Is Music Haram?

 

MUSIC IS HARAM

Allah ﷻ says, "And of mankind is he who purchases idle

talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of

Allah..." Quran 31:6

Al-Sa'di (may Allah have mercy on him) said: this includes all

manner of haraam speech, all idle talk and falsehood, and

all nonsense that encourages kufr and disobedience; the

words of those who say things to refute the truth and argue

in support of falsehood to defeat the truth; and backbiting,

slander, lies, insults and curses; the singing and musical

instruments of the Shaytaan; and musical instruments which

are of no spiritual or worldly benefit. (Tafseer al-Sa'di, 6/150)

The Prophetﷺ said, "From among my followers there will be

some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the

wearing of silk (for men), the drinking of alcoholic drinks and

the use of musical instruments, as lawful..." [Bukhari 5590]

This Hadith indicates in two ways that musical instruments

and enjoyment of listening to music are haram.

The first is the fact that the Prophet ﷺ said, "They will

consider them as lawful"

which clearly indicates that the

things mentioned, including musical instruments, are haram

according to sharee'ah, but those people will permit them.

The second is the fact that musical instruments are mentioned

alongside things which are definitely known to be haram, i.e.,

zinaa and alcohol: if they (musical instruments) were not

haram, why would they be mentioned alongside these things?

[adapted from al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 1/140-141]

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This Hadith

indicates that ma'aazif are haram, and ma'aazif means musical

instruments according to the scholars of (Arabic) language.

This word includes all such instruments. (al-Majmoo', 11/535).

Al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The four

madhhabs are agreed that all musical instruments are haraam.

(al-Saheehah, 1/145).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The

madhhab of Abu Haneefah is the strictest in this regard, and

his comments are among the harshest. His companions clearly

stated that it is haraam to listen to all musical instruments

such as the flute and the drum, even tapping a stick. [lghaathat

al-Lahfaan, 1/425]

Imam Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about

playing the drum or flute, if a person happens to hear the sound

and enjoy it whilst he is walking or sitting. He said: He should

get up if he finds that he enjoys it, unless he is sitting down

for a need or is unable to get up. If he is on the road, he should

either go back or move on. [al-Jaami' by al-Qayrawaani, 262]

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

explaining the view of Imam al-Shaafa'i: His companions

who know his madhhab (point of view) stated that it is

haram and denounced those who said that he permitted it.

[lghaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/425]

With regard to the view of Imaam Ahmad, his son 'Abd-

Allah said: I asked my father about singing. He said:

Singing makes hypocrisy grow in the heart; I do not like

it. Then he mentioned the words of Maalik: the evildoers

(faasiqs) among us do that. [Ighaathat al-Lahfaan]

The exception to the above is the daff - without any rings

(i.e., a hand-drum which looks like a tambourine, but without

any rattles)

- When used by women on Eids and at weddings.

"Aisha reported: "The Messenger of Allah (**) came (to my

apartment) while there were two girls with me singing the

song of the Battle of Bu ath. He lay down on the bed and

turned away his face. Then came Abu Bakr and he scolded

me and said: Oh! this musical instrument of the devil in the

house of the Messenger of Allah (#*)! The Messenger of

Allah (#*) turned towards him and said: Leave them alone.

And when he (the Holy Prophet) became unattentive, I hinted

them and they went out, and it was the day of 'ld"

[Bukhari 949, 950, 952, 3931] [lb Majah 1896, 1897, 1899]

Some research on why you should stop listening to music:

The majority of popular music is sexually illicit.

Research shows that music, specifically rap and hip-hop,

have strong correlations with risky sexual behaviors (Chen,

Miller, Grube, & Waiters, 2006)

More than 1/3 of popular songs contain explicit sexual

content and 2/3 of these references are degrading (Martino

et al, 2006; Primack, Gold, Schwarz, & Dalton, 2008).

An estimated 40% to 75% of music videos contain sexual

imagery (Turner, 2011; Zhang, Miller, & Harrison, 2008).

The majority of popular music includes drug references.

A study suggested that almost 77% of rap songs have drug

references. An average teen is exposed to 84 drug references a day, 591 per week and 30,732 per year. (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers).

It's addictive.

Studies suggest that adolescents and young adults listen to

music between two and four hours each day. When we take this time into consideration with the extent of harmful messages

being streamed, we should really be concerned.

(Agbo-Quaye & Robertson, 2010; Primack, Nuzzo, Rice, &

Sargent, 2012).

It's distracting.

A mind that is constantly distracted by such music will find it

incredibly difficult to focus on worship and the Quran. This is

even more frequent when songs with catchy lyrics repeatedly

obscure the mind from concentration.

It's sinful.

All Islamic scholars are of unanimous agreement that any music

that invites towards sin is in itself sinful. When almost all songs

that top music charts include references to sex, drugs, alcohol,

and promiscuity, do we need any further reminders to avoid such

music.

There are better things to listen to.

Fill your playlists with beneficial Islamic reminders and Quran

recitations. So, go for it and quit music for the sake of Allah.