What does Islam say about music?

There is an experiment done with frogs and boiling water and its premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, then it will jump out immediately, however if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. Somewhat of a similar story has happened to us, Muslims, in regards to music. It has slowly and gradually entered our homes, our institutions and it has penetrated deep into our society. The situation has gotten so out of hand that it has become a part of our daily lives so much so that it is acceptable not just to the youth but, most of the times, even to the elderly people. And people use all kinds of arguments in justifying listening to music; "it's just a source of entertainment", "it's a source of relaxation", "it's an expression of speech" etc.

Abu Muawiyyah (R.A.) narrates that Prophet (S.A.W.) has said: "Verily Allah has sent me with guidance and as a mercy to mankind and (inspite of this) He ordered me to obliterate musical instruments, idols, the cross and things of ignorance." -Narrated by At Tayalisi, Ahmad, At Tabrani in Mujam al Kabeer, Ibn Abdul Barr, Hassan Bin Sufyaan, Ibn Munda, Abu Nuaim, Ar Ruyani, Al Harith, Al Ashyab, Al Haythami, Al Ajuri, Ibn An Najjjar, Ibn Adi and others.

Furthermore, Anas bin Malik mentions that the Prophet (S.A.W.) has said, "Two voices are cursed in this world and the hereafter; music at the time of happiness and wailing at the time of calamity."- Narrated by Al Bazzar, Adh Dhiyaa al Maqdisi, Ibn Murduyah, Al Bayhaqi, Abu Nuaim and others.

Ask yourselves this; have you ever heard any story of the Prophet (S.A.W.) listening to and enjoying music or of the sahaba listening to it? Even asking such a question seems absurd, but why is it so? Because music and Islam are two separate and mutually exclusive terms, music leads to shamelessness whereas the deen demands shame. Music leads to vanity and heedlessness whereas Islam teaches the opposite of that. Many people love to quote the example of the incident when Prophet (S.A.W.) was entering Madinah and some little girls had gathered up with a duff to sing songs to welcome the Prophet (S.A.W.) and the Prophet (S.A.W.) did not stop them. But they don’t realize, at the same time, the grave error of quoting something out of context. The reasons why the Prophet (S.A.W.) did not stop them then are manifold, firstly they weren’t singing songs with drums and electric guitars etc but were only using duff which is permissible in Islam. Secondly, they were singing to greet the Prophet (S.A.W.) not for the reasons why people sing songs today, hence one can also imagine the VAST difference in those lyrics and in the lyrics of the songs that we listen to.

Moreover, if one actually wants to know the status of music in Islam, then instead of concentrating on an incident where the Prophet (S.A.W.) was lenient due to his love for little children and his softness of character, one should rather look at situations where the Prophet (S.A.W.) chose to make clear the evils of music. One incident in which it is made clear how disliked music is; is as follows:

It was narrated that Buraydah said: The Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.) went out on one of his military campaigns, and when he came back, a black slave woman came and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I vowed that if Allah brought you back safe and sound, I would beat the duff before you and sing.” The Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.) said, “If you vowed that, then do it, otherwise do not do it.’” So she started to beat the duff , Abu Bakr came in whilst she was doing so, then ‘Ali came in and she kept on beating the duff, then ‘Uthmaan came in, yet she still kept beating the duff. Then ‘Umar came in and she threw the duff beneath her and sat on it. The Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.) said, “The Satan is afraid of you, O ‘Umar. I was sitting and she was beating the duff, then Abu Bakr came in she was beating the duff; then ‘Ali came in she was beating the duff; then ‘Uthmaan came in she was beating the duff, but when you came in, O ‘Umar, she put the duff down.” - Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 3690; classed as Saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi, 2913.

In another incident, Nafi narrates that Ibn Umar (R.A.) heard the (sound of the) musical instruments of a shepherd. He immediately placed his hands in his ears and changed his route and continuously asked: “Oh Nafi, can you still hear?” (Nafi says): “I constantly replied in the positive. When I finally said that I could not hear, Ibn Umar resumed his route. Thereafter, Ibn Umar mentioned: “This is what Prophet (S.A.W.) did.” - Narrated by Abu Dawood, Ibn Hibbaan, At Tabrani in Al Kabeer and Al Awsat, Ahmad, Al Bayhaqi, Al Haythami, Al Aajuri, Ibn Sad, Ibn Abi ad Dunya in Al War’ and Dham al malahi and others. This hadith is narrated through chains which are authentic.

Hence it is clear from the afore-mentioned incidents that music is a tool of shaitan with which he distracts and misguides people. In fact, it does not JUST lead us to wasting our time while we are listening to it but it also gets stuck in our head and is put on repeat by the satan in our heads while we our performing our prayers! We memorise those obscene lyrics at the expense of memorising the verses of the Noble Qur'an! Ask yourself honestly; can listening to Lady Gaga help one concentrate in salah? Or does listening to increasingly atrocious Bollywood songs help us in getting closer to Allah?

