Question
What is the Islamic ruling on music?
Answer
Listening to singing is a forbidden act, and there are countless proofs for its prohibition. The detailed fatwa of Shaykh Salih al-Munajjid on the prohibition of singing and listening to it is presented below.
The Almighty says:
” ومن الناس من يشتري لهو الحديث ليضل عن سبيل الله “
And among the people is one who purchases idle talk to mislead [others] from the way of Allah without knowledge and to take it in ridicule. For those there will be a humiliating punishment.
Abdullah ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) and Mujahid, in explaining this verse, say that it refers to singing and musical instruments.
Shaykh Sa’di (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“It includes every forbidden speech, all idle and false talk, nonsense, speech that inclines toward disbelief and disobedience, speech of those who block the path of truth and dispute the truth with false arguments, every kind of backbiting and tale-bearing, abuse and insult, lies and falsehood, singing and musical instruments, the satanic sound of music, and vain and idle accounts and debates that bring neither religious nor worldly benefit.”
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
” لهو الحديث “ That is, in explaining “purchasing idle talk,” the explanation given by the Companions and the great Tabi’un is sufficient. They explained it as: this is singing and musical instruments. It is authentically established from Ibn Abbas and Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with them).
Abu al-Sahba’ says: I asked Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) about the statement of Allah:
’’ و من الناس من يشترى لهو الحديث ‘‘ and asked what it means. His answer was:
By Allah, besides whom there is no deity worthy of worship, it means singing and musical instruments. He repeated this statement three times.
And it is authentically established from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that it means singing and musical instruments.
There is no contradiction in explaining idle talk as singing and musical instruments, or as the words of non-Arabs and their kings and the news of the rulers of Rome, or other such things that Nadr ibn al-Harith used to recite to the people of Makkah so that they would not pay attention to the Qur’an. All of these are included in idle talk.
For this reason Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: idle talk means falsehood and singing and musical instruments.
So some Companions have mentioned this, others have mentioned another matter, and some Companions have combined both and mentioned them together. Singing and musical instruments are a severe form of idleness and are more harmful than the words of kings and rulers, because they are a ladder and a precursor to fornication, they produce hypocrisy and polytheism, they involve the partnership of Satan, and they create intoxication of the intellect. Singing and musical instruments are the most intense of the false kinds of speech that prevent and block one from the Qur’an, because the self has a strong inclination toward them and desires them.
So within these verses it is explained that choosing play, amusement, singing and musical instruments in place of the Qur’an, so as to block others from the way of Allah without knowledge and to make it a subject of mockery, is blameworthy. When the Qur’an is recited to such a person, he turns away as if he had not heard it, as if there were a barrier in his ears, which is a burden and deafness. And if he comes to know something of the Qur’an, he starts to mock and ridicule it. All of this proceeds only from a person who is the greatest of disbelievers among people. And if some of those who sing and those who listen to them share in this, they too have a share in this blame.” See:
Nafi’ (may Allah have mercy on him) reports:
“Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) heard the sound of a flute, so he placed his fingers in his ears and moved off the road, saying to me: Nafi’, do you hear anything? I said: No. So he removed his fingers from his ears and said: I was once with the Prophet ﷺ, and he heard a sound and did the same.”
Some people think that this hadith is not evidence for its prohibition, because if that were so, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would have ordered Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) to block his ears, and Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) would likewise have ordered Nafi’ to do so!
The answer to this is that he was not listening to it attentively; rather, the sound fell upon his ears, and there is a difference between a hearer (sami’) and a listener (mustami’). A hearer refers only to one who hears, while a listener refers to one who listens attentively.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“Whatever a person hears without intention and purpose, by unanimous agreement of the imams, no ruling of prohibition or blame attaches to it. For this reason, blame and praise attach to attentive listening, not to mere hearing. So one who listens attentively to the Qur’an will receive reward, but one who hears the Qur’an without intention and purpose receives no reward, because actions depend on intentions. Likewise, singing and musical instruments have been prohibited; if one hears them without any intention or purpose, it will not harm him.” See:
Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“The listener (mustami’) is one who listens intentionally and deliberately. This was not found in Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both); rather, what was found in him was mere hearing, meaning he heard without any intention or purpose, and the sound fell upon his ears. Also, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ needed to be informed that the sound had stopped, since Ibn Umar had moved off the road to the other side and had blocked his ears, so he would not return to that road, nor would he remove his fingers from his ears before the sound ended. Therefore it was permitted out of necessity.” See:
It appears that the hearing mentioned in the words of both imams is disliked, and it was permitted out of necessity, as will be explained later in the statement of Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him), واللہ اعلم.
