What is the authenticity of the hadith narrated by al-Tirmidhi concerning female singers (do not sell female singers and do not buy them)?

The questioner : Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy and blessings of Allah, and His forgiveness.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, I ask you a question.

The Shaykh : It is clear that the question is long.

The questioner : If Allah wills, it is even longer, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : May Allah preserve you.

The questioner : It concerns the hadith.

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.

The questioner : The hadith in al-Tirmidhi, which concerns female singers and buying them. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . What is the grade of this hadith in terms of authenticity, and what is the meaning of "their price is forbidden"? Is the sale intended here, or the trade?

The Shaykh : The hadith is established by the totality of its chains. Did you hear me?

The questioner : Yes, yes.

The Shaykh : The meaning of "their price is forbidden" is that if the master of a female singer, who is a slave woman who sings, sells her to a customer as a singer, not as a slave woman who does not sing, then the price of this sale, or of this female singer, is forbidden for her master, because in that lies the spreading of what is forbidden among people, which is the singing of women. Is that clear?

The questioner : Yes, yes.

The Shaykh : Okay, anything else?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Anything else you have?

The questioner : Another question related to this same question, concerning: the female singers in our society today. They may not be with you, but they are with us...

The Shaykh : You do not have female singers.

The questioner : They hire them for weddings.

The Shaykh : You do not have female singers, you do not have them, you do not have them.

The questioner : It is not intended to mean those who buy and sell, but we have people we call female singers. They hire a group of Black women who are known as female singers among us, meaning the drummers and the singers.

The Shaykh : That is not what is intended, my brother. I told you that in the interpretation of the hadith, it refers to the slave woman who is a singer. These women you call female singers are free women.

The questioner : Yes, free women.

The Shaykh : Yes, so it is not permissible to sell them or buy them.

The questioner : Okay, what about the fee they give as rent for singing on the wedding night?

The Shaykh : It is also forbidden; because Allah said on the tongue of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): meaning that if the thing consumed is forbidden, then it is not permissible to sell it because of the spreading of what is forbidden in it. The noble verse is the basis for such details, and it is His saying, the Exalted: . So these women you call female singers among you, first, they are not the ones mentioned in the hadith. Second, they trade in their voices just as singers do on the radio, including those who claimed that Shadia repented and the like of her. These are not female singers; these are singers. There is no difference between being white, brown, or Black. So this singing by free women is forbidden; because it corrupts the hearts of men. Even slave women or slave girls, when there were slave women among the Muslims in the legal sense, it was not permissible for a slave woman to sing in front of anyone other than her master, in front of strangers to her, in front of those with whom it is not permissible for her to have intercourse. So what can be said when the singer is a free woman, as is the case today? As for the Black color, Blackness is not permissible for whiteness to enslave. So the woman who sings and is free, whether she is Black or white, her singing is forbidden; because singing is known to be forbidden, and there is no need to elaborate on that. So taking a fee for this forbidden singing, like many matters for which fees are taken and which are forbidden, and we know that there are hadiths that serve as an explanation of the previous verse: . Such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . And also his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So he mentioned first the one who drinks it, then the one who serves it, the one who fetches it, and so on. So all of this is from the category of cooperating in sin and aggression, and this cooperation is not permissible, especially when it is for a price. Is that clear to you?

The questioner : It is clear on the side of the question. Regarding these singers we have, and we mean by singers that they use the hand drum in weddings, but some of their words are not clean. So the question is: are they, or hiring them, or giving them money so they sing at the wedding for women only, permissible? And is it permissible for me to take my wife or my sisters to this wedding, or am I sinful if I attend it?

The Shaykh : It is not permissible, and it is not permissible. Did you understand me?

The questioner : Yes, it is not permissible to give the fee, and it is not permissible for me to bring the women to them.

The Shaykh : You have done well.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.