Sunday, February 22, 2009

Defiance

Lately I've read on a few blogs posts about music. The posts run from Muslims who are struggling to give it up to Muslims who know its wrong and defiantly listen to it anyway.

For those who are trying to give it up, I went through a lot of what you did. I never was without music before I reverted to Islam. At work I would have a radio on my desk and later my ipod packed full of every CD I owned. In the car I was always singing along with the radio at the top of my lungs (how embarrassing!). When I first accepted Islam I had no intention of giving it up. But as I learned and understood it became easy for me. I realized that it was taking my mind away from where it needed to be.

For those who are being defiant about it, I probably won't change your mind, but just do me a favor and read over these few Quran ayats and hadiths:

“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of Allaah…” [Luqmaan 31:6]

“Do you then wonder at this recitation (the Qur’aan)? And you laugh at it and weep not, Wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)”[al-Najm 53:59-61]

“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).

Narrated Abu 'Amir or Abu Malik Al-Ash'ari that he heard the Prophet saying, "From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks, and the use of musical instruments as lawful. And (from them), there will be some who will stay near the side of a mountain, and in the evening their shepherd will come to them with their sheep and ask them for something, but they will say to him, 'Return to us tomorrow.' Allah will destroy them during the night and will let the mountain fall on them, and Allah will transform the rest of them into monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Resurrection."

Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: Salam ibn Miskin, quoting an old man who witnessed AbuWa'il in a wedding feast, said: They began to play, amuse and sing. He united the support of his hand round his knees that were drawn up, and said: I heard Abdullah (ibn Mas'ud) say: I heard the apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) say: singing produces hypocrisy in the heart. (Book #41, Hadith #4909)

So looking at the above (which is just a few of many) how can you read these and not care about what they say? Where it says 'Among my Ummah will be those who permit zina, silk, alcohol and musical instruments'... Music is being compared to ZINA there. So why would you think its ok? The Messenger of Allah said that singing produces hypocrisy in the heart... do you think you know better than he does?

Even if you don't want to admit it, music takes you away from where you should be. Perhaps you see it as relaxing or as a pick me up, but Allah knows better than we do what is good and bad for us. As Muslims we stay away from alcohol, pork, zina and many other things, but when it comes to music we can't give it up? Why? Do you love something of this dunya so much that you can't obey your creator? Think about it. The desire to listen to music is so strong for you, where do you think that desire comes from? Perhaps a whisper in your ear?

Anyway, my rant is over. For those of you who struggle with it, may Allah guide you to success. For those who are defiant about it, may Allah open your heart and mind to what you do not know.


34 comments:

Naimah said...

Masha'Allaah good post sis, Jazakillaahu khairan.

Anonymous said...

Assalamu alaikum wr wb,

Sister, in the last paragraph you refered to your post as a rant "Anyway, my rant is over". Your post wasnt a rant! It was good nasiha and dawa.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm very clever in comparing music to zina and alcohol when both are prohibitions mentioned in the Quran but music is not. If i was you i would be careful to make sweeping generalisation.

Candice said...

I think you missed a category in your first paragraph. There are those who want to give it up, there are those who believe it's wrong and do not want to give it up, and there are those who simply don't think it's wrong.

About the Qur'an verses you quote... Is there not a word in Arabic that means "singing" or "music"? If the verses were talking about singing or music, the words themselves could have been used. I'm no expert, but I know how to use my mind and I looked up a few translations for your first examples where you find "idle talks" to mean music and other translations were: "idle tales", "pastime of discourse" and "frivolous discourse". Reading the full verse, all of them seem to mean that people who lead others away from the Path or are lead away from the Path by will have their punishment. He could be singing it, whispering it, talking in a loud or low voice, etc. I think it would still apply in this verse. And singing or music about good things would not.
It sounds like someone saw these Hadiths and tried to find anything they possibly could in the Qur'an to validate it.

Jamilah said...

Anon

Don't know if you are Muslim or not... but I was not making the 'sweeping gerneralization' it comes from a sahih hadith.. which means that the Prophet (saws) said it. Might want to get your facts straight before commenting ;)

Jamilah said...

Candice,

Thanks for commenting, but for those who don't think its wrong, they are really just fooling themselves. Its pretty clear to me and to many Muslims that music is haram. And you know what? I do my research too and I refer to scholars when I do that. I am far from qualified to come to these conclusions on my own.

Just like anything else, if you shop around you can find a ruling that says anything is ok, but that does not make it right.

