Islam And Music

Allah Mighty and Majestic sent me as a guidance and mercy to believers and commanded me to do away with musical instruments, flutes, strings, crucifixes, and the affair of the pre-Islamic period of ignorance”, said Muhammad.

When non-Muslims, particularly Westerners, hear the news of Islamists burning/ vandalizing music stores in Pakistan, they get struck with disbelief. How could this be possibly true a religion prohibit music? I have been always enjoying the classical music that is a gift of Muslim musicians. The poetry of Bullah Shah and Shah Hussein, Damodar and Waris Shah, Faiz and Ludhanivi is just magical and when that poetry is put to music- that just is divine.

The courts of nawabs and enlightened kings like Akbar laid great stress on music- the food of soul and yet the die-hard Islamists say that music forbidden in Islam? Is this really so.

If the religion of Islam actually does forbid music, even the majority of devout Muslims would probably find this to be very strange and a cause for concern. Why in the world would a religion prohibit Music? Do any other minor or major religions prohibit music? What did Muhammad have to say about this matter? This article will also consider the many benefits of music.

Let’s examine what the Islamic texts and traditions have to say about this subject. The first two hadiths that we will consider have been selected from Sahih Bukhari, what, Muslims believe, to be canonical text of Islam. Muslims believe them to be authentic utterances of the Islamic prophet and should therefore be obeyed. Let me quote from Hadiths:

Hadith: Sahih Bukhari: Volume 7, Book 69, Number 494v mentions that:
“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 there will be some people 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 He will transform the rest of them into monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Resurrection.”

Hadith: Sunan Abu-Dawud: Book 41, Number 4909:
“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.”

Hadith Qudsi 19:5:

“The Prophet said that Allah commanded him to destroy all the musical instruments, idols, crosses and all the trappings of ignorance.”
What is more important is what Muhammad said at different times:

1. “Allah Mighty and Majestic sent me as a guidance and mercy to believers and commanded me to do away with musical instruments, flutes, strings, crucifixes, and the affair of the pre-Islamic period of ignorance.”
2. “On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will pour molten lead into the ears of whoever sits listening to a songstress.”
3. “Song makes hypocrisy grow in the heart as water does herbage.”
4. “This community will experience the swallowing up of some people by the earth, metamorphosis of some into animals, and being rained upon with stones.” Someone asked, “When will this be, O Messenger of Allah?” and he said, “When songstresses and musical instruments appear and wine is held to be lawful.”
5. “There will be peoples of my Community who will hold fornication, silk, wine, and musical instruments to be lawful ….” — ‘Umdat al-Salik r40.0
What puritanical nonsense! If a person were to dig deep enough into the dung heap of Muhammad’s wacky utterances and bizarre behavior nearly everything could be banned! (Except of course warfare, and the all those nauseating and useless Islamic rituals that are part and parcel of the cult of Mohammedanism). The above passages are indeed bizarre and quite an insight into the strange world of Islam. Keep folks in the dark, and keep them afraid, frustrated and obedient, that was the tune that Muhammad sang. The more ignorant and primitive the Muslim, the better Muhammad could readily use them for his own ends — as foot soldiers to acquire “booty of all types.” Evidently Muhammad was also some kind of strange puritanical person opposed even to music! Why all the abnormal behavior?

 

Muhammad preferred not to be asked difficult questions and often ended such inquiries abruptly. From the above hadiths and Islamic traditions we can see that Muhammad’s priority was to keep his followers focused solely on the details of his religion and then use them to kill and die for it when the time called for more booty. One of the reasons that Muslims are so obsessed with Islam and busy trying to promulgate it is because Muhammad has denied or restricted their ability to enjoy so many of the healthy and common activities of life — such as music. This is plainly obvious when one studies the reality of how Islam plays out in the real world. When Muhammad was forced to address some of the challenging questions posed to him by his followers, his answers, or verdicts, were often patently ridiculous. Even folks who call themselves Muslims must get a real chuckle out of the some of the absurdity contained within Muhammad’s Islam.

 

Tragically, the condemnation of music in Muhammad’s Islam has many profoundly negative consequences. Muhammad was truly disturbed and his prohibition of music is just more proof of this. Pastimes such as music and many other social customs that are known to be good for human health are not to be partaken of or enjoyed by Muslims. Many ex-Muslims leave Islam upon learning the truth about this man Muhammad and his incredulous religion.

 

In truth, to express one’s self openly and honestly is fundamental to the human experience. For centuries music has been a healthy outlet for such expression. In fact music has played a very beneficial role in human development and the civilizing of mankind. With every passing year scientists are discovering more evidence that music enhances intelligence and that it has many positive effects on human health. It is a fact that humanity in general has derived many benefits from music throughout the ages. Throughout history music has been a rich and profound cultural element to nearly all of man’s diverse cultures and billions of individuals can attest to the fact that great enjoyment and rewards can found in both the creating and listening to music. In reality, due to Muhammad’s illness(es), basically he really only cared about himself and fulfilling his selfish desires, so all of this was lost on the pathetic little fool. As we can plainly see, if one is to submit to Muhammad’s Islam they must also submit their common sense and much of their basic self-honesty.

