Day 30: Celebration
Sep
I’ve seen many spectacular sights in my short lifetime and tonight I have come up with the top four:
1. The ka’bah in Makkah, Saudi Arabia
2. Prophet Muhammad’s mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia
3. Masjid Al-Aqsa in Palestine
4. Seeing a niqabi in Brooklyn get down on Eid
After tonight, I have to bump the birth of my nephew down to number 5. I hope my brother doesn’t mind.
Bassam was out of town today spending Eid Al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday celebrating the completion of Ramadan, with his family. Eid is typically a holiday to celebrate among friends and family. But since my family is spread out all over the country, it becomes harder to do that as I get older. Luckily for me, my little brother Zeshawn lives in New York now, so it wasn’t too bad celebrating Eid today.
Zeshawn tagged along with me to go to the Eid prayer held by the Upper Westchester Muslim Society. This is a congregation of mostly Arab and South Asian doctor families about 30-45 minutes north of where I live. They held the Eid prayer in a hotel ballroom and you can tell by the photo it was a packed crowd:
My buddy Sharaf Mowjood (who took many of the pics in this post) went to Eid prayer at NYU instead. Shoutouts to them for mentioning the 30 Mosques project during the Eid Khutbah, the short talk after the prayer.
Eid is without a doubt one of my favorite times of the year. It’s a day Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said is for rejoicing. So considering that most of my family wasn’t with me this year for Eid, I set out on a mission last week to find the most crunk celebration possible that could fill the void of them not being here.
If you listened to the NPR story on 30 Mosques on Friday, you would have learned that I was eager to re-visit Masjid Khalifah in Brooklyn for Eid. It’s the mosque Bassam and I visited on Day 24 and we were told the place has an AMAZING live entertainment show during Eid. I was compelled to find out if it was true.
I met up with Sharaf later that afternoon and we rolled through Masjid Khalifah at around 6 p.m.. As soon as we stepped inside, all we heard was Michael Jackson music BLASTING through the entire building. I looked across the room I was standing in and saw little kids doing the “MJ kick” and moonwalk. At that moment, Sharaf and I knew we were in store for an interesting evening, so we grabbed some food and sat down at a table in the community hall.
For dinner, I had beef tips, barbecue chicken, baked chicken, lamb, goat and catfish. For sides I had corn, lentil rice and spinach. Masjid Khalifah seriously came correct tonight, I was joking with one of the people that they must have had trouble figuring out what dishes to serve because it looked like they were offering every single halal animal imaginable.
As we were eating, we saw a live band come in and set up on the mainstage. I joked with Sharaf that this band must be legit because some of them were walking around with bookbags to hold their guitars in.
The band started off with some funk instrumentals, to warm the crowd up since people were still coming into the buildings. That’s when three Muslim women took the stage to lead the crowd in one of my favorite Motown records, “Stop in the name of love” by the Supremes. THE CROWD WENT NUTS.
The singers were walking up and down the aisles trying to get the audience hyped. All of a sudden I see a women in black niqab get up and bust out moves that I didn’t even think were humanly possible.
As soon as I saw that happen, Sharaf and I looked at each other realizing not a single one of our friends would believe what we had just witnessed.
The band continued nailing cover song after cover song from artists such as Tina Turner, Chuck Berry, Barry White and they even busted out with some James Brown.
We decided not to take pictures of most of the evening celebrations because Eid is a time to celebrate comfortably among your friends and peers. I’m sure many of the people there would have been self-conscious of cameras flashing in their face, let alone uncomfortable with us posting their pics on our site for the entire world to see.
I think it’s safe to say that just about every mosque I’ve been to, the celebration that Masjid Khalifah had tonight would never fly. Then I started thinking, why not? Let’s put the women singing and dancing thing aside, whats wrong with cranking out a few tunes for people to enjoy on one of the most special days of the year to celebrate?
But I don’t want to turn this into an argument about the right way vs. wrong way to celebrate Eid. I’m not even remotely qualified to make that argument. But what I saw tonight was spectacular. To see Muslims spend the day of Eid with their friends and family completely energized from head to toe is a sight I haven’t seen in a long time.
Most Eid celebrations I have gone to growing up are enjoyable, but fairly routine. You grab a plate of food, sit down with friends and family and talk for a few hours. Still fun to do, but I’d take some James Brown tunes over that any day of the week.
After the celebration, the show’s emcees asked everyone to help clean up. They even managed to turn the cleaning instructions into a catchy song. I was like “Wow, they can even get crunk while cleaning.”
I helped stack some folding chairs and when I was done with that, I carried over some tables to a nearby wall. As I did that, one of the elderly gentleman in the community shouted at me not to move the tables.
That’s when I ran into one of the women I met when I visited Masjid Khalifah on Day 24. She said “You’ve prayed with us, had our food, and now you’ve been yelled at for doing something wrong. Congratulations, you are officially a member of this masjid.”
Driving back home to Manhattan after the celebration, I started telling Sharaf how hard it was to believe that the 30 Mosques project was coming to an end. That’s when we were driving through midtown Manhattan and noticed the green lights coming from the Empire State Building.
Green is a color heavily associated with Islam (Can someone tell me the exact significance of it, I’ve heard close to 30 different explanations). During the Eid holiday, the city of New York shines green lights on the Empire State Building to let the entire community know its Eid.
If you ever wondered how strong of an impact Muslims have had on New York City, all you have to do is come visit during Eid and look at the sky.
No person on this Earth could ever replace my family. But tonight I finally realized, the people I’ve met in this city, especially during this 30 Mosques project, are the next best thing.
This is awesome… a sad but a great ending to your project!
There is a lot of value in this simple yet beautiful (and strenuous) project. As a community member I have learned a lot from reading these posts- some were new, and some were actual reaffirmations of the same observations made on my visit to each mosques over the past 14 years. What you guys did in a month’s time is absolutely amazing.
Muslims are truly diverse. And all of us are only but different colored threads that create a beautiful embroidery on the fabric of our lives.
By the way, I have made a mental note to go to Masjid Khilafah next Eid celebrations.
E I D M U B A R A K ! ! !
Fi amanillah.
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thank you for this project, its a beautiful piece of NYC and Muslim history
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Dude Meer I’m telling you, Khalifah is where its at! I’m still on that “fun high” from last night lol
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wonderful project, and an excellent way to spend the first 45 minutes of my work day
shout out to my fellow houstonion! North zone represent.
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music in the Masjid , Shaytan was really released last night it seems ….Ya Subhan’Allah!
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Guys:
I’m going to ask you a serious question, now that you’ve been to a whole batch of MYC-area mosques.
Where can a Christian go to attend mosque?
