruments are haraam, because if that were so, the Messenger of Allah (peace and

blessings of Allah be upon him) would have instructed Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased

with them both) to put his fingers in his ears as well, and Ibn ‘Umar would have

instructed Naafi’ to do likewise! The response to this is: He was not listening to it, but he

could hear it. There is a difference between listening and hearing.

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Concerning (music) which a person

does not intend to listen to, there is no prohibition or blame, according to scholarly

consensus. Hence blame or praise is connected to listening, not to hearing. The one

who listens to the Quran will be rewarded for it, whereas the one who hears it without

intending or wanting to will not be rewarded for that, because actions are judged by

intentions. The same applies to musical instruments which are forbidden: if a person

hears them without intending to, that does not matter. (al-Majmoo’, 10/78)

Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdisi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the listener is the one

who intends to hear, which was not the case with Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with

them both); what happened in his case was hearing. The Prophet (peace and blessings

of Allah be upon him) needed to know when the sound stopped because he had moved

away from that path and blocked his ears. So he did not want to go back to that path or

unblock his ears until the noise had stopped, so when he allowed Ibn ‘Umar to continue

hearing it, this was because of necessity. (al-Mughni, 10/173)

(Even though the hearing referred to in the comments of the two Imams is makrooh, it

was permitted because of necessity, as we will see below in the comments of Imam

Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him). And Allahknows best).

The views of the scholars (Imams) of Islam

Al-Qaasim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Singing is part of falsehood. Al-Hasan

(may Allah have mercy on him) said: if there is music involved in a dinner invitation

(waleemah), do not accept the invitation (al-Jaami by al-Qayrawaani, p. 262-263).

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The view of the four Imams is that

all kinds of musical instruments are haraam. It was reported in Saheeh al-Bukhaari and

elsewhere that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that there

would be among his ummah those who would allow zinaa, silk, alcohol and musical

instruments, and he said that they would be transformed into monkeys and pigs… None

of the followers of the imams mentioned any dispute concerning the matter of music.

(al-Majmoo’, 11/576).

Al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The four madhhabs are agreed that all

musical instruments are haraam. (al-Saheehah, 1/145).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The madhhab of Abu Haneefah is

the strictest in this regard, and his comments are among the harshest. His companions

clearly stated that it is haraam to listen to all musical instruments such as the flute and

the drum, even tapping a stick. They stated that it is a sin which implies that a person is

a faasiq (rebellious evil doer) whose testimony should be rejected. They went further

than that and said that listening to music is fisq (rebellion, evildoing) and enjoying it is

kufr (disbelief). This is their words. They narrated in support of that a hadeeth which

could not be attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). They

said: he should try not to hear it if he passes by it or it is in his vicinity. Abu Yoosuf said,

concerning a house from which could be heard the sound of musical instruments: Go in

without their permission, because forbidding evil actions is obligatory, and if it were not

allowed to enter without permission, people could not have fulfilled the obligatory duty

(of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil). (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/425).

Imam Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about playing the drum or

flute, if a person happens to hear the sound and enjoy it whilst he is walking or sitting.

He said: He should get up if he finds that he enjoys it, unless he is sitting down for a

need or is unable to get up. If he is on the road, he should either go back or move on.

(al-Jaami’ by al-Qayrawaani, 262). He (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “The only

people who do things like that, in our view, are faasiqs.” (Tafseer al-Qurtubi, 14/55).

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Among the types of earnings

which are haraam by scholarly consensus are ribaa, the fee of a prostitute, anything

forbidden, bribes, payment for wailing over the dead and singing, payments to fortune-

tellers and those who claim to know the unseen and astrologers, payments for playing

flutes, and all kinds of gambling. (al-Kaafi).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said, explaining the view of Imam al-

Shaafa'i: His companions who know his madhhab (point of view) stated that it is haraam

and denounced those who said that he permitted it. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/425).