The statements of the imams of Islam on this:
Qasim (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“Singing and musical instruments are part of falsehood.”
And Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“If there is idle play and singing and musical instruments at a wedding feast, then its invitation is not to be accepted.” See:
And Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“The position of the four imams is that all musical instruments are forbidden. It is established in Sahih al-Bukhari and others that the Prophet ﷺ informed that among his ummah there will be people who will make fornication, silk, wine and singing and musical instruments lawful…”
And in this hadith it is mentioned that their forms will be transformed and they will be made into apes and swine…
And none of the followers of the imams has mentioned any dispute regarding musical instruments.” See:
Allamah al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“The four schools of thought agree that musical instruments are forbidden.” See:
And Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi (may Allah have mercy on him), a scholar of the Hanbali school, says:
“Singing and musical instruments are of three kinds:
First type: Haram.
It is playing the flute, the sarangi, the drum, the guitar, and the like.
So the one who regularly listens to it, his testimony will not be accepted; he is rejected as a witness.
And in another place he says:
“And if he is invited to a wedding feast in which there is evil, such as drinking alcohol or singing and playing music, then if it is possible for him to go there and prevent that evil, he should attend and stop it, because in this way he can combine two obligations. But if it is not possible to stop it, then he should not attend.”
Al-Tabari, may Allah have mercy on him, says:
“The scholars of all regions are agreed on the disapproval of singing and playing music and on preventing it; only Ibrahim ibn Sa’d and Ubaydullah al-Anbari have separated from their group.”
And the saying of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is:
“You must stay with the main body (sawad a’zam), and whoever separates from the community dies the death of the Jahiliyyah.”
In earlier periods the word karahah (disliked) was used in the sense of haram, but later the meaning of tanzih (reprehension short of prohibition) came to prevail over it. The meaning of prohibition is taken from the statement: “and it should be prevented,” because what is not haram is not prevented, and also because both hadiths mention it, and it is forbidden in them with great severity.
And Imam al-Qurtubi, may Allah have mercy on him, has himself narrated this report, and after it he says:
“Among our companions, Abu al-Faraj and Abu Qaffal say: the testimony of one who sings and dances will not be accepted.”
I say: And when it is established that this is not permissible, then taking payment for it is also not permissible.
Shaykh Fawzan, may Allah preserve him, says:
“The singing that Ibrahim ibn Sa’d and Ubaydullah al-Anbari declared permissible is not like the singing that is well known….. Those two mentioned persons never permitted the kind of singing that contains extremely wrong and base speech.” Taken from: Al-A’lam.
Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, says:
“It is not permissible to manufacture musical instruments.”
And in another place he says:
“Destroying and wasting musical instruments, such as the drum, is permissible according to most jurists; this is the position of Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, and it is the well-known narration from Imam Ahmad.”
And he also says:
“Sixth point: Ibn al-Mundhir, may Allah have mercy on him, mentions the consensus of scholars on not taking payment for singing and wailing, saying:
Among the people of knowledge from whom we have acquired knowledge, all of them agree on preventing the singing woman and the wailing woman. Al-Sha’bi, al-Nakha’i and Malik have disliked it, and Abu Thawr, Nu’man (Abu Hanifah), Ya’qub and Muhammad, the two students of Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on them, say:
It is not permissible to give anything in payment for singing or wailing, and this is also our view.”
And he also says:
“Singing and playing music is the wine of the soul, and it corrupts it, and it does to the soul what even a cup of wine does not do.”