Note that I am still a Christian: I can’t reconcile all of the Quran to my own beliefs. On the other hand, I am really amazed at what’s in the Quran and I feel like my own faith as a Christian is forever impacted by the challenge therein.
So: Where can I go to visit a mosque, given that I am a “people of the book”, given that I don’t deny the inspiration of the Quran, but also given that I don’t ascribe to everything in the Quran because I can’t reconcile it to my own faith?
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DAMN! I meant NYC-area, not ‘MYC’…
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There wasn’t music in the Masjid BTW. The place of celebration in this mosque is not the same place that we pray. Members of the mosque own a banquet/ reception hall next door. Be easy, the prophet PBUH appreciated music at events.
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That’s to XX. BTW
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hmm do not attribute things to Prophet pbuh without doing enough research please.
Prophet pbuh only allowed Duff on Eid and weddings.(b4 someone jumps on me by calling me a Wahabi, please check sunnipath.com’s fatwa regarding it)
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Em,
Which borough would be most convenient for you in NY?
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just for the record, aman’s usage of crunk by no means refers to lil jon’s usage, as muslimsdo not drink alcohol. it is completely forbidden and is seen nowhere, even in the most extreme of cultural celebrations. thanks. cognrats on the project!
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Actually the green lights on the Empire State Building were not in celebration of Eid or to show solidarity for the Iranian resistance movement (though they had petitioned for that this week. It was a happy coincidence that the Wizard of Oz’ 70th anniversary fell on Eid this year.
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DEEG, check the schedule: http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_lightingschedule.cfm
It was for Eid. The 24th is for Wizard of Oz.
Nzinga, I wish I had a community like yours growing up. It seems so life affirming. Alhumdulillah.
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oh my bad, yeah i didnt mean to use crunk in the haram drunk sense. just people having a good time thats all.
Em, you will probably be welcome at just about any mosque you go to. keep in mind in these places we just roll up in there unannounced, because we want people to treat us just like anyone else. its not like mosques make you take a religion test in order to walk in.
i’ll tell you what tho, if youre interested, email me at aman@amanali.net and you’re more than welcome to tag along with me anytime i visit a mosque
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May Allah Azzawajal guide the misguided people of this masjid as by using haram (music & free mixing) they are straying far away from the straight path.
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Assalamu alaykum warahmatullah
Subhanallah, This is a perfect example of how the majority of the muslim ummah is straying away from the true, beautiful and perfect Islam.
From what I have read of this eid ‘celebration’ held by Masjid Khalifah it seems that you are leading your congregation in to serious misguidance and you need to fear Allah as you will be questioned about this on the final day.
Our beloved prophet NEVER approved of music and he is the best of examples so why do you follow a different path to him?
I fear that the path that you are leading your congregation down with these haram acts could be the path to jahanam.
Your concerned Brother in Islam
Abdul Razzaq
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Why are all the women in the back…?
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The women arent in the back actually, its just where we were standing when we took the shot. Its a really long and narrow ballroom
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As salaam alaikum,
I’m so glad you brothers got to CELEBRATE the Eid. It was wonderful and the community embodies a beautiful spirit of Islam and good manners. The sisters who perform, as you might have noticed are older sisters who still have a lot of energy. Nothing to worry about. Just make dua for our entire ummah to be guided and shown the way to best express ourselves. We are communities that are always evolving and sometimes it’s better to beg forgiveness than ask permission from someone else. We must do the trial and error as our communities evolve – and enjoy the process.
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Why are you Aman and Bassam not BARFOOTED=NO Shoes in
in the Masjid ?
Halima
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I totally agree to Brother Abdul Razzak and wish to get my feelings heard as well…
I feel that we should not try to destort the true picture of Islam in order to make it acceptable for some people or for us to be acceptable to some people… and we do not need to do that at all…
A very “sad ending” to an otherwise great project
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Another very sad thing is that the majority of people who have commented here obviously find this kind of eid ‘celebration’ acceptable.
I think you guys should be questioning your Islam if you think this kind of thing is acceptable!
Ruling on music, singing and dancing
I have always heard that music, singing and dancing are haram in Islam. I went to this other site for the first time,XXX, and typed in music and all of these articles appeared which said music,dancing, and singing in Islam is halal??? They said “as long as the 2 sexes are not close together and their is no drinking going on” etc. and they even have hadiths that try to prove our Prophet Muhammed s.a.w was ok with this??? I am very confused now… Could you PLEASE give a full, detailed explanation about the Islamic ruling on music, singing and dancing and when it is allowed, if it is even allowed at all.
Praise be to Allaah.
Ma’aazif is the plural of mi’zafah, and refers to musical instruments (Fath al-Baari, 10/55), instruments which are played (al-Majmoo’, 11/577). Al-Qurtubi (may Allaah have mercy on him) narrated from al-Jawhari (may Allaah have mercy on him) that ma’aazif means singing. In his Sihaah it says that it means musical instruments. It was also said that it refers to the sound of the instruments. In al-Hawaashi by al-Dimyaati (may Allaah have mercy on him) it says: ma’aazif means drums (dufoof, sing. daff) and other instruments which are struck or beaten (Fath al-Baari, 10/55).
Evidence of prohibition in the Qur’aan and Sunnah:
Allaah says in Soorat Luqmaan (interpretation of the meaning):
“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of Allaah…” [Luqmaan 31:6]
The scholar of the ummah, Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: this means singing. Mujaahid (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: this means playing the drum (tabl). (Tafseer al-Tabari, 21/40).
Al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: this aayah was revealed concerning singing and musical instruments (lit. woodwind instruments). (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 3/451).
Al-Sa’di (may Allaah 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)
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The interpretation of the Sahaabah and Taabi’in, that ‘idle talk’ refers to singing, is sufficient. This was reported with saheeh isnaads from Ibn ‘Abbaas and Ibn Mas’ood. Abu’l-Sahbaa’ said: I asked Ibn Mas’ood about the aayah (interpretation of the meaning), ‘“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks’ [Luqmaan 31:6]. He said: By Allaah, besides Whom there is no other god, this means singing – and he repeated it three times. It was also reported with a saheeh isnaad from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them both) that this means singing. There is no contradiction between the interpretation of “idle talk” as meaning singing and the interpretation of it as meaning stories of the Persians and their kings, and the kings of the Romans, and so on, such as al-Nadr ibn al-Haarith used to tell to the people of Makkah to distract them from the Qur’aan. Both of them are idle talk. Hence Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “Idle talk” is falsehood and singing. Some of the Sahaabah said one and some said the other, and some said both. Singing is worse and more harmful than stories of kings, because it leads to zinaa and makes hypocrisy grow (in the heart); it is the trap of the Shaytaan, and it clouds the mind. The way in which it blocks people from the Qur’aan is worse than the way in which other kinds of false talk block them, because people are naturally inclined towards it and tend to want to listen to it. The aayaat condemn replacing the Qur’aan with idle talk in order to mislead (men) from the path of Allaah without knowledge and taking it as a joke, because when an aayah of the Qur’aan is recited to such a person, he turns his back as if he heard them not, as if there were deafness in his ear. If he hears anything of it, he makes fun of it. All of this happens only in the case of the people who are most stubbornly kaafirs and if some of it happens to singers and those who listen to them, they both have a share of this blame. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/258-259).