The author of Kifaayat al-Akhbaar, who was one of the Shaafa’is, counted musical

instruments such as flutes and others, as being munkar (evil), and the one who is

present (where they are being played) should denounce them. (He cannot be excused

by the fact that there are bad scholars, because they are corrupting the sharee’ah, or

evil faqeers – meaning the Sufis, because they call themselves fuqaraa’ or faqeers –

because they are ignorant and follow anyone who makes noise; they are not guided by

the light of knowledge; rather they are blown about by every wind. (Kifaayat al-Akhbaar,

2/128).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: With regard to the view of Imam

Ahmad, his son ‘Abd-Allah said: I asked my father about singing. He said: Singing

makes hypocrisy grow in the heart; I do not like it. Then he mentioned the words of

Maalik: the evildoers (faasiqs) among us do that. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan)

Ibn Qudaamah, the researcher of the Hanbali madhhab – (may Allah have mercy on

him) said: Musical instruments are of three types which are haraam. These are the

strings and all kinds of flute, and the lute, drum and rabaab (stringed instrument) and so

on. Whoever persists in listening to them, his testimony should be rejected. (al-Mughni,

10/173). And he said (may Allah have mercy on him); If a person is invited to a

gathering in which there is something objectionable, such as wine and musical

instruments, and he is able to denounce it, then he should attend and speak out against

it, because then he will be combining two obligatory duties. If he is not able to do that,

then he should not attend. (al-Kaafi, 3/118)

Al-Tabari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The scholars of all regions are agreed

that singing is makrooh and should be prevented. Although Ibraaheem ibn Sa’d and

‘Ubayd-Allah al-‘Anbari differed from the majority, (it should be noted that) the

Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Adhere to the

majority.” And whoever dies differing from the majority, dies as a jaahili. (Tafseer al-

Qurtubi, 14/56). In earlier generations, the word “makrooh” was used to mean haraam,

then it took on the meaning of “disliked”. But this is to be understood as meaning that it

is forbidden, because he [al-Tabari] said “it should be prevented”, and nothing is to be

prevented except that which is haraam; and because in the two hadeeths quoted, music

is denounced in the strongest terms. Al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) is the

one who narrated this report, then he said: Abu’l-Faraj and al-Qaffaal among our

companions said: the testimony of the singer and the dancer is not to be accepted. I

say: if it is proven that this matter is not permissible, then accepting payment for it is not

permissible either.

Shaykh al-Fawzaan (may Allah preserve him) said: What Ibraaheem ibn Sa’d and

‘Ubayd-Allah al-‘Anbari said about singing is not like the kind of singing that is known

nowadays, for they would never have allowed this kind of singing which is the utmost in

immorality and obscenity. (al-I’laam)

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It is not permissible to make

musical instruments. (al-Majmoo’, 22/140). And he said: According to the majority of

fuqahaa’, it is permissible to destroy musical instruments, such as the tanboor [a

stringed instrument similar to a mandolin]. This is the view of Maalik and is the more

famous of the two views narrated from Ahmad. (al-Majmoo’, 28/113). And he said: …Ibn

al-Mundhir mentioned that the scholars were agreed that it is not permissible to pay

people to sing and wail… the consensus of all the scholars whose views we have

learned about is that wailing and singing are not allowed. Al-Shu’bi, al-Nakha’i and

Maalik regarded that as makrooh [i.e., haraam]. Abu Thawr, al-Nu’maan – Abu

Haneefah (may Allah have mercy on him) – and Ya’qoob and Muhammad, two of the

students of Abu Haneefah said: it is not permissible to pay anything for singing and

wailing. This is our view. And he said: musical instruments are the wine of the soul, and

what it does to the soul is worse than what intoxicating drinks do. (Majmoo’ al-Fataawa,

10/417).

Ibn Abi Shaybah (may Allahhave mercy on him) reported that a man broke a mandolin

belonging to another man, and the latter took his case to Shurayh (the renowned judge

for his excellent judgements). But Shurayh did not award him any compensation – i.e.,

he did not make the first man pay the cost of the mandolin, because it was haraam and

had no value. (al-Musannaf, 5/395).

