Ruling on musical instruments

Praise be to Allaah.
The aayaat of the Qur’aan and the Ahaadeeth of
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) indicate that musical instruments are
condemned, and warn us against them. The
Qur’aan teaches that playing these instruments is
one of the things that leads people astray and
constitutes mockery of the Signs of Allaah. Allaah
says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talk to
mislead (men) from the Path of Allaah, without
knowledge, and takes it (the Path of Allaah, the
Verses of the Qur’aan) by way of mockery. For
such there will be a humiliating torment (in the
Hell-fire).” [Luqmaan 31:6]
Most of the scholars interpreted lahw al-hadeeth
(“idle talk”) as meaning singing and musical
instruments, and every voice that diverts people
from the truth.
Al-Tabari (Jaami’ al-Bayaan, 15/118-119), Ibn
Abi’l-Dunya (Dham al-Malaahi, 33) and Ibn al-
Jawzi (Talbees Iblees, 232) all reported that
concerning the aayah (interpretation of the
meaning):
“[Allaah said to Shaytaan;] ‘And istafziz [literally
means befool them gradually] those whom you can
with your voice, make assaults on them with your
cavalry and your infantry, mutually share with
them wealth and children, and make promises to
them.’ But Shaytaan promises them nothing but
deceit” [al-Isra’ 17:64]
Mujaahid said, “This refers to singing and flutes.”
Al-Tabari reported that al-Hasan al-Basri said:
“His voice is the tambourine.”
Ibn al-Qayyim said in Ighaathat al-Lahfaan (1/252)
:
“The grammatical structure here (idaafah –
genitive or possessive) is used to make something
specific (idaafat al-takhsees), and in all these
words in the aayah it refers back to the Shaytaan
[addressed here as ‘you’ by Allaah, may He be
glorified]. Everyone who speaks about anything
other than obedience of Allaah or plays a reed pipe,
flute, tambourine or drum, all of this is the voice of
Shaytaan.”
Al-Tirmidhi reported in his Sunan (no. 1005) from
Ibn Abi Layla from ‘Ata’ from Jaabir (may Allaah
be pleased with him) who said: “The Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
went to to al-Nakhl with ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn
‘Awf, when his son Ibraaheem was dying. He took
the child in his lap and his eyes filled with tears.
‘Abd al-Rahmaan said, ‘Are you weeping when you
have forbidden us to weep?’ He said, 'I do not
forbid weeping. What I have forbidden is two
foolish and evil kinds of voices: voices at times of
entertainment and play and the flutes of the
Shaytaan, and voices at times of calamity and
scratching the face and rending the garments and
screaming.’”
Al-Tirmidhi said: this is a hasan hadeeth. It was
also reported by al-Haakim in al-Mustadrak, no.
1683, al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubra (4/69), al-
Tayaalisi in Musnad (no. 1683) and by al-
Tahhaawi in Sharh al-Ma’aani, 4/29, and it was
classed as hasan by al-Albaani.
Al-Nawawi said: “What is meant here is singing
and musical instruments.” See Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi,
4/88.
It was reported in a saheeh hadeeth from the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “In my ummah there will be people who
allow fornication/adultery (zina), silk, wine and
musical instruments [ma’aazif]. Some people will
stay at the side of a mountain, and they will have
flocks of sheep. When a poor person comes in the
evening to ask them for something he needs, they
will say. ‘Come back to us tomorrow.’ Then during
the night Allaah will destroy them by causing the
mountain to fall upon them, while He changes
others into apes and swine. They will remain in
such a state until the Day of Resurrection.’”
(Reported by al-Bukhaari in al-Saheeh mu’allaqan,
51/10. Reported mawsoolan by al-Bayhaqi in al-
Sunan al-Kubra, 3/272; al-Tabaraani in al-Mu’jam
al-Kabeer, 3/319; and Ibn Hibbaan in al-Saheeh
(8/265-266). Classed as saheeh by Ibn al-Salaah
in ‘Uloom al-Hadeeth (32), Ibn al-Qayyim in
Ighaathat al-Lahfaan (255) and Tahdheeb al-
Sunan (5/270-272), al-Haafiz in al-Fath (10/51)
and al-Albaani in al-Saheehah (1/140)).
(Sahih Al Bukhari online, Book #69, Hadith # 494v )
Al-Haafiz said in al-Fath (10/55): Ma’aazif refers
to musical instruments. Al-Qurtubi reported from
al-Jawhari that ma’aazif meant singing, and what
it says in his book al-Sihaah is that it refers to
musical instruments. It was also said that it is the
sound of musical instruments. In a footnote by al-
Dimyaati it says: ma’aazif is tambourines and
other kinds of drums. The word ‘azif is applied to
singing and all other kinds of instruments that may
be played.
Ibn al-Qayyim said in Ighaathat al-Lahfaan (1/256)
:
The evidence for this is that ma’aazif refers to all
kinds of things used for entertainment. There is no
dispute among scholars of the Arabic language on
this point. If they were halaal, he would not have
condemned those who permitted them, or
compared permitting them to permitting wine and
zina.