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“[Allaah said to Iblees:] And befool them gradually those whom you can among them with your voice (i.e. songs, music, and any other call for Allaah’s disobedience)…” [al-Israa’ 17:64]
It was narrated that Mujaahid (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “And befool them gradually those whom you can among them with your voice” – his voice [the voice of Iblees/Shaytaan] is singing and falsehood. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: This idaafah [possessive or genitive construction, i.e., your voice] serves to make the meaning specific, as with the phrases [translated as] “your cavalry” and “your infantry” [later in the same aayah]. Everyone who speaks in any way that is not obedient to Allaah, everyone who blows into a flute or other woodwind instrument, or who plays any haraam kind of drum, this is the voice of the Shaytaan. Everyone who walks to commit some act of disobedience towards Allaah is part of his [the Shaytaan’s] infantry, and anyone who rides to commit sin is part of his cavalry. This is the view of the Salaf, as Ibn ‘Abi Haatim narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas: his infantry is everyone who walks to disobey Allaah. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan).
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Do you then wonder at this recitation (the Qur’aan)?
And you laugh at it and weep not,
Wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)”
[al-Najm 53:59-61]
‘Ikrimah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: it was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas that al-sumood [verbal noun from saamidoon, translated here as “Wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)”] means “singing”, in the dialect of Himyar; it might be said “Ismidi lanaa” [‘sing for us’ – from the same root as saamidoon/sumood] meaning “ghaniy” [sing]. And he said (may Allaah have mercy on him): When they [the kuffaar] heard the Qur’aan, they would sing, then this aayah was revealed.
Ibn Katheer (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning) “Wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements (singing)” – Sufyaan al-Thawri said, narrating from his father from Ibn ‘Abbaas: (this means) singing. This is Yemeni (dialect): ismad lana means ghan lana [sing to us]. This was also the view of ‘Ikrimah. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer).
It was reported from Abu Umaamah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Do not sell singing slave women, do not buy them and do not teach them. There is nothing good in this trade, and their price is haraam. Concerning such things as this the aayah was revealed (interpretation of the meaning): ‘And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of Allaah…’ [Luqmaan 31:6].” (Hasan hadeeth)
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Among my ummah there will certainly be people who permit zinaa, silk, alcohol and musical instruments…” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari ta’leeqan, no. 5590; narrated as mawsool by al-Tabaraani and al-Bayhaqi. See al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 91).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: This is a saheeh hadeeth narrated by al-Bukhaari in his Saheeh, where he quoted it as evidence and stated that it is mu’allaq and majzoom. He said: Chapter on what was narrated concerning those who permit alcohol and call it by another name.
This hadeeth indicates in two ways that musical instruments and enjoyment of listening to music are haraam. The first is the fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “[they] permit” which clearly indicates that the things mentioned, including musical instruments, are haraam 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 haraam, i.e., zinaa and alcohol: if they (musical instruments) were not haraam, why would they be mentioned alongside these things? (adapted from al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 1/140-141)
Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyah) (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: This hadeeth indicates that ma’aazif are haraam, and ma’aazif means musical instruments according to the scholars of (Arabic) language. This word includes all such instruments. (al-Majmoo’, 11/535).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: And concerning the same topic similar comments were narrated from Sahl ibn Sa’d al-Saa’idi, ‘Imraan ibn Husayn, ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr, ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Abbaas, Abu Hurayrah, Abu Umaamah al-Baahili, ‘Aa’ishah Umm al-Mu’mineen, ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib, Anas ibn Maalik, ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Saabit and al-Ghaazi ibn Rabee’ah. Then he mentioned it in Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, and it indicates that they (musical instruments) are haraam.
It was narrated that Naafi’ (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Ibn ‘Umar heard a woodwind instrument, and he put his fingers in his ears and kept away from that path. He said to me, O Naafi’, can you hear anything? I said, No. So he took his fingers away from his ears and said: I was with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and he heard something like this, and he did the same thing. (Saheeh Abi Dawood). Some insignificant person said that this hadeeth does not prove that musical instruments are haraam, because if that were so, the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would have instructed Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them both) to put his fingers in his ears as well, and Ibn ‘Umar would have instructed Naafi’ to do likewise! The response to this is: He was not listening to it, but he could hear it. There is a difference between listening and hearing. Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyah) (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Concerning (music) which a person does not intend to listen to, there is no prohibition or blame, according to scholarly consensus. Hence blame or praise is connected to listening, not to hearing. The one who listens to the Qur’aan will be rewarded for it, whereas the one who hears it without intending or wanting to will not be rewarded for that, because actions are judged by intentions. The same applies to musical instruments which are forbidden: if a person hears them without intending to, that does not matter. (al-Majmoo’, 10/78).
Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdisi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: the listener is the one who intends to hear, which was not the case with Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them both); what happened in his case was hearing. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) needed to know when the sound stopped because he had moved away from that path and blocked his ears. So he did not want to go back to that path or unblock his ears until the noise had stopped, so when he allowed Ibn ‘Umar to continue hearing it, this was because of necessity. (al-Mughni, 10/173)
(Even though the hearing referred to in the comments of the two imaams is makrooh, it was permitted because of necessity, as we will see below in the comments of Imaam Maalik (may Allaah have mercy on him). And Allaah knows best).
The views of the scholars (imaams) of Islam
Al-Qaasim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Singing is part of falsehood. Al-Hasan (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: if there is music involved in a dinner invitation (waleemah), do not accept the invitation (al-Jaami by al-Qayrawaani, p. 262-263).
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The view of the four Imaams is that all kinds of musical instruments are haraam. It was reported in Saheeh al-Bukhaari and elsewhere that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that there would be among his ummah those who would allow zinaa, silk, alcohol and musical instruments, and he said that they would be transformed into monkeys and pigs… None of the followers of the imaams mentioned any dispute concerning the matter of music. (al-Majmoo’, 11/576).