Candice said...

Oh, I know you research scholar's opinions and that many Muslims might agree with you about the ruling.
I like to figure things out for myself with the help of knowledgable people, but what comes first and foremost is to use my God-given sense of right and wrong and the Qur'an.
The only way I can understand music being prohibited is because I know it's an Islamic thing to stay away from any temptation whether it's staying away from the opposite sex to avoid the slightest chance of having sex before marriage (which is prohibited), or not drinking alcohol to avoid any chance of getting intoxicated (which is prohibited).

Jamilah said...

Candice

Which knowledgeable people are you referring too? I understand that you feel strongly about using your own mind to determine what is right and wrong, but in this situation you are determining something to be right and then trying to find ways to have the Quran and sunnah agree with that.

Allah knows better than we do what is good for us. It takes time to realize that sometimes... I did not just stop listening to music right away, I had to learn and read about it to see what Allah wanted for me.

In any case, I'm not going to convince you of anything, only Allah guides whom he wills.

Jamilah said...

I love the reject comment button :)

Jamilah said...

And one more thing. If you have real proof from real scholars that music is a-ok, show me. I'd be interested to hear it.

Candice said...

In this case, I'm using the Qur'an, and different translations (interpretations) of it to get a sense of what the Arabic is saying. And it does not appear to talk about music at all.
I'm not even trying to convince myself that it's not talking about music, the words are telling me it's not about music. If it was made to be a prohibition on all music, I'm sure a clearer word or expression could have been used by God to mean music. And I don't have anything against men wearing silk either.

Anonymous said...

Did the prophet mention music? No he did not. He said idle talk, someone else chose to interpret that to mean music, if the interpreter was alive today would he have included watching TV and spending plenty of hours on the net? Scholar or no scholar, there are some hadiths that are straightforward and you need to use common sense to understand it. The deen is for the simple layman to grasp. I believe there is nothing wrong with music. I have no problem with your interpretation either, but you cannot equate music to zina when in the latter there is punishement prescribed. Yes i am muslim.

Anonymous said...

Jamliah,

Aren't the places in () in the Qur'an additions? Not that the writers are changing the Qur'an, but that those words aren't in the original? More that they're intepretations of what was meant? Commentary, sort of. So that those, not being Qur'an, could be mistaken?

And what about the...daff? drum? That's permitted, I've been told, and I've been told that Islamic forms of music are permitted, like nasheed (I think I've got that word right).

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Jamilah said...

Halal Honey

What proof did they bring? Did they say any music? Were the talking about todays pop music? The only one of these scholars I've heard of Qaradawi and he is known to be liberal and extreme at the same time. He also thinks suicide bombs are permissiable, so I'm not sure I want to take anything from him.

I think I said this before... you can shop around and find a ruling to make anything permissable.

Jamilah said...

Halal Honey

The hadiths you brought and their explinations are the opinions of some, yes. But not the opinions of most. Also if you are going to comment on the blog could you put it all in one comment and not 5, its irritating.

You said:

Music and singing has been used successfully for over a decade in this country as a means to bring the youth to have stronger faith in their religion.

Ummm, thats christianity that does that, so immitating the disbleivers is the way we should be?

I know you have strong opinions and you are entitled to them, but I have mine too, and I'd rather obey my creator than obey my own desires.

Jamilah said...

Anon

I just think you are really confused. THe Hadith that I posted that says zina and musical instruments in it is a saying of the Prophet, not me. I also checked with a native arabic speaker and the word used does mean Musical instruments.

Tafsir of the Quran is done by qualified scholars, not by me.

Jamilah said...

Amber

The langauge of the Quran is very rich, sometimes there is not one English word that can equate to the words being used in the Quran. The things in ( ) are there to clarify and make the meaning the most accurate it can be.

The Duff drum is permissible in certain situations and nasheeds can be ok but some of them can be cultural and involve shirk...

Candice said...

Yes, having 5 comments probably would have been a bit irritating, but to delete the comments and then reply to them anyway is fully irritating for the readers. Of course it's your blog, moderate whatever way you want. I just find it annoying to hear only one side of an argument. But even just hearing your side about using music to bring people stronger faith being equal to immitating the disbelievers... I think you can only immitate the disbelievers if you immitate what makes them disbelievers.

Jamilah said...

Candice, I didn't remove those, she did. If you look they say removed by the author.

I do reserve the right to publish only the comments that I feel are respectable and pertain to the topic at hand. But in this case she removed them, not me.

