Allāh created us to this world and did not just leave us to while away all our time. He sent us Prophets and Messengers to guide us. Whosoever follows these Messengers will be rewarded with Paradise and whoever disobeys them would be punished by Allāh.
The seal of the Messengers and the Prophets, Muhammad ﷺ came to us, he did not leave out anything that will benefit us except that he called us to it, and he did not leave out anything that will harm us except that he warned against it. From those harmful things he warned us against is Music, even if many Muslims are ignorant of its prohibition or pretend to have no knowledge of it. It is authentically narrated from the Prophet ﷺ that Music is impermissible. Abu Malik Al-Ash‘arī narrated that:
Prophet ﷺ said: “There will be a people from my Ummah who will make Fornication, Silk (for men), Wine and Musical instruments permissible”¹
If we contemplate on the above ḥadīth carefully, we realise that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned Music alongside things that are well known to be prohibited by Allāh, like Alcohol and Fornication. He also mentioned that some people from his Ummah will make them permissible, clearly referring to the fact that those aforementioned things are basically not permissible. If they were permissible, the Prophet ﷺ would have made it permissible and it won’t be stated that some of those who will come after him would make them permissible for themselves.
Another version of the hadith that was reported in Ibn Mājah mentioned the punishment for these sins. It was narrated from Abū Mālik Al Ash’arī that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:
“People among my nation will drink wine, calling it by another name, and musical instruments will be played for them and singing girls (will sing for them). Allah will cause the earth to swallow them up, and will turn them into monkeys and pigs.”²
If these actions were not sins and transgressions beyond the limit of Allāh, He is not going to punish those people by making the earth swallow them or turn them into pigs and monkey. The punishments attached to the said actions imply that they are clear transgressions which a Muslim must stay away from. We seek Allāh’s refuge from His punishment.
A Muslim who has connected his heart to Allāh will be contented by this proof alone and will quickly repent to Allāh from his transgressions. However, to make the impermissibility of Music very clear to you, dear reader, we will move on to bring more evidences to buttress the point In Shā Allāh.
Allāh mentioned in that:
وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَشْتَرِى لَهْوَ ٱلْحَدِيثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّخِذَهَا هُزُوًا ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُّهِينٌ
“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing, etc.) to mislead (men) from the Path of Allāh without knowledge, and takes it (the Path of Allāh, the Verses of the Quran) by way of mockery. For such there will be a humiliating torment (in the Hell-fire).”³
Imām Al Qurṭubī in his commentary on the above verse mentioned the explanation from the students of the Messenger ﷺ about that verse. He said that Ibn ‘Abbās, Ibn ‘Umar and Ibn Mas‘ūd (may Allāh be pleased with them) said that the “idle talk” mentioned in that verse refers to Music. In fact, the noble companion, ‘Abdullāh bn Mas‘ūd swore by Allāh three times and said that the verse was referring to Music.
Going by that explanation of the Companions who heard directly from the lips of the Messenger ﷺ, we would understand from that verse that Allāh affirmed that music leads people away from the path of Allāh; as it is obvious in our society. Musicians are heads of immorality, both the immoralities that are clear to people and the ones that aren’t. Music endears man to what Allāh has made forbidden and makes him find what Allāh has commanded difficult.
Shaykh ‘Abdul ‘Azīz bn Bāz said that:
“Singing is the recitation of Shayṭān and the evil that leads to Zina, homosexuality and all kinds of malicious acts and vices.”⁴
Imām Qurṭubī mentioned further that this verse (Luqmān verse 6) and two other verses from the Qur’ān are evidences of Scholars regarding the impermissibility of music. He said the second verse regarding the impermissibility was what Allāh mentioned that:
وَأَنتُمْ سَـٰمِدُونَa
“Wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing, etc.).”⁵
Ibn ‘Abbās mentioned that the word ‘amusements’ mentioned in the verse refers to Music. This emphasizes that Allāh condemned people for wasting their time listening to music. Hence as conscious Muslims, we are to stay away from things which Allāh dispraised in Quran like this. We should not be like people who waste their lives listening to music, they care so much about attending Live shows and Concerts. They keep up with news just to be updated about the lives of musicians. This is against our primary objective in Dunya; it opposes remembering the Ākhirah as we should.