Al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The four madhhabs are agreed that all musical instruments are haraam. (al-Saheehah, 1/145).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah 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. They stated that it is a sin which implies that a person is a faasiq (rebellious evil doer) whose testimony should be rejected. They went further than that and said that listening to music is fisq (rebellion, evildoing) and enjoying it is kufr (disbelief). This is their words. They narrated in support of that a hadeeth which could not be attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). They said: he should try not to hear it if he passes by it or it is in his vicinity. Abu Yoosuf said, concerning a house from which could be heard the sound of musical instruments: Go in without their permission, because forbidding evil actions is obligatory, and if it were not allowed to enter without permission, people could not have fulfilled the obligatory duty (of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil). (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/425).
Imaam Maalik (may Allaah 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). He (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “The only people who do things like that, in our view, are faasiqs.” (Tafseer al-Qurtubi, 14/55).
Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Among the types of earnings which are haraam by scholarly consensus are ribaa, the fee of a prostitute, anything forbidden, bribes, payment for wailing over the dead and singing, payments to fortune-tellers and those who claim to know the unseen and astrologers, payments for playing flutes, and all kinds of gambling. (al-Kaafi).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said, explaining the view of Imaam al-Shaafa’i: His companions who know his madhhab (point of view) stated that it is haraam and denounced those who said that he permitted it. (Ighaathat al-Lahfaan, 1/425).
The author of Kifaayat al-Akhbaar, who was one of the Shaafa’is, counted musical instruments such as flutes and others, as being munkar (evil), and the one who is present (where they are being played) should denounce them. (He cannot be excused by the fact that there are bad scholars, because they are corrupting the sharee’ah, or evil faqeers – meaning the Sufis, because they call themselves fuqaraa’ or faqeers – because they are ignorant and follow anyone who makes noise; they are not guided by the light of knowledge; rather they are blown about by every wind. (Kifaayat al-Akhbaar, 2/128).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: With regard to the view of Imaam Ahmad, his son ‘Abd-Allaah 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).
Ibn Qudaamah, the researcher of the Hanbali madhhab – (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Musical instruments are of three types which are haraam. These are the strings and all kinds of flute, and the lute, drum and rabaab (stringed instrument) and so on. Whoever persists in listening to them, his testimony should be rejected. (al-Mughni, 10/173). And he said (may Allaah have mercy on him); If a person is invited to a gathering in which there is something objectionable, such as wine and musical instruments, and he is able to denounce it, then he should attend and speak out against it, because then he will be combining two obligatory duties. If he is not able to do that, then he should not attend. (al-Kaafi, 3/118)
Al-Tabari (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The scholars of all regions are agreed that singing is makrooh and should be prevented. Although Ibraaheem ibn Sa’d and ‘Ubayd-Allaah al-‘Anbari differed from the majority, (it should be noted that) the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Adhere to the majority.” And whoever dies differing from the majority, dies as a jaahili. (Tafseer al-Qurtubi, 14/56). In earlier generations, the word “makrooh” was used to mean haraam, then it took on the meaning of “disliked”. But this is to be understood as meaning that it is forbidden, because he [al-Tabari] said “it should be prevented”, and nothing is to be prevented except that which is haraam; and because in the two hadeeths quoted, music is denounced in the strongest terms. Al-Qurtubi (may Allaah have mercy on him) is the one who narrated this report, then he said: Abu’l-Faraj and al-Qaffaal among our companions said: the testimony of the singer and the dancer is not to be accepted. I say: if it is proven that this matter is not permissible, then accepting payment for it is not permissible either.
Shaykh al-Fawzaan (may Allaah preserve him) said: What Ibraaheem ibn Sa’d and ‘Ubayd-Allaah al-‘Anbari said about singing is not like the kind of singing that is known nowadays, for they would never have allowed this kind of singing which is the utmost in immorality and obscenity. (al-I’laam)
Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: It is not permissible to make musical instruments. (al-Majmoo’, 22/140). And he said: According to the majority of fuqahaa’, it is permissible to destroy musical instruments, such as the tanboor [a stringed instrument similar to a mandolin]. This is the view of Maalik and is the more famous of the two views narrated from Ahmad. (al-Majmoo’, 28/113). And he said: …Ibn al-Mundhir mentioned that the scholars were agreed that it is not permissible to pay people to sing and wail… the consensus of all the scholars whose views we have learned about is that wailing and singing are not allowed. Al-Shu’bi, al-Nakha’i and Maalik regarded that as makrooh [i.e., haraam]. Abu Thawr, al-Nu’maan – Abu Haneefah (may Allaah have mercy on him) – and Ya’qoob and Muhammad, two of the students of Abu Haneefah said: it is not permissible to pay anything for singing and wailing. This is our view. And he said: musical instruments are the wine of the soul, and what it does to the soul is worse than what intoxicating drinks do. (Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 10/417).
Ibn Abi Shaybah (may Allaah have mercy on him) reported that a man broke a mandolin belonging to another man, and the latter took his case to Shurayh. But Shurayh did not award him any compensation – i.e., he did not make the first man pay the cost of the mandolin, because it was haraam and had no value. (al-Musannaf, 5/395).
Al-Baghawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) stated in a fatwa that it is haraam to sell all kinds of musical instruments such as mandolins, flutes, etc. Then he said: If the images are erased and the musical instruments are altered, then it is permissible to sell their parts, whether they are silver, iron, wood or whatever. (Sharh al-Sunnah, 8/28)
An appropriate exception
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. This is indicated by saheeh reports. Shaykh al-Islam (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: But the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) made allowances for certain types of musical instruments at weddings and the like, and he made allowances for women to play the daff at weddings and on other joyful occasions. But the men at his time did not play the daff or clap with their hands. It was narrated in al-Saheeh that he said: “Clapping is for women and tasbeeh (saying Subhaan Allaah) is for men.” And he cursed women who imitate men and men who imitate women. Because singing and playing the daff are things that women do, the Salaf used to call any man who did that a mukhannath (effeminate man), and they used to call male singers effeminate – and how many of them there are nowadays! It is well known that the Salaf said this.