We may understand from the hadeeth that all kinds
of musical instruments are forbidden. This is clear
from the hadeeth for a number of reasons:
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said “… there will be people who
allow…” It is clear that the things listed here,
including musical instruments, are forbidden in
sharee’ah, but those people will allow them.
He compared musical instruments to things that
are definitely known to be haraam, namely zina
and alcohol. If instruments were not haraam, he
would not have made this comparison. The
evidence of this hadeeth that singing is haraam is
definitive. Even if no other hadeeth or aayah spoke
about musical instruments, this hadeeth would be
sufficient to prove that they are haraam, especially
the kind of singing that is known among people
nowadays, the essence of which is obscenity and
foul talk, based on all kinds of musical instruments
such as guitars, drums, flutes, ouds, zithers,
organs, pianos, violins and other things that make
it more enticing, such as the voices of these
effeminate singers and whores.
(See Hukm al-Ma’aazif by al-Albaani, Tas-heeh al-
Ahkta’ wa’l-Awhaam al-Waaqi’ah fi Ahaadeeth al-
Nabi ‘alayhi’l-salaam by Raa’id Sabri, 1/176).
Shaykh Ibn Baaz said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa,
3/423-424):
“Ma’aazif refers to singing and musical
instruments. The Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) told us that at the end of time
there will come a people who will allow these
things just as they will allow alcohol, zina and silk.
This is one of the signs of his Prophethood, for all
of this has happened. The hadeeth indicates that
[musical instruments] are haraam, and condemns
those who say they are halaal, just as it condemns
those who say that alcohol and zina are allowed.
The aayaat and ahaadeeth that warn against
singing and musical instruments are many indeed.
Whoever claims that Allaah has allowed singing
and musical instruments is lying and is committing
a great evil. We ask Allaah to keep us from
obeying our desires and the Shaytaan. Even worse
and more seriously sinful than that are those who
say it is mustahabb. Undoubtedly this stems from
ignorance about Allaah and His Religion; it is
insolent blasphemy against Allaah and lying about
His Laws. What is mustahabb is to beat on the
daff [simple hand drum] at weddings. This is
mustahabb for women only, in order to announce
the wedding and to distinguish it from fornication.
There is nothing wrong with women singing
amongst themselves, accompanied by the daff, so
long as the songs contain no words that
encourage evil or distract people from their duties.
It is also a condition that this should take place
among women only, and there should be no mixing
with men. It should also not cause any annoyance
or disturbance to neighbours. What some people
do, of amplifying such singing with loudspeakers is
evil, because of the disturbance it causes to other
Muslims, neighbours and others. It is not
permissible for women, in weddings or on other
occasions, to use any instrument other than the
daff, such as the oud, violin, rebab (stringed
instrument) and so on. This is evil, and the only
concession that women are given is that they may
use the daff.
As for men, it is not permissible for them to play
any kind of musical instrument, whether at
weddings or on any other occasion. What Allaah
has prescribed for men is training in the use of
instruments of war, such as target practice or
learning to ride horses and competing in that,
using spears, shields, tanks, airplanes and other
things such as cannons, machine guns, bombs and
anything else that may help jihaad for the sake of
Allaah.”
Shaykh al-Islam said in al-Fataawa (11/569):
“I know that in the ‘golden age’, the first and best
three centuries, in the Hijaaz, in Syria, in the
Yemen, in Egypt, in the Maghreb, in Iraq, in
Khorasan, none of the religious and righteous
people, the ascetics and those who worshipped
Allaah much, would gather to listen to this
whistling and clapping and drum-beating and so
on. This was innovated after that at the end of the
second century, and whenever the imaams saw it,
they denounced it.”
As for these anaasheed which are described as
“Islamic” but are accompanied with musical
instruments, giving them this name lends them
some measure of legitimacy, but in fact they are
singing and music, so calling them Islamic
nasheeds is falsehood and deception. They cannot
be a substitute for singing, as an evil thing cannot
be substituted for another evil thing. We should
replace something evil with something good.
Listening to it on the grounds that it is Islamic and
an act of worship is bid’ah, and Allaah does not
allow this. We ask Allaah to keep us safe and
sound.
For more information, see:
Talbees Iblees (237) and al-Madkhil by Ibn al-Haaj
(3/109); al-Amr bi’l-Ittibaa’ wa’l-Nahy ‘an al-
Ibtidaa’ by al-Suyooti (99 ff); Dham al-Malaahi by
Ibn Abi’l-Dunya; al-I’laam bi-anna al-‘Azif haraam
by Abu Bakr al-Jazaa’iri; Tanzeeh al-Sharee’ah ‘an
al-Aghaani al-Khalee’ah wa Tahreem Aalaat al-
Tarab by al-Albaani.
(Jazak Allah Khair to sister Aneesah Murphy for
introducing this post.)