The last verse regarding the impermissibility of Music can be found in Surah Al-Isrā’ verse 64 where Allāh said:
وَٱسْتَفْزِزْ مَنِ ٱسْتَطَعْتَ مِنْهُم بِصَوْتِكَ وَأَجْلِبْ عَلَيْهِم بِخَيْلِكَ وَرَجِلِكَ وَشَارِكْهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَوْلَـٰدِ وَعِدْهُمْ ۚ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا
“And Istafziz [literally means: befool them gradually] those whom you can among them with your voice (i.e. songs, music, and any other call for Allāh’s disobedience), make assaults on them with your cavalry and your infantry, mutually share with them wealth and children (by tempting them to earn money by illegal ways usury, etc., or by committing illegal sexual intercourse, etc.), and make promises to them.” But Satan promises them nothing but deceit.”
It was also explained by Mujāhid that the voice of Shayṭān in the above verse refers to Music. It is not hidden to anyone about Shaytan had turned music to the vehicle of conveying immoralities into the society. Music has been used to praise Cultism, Alcohol, Fornication, Gambling, Rape, Murder, Indecent dressing and several social vices. Many things that will cause people to raise eyebrows when said like a normal speech will be said with music and no one would complain. In fact, people who are meant to enforce law against social vices would be promoting such Music as they did not realize that it is the Shaytan’s voice and a discreet way to convey his message to the people without getting noticed. The Parents would fight anyone encouraging their children to go into Alcoholism and Cultism with ordinary speech but they see nothing wrong if the encouragement comes through Music. That is the strategy of Shaytan. A Muslim who have known this must stay away totally from music and he should not be deceived that there are good music and bad music. All genres of Music are voices of Shaytan, his voice is only louder in some genres than others.
Don’t be deceived by anything called “Islamic Music”, there is nothing like such in Islam. If anything has been established in Islam to be impermissible, there is no way that thing can be referred to as Islamic. Referring to a genre of Music as being Islamic sounds like referring to a specie of pig meat as ‘Islamic pork’. Music is Haraam and it can never be Islamic.
Truthfully, Islam permitted ‘Duff’ to be beaten by little girls and children on the day of ‘Īd and Wedding ceremonies but that is never an evidence for general permissibility of Music. Only the callers to misguidance hide behind the text permitting ‘duff’ in these situations to permit music generally. A man is allowed to eat pork when he has nothing to keep him surviving except eating pork. Does that make pigs permissible generally? No!
It is also a complete ignorance to take the narration that says the prophet ﷺ was welcomed to Madeenah with songs and drums as an evidence to listen to music, apart from the fact that it is a mere fabrication that the song tala’al badru alayna was sang, it is also against the correct intellect for anyone to use the action of people who are just accepting Islam and welcoming the prophet ﷺ as an evidence in the religion. The people of Madinah are just meeting with the prophet ﷺ and just knowing Islam, it is baseless to use their action to justify music.
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān was asked:
O Noble Shaykh, may Allah assist you. Is it true that the people of Madeenah greeted the Messenger of Allah, may the praise of Allah and peace be upon him, with the nasheed ‘Tal ‘al-badru ‘alaynaa…’, because there are some who regard nasheeds to be permitted based on this story?
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ bn Fawzān al-Fawzān:
This story is not authentic and within it is an indication that it has no basis. It states: the full moon has come out upon us from Thaniyyatil-wadaa. ‘Thaniyyatil-wadaa’ is not from the direction of Makkah. The Messenger of Allah, may the praise of Allah and peace be upon him, came to Madeenah from the south. He did not come from the north such that he would have passed by Thaniyyatil-wadaa. Thaniyyatil-wadaa is north of Madeenah. So, this is inconvenient.
Translated by Abu Abdullah Naasir Hussain
There was no ambiguity regarding the impermissibility of music during the early generations of Islām. Imam Al-Awzā’ī said that ‘Umar bn ‘Abdul-‘Azīz wrote a letter to ‘Umar bn Al-Walīd, and at the end of the letter:
“… Your openly allowing musical instruments and flutes is an innovation in Islām. I was considering sending someone to cut off your evil forelock of hair!”⁶
Music takes a slave farther from Allāh. It takes him away from Qur’ān. It takes him away from beneficial knowledge. It takes him away from the right intellect that should be used to analyze things, and makes him analyze situations with musical brain.