In a similar vein is the hadeeth of ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her), when her father (may Allaah be pleased with him) entered upon her at the time of Eid, and there were two young girls with her who were singing the verses that the Ansaar had said on the day of Bu’aath – and any sensible person will know what people say about war. Abu Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “Musical instruments of the Shaytaan in the house of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)!” The Messenger of Allaah had turned away from them and was facing the wall – hence some scholars said that Abu Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him) would not tell anybody off in front of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), but he thought that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was not paying attention to what was happening. And Allaah knows best. He (the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)) said: “Leave them alone, O Abu Bakr, for every nation has its Eid, and this is our Eid, the people of Islam.” This hadeeth shows that it was not the habit of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his companions to gather to listen to singing, hence Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq called it “the musical instruments of the Shaytaan”. And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) approved of this appellation and did not deny it when he said, “Leave them alone, for every nation has its Eid and this is our Eid.” This indicates that the reason why this was permitted was because it was the time of Eid, and the prohibition remained in effect at times other than Eid, apart from the exceptions made for weddings in other ahaadeeth. Shaykh al-Albaani explained this in his valuable book Tahreem Aalaat al-Tarab (the Prohibition of Musical Instruments). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) approved of young girls singing at Eid, as stated in the hadeeth: “So that the mushrikeen will know that in our religion there is room for relaxation.” There is no indication in the hadeeth about the two young girls that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was listening to them. The commands and prohibitions have to do with listening, not merely hearing, just as in the case of seeing, the rules have to do with intentionally looking and not what happens by accident. So it is clear that this is for women only. Imaam Abu ‘Ubayd (may Allaah have mercy on him) defined the daff as “that which is played by women.” (Ghareeb al-Hadeeth, 3/64).
An inappropriate exception
Some of them make an exception for drums at times of war, and consequentially some modern scholars have said that military music is allowed. But there is no basis for this at all, for a number of reasons, the first of which is that this is making an exception with no clear evidence, apart from mere opinion and thinking that it is good, and this is wrong. The second reason is that what the Muslims should do at times of war is to turn their hearts towards their Lord. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“They ask you (O Muhammad) about the spoils of war. Say: ‘The spoils are for Allaah and the Messenger.’ So fear Allaah and adjust all matters of difference among you…” [al-Anfaal 8:1]. But using music is the opposite of this idea of taqwa and it would distract them from remembering their Lord. Thirdly, using music is one of the customs of the kuffaar, and it is not permitted to imitate them, especially with regard to something that Allaah has forbidden to us in general, such as music. (al-Saheehah, 1/145)
“No people go astray after having been guided except they developed arguments amongst themselves.” (Saheeh)
Some of them used the hadeeth about the Abyssinians playing in the mosque of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as evidence that singing is allowed! Al-Bukhaari included this hadeeth in his Saheeh under the heading Baab al-Hiraab wa’l-Daraq Yawm al-‘Eid (Chapter on Spears and Shields on the Day of Eid). Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: This indicates that it is permissible to play with weapons and the like in the mosque, and he applied that to other activities connected with jihaad. (Sharh Muslim). But as al-Haafiz ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: whoever speaks about something which is not his profession will come up with weird ideas such as these.
Some of them use as evidence the hadeeth about the singing of the two young girls, which we have discussed above, but we will quote what Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said, because it is valuable:
I am amazed that you quote as evidence for allowing listening to sophisticated songs the report which we mentioned about how two young girls who were below the age of puberty sang to a young woman on the day of Eid some verses of Arab poetry about bravery in war and other noble characteristics. How can you compare this to that? What is strange is that this hadeeth is one of the strongest proofs against them. The greatest speaker of the truth [Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq] called them musical instruments of the Shaytaan, and the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) approved of that appellation, but he made an exception in the case of these two young girls who had not yet reached the age of responsibility and the words of whose songs could not corrupt anyone who listened to them. Can this be used as evidence to allow what you do and what you know of listening (to music) which includes (bad) things which are not hidden?! Subhaan Allaah! How people can be led astray! (Madaarij al-Saalikeen, 1/493).
Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) was young at that time; nothing was transmitted from her after she reached the age of puberty except condemnation of singing. Her brother’s son, al-Qaasim ibn Muhammad, condemned singing and said that it was not allowed to listen to it, and he took his knowledge from her. (Talbees Iblees, 229). Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: A group of the Sufis used this hadeeth – the hadeeth about the two young girls – as evidence that singing is allowed and it is allowed to listen to it, whether it is accompanied by instruments or not. This view is sufficiently refuted by the clear statement of ‘Aa’ishah in the following hadeeth, where she says, “They were not singers.” She made it clear that they were not singers as such, although this may be understood from the wording of the report. So we should limit it to what was narrated in the text as regards the occasion and the manner, so as to reduce the risk of going against the principle, i.e., the hadeeth. And Allaah knows best. (Fath al-Baari, 2/442-443).
Some people even have the nerve to suggest that the Sahaabah and Taabi’een listened to singing, and that they saw nothing wrong with it!
Al-Fawzaan (may Allaah preserve him) said: We demand them to show us saheeh isnaads going back to these Sahaabah and Taabi’een, proving what they attribute to them. Then he said: Imaam Muslim mentioned in his introduction to his Saheeh that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn al-Mubaarak said: The isnaad is part of religion. Were it not for the isnaad, whoever wanted to could say whatever he wanted to.
Some of them said that the ahaadeeth which forbid music are full of faults. No hadeeth was free of being criticized by some of the scholars. Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The ahaadeeth which were narrated concerning music being haraam are not full of faults as has been claimed. Some of them are in Saheeh al-Bukhaari which is the soundest of books after the Book of Allaah, and some of them are hasan and some are da’eef. But because they are so many, with different isnaads, they constitute definitive proof that singing and musical instruments are haraam.
All the imaams agreed on the soundness of the ahaadeeth which forbid singing and musical instruments, apart from Abu Haamid al-Ghazzaali, but al-Ghazzaali did not have knowledge of hadeeth; and Ibn Hazam, but al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) explained where Ibn Hazam went wrong, and Ibn Hazam himself said that if any of (these ahaadeeth) were saheeh, he would follow that. But now they have proof that these reports are saheeh because there are so many books by the scholars which state that these ahaadeeth are saheeh, but they turn their backs on that. They are far more extreme than Ibn Hazam and they are nothing like him, for they are not qualified and cannot be referred to.
Some of them said that the scholars forbade singing because it is mentioned alongside gatherings in which alcohol is drunk and where people stay up late at night for evil purposes.
Al-Shawkaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The response to this is that mentioning these things in conjunction does not only mean that what is haraam is what is joined together in this manner. Otherwise this would mean that zinaa, as mentioned in the ahaadeeth, is not haraam unless it is accompanied by alcohol and the use of musical instruments. By the same token, an aayah such as the following (interpretation of the meaning):
“Verily, he used not to believe in Allaah, the Most Great,
And urged not on the feeding of Al‑Miskeen (the poor).”
[al-Haaqqah 69:33-34]
would imply that it is not haraam to disbelieve in Allaah unless that is accompanied by not encouraging the feeding of the poor. If it is said that the prohibition of such things one at a time is proven from other reports, the response to that is that the prohibition of musical instruments is also known from other evidence, as mentioned above. (Nayl al-Awtaar, 8/107).