The vanity that music indulges us in is further emphasized in Surah Najm where Allah says in verses 59-62:
"Are you astonished at this recitation (the Quran)? And you laugh and do not cry. Wasting your time  in vanities. So fall in prostration to Allah and worship Him."
Many commentators have interpreted the term "vanities" that is mentioned here to refer to as music.

Looking at further evidences against the prohibition of music:
Allah Ta'ala says in Surah Luqman, verse 6:
"From amongst men there are those who purchase "lahw al hadith" without knowledge to mislead from the path of Allah and they ridicule it. For them there is a humiliating punishment."
The greatest and most renowned commentators of the Quran have said that the term "lahw al hadith" refers to music, from amongst these commentators include Hasan Al-Basri, Abdullah bin Masud, Amr ibn Shuyaib and many more. In fact, Abdullah bin Masud and Abdullah bin Abbass used to take an oath and say that this verse refers to music!

And then in Surah Isra, verse 64, Allah Ta'ala says:
" "And gradually befool those who you can from them with your voice and assault them with your horses and foot soldiers and become a partner in their wealth and their children and promise them." But Satan does not promise them except delusion."
Here again "with your voice" has been interpreted by many mufasirun (commentators of Quran) as music.

Apart from these proofs, there are many more ahadith that condemn the playing of and listening to music but obviously not all of them could be stated here. In fact, the only reason that I have even quoted ahadith and verses of the Quran is only as a formality and as a means of giving evidence that Islam is against music. Otherwise I don't even see why we need to go into the debate of whether music is haraam or not, or if it is maqrooh or not, when the only thing we should be asking ourselves is whether it makes us draw closer to Allah or whether it leads us to vanity and draws us away from Allah. Islam was not revealed as a list of “to do things” and “not to do things.” Islam was revealed as a truth, a way to realize one’s purpose in life and as a way to achieve the best in this world and in the life yet to come. But it is our tragedy that we have reduced Islam to just a set of rules and restrictions. It is even more depressing that only a few of us know that ONLY 3% of the Quran talks about what is halal and haraam and the rest of the Quran talks about so many other things!

Not listening to music does not mean the end of the world, it is true that music is everywhere and COMPLETELY avoiding it is almost impossible these days. Still we need to play our part and do whatever is in our power to not listen to music. Try it and trust me that In shaa Allah you won't even feel any charm in listening to music anymore. Our ears have been given to us by Allah then why should we use them to listen to something that draws us away from Him? Listen to nasheeds (without music obviously) and the recitation of Quran and you'll forget why you ever even listened to music in the first place. And when you're at that level then pray for consistency in your deeds and hidayah for those who have love for music. Take the first step and Allah will In shaa Allah make everything else easy for us.

"Advice to those who want to soften their hearts."

This is segment from a lecture by shaykh Salih Al Maghamsi, who is the imam of Masjid al Quba in Medina, Saudi Arabia. He is one of the most well known scholars of tafseer around.

A short video by Nouman Ali Khan.

Facing opposition- silently?

Recently I have been in certain situations where I have been faced with the question as to what is more important; to practice one’s own beliefs in peace or to raise a voice whenever you see something being done the wrong way. Much to my disliking, I have come to the conclusion that on most occasions it is best to stay silent. The reasons for this are manifold, one of the most important reasons being that people will only listen to you when they have their minds open and most of the time people are not willing to hear a thing that goes against their preconceived notions or their interests(to be more precise).

However, contrary to the belief of most Pakistani Muslims, Islam is not JUST based on an individual’s beliefs and actions, but in fact Islam pays a lot of emphasis on community, relations and their significance. And this is so because Islam is not just a religion but it is a way of life. Furthermore, just like a person is defined by the company he/she keeps, similarly every society has inbuilt norms and the people living within the society are expected to comply with its norms. Here is where the problem sets in, if our society is doing something the wrong way, it doesn’t matter to people because it is something that everyone is doing, the question of right and wrong is put on a back foot. Our society is following traditions and cultures blindly.

Our people have “chosen” to live in ignorance and oblivion; they have taken laughter as not just the best remedy but rather as the only remedy. Everything is treated as a joke and everything is made a joke of. Shows are being produced such as “hum sab umeed se hain” which make fun of the things which our people should actually be crying about but somehow it is funny when our Prime Minister is handing out charity funds to fraudulent parties, when our cricket team is accused of match fixing or when the politicians and leaders are running this country to ruins. It is all so funny! It is funny when the poor are killing their own families because they don’t have money to feed them, it is funny when graves are being dug up and bodies are being sold for black magic and it is funny when our people are dying because they are slaughtering each other!

Our masses watch the news for hours and hours, then they have even longer intellectual discussions and debates on it and yet they fail to look for solutions; they fail to initiate a change. Our problems are many but the causes for such a chaos are few. The reason why we are in such a mess is because we are in denial, the people who can bring a change become too easily disheartened and flee away from taking responsibility, they hear about the bad conditions of the country and carry on with their daily routines and work, all the time hoping and trying to find avenues to escape to foreign countries. While the people in rural areas and down-trodden parts of the country are caught up in such a vicious cycle that many of them are not even aware of the ignorance that is surrounding them. There are such people who don’t know how to recite Quran, they believe in everything being told to them by peers and faqirs and they do grave worshipping believing that it would earn them heaven.

