Music & Islam: Abridged Version

Abridged Version of Music & Islam:
Wind, Strings and Fear of a Black Planet
by Brother Dash (Unabridged Version Here)

One of the most controversial and argument provoking issues amongst Muslims today is the issue of Music and Islam.  In the often emotionally charged atmosphere over the halal/haram (religious permissibility) of music in Islam a clear definition of this word “Music” is rarely articulated.  Before we delve into the details of the title of this article let us try to have an understanding of what we mean by “music”. Many cultures do not have a word for what we consider in the 21st century to be “music”. Take for example…

“In Africa there is no term for music in Tiv, Yoruba, Igbo, Efik, Birom, Hausa, Idoma, Eggon or Jarawa. Many other languages have terms which only partly cover what Europeans mean by the term music” (Wikipedia)

So what makes a clear definition of music elusive is the fact that many languages, as you see above, and cultures don’t even have a word for it including the 7th century Arabic language at the time of the Prophet Muhammad! (peace be upon him) . So when we talk about music being halal or haram what are we referring to as music?

There is a definition of music known as the Social Construct view. This view states that music is what people call music and it is dependent on time and culture.  So what constitutes song and even dance today is not necessarily what would be recognized as such during the time of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. So what is music?

Music is Halal By Default…You Need Evidence For Its Prohibition

There is a guiding principle amongst the surviving schools of thought that all matters not related to worship (those in the cultural realm for example) are deemed to be permissible or at best thanni (conjectural) until there is compelling evidence to the contrary.  There are very few things outside the realm of ibadah that are absolutely definitive. This is well known in usul (Juridical methodology).  The list of prohibitions in artistic expression is rather short and quite intuitive for Muslims and people of good conscience alike. Some of them are:
•    No lewdness
•    No vulgarities/obscenities
•    Nothing that ignites nationalism or divisiveness
•    Context in which artistic expression takes place does not promote behavior considered socially unacceptable in Islam

There is no verse in the Quran specifically forbidding music. The most oft cited verse by those who proclaim music to be haram is in Surah Luqman (31:6):

And of mankind there are some who buy idle tales without knowledge, to mislead people from the path of Allah, and take it in jest. For such there is a humiliating torment.

Those that promote the music is haram view say that “idle tales” (lahw) means music.  But lahw does not refer specifically to “music.”  The word used in this verse is lahw which refers to any diverting amusement. In fact the 14th century scholar ibn Taymiyyah held this same view. He was against ALL FORMS OF LAHW (AMUSEMENT) including games. But let’s assume that lahw does in fact refer to music.  What of Surah Jumuah (62:11) where the same word lahw appears:

Yet when they see some business/merchandise (tijara) or amusement/diversion (lahw) they break away to it and leave you standing (referring to the Prophet Muhammad). Say: ‘That which Allah has in store is far better than any diversion or merchandise.’

Here we see lahw being used again. In the essay A Fatwa On Music, Shaykh Jad Ul-Haq Ali of Al-Azhar University writes:

In this verse God has joined lahw (amusements with musical instruments) together with tijara (business or trade) using the grammatical particle wa (and), which means that the law and ruling that applies to one of them, must apply to the other since they are joined together. We know that Muslims unanimously agree that tijara (business or trade) is permissible…”

Furthermore in the Arabic dictionary Al-Misbah Al-Munir it says that the original meaning of lahw is tarwih which means amusement and relaxation. Lahw then is really any amusement that can pre-occupy one but is NOT EXCLUSIVE to music.  Also if you try to use this verse to justify music being haram you would have to then say that engaging in business is haram due to the conjunctive used in the verse. No one says this. Since the Quran does not forbid music most of those who hold music to be haram focus on the Prophetic Sunnah. Let us spend some time there.

The Abyssinians in The Mosque

This hadith found in the strongest of all hadith collections (Sahih Bukhari) refers to an instance during one of Islam’s religious celebrations of a group of Men from Abysinnia who were dancing with spears and playing drums in the mosque. The Prophet’s close companion, and 2nd Caliph, Umar had a desire to stop them but was prevented from doing so by the Prophet.  (In fact according to scholar Sheikh Abdallah Adhami the Abyssinians also engaged in this activity on other occasions including days other than Eid)

Playing Musical Instruments and Song

In Sahih Bukhari we also have mention of the occasion of The Prophet’s arrival to Medina (Yathrib).  The people welcomed him by playing instruments (in all likelihood drums as this was the predominant instrument in their cultural practices), performing a kind of dance (which we will define in a moment) and engaging in song which incidentally the Women of Medina participated in.  Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s closest companion and 1st Caliph, wanted to reprimand them for this but the Prophet said “No…Let the Jews see that our religion is relaxed and accommodating.” They continued by singing amongst other things “We are the daughters of Najaar”.  [As an aside: The Prophet specifically mentioned “The Jews” because in Medina they were the cultural arbiters of expression].

The Girls Who Sang an Ode

We also have the story in Sahih Bukhari of the group of girls that were singing an ode in front of the Prophet. It was only when they started to sing words to the effect “And oh Allah bless our Prophet who knows the future” that he interrupted them by gesturing and saying in the negative “Mah” (or “uh uh” for a modern equivalent).  He said words to the effect of “What you were saying before that was fine but don’t say that [i.e. knowing of the future].”  This demonstrates that “content” is the major determining factor in permissibility.