Al-Baghawi (may Allah have mercy on him) stated in a fatwa that it is haraam to sell all

kinds of musical instruments such as mandolins, flutes, etc. Then he said: If the images

are erased and the musical instruments are altered, then it is permissible to sell their

parts, whether they are silver, iron, wood or whatever. (Sharh al-Sunnah, 8/28)

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.

Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: But the Prophet (peace and

blessings of Allah 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 Allah) 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 A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), when her

father (may Allah 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 Allah be pleased with him) said: “Musical instruments of the Shaytaan in the

house of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)!” The

Messenger of Allahhad turned away from them and was facing the wall – hence some

scholars said that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) would not tell anybody off

in front of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), but he

thought that the Messenger of Allah(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was not

paying attention to what was happening. And Allah knows best. He (the Prophet (peace

and blessings of Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah 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

Allah 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 Allah 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. Imam Abu ‘Ubayd (may Allah 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. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“They ask you (O Muhammad) about the spoils of war. Say: ‘The spoils are for

Allah and the Messenger.’ So fear Allah 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 Allah 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 Allahbe 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah (peace and blessings of Allah 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 Allah! How people can be led astray! (Madaarij al-

Saalikeen, 1/493)

Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A’ishah (may Allah 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 Allah 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 A’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 Allah 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 Allah 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: Imam Muslim mentioned in his introduction to his Saheeh that

‘Abd-Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah, 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 imams 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 ayah such as the following (interpretation of

the meaning):

“Verily, he used not to believe in Allah, 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 Allah 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 above.

Al-Qurtubi(may Allah have mercy on him) said: This – the view that it means singing –

is the best that has been said concerning this ayah, and Ibn Mas’ood swore three times

by Allah besides Whom there is no other god, that it does refer to singing. Then he

mentioned other imams 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 Allah have mercy on him), after quoting this Tafseer, said: Al-

Haakim Abu ‘Abd-Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah!

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah 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 Allahand His Messenger? … How can anyone who has the least amount

of insight and faith in his heart draw near to Allah 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)

Ibn Taymiyyah 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’an 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’an, 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 behavior 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

Allah without knowledge. They sought to avoid fisq (evildoing) and ended up committing

bid’ah – may Allah not bless them in it. It would have been better for them to follow the

path of the believers.

And Allah knows best. May Allah 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 Allah

have mercy on him)

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The Prohibition of Music

Adapted from an answer given by

Islam Q&A

(www.islam-qa.com

)

Evidence of prohibition in the Qur’an and Sunnah:

Allah says in Surah Luqman (interpretation of the meaning):

“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing)

to mislead (men) from the path of Allah…”

[Luqmaan 31:6]

The scholar of the ummah, Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: this

means singing. Mujaahid (may Allah have mercy on him) said: this means playing the

drum (tabl). (Tafseer al-Tabari, 21/40).

Al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This ayah was revealed

concerning singing and musical instruments. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 3/451).

Al-Sa’di (may Allah have mercy on him) said: this includes all manner of haraam

speech, all idle talk and falsehood, and all nonsense that encourages kufr and

disobedience; the words of those who say things to refute the truth and argue in support

of falsehood to defeat the truth; and backbiting, slander, lies, insults and curses; the

singing and musical instruments of the Shaytaan; and musical instruments which are of

no spiritual or worldly benefit. (Tafseer al-Sa’di, 6/150)

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The interpretation of the Sahaabah

and Taabi’in, that ‘idle talk’ refers to singing, is sufficient. This was reported with saheeh

isnaads from Ibn ‘Abbaas and Ibn Mas’ood. Abu’l-Sahbaa’ said: I asked Ibn Mas’ood

about the ayah (interpretation of the meaning), ‘“And of mankind is he who purchases

idle talks’ [Luqmaan 31:6]. He said: By Allah, besides Whom there is no other god, this

means singing – and he repeated it three times.