I’m willing to silently go about my business, to just mend my beliefs and work on myself but then if I happen to do something good today it will not be because of my own righteousness but because of Allah’s mercy. Allah has bestowed us with countless blessings, He has made us Muslims; if He has chosen the best for us, why then do we keep running towards the worst? However, having said that there is no doubt that my first most priority should be to keep myself away from all that is wrong and then try to speak up against it and if conditions allow then even put an end to the wrong being done. For verily it is a hadith that;

"When you see an evil act you have to stop it with your hand. If you can't, then at least speak out against it with your tongue. If you can't, then at least you have to hate it with all your heart. And this is the weakest of faith."- Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Number 79

One thing that is crucial to note in all of this, however, is that guidance comes only and only from Allah and our job is only to watch over ourselves and warn others against wrong.

“And [had you been present], you would see the sun when it rose, inclining away from their cave on the right, and when it set, passing away from them on the left, while they were [laying] within an open space thereof. That was from the signs of Allah. He whom Allah guides is the [rightly] guided, but he whom He leaves astray - never will you find for him a protecting guide.”- Surah Kahf, ayat 17

Since Allah has power over everything hence we should continuously turn to Him and pray to Him for the well-being of our country and the well-being of Muslims. We should also ALWAYS pray to Allah to bestow His mercy and blessings upon us and to give us guidance because we are in dire need of it!! May Allah guide us all! Ameen!

What a wonderful world by Dawud Wharnsby and Zain Bhika

BACKBITING

Backbiting is one of the major sins that almost all of our society, including myself, freely indulges in without realizing how grave a sin it is. Even though it is common sense for people to know that backbiting is wrong, not just from an Islamic perspective but even from a mere ethical perspective. And a funny thing you'll find is that the more a person loves backbiting, the more they get hurt when they find out if someone has said something about them behind their backs which they find displeasing. Despite the fact that this is highly ironic, a reason behind it might be that the more a person indulges in sins, the more they start caring about what other people will say about them rather than what Allah thinks of them.

So what is backbiting exactly? It is to mention something about your brother that he would dislike having mentioned about him. [Sahih Muslim (2589)] Al-Hasan al-Basrî said: “Backbiting has three manifestations, all of which are discussed in Allah’s Book. They are: backbiting, tale-telling, and slander. As for backbiting, it is to say about your brother something that is true about him. Tale-telling is to say something that you have heard about him. Slander is to say about him what is not true.”

But let’s come to the gist of the matter; if it is actually so clear that backbiting is something wrong, that it causes rifts between relationships, that it hurts people and that it is also a MAJOR sin (Gunah-he-kabirah), then why do people still do not abstain from it? So what are the reasons which lead us to backbite and how can we stop ourselves:

• A person will intentionally backbite if he/she has a weak faith because if a person is conscious of the fact that Allah is Ever-Present, All-Aware and All-Knowing then they will never do something that they know is displeasing to Allah. Furthermore, having faith also means valuing the creations of Allah and not judging other people because only Allah knows what's in the hearts of men, and if we truly believe in that then we will not even think of backbiting. 

• Also, when people talk a lot then they ultimately end up running short of good topics and hence turn to talking about other people and even if they initially start by talking about something good about someone they still usually end up by talking about bad qualities of people. Hence we need to find better activities then just talking, secondly we need to talk less and lastly even if and when we do talk, make it a habit that you don't talk about other people.

• Also realize that backbiting is never a solution to any problem, in fact it is a HUGE cause of problems, if you find something annoying about someone then either go up to them and let them know about it or ignore and move on because it can be very well so that if you find something annoying about someone then that same person also finds something annoying about you!

• Realize that nobody is perfect, in fact Perfection is a trait of Allah and so you have no reason to criticize other people, because if they have their faults then that's only human and you never know whether the sins that you criticize them for are the sins that they've already repented for. According to Al-Hasan, and as reported in At-Tirmidhee and other collections in marfoo' form (i.e. that the Prophet said): "Whosoever condemns his brother for a sin (he committed) that he repented from, will not die until he has committed it (i.e. the same sin) himself."

• Also if you want that Allah is not harsh in judging you then you should never be harsh in judging other people as well. Imam al-Ghazali stated, "The hypocrite looks for faults, the believer looks for excuses." 

I hope these are enough solutions to make all of us stay away from this nasty sin. Please realize that backbiting is NOT a minor sin but it is a MAJOR sin and that we should always make a conscious effort to stay away from it and we should also seek refuge in Allah from it. May Allah guide us all and give us the will and determination to stay from vain desires and sins. Aameen! 

Great Islamic Quotes

reference: http://islamic-quotes.tumblr.com/