Imitating the disbelievers does not only pertain to things that make them disbelievers. It also pertains to imitating their lifestyle and so on.

Candice said...

Sorry about the misunderstanding. I didn't notice that it was removed by Halal Honey herself. I just thought you were loving the delete button as much as the reject button :p
About immitating, you obviously see your view as pure fact, but I don't agree... I don't think it's a sin to immitate good things.

Jamilah said...

I'm looking at it from an Islamic standpoint. I've done some studying on the topic of imitating the disbelievers and that is what the scholars say... not me.

Anonymous said...

"The halal is clear and the haram is clear. Between the two there are doubtful matters concerning which people do not know whether they are halal or haram. One who avoids them in order to safeguard his religion and his honor is safe, while if someone engages in a part of them he may be doing something haram" reported by Bukhari and others.

Personally I find it clear that music is haram and that is the majority opinion and the opinion of the imams of the 4 madhabs. There is only disagreement in the 4 madhabs regarding the duff as opposed to other drums and whether they are allowed only in certain circumstances like weddings or at all times. In any case isn't it safer to avoid it as the hadith I mentioned indicates?

بنت بيتر said...

Im gonna repost this here, hope u dont mind hahaha sorry for the confusion.

Here is my comment which I sleepily posted in the wrong place!

As you mentioned in your title, some people are simply defiant. Unless we have an excellent command of Arabic language and have spent most of our lives studying Quran and Islam, I simply cannot even begin to comprehend how someone could declare music halal when ALL FOUR madhabs - that is - actual scholars, have declared it haram. And the only dispute I have seen there as someone mentioned is to the permissability of the duff. Some even say that is haram! And as that clever person already mentioned as well, a true believer will simply stay away from the doubtful matters and stay away from the gray areas! Simple!

OH and there are certain people who only go to peoples blogs to argue, if I were you I would not bother trying to discuss things with them. They are out only to cause fitnah apparently.

For more info on music:
http://www.fatwaislam.com/fis/index.cfm?scn=fd&ID=502

http://www.troid.org/ibaadah/common-conflcts/the-ruling-concerning-music-according-to-the-four-imaams.html

And when in doubt:
Give up what is doubtful to you for that which is not doubtful; for truth is peace of mind and falsehood is doubt. (At-Tirmidhi)

Narrated Abu Hurairah: Allah’s Messenger said, “It is from the excellence of (a believer’s) Islam that he should abandon that which is of no benefit to him (in this world and the Hereafter). (At- Tirmidhi )

A person asked Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him): What is faith? He said: When a good deed becomes a source of pleasure for you and an evil deed becomes a source of disgust for you, then you are a believer. He again said Allah’s Messenger: What is a sin? Whereupon he said: When something pricks your conscience, give it up. (Transmitted by Ahmad )

Teer said...

I actually recently posted parts of an article I read about this on my facebook. At first, I tagged sisters that did listen to music (and sisters that didn't, as well) but then I didn't want to offend anyone. So, I untagged a lot of people. But, it's there for them to read. InshaAllah they will.

I didn't post Ayahs or Hadiths but a sister who commented added those on. I had the opinions of the four imaams up.

Good post mashaAllah.

UmmSqueakster said...

assalamu alaikum,

While I'm in the "it's best not to listen to music" camp, I'm married to a man who follows Ibn Hazm in matters of fiqh, so I'm aware of the fact that Ibn Hazm allows music/musical instruments to a certain degree. The reason he makes this ruling is because he investigated the ahadith on the issue and did not believe they were sahih.

Jamilah said...

I've not heard of Ibn Hazm.. I'll have to look him up. A lot of these hadith are in Bukhari, Musim, Abu Dawood... so I trust that they are saheeh.

Welcome to the camp btw! lol

UmmSqueakster said...

Assalamu Alaikum,

It's fascinating to look into the science and history of hadith. One of the things I've found is that the mujtahid imams would sometimes disagree about what hadith were sahih and what weren't.

Ibn Hazm is also a fascinating look. Unfortunately, most of his books aren't translated into english, so he's a bit inaccessible for those who can't speak arabic.

Jamilah said...

Yes it is. I took a class at TROID this past summer about hadith sciences and it was very good. That is why I am very confident with the sahih hadiths of Bukhari, Muslim and Abu Dawood.... because I learned what steps they took to authenticate them.

Teer said...

Troid is awesome! Haha. I love troid.