It was also reported with a saheeh isnaad from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with

them both) that this means singing. There is no contradiction between the interpretation

of “idle talk” as meaning singing and the interpretation of it as meaning stories of the

Persians and their kings, and the kings of the Romans, and so on, such as al-Nadr ibn

al-Haarith used to tell to the people of Makkah to distract them from the Quran. Both of

them are idle talk. Hence Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “Idle talk” is falsehood and singing. Some of

the Sahaabah said one and some said the other, and some said both. Singing is worse

and more harmful than stories of kings, because it leads to zinaa and makes hypocrisy

grow (in the heart); it is the trap of the Shaytaan, and it clouds the mind. The way in

which it blocks people from the Quran is worse than the way in which other kinds of

false talk block them, because people are naturally inclined towards it and tend to want

to listen to it. The ayat condemn replacing the Quran with idle talk in order to mislead

(men) from the path of Allah without knowledge and taking it as a joke, because when

an ayah of the Quran is recited to such a person, he turns his back as if he heard them

not, as if there were deafness in his ear. If he hears anything of it, he makes fun of it. All

of this happens only in the case of the people who are most stubbornly kaafirs and if

some of it happens to singers and those who listen to them, they both have a share of

this blame. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/258-259)

Allahsays (interpretation of the meaning):

“and befool them gradually those whom you can among them with your voice (i.e.

songs, music, and any other call for Allah’s disobedience)…” [al-Israa’ 17:64]

It was narrated that Mujaahid (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “And befool them

gradually those whom you can among them with your voice” – his voice [the voice of

Iblees/Shaytaan] is singing and falsehood. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on

him) said: This idaafah [possessive or genitive construction, i.e., your voice] serves to

make the meaning specific, as with the phrases [translated as] “your cavalry” and “your

infantry” [later in the same ayah]. Everyone who speaks in any way that is not obedient

to Allah, everyone who blows into a flute or other woodwind instrument, or who plays

any haraam kind of drum, this is the voice of the Shaytaan. Everyone who walks to

commit some act of disobedience towards Allah is part of his [the Shaytaan’s] infantry,

and anyone who rides to commit sin is part of his cavalry. This is the view of the Salaf,

as Ibn ‘Abi Haatim narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas: his infantry is everyone who walks to

disobey Allah. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan).

Allahsays (interpretation of the meaning):

“Do you then wonder at this recitation (the Qur’an)? And you laugh at it and weep

not, wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)”

[al-Najm 53:59-61]

‘Ikrimah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: it was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas that al-

sumood [verbal noun from saamidoon, translated here as “Wasting your (precious)

lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)” means “singing”, in the dialect of

Himyar; it might be said “Ismidi lanaa” [‘sing for us’ – from the same root as

saamidoon/sumood] meaning “ghaniy” [sing]. And he said (may Allah have mercy on

him): When they [the kuffaar] heard the Qur’an, they would sing, then this ayah was

revealed.

Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Allah says (interpretation of the

meaning) “Wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)”

Sufyaan al-Thawri said, narrating from his father from Ibn ‘Abbaas: (this means)

singing. This is Yemeni (dialect): ismad lana means ghan lana [sing to us]. This was

also the view of ‘Ikrimah. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer).

It was reported from Abu Umaamah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the

Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Do not sell

singing slave women, do not buy them and do not teach them. There is nothing good in

this trade, and their price is haraam. Concerning such things as this the ayah was

revealed (interpretation of the meaning): ‘And of mankind is he who purchases idle

talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of Allah…’ [Luqmaan

31:6].” (Hasan hadeeth)

The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Among my

ummah there will certainly be people who permit zinaa, silk, alcohol and musical

instruments…” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari ta’leeqan, no. 5590; narrated as mawsool by

al-Tabaraani and al-Bayhaqi. See al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 91).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This is a saheeh hadeeth narrated

by al-Bukhaari in his Saheeh, where he quoted it as evidence and stated that it is

mu’allaq and majzoom. He said: Chapter on what was narrated concerning those who

permit alcohol and call it by another name.

