Logic behind the Prohibition of Music in Islam

Before we delve into the logic of prohibition of music, we must first consider the evidence from Quran and Sunnah which makes music haraam.

Music has been condemned strongly in the Quran and Hadith. In Surah Luqmaan, Allah Taala states, And from mankind are those that purchase futile speech in order to mislead others from the path of Allah. Under the commentary of this verse, ibn Abbaas [Radhiallaahu anhu] states, futile speech refers to music and things related to it. (Durrul Manthoor vol.5 pg.307)

In Surah Bani Israaeel, Allah Taala states, And excite any of whom you can with your voice. Imaam Mujaahid mentions, voice refers to music. (Roohul Maaani)

Prohibition of music is recorded in many authentic Ahadith.

Narrated Abu Malik Al-Ashari: The Messenger (peace be upon him) of Allah said, "Some people of my Ummah will drink wine, calling it by other than its real name, merriment will be made for them through the playing of musical instruments and the singing of lady singers. Allah will cleave the earth under them and turn others into monkeys and swines.” [Ibn Ma'jah Vol.5 Hadith No.4020]

Narrated Abu Amir or Abu Malik Al Ashari that he heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) 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." [Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol.7 Hadith No.5590]

Prophet (peace be upon him) further mentions, “Music grows hypocrisy in the heart just as water causes crops to grow.” (Bayhaqi vol.10 pg.222)

However, there are some Ahadith which indicate that it is permissible to beat the ‘daff’ i.e. the tambourine (which is open on one side and covered on the other).

Narrated Urwa on the authority of Aisha “On the days of Mina, (11th, 12th, and 13th of Dhul-Hijjah) Abu Bakr came to her while two young girls were beating the tambourine (daff) and the Prophet (peace be upon him) was lying covered with his clothes. Abu Bakr scolded them. The Prophet uncovered his face and said to Abu Bakr, 'Leave them, for these days are the days of Eid and the days of Mina.' [Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol.2 Hadith No.987]

Narrated Ar Rabi (the daughter of Muawwidh bin Afra): “After the consummation of my marriage, the Prophet came and sat on my bed as far from me as you are sitting now, and our little girls started beating the tambourines (daff) and reciting elegiac verses mourning my father, who had been killed in the battle of Badr. One of them said, ‘Among us is a Prophet (peace be upon him) who knows what will happen tomorrow.’ On that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Leave this (saying) and keep on saying the verses which you had been saying before." [Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol.7 Hadith No.5147]

Therefore from the above evidence it is concluded that the use of musical instruments in general is forbidden in Islam, with the exception of the 'Daff'. Furthermore, singing without music is permissible on condition that the song does not contain anything un-Islamic in it. For example, it must not be a song that is normally played with music, it must not have a tone of a music song. There must not be any immoral contents in the song. Poetry (She’r) and Nazms (songs) are meant to refresh a person’s Imaan and enhance one’s love for Islam, Allah and His Rasul [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam].

Logic
In Islam an individual’s personality is constructed on the basis of principles and not on emotions. Islam is primarily an intellectual and not an emotional proposition. The reason being that emotions, however profound, are far more liable to be swayed by subjective desires and fears than reason. Music inflames emotions and it has an emotional control over a person’s mood: it can make someone happy (if one listens to a few cheerful songs), or sad (if one listens to depressing tunes), or even violent (certain songs have that affect on some people as well in the short and long term). The teachings of Islam are designed to develop a human being whose logic and reason control his emotions, and not the other way around where one’s emotions control one’s logic and reason. In case where a person makes his decisions in life based on emotions, he is more likely to err than a person who has control over his feelings and makes choices based on his reasoning.

Music usually intoxicates a person and takes one away from the path of Allah. Music engages a person’s mind and takes him away from the remembrance of his Creator and from realising and focusing his attention on the purpose of his creation. In musical songs, most of the times the listeners even appreciate illogical, incorrect and blasphemous matter and content. A person will realise this when he starts pondering over the meaning of many Hindi and English songs, lyrics and ghazals. Here we find that it is because of music that the person’s mind is intoxicated and the person deviates from the straight path.

In a society where music is prevalent, immodesty increases many folds. Music encourages the avenues where immodest behaviour is commonplace, such as night clubs and strip clubs. Furthermore, these avenues in turn promote intermingling of sexes which eventually leads to fornication and adultery (to understand what is wrong with fornication and adultery please read my articles "Logic of Hudood in Islam" and "Sexually Transmitted Diseases"). Therefore, if you eliminate music, you also get rid of that party culture where all these vices take place.

We do not have to look far to see evidence of moral decay around us. We can see it and hear it in entertainment like rap music, in songs that glorify violence or suicide or exploitation of others. Rap music also encourages gangster culture (since many rappers belong to different gangs).

Moreover, many heavy metal and rock bands promote certain destructive ideologies through their form of music. For example, some bands are associated with the promotion of Satan worship. Similarly these rock bands encourage, especially teenagers, to be rebellious (one of the reason many teenagers are disobedient to their parents).

Out of all this a very clear, indisputable fact emerges: music leads to social degradation and disintegration. The Quran warns us of this. And the evidence proves this. Some of the lyrics are extremely vulgar and mainly focus on lurid and explicit descriptions of sexual acts and promiscuity. The marketing of these songs is undertaken by screening video performances of the songs. Vulgar scenes are graphically depicted. That is followed by live pop concerts where all this filth and debauchery is performed in front of thousands of young people caught up in a wild, demonic frenzy.

An example of the disgusting behaviour that music can lead to can be seen from the article published by Sunday Independent (on 07/09/1997) and its title was “Ban lifted on Lesbian Rockers”. The first paragraph of the article reads

“Munich – German authorities lifted a ban on Friday on a performance by a British pornographic lesbian rock group. A court ruled that seven-girl group could perform, but that their concert, scheduled for last night, should not include sexual acts or urinating on the audience.”

Certain music is such that merely by listening to it one can fall into a different state of mind and even into a trance. So the music itself is mind-altering. Then an almost inseparable aspect is drugs. The music already puts the person in an altered state of mind. To enhance that condition many at a party or nightclub resort to taking ecstasy or other drugs. At many parties along with music, dancing, drugs and drinking (to understand what is wrong with drinking please read my articles "Logic of Hudood in Islam" and "Logic behind the Prohibition of Alcohol") goes on and that leads to human beings acting like animals. Your mind gets taken over. You are deceived into thinking that you have become free. In fact, you are becoming a slave of drugs and a slave of the barbaric culture.

Moreover, the youth are influenced by singers in the music videos. They try to emulate them as the singers have become their role models. This in turn leads to the moral decay of the youth.

All in all, music is Satan’s handiwork. The disadvantages brought by music to the society far outweigh its advantages. If we want to save ourselves from immorality and immodesty we will have to stay away from this evil.