What is the ruling on singing?

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Question:
A questioner asks: What is the ruling on singing? Is it forbidden or disliked?

Answer:
Wealth is forbidden; because it is the idle talk mentioned in His saying, the Exalted:

And of the people is he who buys the amusement of speech to mislead [others] from the way of Allah without knowledge and who takes it in ridicule. Those will have a humiliating punishment.

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَشْتَرِي لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّخِذَهَا هُزُوًا أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُّهِينٌ

[Luqman 31:6]

So, the talk is as the Companions, or many of the Companions, interpreted it to be singing. Yes.
It came in Sahih al-Bukhari, as a hanging hadith with a form of certainty, from Abu Malik al-Ash'ari that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

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.

لَيَكُونَنَّ مِنْ أُمَّتِي أَقْوَامٌ يَسْتَحِلُّونَ الْحِرَ وَالْحَرِيرَ وَالْخَمْرَ وَالْمَعَازِفَ

Sahih al-Bukhari 5590

And musical instruments are the instruments of singing and instruments of amusement. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) paired them with intoxicants and with zina (unlawful sexual intercourse)—meaning zina—and silk is forbidden for men. So pairing musical instruments with these forbidden things indicates that they are forbidden. And he said "they make lawful," which indicates that they are forbidden.

Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم الغناء؟ #فتاوى الفوزان — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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