This hadeeth indicates in two ways that musical instruments and enjoyment of listening

to music are haraam. The first is the fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah

be upon him) said: “[they] permit” which clearly indicates that the things mentioned,

including musical instruments, are haraam according to sharee’ah, but those people will

permit them. The second is the fact that musical instruments are mentioned alongside

things which are definitely known to be haraam, i.e., zinaa and alcohol: if they (musical

instruments) were not haraam, why would they be mentioned alongside these things?

(Adapted from al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 1/140-141)

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This hadeeth indicates that

ma’aazif are haraam, and ma’aazif means musical instruments according to the

scholars of (Arabic) language. This word includes all such instruments. (al-Majmoo’,

11/535).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: And concerning the same topic

similar comments were narrated from Sahl ibn Sa’d al-Saa’idi, ‘Imraan ibn Husayn,

‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Amr, ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Abbaas, Abu Hurayrah, Abu Umaamah al-Baahili,

‘Aa’ishah Umm al-Mu’mineen, ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib, Anas ibn Maalik, ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn

Saabit and al-Ghaazi ibn Rabee’ah. Then he mentioned it in Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, and it

indicates that they (musical instruments) are haraam.

It was narrated that Naafi’ (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Ibn ‘Umar heard a

woodwind instrument, and he put his fingers in his ears and kept away from that path.

He said to me, O Naafi’, can you hear anything? I said, No. So he took his fingers away

from his ears and said: I was with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon

him) and he heard something like this, and he did the same thing. (Saheeh Abi

Dawood).

Some insignificant person said that this hadeeth does not prove that musical

instruments are haraam, because if that were so, the Messenger of Allah (peace and

blessings of Allah be upon him) would have instructed Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased

with them both) to put his fingers in his ears as well, and Ibn ‘Umar would have

instructed Naafi’ to do likewise! The response to this is: He was not listening to it, but he

could hear it. There is a difference between listening and hearing.

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Concerning (music) which a person

does not intend to listen to, there is no prohibition or blame, according to scholarly

consensus. Hence blame or praise is connected to listening, not to hearing. The one

who listens to the Quran will be rewarded for it, whereas the one who hears it without

intending or wanting to will not be rewarded for that, because actions are judged by

intentions. The same applies to musical instruments which are forbidden: if a person

hears them without intending to, that does not matter. (al-Majmoo’, 10/78)

Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdisi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the listener is the one

who intends to hear, which was not the case with Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with

them both); what happened in his case was hearing. The Prophet (peace and blessings

of Allah be upon him) needed to know when the sound stopped because he had moved

away from that path and blocked his ears. So he did not want to go back to that path or

unblock his ears until the noise had stopped, so when he allowed Ibn ‘Umar to continue

hearing it, this was because of necessity. (al-Mughni, 10/173)

(Even though the hearing referred to in the comments of the two Imams is makrooh, it

was permitted because of necessity, as we will see below in the comments of Imam

Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him). And Allahknows best).

The views of the scholars (Imams) of Islam

Al-Qaasim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Singing is part of falsehood. Al-Hasan

(may Allah have mercy on him) said: if there is music involved in a dinner invitation

(waleemah), do not accept the invitation (al-Jaami by al-Qayrawaani, p. 262-263).

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The view of the four Imams is that

all kinds of musical instruments are haraam. It was reported in Saheeh al-Bukhaari and

elsewhere that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that there

would be among his ummah those who would allow zinaa, silk, alcohol and musical

instruments, and he said that they would be transformed into monkeys and pigs… None

of the followers of the imams mentioned any dispute concerning the matter of music.

(al-Majmoo’, 11/576).