Some of them said that “idle talk” does not refer to singing; the refutation of that has been mentioned above. Al-Qurtubi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: This – the view that it means singing – is the best that has been said concerning this aayah, and Ibn Mas’ood swore three times by Allaah besides Whom there is no other god, that it does refer to singing. Then he mentioned other imaams who said the same thing. Then he mentioned other views concerning the matter. Then he said: The first view is the best of all that has been said on this matter, because of the marfoo’ hadeeth, and because of the view of the Sahaabah and the Taabi’een. (Tafseer al-Qurtubi).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him), after quoting this Tafseer, said: Al-Haakim Abu ‘Abd-Allaah said in the Tafseer of Kitaab al-Mustadrak: Let the one who is seeking this knowledge know that the Tafseer of a Sahaabi who witnessed the revelation is a hadeeth with isnaad according to the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhaari and Muslim). Elsewhere in his book, he said: In our view this hadeeth has the same strength as a marfoo’ report. Although their tafseer is still subject to further examination, it is still more readily acceptable than the tafseer of those who came after them, because they are the most knowledgeable among this ummah of what Allaah meant in his Book. It was revealed among them and they were the first people to be addressed by it. They heard the tafseer from the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in word and in deed. And they were Arabs who understood the true meanings of (Arabic) words, so Muslims should avoid resorting to any other interpretation as much as possible.
Some of them said that singing is a form of worship if the intention is for it to help one to obey Allaah!
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: How strange! What type of faith, light, insight, guidance and knowledge can be gained from listening to tuneful verses and music in which most of what is said is haraam and deserves the wrath and punishment of Allaah and His Messenger? … How can anyone who has the least amount of insight and faith in his heart draw near to Allaah and increase his faith by enjoying something which is hated by Him, and He detests the one who says it and the one who accepts it? (Madaarij al-Saalikeen, 1/485)
Shaykh al-Islam said, discussing the state of the person who has gotten used to listening to singing: Hence you find that those who have gotten used to it and for whom it is like food and drink will never have the desire to listen to the Qur’aan or feel joy when they hear it, and they never find in listening to its verses the same feeling that they find when listening to poetry. Indeed, if they hear the Qur’aan, they hear it with an inattentive heart and talk whilst it is being recited, but if they hear whistling and clapping of hands, they lower their voices and keep still, and pay attention. (Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 11/557 ff)
Some say that music and musical instruments have the effect of softening people’s hearts and creating gentle feelings. This is not true, because it provokes physical desires and whims. If it really did what they say, it would have softened the hearts of the musicians and made their attitude and behaviour better, but most of them, as we know, are astray and behave badly.
Conclusion
Perhaps – for fair-minded and objective readers – this summary will make it clear that the view that music is permissible has no firm basis. There are no two views on this matter. So we must advise in the best manner, and then take it step by step and denounce music, if we are able to do so. We should not be deceived by the fame of a man in our own times in which the people who are truly committed to Islam have become strangers. The one who says that singing and musical instruments are permitted is simply supporting the whims of people nowadays, as if the masses were issuing fatwas and he is simply signing them! If a matter arises, they will look at the views of fuqahaa’ on this matter, then they will take the easiest view, as they claim. Then they will look for evidence, or just specious arguments which are worth no more than a lump of dead meat. How often have these people approved things in the name of sharee’ah which in fact have nothing to do with Islam!
Strive to learn your Islam from the Book of your Lord and the Sunnah of your Prophet. Do not say, So-and-so said, for you cannot learn the truth only from men. Learn the truth and then measure people against it. This should be enough for the one who controls his whims and submits himself to his Lord. May what we have written above heal the hearts of the believers and dispel the whispers in the hearts of those who are stricken with insinuating whispers. May it expose everyone who is deviating from the path of Revelation and taking the easiest options, thinking that he has come up with something which none of the earlier generations ever achieved, and speaking about Allaah without knowledge. They sought to avoid fisq (evildoing) and ended up committing bid’ah – may Allaah not bless them in it. It would have been better for them to follow the path of the believers.
And Allaah knows best. May Allaah bless and grant peace to His Messenger who made clear the path of the believers, and to his companions and those who follow them in truth until the Day of Judgement.
Summary of a paper entitled al-Darb bi’l-Nawa li man abaaha al-Ma’aazif li’l-Hawa by Shaykh Sa’d al-Deen ibn Muhammad al-Kibbi.
For more information, please see:
Al-I’laam bi Naqd Kitaab al-Halaal wa’l-Haraam, by Shaykh al-‘Allaamah Saalih ibn Fawzaan al-Fawzaan
Al-Samaa’ by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn al-Qayyim
Tahreem Aalaat al-Tarab, by Shaykh Muhammad Naasir al-Deen al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on him)
[Reply]
Statement from the Standing Committee for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas concerning the prohibition of singing and music
I read an article by some writer which said that singing and music are permissible, and refuted those who say that these things are haraam. He encouraged the broadcasting of recordings by dead singers as a means to preserve their memory and the art that they produced during their lives and lest the living be deprived of listening to that art and seeing it. He said: There is no text in the Holy Qur’aan which forbids singing and music, and in the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) we have a good example, and he used to listen to singing and music, and enjoined them at Eid and on occasions such as marriage and other joyous occasions. Then he said: And there are da’eef (weak) ahaadeeth which some quote as evidence that singing and music are forbidden, but it is not right to attribute them to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in order to support an opinion or prevent something that some people do not agree with. Then he quoted the opinions of some of the scholars who say that singing is allowed.
Praise be to Allaah.
The Standing Committee for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas issued a statement refuting this article, the text of which is as follows:
The scholars of the Standing Committee said:
In refutation of these specious arguments the Committee has stated the following:
Firstly: it is not permissible for anyone to discuss matters of sharee’ah except scholars of sharee’ah who are specialized and qualified to research and examine issues. The writer of this article is not a seeker of shar’i knowledge (taalib ‘ilm) so it is not permissible for him to discuss something in which he is not specialized. Hence he has made many mistakes and said many ignorant things, and spoken about Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) without knowledge. This is a sinful matter and is misguiding his readers. By the same token it is not permissible for the media – newspapers, magazines, etc – to give space to those who are not scholars of sharee’ah to discuss shar’i rulings and write about things that are not their specialty, so that the Muslims may be protected from their ideas and beliefs.