Imām Ibnul Qayyim [raḥimahullāh] said, “That which we and others have witnessed, and know based on experience, is that indeed musical instruments and instruments used for forbidden amusement do not appear amongst a people, spread amongst them and they busy themselves with it, except that Allāh [allows] their enemy to overcome them, and they are afflicted with famine, drought and evil rulers. Therefore, the sensible person reflects on the state of affairs of the world and examines. And Allāh’s Aid is sought!”⁷
Shaykhul Islām Ibn Taymiyyah [raḥimahullāh] stated regarding the effect of Music upon the souls, “It is the intoxicant of the souls”. When the souls are intoxicated with the sounds [from Music and Musical Instruments], Shirk [gradually] comes to them; they incline towards lewd acts and oppression, and thus they begin to commit Shirk, murder and fornication. These three deeds are present – a lot – amongst the people who listen to music.⁸
This matter of music is clear enough for anyone ready to submit himself to the Truth and follow the path of Allāh. There are so many evidences against music but the few ones brought here is enough for a Muslim to fear Allāh and leave off Music totally.
As it has been established that listening to music was made impermissible by Allāh, the one who is obstinate and still listens to music is earning sins into his record of deeds.
Subscribing to Sin is a means to destruction in this world and also a means to punishment in the Hereafter. Allāh mentions severally in the Qur’an how he destroyed the nations before us for their failure to heed to evidences brought from Allāh but rather continued committing sins, Allāh mentioned:
كَدَأْبِ ءَالِ فِرْعَوْنَ وَٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَا فَأَخَذَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِذُنُوبِهِمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ شَدِيدُ ٱلْعِقَابِ
Like the behaviour of the people of Fir’aun (Pharaoh) and those before them; they belied Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), so Allah seized (destroyed) them for their sins. And Allah is Severe in punishment.⁹
An upright Muslim should repent from listening to music and he should always stay away from everything that will get him closer to music. You should supplicate fervently to Allāh to remove the love of music from your heart, wake in the last third part of the night and cry to Allāh in your sujood, tell Him to purify your heart from the filth of Music.
Leave music all at once, don’t ever try to leave music bit by bit, Shaytan would make it difficult like that. People who have previously tried leaving it bit by bit failed because music has addictive effect. If a person is not determined to leave it off all at once, he would find himself falling again into it.
Do not listen to that whispers of Shayṭān saying that you can’t study or concentrate on your work without listening to Music. He is only trying to lure you back and make you dependent upon sin. Claim your independence and rely totally upon Allāh. You can do well without music, bi idhnillāh.
Leave once and never look back. Delete all the music on your phone and on your PC. Fill them with Qur’an recitations, beneficial classes and lectures. Don’t ever make the mistake of replacing Music with Nasheed. Run away from the likes of Rashid Mishary Alafasy, Ahmed Bukhatir, Zain Bhika, Boona Muhammad and other Nasheed singers like them, even when they claim it is free of known musical instruments. Only beneficial poems are permissible.
Stay Away from friends that invite you to music. If you have Muslim friends who also listen to music, it is good that you share this article with them and get them educated that Music is not permissible. However, if they insist to continue listening to music, you must stay away from such friends. Stay away from places where you would listen to music, whether offline or online. If you have people who upload music to their Social media reels, Stories and Status, you should do better by unfollowing them, unfriending them and muting their status. Replace these people with good people who would support your striving upon the path to Jannah; follow good people on social media and achieve a productive life.
This impermissibility of one of those issues that many Muslims in our society do not know about; kindly help take this important news to them. Share it with Friends and Family. We ask Allāh to reward us abundantly.
Mubaarak Olayemi Ismail
Abu Muhsinah
1. Bukhāri 5590
2. Ibn Majah 4020
3. Suratul Luqman, verse 6
4. Fatwa of Ibn Baaz | (21/157)
5. Surah An-Najm verse 61
6. Nasā’ī no. 4135
7. Madaarij As-Saalikeen 1/500
8. Majmoo Al-Fataawaa 10/417 [Taken from salaficentre.com]
9. Aal-e-Imraan: 11