Al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The four madhhabs are agreed that all

musical instruments are haraam. (al-Saheehah, 1/145).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The madhhab of Abu Haneefah is

the strictest in this regard, and his comments are among the harshest. His companions

clearly stated that it is haraam to listen to all musical instruments such as the flute and

the drum, even tapping a stick. They stated that it is a sin which implies that a person is

a faasiq (rebellious evil doer) whose testimony should be rejected. They went further

than that and said that listening to music is fisq (rebellion, evildoing) and enjoying it is

kufr (disbelief). This is their words. They narrated in support of that a hadeeth which

could not be attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). They

said: he should try not to hear it if he passes by it or it is in his vicinity. Abu Yoosuf said,

concerning a house from which could be heard the sound of musical instruments: Go in

without their permission, because forbidding evil actions is obligatory, and if it were not

allowed to enter without permission, people could not have fulfilled the obligatory duty

(of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil). (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/425).

Imam Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about playing the drum or

flute, if a person happens to hear the sound and enjoy it whilst he is walking or sitting.

He said: He should get up if he finds that he enjoys it, unless he is sitting down for a

need or is unable to get up. If he is on the road, he should either go back or move on.

(al-Jaami’ by al-Qayrawaani, 262). He (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “The only

people who do things like that, in our view, are faasiqs.” (Tafseer al-Qurtubi, 14/55).

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Among the types of earnings

which are haraam by scholarly consensus are ribaa, the fee of a prostitute, anything

forbidden, bribes, payment for wailing over the dead and singing, payments to fortune-

tellers and those who claim to know the unseen and astrologers, payments for playing

flutes, and all kinds of gambling. (al-Kaafi).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said, explaining the view of Imam al-

Shaafa'i: His companions who know his madhhab (point of view) stated that it is haraam

and denounced those who said that he permitted it. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/425).

The author of Kifaayat al-Akhbaar, who was one of the Shaafa’is, counted musical

instruments such as flutes and others, as being munkar (evil), and the one who is

present (where they are being played) should denounce them. (He cannot be excused

by the fact that there are bad scholars, because they are corrupting the sharee’ah, or

evil faqeers – meaning the Sufis, because they call themselves fuqaraa’ or faqeers –

because they are ignorant and follow anyone who makes noise; they are not guided by

the light of knowledge; rather they are blown about by every wind. (Kifaayat al-Akhbaar,

2/128).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: With regard to the view of Imam

Ahmad, his son ‘Abd-Allah said: I asked my father about singing. He said: Singing

makes hypocrisy grow in the heart; I do not like it. Then he mentioned the words of

Maalik: the evildoers (faasiqs) among us do that. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan)

Ibn Qudaamah, the researcher of the Hanbali madhhab – (may Allah have mercy on

him) said: Musical instruments are of three types which are haraam. These are the

strings and all kinds of flute, and the lute, drum and rabaab (stringed instrument) and so

on. Whoever persists in listening to them, his testimony should be rejected. (al-Mughni,

10/173). And he said (may Allah have mercy on him); If a person is invited to a

gathering in which there is something objectionable, such as wine and musical

instruments, and he is able to denounce it, then he should attend and speak out against

it, because then he will be combining two obligatory duties. If he is not able to do that,

then he should not attend. (al-Kaafi, 3/118)

Al-Tabari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The scholars of all regions are agreed

that singing is makrooh and should be prevented. Although Ibraaheem ibn Sa’d and

‘Ubayd-Allah al-‘Anbari differed from the majority, (it should be noted that) the

Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Adhere to the

majority.” And whoever dies differing from the majority, dies as a jaahili. (Tafseer al-

Qurtubi, 14/56). In earlier generations, the word “makrooh” was used to mean haraam,

then it took on the meaning of “disliked”. But this is to be understood as meaning that it

is forbidden, because he [al-Tabari] said “it should be prevented”, and nothing is to be

prevented except that which is haraam; and because in the two hadeeths quoted, music

is denounced in the strongest terms. Al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) is the

one who narrated this report, then he said: Abu’l-Faraj and al-Qaffaal among our

companions said: the testimony of the singer and the dancer is not to be accepted. I

say: if it is proven that this matter is not permissible, then accepting payment for it is not

permissible either.