Muhammad’s ludicrous attitude towards music is very revealing. More obvious nonsense contained within his erroneous theology. No doubt some Muslims and Islamic apologists would be quick to point out that other passages from the Islamic texts and traditions make music Halal.

The hypocrisy is evident when the person holding the office Grand Mufti in India indulges in this. He enjoys musical concert and thereafter declares music Un-Islamic and issues a fatwa against it. How cynical!!

The real issue here is not his hypocrisy. There are hypocrites and people who fail to live up to their religious ideals in all religions, all over the world. The real issue here is that the Sharia prohibition against music, which the Grand Mufti endorsed and applied in his fatwa, is contrary to the human spirit. It would be hard not to become a hypocrite if one actually believed in this prohibition, because music is so irresistibly attractive and so nourishing to the human soul. So the Grand Mufti shouldn't be criticized for enjoying the concert -- that's just human nature. But the fact that he enjoyed it shows us something quite important about Sharia.

The Grand Mufti of Kashmir has been accused of hypocrisy after he was captured on film enjoying a concert months after he issued a fatwa declaring music un-Islamic.

A video clip of Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad, the ceremonial leader of Muslims in the state, apparently enjoying an evening of Kashmiri ghazals, musical poems, and Punjabi folk tunes, quickly went viral on YouTube as political leaders accused him of hypocrisy....

Earlier in February an all-girl rock group in Kashmir was forced to disband amid threats from Islamic militants, following the Grand Mufti's statement. He had proclaimed: "Singing is not in accordance with Islamic teachings. Society cannot be built or developed by doing un-Islamic acts like singing. I have advised these girls, and other Muslims as well, to stay within the limits of modesty as prescribed for them."

This fatwa was backed by the Darul Uloom Deobandi seminary, one of the world's most influential centers of Islamic jurisprudence. It provoked a public debate over freedom of expression in Kashmir, which, while Muslim-dominated, has traditionally been a more liberal culture than in the Arab Islamic world.

Kashmir's chief minister Omar Abdullah defended their right to perform following the Mufti's fatwa, but the threats intimidated the group, called Pragaash, and its members decided to disband....

Here again we see the assumption that non-Muslims must change their behavior to conform to Muslim practices. We see this increasingly in the U.S. as well. "Hindu Women Dead & Many Hindus Injured by Muslim Mobs in Meerut for Playing Music in Temple During Ramadan," from The Chakra, July 28. On Friday July 26, 2013, Many Hindus were injured and 2 people were killed, including a Hindu women who died when Muslim mobs rioted on Friday. In fact Friday is the day that Muslims hold congregational prayer called Jumu’ah, usually preceded by sermons.

The violent clashes occurred in the Nagla Mal area of Meerut, a city within the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP, and is a few hours away from the capital New Delhi. It has been reported that the violence began when groups of local Muslims were upset that a Hindu temple was playing Hindu devotional songs (bhajans) and forced the loudspeaker to be shutoff while beating a few Hindu men in the temple. Police tried to control the violent mob and is looking for the rioters involved. The governing party of Uttar Pradesh during these riots is the Samajwadi party.

Religious violence and riots are not new to Uttar Pradesh and India during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan as it is a sensitive month for many in the Muslim community. In the past few years there have been similar cases where Muslim mobs have vandalized Hindu temples and injured Hindus due to hearing Hindu religious songs on route to a Mosque or if a religious procession is passing a Hindu temple that is playing music.

A few years prior, a major clash in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh took place between Hindus and Muslims. The rioting started on night of 5 April when according to some people, members of the Muslim community removed the decorations on a Hindu temple (it was the Hindu festival of Ram Navami) while another version as reported by some media suggests that riots started after some Muslims objected to the overnight celebration of Ram Navami.

Evidently those condemning music are forgetting the great Bismillah Khan; and those condemning singing would blame NoorJjahan, Mallika Pukhraj, mehdi hasan and A.R.Rehman as being apostates. How ridiculous. Islam has produced great singers, great poets, mystic poets and great musicians. The anti-music group would like to consign them to dustbin of history and they take refuge under the hadiths and Muhammad’s statements.

Verily Islam, at least strictly wahabi and fundamentalist Islam cannot permit people to enjoy the food of soul and desires to make their soul arid and barren, devoid of all beauty.

Dr. Bikram Lamba, a political and business.

Source: ireport.cnn.com (Aug.3, 2013)