Secondly: Nothing can benefit the deceased after his death except that which is indicated by the shar’i evidence, such as the report in which the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When a man dies, his (good) deeds come to an end except three: ongoing charity, beneficial knowledge and a righteous son who will pray for him.” Narrated by Muslim, 1631. As for the sins that a person committed during his lifetime, and died without having repented from them – including singing – he will be punished for them unless Allaah forgives him for them by His Grace and kindness. So it is not permissible to resurrect them and revive them after he has died, lest that sin be added to the sins that he committed during his lifetime, because the harm of that extends to others, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever introduces a bad practice into Islam, the burden of that sin will be upon him, as will the sin of those who do it after him, without that detracting from their burden in the slightest.” Narrated by Muslim, 1017.
Thirdly: With regard to his comment that “There is no text in the Holy Qur’aan which forbids singing and music,” this reflects his ignorance of the Qur’aan. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of Allaah without knowledge, and takes it (the path of Allaah, or the Verses of the Qur’aan) by way of mockery. For such there will be a humiliating torment (in the Hell‑fire)”
[Luqmaan 31:6]
The majority of mufassireen say that what is meant by Lahwa al-hadeeth (“idle talks”) in this verse is singing. Another group says that it is every sound of entertainment, which includes flutes, stringed instruments and so on. All of these mislead men from the path of Allaah and cause misguidance. It is proven that Ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him), the great Sahaabi who was one of the scholars of the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them) said, commenting on this verse: “By Allaah, this refers to singing.” And he said: “It causes hypocrisy to grow in the heart as water causes herbs to grow.”
And there are many ahaadeeth which point to the prohibition of singing and musical instruments and indicate that they are a means which leads to great evil and bad consequences. The great scholar Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah be pleased with him) discussed the rulings on singing and musical instruments in great detail in his book Ighaathat al-Lahfaan.
Fourthly: This writer tells lies about the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) by saying that he used to listen to songs and music and enjoined them at Eid and on occasions such as marriage and other joyous occasions. It is proven that he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) granted a dispensation to women only, when there are no men present, allowing them to beat the daff and sing nasheeds which are free of any mention of love or the music and instruments, which includes the permissive songs that exist nowadays. Rather he allowed nasheeds that are free of such offensive characteristics and he allowed beating the daff only, not other kinds of drums or musical instruments, to proclaim marriage. It is narrated in saheeh ahaadeeth, as in Saheeh al-Bukhaari, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade musical instruments of all types and issued stern warnings against them. It is narrated in Saheeh al-Bukhaari and other books of hadeeth that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There will be among my ummah people who will regard as permissible zina (adultery), silk, alcohol and ma’aazif (musical instruments). Some people will camp at the top of a mountain with their shepherd looking after their sheep, and a poor man will come and ask for something, and they will say, ‘Come back to us tomorrow.’ But Allaah will destroy them and level the mountain, and will turn others into monkeys and pigs until the Day of Resurrection.”
The word ma’aazif (translated above as musical instruments) refers to singing and all kinds of instruments. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) condemned those who regard as permissible zina (adultery), the wearing of silk for men and the drinking of alcohol, and who listen to singing and musical instruments. He mentioned that alongside zina, alcohol and the wearing of silk by men, which indicates that singing and musical instruments are emphatically forbidden.
Fifthly: With regard to this writer’s comment that there are da’eef (weak) ahaadeeth which some quote as evidence that singing and music are forbidden, but it is not right to attribute them to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in order to support an opinion or prevent something that some people do not agree with, this reflects his ignorance of the Sunnah, for the evidence that singing is forbidden is to be found partly in the Qur’aan and partly in Saheeh al-Bukhaari, as stated above, and partly in other books of Sunnah, which the earlier scholars used as evidence that singing and music are forbidden.
Sixthly: The opinion of some scholars who allow singing is an opinion that is refuted by the evidence which forbids that. The point here is that we should follow what the evidence says and not that which goes against it. We may take or leave the words of anyone except the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
This writer must repent to Allaah from what he has written, and he should nor speak about Allaah and His Messenger without knowledge, for speaking about Allaah without knowledge is mentioned alongside shirk in the Book of Allaah.
May Allaah help us all to learn the truth and follow it.
May Allaah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions.
[Reply]
abdul razzaq, the manner in which you approach this domain of throughly westernized muslims is far from wise and will only push more and more people away from the very sunnah you mention above, which i agree is entirely correct. i understand where youre coming from,,it is sad to see such a beautiful project end with a misrepresentation of islamic culture, but its very fair to say that this represents muslim culture because muslims nowadays are flocking to the hotspots of western culture faster than any people and it’s something we have to admit and then work on. all that being said, i think you could have been more wise in your response instead of copy and pasting a bunch of fatwas and statements that most people wont read and the ones who, will probably ignore it or read it in disgust because of your one-sided approach. you have to understand that there are muslims and non-muslims alike who have grown up inthe west throughly indulged in and inffluenced by this culture and to expect everyone overnight to follow every aspect of the sunnah, especially ones with somewhat of a grey area nowadays, is very unlikely esp since it seems like day of recompense is near. im not trying to argue you but i haveto say this because many others feel likewise, and barely anybody has addressed your comments.
anyway peace bewith you bro.
and remembr, i agree with you, but your appraoch is a little off.
later akk.
[Reply]
what happened to this project, it came to such an end? no farewell, nothing. no one last post. a part one with no part 2. no future mentioned? im sure you guys are busy but….
[Reply]
sorry we have been swamped this past week, but no worries, we’ll be having a few new posts in the next few days detailing our future
[Reply]
Bukhari :: Book 2 :: Volume 15 :: Hadith 72
Narrated Aisha:
Abu Bakr came to my house while two small Ansari girls were singing beside me the stories of the Ansar concerning the Day of Buath. And they were not singers. Abu Bakr said protestingly, “Musical instruments of Satan in the house of Allah’s Apostle !” It happened on the ‘Id day and Allah’s Apostle said, “O Abu Bakr! There is an ‘Id for every nation and this is our ‘Id.”
Bukhari :: Book 5 :: Volume 58 :: Hadith 268
Narrated Aisha:
That once Abu Bakr came to her on the day of ‘Id-ul-Fitr or ‘Id ul Adha while the Prophet was with her and there were two girl singers with her, singing songs of the Ansar about the day of Buath. Abu Bakr said twice. “Musical instrument of Satan!” But the Prophet said, “Leave them Abu Bakr, for every nation has an ‘Id (i.e. festival) and this day is our ‘Id.”