Shaykh al-Fawzaan (may Allah preserve him) said: What Ibraaheem ibn Sa’d and

‘Ubayd-Allah al-‘Anbari said about singing is not like the kind of singing that is known

nowadays, for they would never have allowed this kind of singing which is the utmost in

immorality and obscenity. (al-I’laam)

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It is not permissible to make

musical instruments. (al-Majmoo’, 22/140). And he said: According to the majority of

fuqahaa’, it is permissible to destroy musical instruments, such as the tanboor [a

stringed instrument similar to a mandolin]. This is the view of Maalik and is the more

famous of the two views narrated from Ahmad. (al-Majmoo’, 28/113). And he said: …Ibn

al-Mundhir mentioned that the scholars were agreed that it is not permissible to pay

people to sing and wail… the consensus of all the scholars whose views we have

learned about is that wailing and singing are not allowed. Al-Shu’bi, al-Nakha’i and

Maalik regarded that as makrooh [i.e., haraam]. Abu Thawr, al-Nu’maan – Abu

Haneefah (may Allah have mercy on him) – and Ya’qoob and Muhammad, two of the

students of Abu Haneefah said: it is not permissible to pay anything for singing and

wailing. This is our view. And he said: musical instruments are the wine of the soul, and

what it does to the soul is worse than what intoxicating drinks do. (Majmoo’ al-Fataawa,

10/417).

Ibn Abi Shaybah (may Allahhave mercy on him) reported that a man broke a mandolin

belonging to another man, and the latter took his case to Shurayh (the renowned judge

for his excellent judgements). But Shurayh did not award him any compensation – i.e.,

he did not make the first man pay the cost of the mandolin, because it was haraam and

had no value. (al-Musannaf, 5/395).

Al-Baghawi (may Allah have mercy on him) stated in a fatwa that it is haraam to sell all

kinds of musical instruments such as mandolins, flutes, etc. Then he said: If the images

are erased and the musical instruments are altered, then it is permissible to sell their

parts, whether they are silver, iron, wood or whatever. (Sharh al-Sunnah, 8/28)

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.

Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: But the Prophet (peace and

blessings of Allah 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 Allah) 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 A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), when her

father (may Allah 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 Allah be pleased with him) said: “Musical instruments of the Shaytaan in the

house of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)!” The

Messenger of Allahhad turned away from them and was facing the wall – hence some

scholars said that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) would not tell anybody off

in front of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), but he

thought that the Messenger of Allah(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was not

paying attention to what was happening. And Allah knows best. He (the Prophet (peace

and blessings of Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah 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

Allah 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 Allah 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. Imam Abu ‘Ubayd (may Allah 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. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“They ask you (O Muhammad) about the spoils of war. Say: ‘The spoils are for

Allah and the Messenger.’ So fear Allah 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 Allah 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 Allahbe 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah (peace and blessings of Allah 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 Allah! How people can be led astray! (Madaarij al-

Saalikeen, 1/493)

Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A’ishah (may Allah 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 Allah 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 A’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 Allah 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 Allah 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: Imam Muslim mentioned in his introduction to his Saheeh that

‘Abd-Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah, 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 imams 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 ayah such as the following (interpretation of

the meaning):

“Verily, he used not to believe in Allah, 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 Allah 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 above.

Al-Qurtubi(may Allah have mercy on him) said: This – the view that it means singing –

is the best that has been said concerning this ayah, and Ibn Mas’ood swore three times

by Allah besides Whom there is no other god, that it does refer to singing. Then he

mentioned other imams 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 Allah have mercy on him), after quoting this Tafseer, said: Al-

Haakim Abu ‘Abd-Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah 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 Allah!

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah 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 Allahand His Messenger? … How can anyone who has the least amount

of insight and faith in his heart draw near to Allah 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)

Ibn Taymiyyah 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’an 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’an, 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 behavior 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

Allah without knowledge. They sought to avoid fisq (evildoing) and ended up committing

bid’ah – may Allah not bless them in it. It would have been better for them to follow the

path of the believers.

And Allah knows best. May Allah 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 Allah

have mercy on him)

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