Wind, Strings And Understanding The Famous Bukhari Hadith

The most oft quoted hadith from those who claim music, especially the use of wind and string instruments, is prohibited is found in the following hadith in Sahih Bukhari:

“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.”-Sahih Bukhari

English vs. Arabic

Sahih Bukhari is the most rigorously authenticated hadith collection in Islam.  The English translations however are either not always accurate or they are not related in a way that can give the reader a full appreciation of the original meaning in Arabic. I asked the eminent scholar, linguist and hadith expert Sheikh Abdallah Adhami to provide an explanation of the philological (the study of historical and comparative linguistics) analysis of the implications that are inherent in the hadith.  In other words:

1.    What is in the original Arabic?
2.    What is the context of the hadith and what historical realities help us to understand this hadith in modern times.*

Sheikh Adhami explained that the modern Arabic word for playing musical instruments is ‘azf.  But in pre-Islamic Arabic this word ‘azf meant something different.   It was actually a noun (not a verb) that carried several derivable meanings however its core meaning was understood by the Arabs to mean “an unrecognizable sound”.  Now in the hadith above we find the very same root for ‘azf being used however in its plural form ma’aazif (the use of musical instruments).  Ma’aazif usually accompanied lewd poetry of the time. So thus far we have what should be translated as “the playing of unrecognizable sounds [through these instruments that are normally associated with the lewd singing of poetry”.  But where does Imam Bukhari actually place this hadith? Herein lies the caveat! The hadith is not placed under a chapter that says  for example “Music is haram” or “ Instruments are haram. The chapter heading in Sahih Bukhari that this hadith falls under is: Prohibition of Khamr (intoxicants) and Calling The Drink By Another Name.   Thus the more correct understanding of the hadith would be that you will have people who will call the playing or listening to of these unrecognizable sounds (using instruments normally associated with vice) by another name in order to make it lawful.

So this hadith is not saying that music or musical instruments are intrinsically haram. It is saying that these people will call wine something else, silk clothing something else, fornication something else, “ma’aazif” something else in order to legitimize them! This isn’t a wholesale rejection of music.

Scholarship

You will often hear people say things like “All scholars condemn music” or the “vast majority of scholars” say music is haram. Others will say “only modern scholars” allow for musical instruments. Here is a list, with special thanks to Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamid Ali, of just some of the classic scholars that have written on the permissibility of music to varying degrees:
•    Imam Dhahabi
•    Ibn Hazm
•    Shawkani
•    Qadi Iyad
•    Ibn Arabi
•    Al-Ghazali
Modern Scholarship
Shaykh Jad ul-Haq Ali, Grand Mufti of Al-Azhar (rahimullah) published an essay (in 1980) on the permissibility of music from a Shariah perspective. Read it for yourself here. You also have the current Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shaykh Ali Jumuah also affirming that music is halal. There are many other scholars that have spoken on the permissibility of musical expression and hopefully you have a greater understanding as to what we mean by music.
We have now concluded the Music and Islam: Wind, Strings part.  We will focus the remainder of this article on some of the more salient issues in my opinion which I put under the category Fear of A Black Planet. Before concluding this section I must thank Sheikh Abdallah Adhami, Director of Sakeenah,Inc.  for his selflessness in contributing to this article. Without his hours of counsel and gentlemanly corrections to my several drafts (due to my own shortcomings) this article could not have been published in good conscience. I urge you to support his efforts and visit the website www.sakeenah.org.

The Fear of A Black Planet

While I do not hold the view that music is haram I am accepting of those with a contrary opinion. There are some however who can’t seem to do the same and have taken up the anti-music position as a sort of rallying cry.

“A final and equally important reason for a proscriptive attitude among the hardliners is the fact that much music is influenced by non-Islamic, Western musical traditions, or is produced in the Western world. Music can be seen as a part of a Western, and sometimes specifically North American, cultural imperialism. This competes with and draws attention from Allah and Islam… This reaction[censure of music and musicians] can be seen as part of the counter power strategies relating to globalization and Western hegemony…The modern hardliners have identified music as a serious rival to Islam.” -Shoot The Singer by Maria Korpe pp 15-16

The greatest American export is American Pop Culture.  A major influencer of this pop culture is the Black American experience and Hip-Hop is perhaps the most obvious example of this influence.  Muslim youth are still enamored with rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls over a decade after their deaths.  This is disconcerting to many Muslims and as the author of Shoot The Singer, Maria Korpe, mentions above they have identified music and I would say Hip-Hop in particular as a rival to Islam.

Whilst I would share their concern over the negative aspects of Hip-Hop and by extension American Pop culture I do not agree with the wholesale rejection of a culture simply because it doesn’t fit one’s cultural comfort zone.  And this cultural comfort zone is not by default the “Muslim” culture assuming there even is such a thing.

Conclusion

So how might you use this article? If you are/were in a quandary on this issue or needed some “backing” for what your soul always “felt” but could not “defend” then maybe this will help you.  If you maintain an anti-music stance then hopefully you have at least gained an appreciation for where “the other side” is coming from. Perhaps I am being a bit utopic but at the very least I hope it allows us to respectfully agree to disagree then.
More importantly I hope that we can begin to have substantive discussions on the dynamics of race, culture and control of the Muslim narrative in our communities.  Islam is not so much a “religion” as it is a lived experience for the Muslim.  It does not exist between the pages of books. It is exists in our hearts and is expressed by our souls. This article seeks to bring sakeenah to your heart and your soul. Stay Blessed.

Brother Dash
 www.brotherdash.com
Brother Dash (Dasham K. Brookins) is a Muslim Spoken Word Poet and Social Critic. His performances have been broadcast to over 4 million TV and Radio households worldwide and over 100,000 have seen him live. He has written several articles on culture, entertainment and Islam.
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*Please note that the Sheikh is not reiterating the renown ibn Hazm critique of the authorities (transmitters) listed.