Narrated Aisha:
Allah’s Apostle (p.b.u.h) came to my house while two girls were singing beside me the songs of Buath (a story about the war between the two tribes of the Ansar, the Khazraj and the Aus, before Islam). The Prophet (p.b.u.h) lay down and turned his face to the other side. Then Abu Bakr came and spoke to me harshly saying, “Musical instruments of Satan near the Prophet (p.b.u.h) ?” Allah’s Apostle (p.b.u.h) turned his face towards him and said, “Leave them.” When Abu Bakr became inattentive, I signalled to those girls to go out and they left. It was the day of ‘Id, and the Black people were playing with shields and spears; so either I requested the Prophet (p.b.u.h) or he asked me whether I would like to see the display. I replied in the affirmative. Then the Prophet (p.b.u.h) made me stand behind him and my cheek was touching his cheek and he was saying, “Carry on! O Bani Arfida,” till I got tired. The Prophet (p.b.u.h) asked me, “Are you satisfied (Is that sufficient for you)?” I replied in the affirmative and he told me to leave.
[Reply]
Alhumduillah, I really enjoyed this Eid celebration at Masjid Khalifa, may Allah bring peace between the Muslims and keep us on the straight path, Ameen!
[Reply]
As I import CD’s into my i-tunes then I could ignore the many comments that people have made because I know that the truth is that most Muslims are listening to music. Muslims not only listen to music but every Islamic culture has a form of music.
About being Western, many Muslims are from the West ie Western and the West and western Muslims have many things right. Your ability to speak freely about your Muslim point of view (even amongst Muslims) and practice Islam as you see fit is an example of this point. So Alhumdulillah that I can pray in an equal prayer space as the men, cause that concept is Western and Islamic and something that this Western mosque does yet it’s something that many “Eastern” mosques and people who follow that way of thinking believing that it’s Islam (because it’s done by people from the “Islamic world”) don’t do.
Many people think that strictness is righteousness as is the case with many of the commentators. But Islam is the middle path. It is neither strict nor liberal.
Many of the anti-music commentators are badgering people with their point of view. Many people don’t speak up to this because no one wants to be called a bad or misguided Muslim even when the extreme people are out of line.
There are varying opinions on the permissibility of music. Follow what seems best for you and insha’allah be content with that.
This blog has been a great blog and a great experience for the readers and writers. If you found a way to bring joy to someone else like music does or equality does then Alhumdulillah. In the meantime then it’s better to stop trying to make others feel guilty for celebrating while Muslim.
Alhumdulillah, I also enjoyed the Eid celebration at this mosque.
This was a GREAT EID CELEBRATION.
If you rejoiced during Eid then let’s talk about that.
And let’s end this Google-A-Hadith and Admonish-A-Muslim fest.
[Reply]
As I import CD’s into my i-tunes then I could ignore the many comments that people have made because I know that the truth is that most Muslims are listening to music. Muslims not only listen to music but every Islamic culture has a form of music.
About being Western, many Muslims are from the West ie Western and the West and western Muslims have many things right. Your ability to speak freely about your Muslim point of view (even amongst Muslims) and practice Islam as you see fit is an example of this point. So Alhumdulillah that I can pray in an equal prayer space as the men, cause that concept is Western and Islamic and something that this Western mosque does yet it’s something that many “Eastern” mosques and people who follow that way of thinking believing that it’s Islam (because it’s done by people from the “Islamic world”) don’t do.
Many people think that strictness is righteousness as is the case with many of the commentators. But Islam is the middle path. It is neither strict nor liberal.
Many of the anti-music commentators are badgering people with their point of view. Many people don’t speak up to this because no one wants to be called a bad or misguided Muslim even when the extreme people are out of line.
There are varying opinions on the permissibility of music. Follow what seems best for you and insha’allah be content with that.
This blog has been a great blog and a great experience for the readers and writers. If you found a way to bring joy to someone else like music does or equality does then Alhumdulillah. In the meantime then it’s better to stop trying to make others feel guilty for celebrating while Muslim.
Alhumdulillah, I also enjoyed the Eid celebration at this mosque.
This was a GREAT EID CELEBRATION.
If you rejoiced during Eid then let’s talk about that.
And let’s end this Google-A-Hadith and Admonish-A-Muslim fest.
[Reply]
To Maheen,
Your comment was really nice to see.
Insha’allah we all work towards having Muslim communities that are life affirming. Individuals come together to form families and then families come together to form communities. So we as individuals have to affirm life and then do that within our families and then continue that as we come together with other families to form communities.
The lack of this on an individual and family level prevents that from happening within community life. And a whole community against enjoying life stifles it’s individual members and then the problem get larger from there.
So Alhumdulillah, I am grateful.
[Reply]
I must comment on a couple of things you have written
“Your ability to speak freely about your Muslim point of view (even amongst Muslims) and practice Islam as you see fit is an example of this point. ”
YOU SHOULD PRACTICE ISLAM AS PRESCRIBED BY THE QUR’AN & SUNNAH AND NOT AS YOU SEE FIT.
“There are varying opinions on the permissibility of music. Follow what seems best for you and insha’allah be content with that.”
PEOPLE IN OUR TIME ARE TRYING TO PUSH THE OPINION THAT MUSIC IS PERMISSABLE BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE OPINION THAT YOU SHOULD FOLLOW AND THAT IS THE OPINION OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD SAW AND I’M SURE I DON’T NEED TO REMIND YOU WHAT HIS OPINION ON MUSIC WAS.
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What an excellent blog – thank you.
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That Eid celebration sounds fantastic!! Definitely unusual, but you know what, it works for the community and it brings the young muslims TO the masjid, instead of running AWAY from it – as long as it’s done in a healthful and mindful way (ie not club-ish) I think it is a great thing to keep the community vibrant and interested.
I went to Six Flags on the day after Eid for ICNA’s muslim youth day (what can I say, I love rollercoasters) but some of the utter rudeness and craziness that I saw in some of our teenagers was totally shocking and disappointing. You don’t know how many times I found myself thinking “kids these days…” — and I’m only 27. I can’t help but think that if these teens were tied to a masjid that valued them and interested them, rather than shunned them, they might have a different experience and therefore a more God-conscious behavior & mindset.
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I read the post and laughed and cried at the same time. Thank you for this.
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I’m a bit behind but I just want to commend you guys on this wonderful project. I can only imagine how exhausting it must have been going to a different masjid every night. But the insight on the diversity of Muslim culture in America you provided to the public at large was invaluable. I really looked forward to reading your posts everyday and was sad when it had to come to an end! I loved your perspective of using food and pictures to communicate your experience of Ramadan. Thank you!
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I have an iPhone, and recently got a Macbook for college. So I transferred all of my songs to my Mac, but I can’t seem to transfer the ringtones from my iPhone to my Mac. Help please?
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I just want to join the many others to say thank you both for an inspiring and insightful blog- what an amazing project- i looked forward to reading your posts everyday -the simplicity,the honesty, and the warmth in your commentary was refreshing, and really spoke true to the Muslim community in nyc
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