The Ruling on Listening to Songs and the Response to Those Who Deem Them Permissible
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
How do we respond to those who say that listening to songs is permissible, and what is the ruling on one who follows the Zahiri school?
Answer:
Songs, listening to songs is forbidden. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:[Al-Isra 17:36] And songs are amusement. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: [Al-Mu'minun 23:3] So they are idle talk and amusement. He, may He be exalted, says: [Luqman 31:6] So it is for him.
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By Allah, it is the flute." He meant that it is amusement. The hadith is: "By Allah, it is the flute. By Allah, it is the flute. By Allah, it is the flute." He swore three times. Others among the Companions also said that, and the hadith was interpreted for him as meaning the flute.
In the hadith of Abu Malik al-Ash'ari in Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "May Allah send prayers and peace upon him." There will be people among my Ummah who deem permissible what is forbidden, silk, intoxicants, and musical instruments. These are instruments of amusement, and the meaning of deeming them permissible is that they are forbidden, and he paired them with intoxicants.
And silk for men, and fornication is the most severe of what is forbidden, which is the private parts, and they deem it permissible without marriage. So he paired them with these crimes, which indicates that instruments of amusement and singing are forbidden and it is not permissible to listen to them. This is the response to those who deem singing permissible, and they have no evidence that can counter these proofs. What they have is only desire.
And this desire does not contradict the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And His saying, may He be exalted, to Satan:[Al-Isra 17:64] The voice of Satan is singing, as the interpretation of that came in the books of tafsir; it is singing, the voice of Satan.
How do we respond to those who say that listening to songs is permissible, and what is the ruling on one who follows the Zahiri school?
Answer:
Songs, listening to songs is forbidden. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:
Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned.
إِنَّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُولَٰئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْئُولًاAnd they who turn away from ill speech
وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُونَAnd of the people is he who buys the amusement of speech
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَشْتَرِي لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِAbdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By Allah, it is the flute." He meant that it is amusement. The hadith is: "By Allah, it is the flute. By Allah, it is the flute. By Allah, it is the flute." He swore three times. Others among the Companions also said that, and the hadith was interpreted for him as meaning the flute.
In the hadith of Abu Malik al-Ash'ari in Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "May Allah send prayers and peace upon him." There will be people among my Ummah who deem permissible what is forbidden, silk, intoxicants, and musical instruments. These are instruments of amusement, and the meaning of deeming them permissible is that they are forbidden, and he paired them with intoxicants.
And silk for men, and fornication is the most severe of what is forbidden, which is the private parts, and they deem it permissible without marriage. So he paired them with these crimes, which indicates that instruments of amusement and singing are forbidden and it is not permissible to listen to them. This is the response to those who deem singing permissible, and they have no evidence that can counter these proofs. What they have is only desire.
And this desire does not contradict the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And His saying, may He be exalted, to Satan:
And incite [to senselessness] whoever you can among them with your voice
وَاسْتَفْزِزْ مَنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ مِنْهُم بِصَوْتِكَ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، كيف الرد على القائلين بجواز سماع الأغاني؟ وما حكم اتباع المذهب الظاهري؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.