What is the ruling on Islamic nasheeds?
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The questioner : His EminenceThe Shaykh : What is the ruling on listening to Islamic songs and plays, specifically songs that do not include the hand drum?
The Shaykh : There is a lot of questioning about this. Regarding listening to Islamic songs, we must know what their subject matter is. The subject of these songs may include something forbidden, such as a song that contains exaggeration regarding the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that Allah and His Messenger do not approve of, such as saying:
"O noblest of creation, to whom shall I take refuge *** Other than You when the general calamity befalls
If you are not taking my hand on the Day of Resurrection, *** then forgive me, or else say, "O slip of the foot."
For from Your generosity is the world and its neighbor *** And from Your knowledge is the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen"
I bear witness by Allah that if the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) were to appear to the one who said this statement, he would reject it. As some scholars said, if the bounty of the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) includes this world and its counterpart, what remains for Allah is its counterpart, meaning the Hereafter. If this world and the Hereafter are from the bounty of the Messenger, what remains for Allah? Nothing. If he knows the knowledge of the Preserved Tablet and the Pen, then he would know the unseen. And Allah the Exalted says:[Al-An'am 6:50] So how can one say that from His bounty is this world and its counterpart? In any case, if the songs contain a forbidden subject, they are forbidden. This is the first point.
Second: If they are accompanied by an instrument of amusement, such as music, then music is forbidden, or the drum.
Third: If they are composed with melodies that resemble the lewd and degrading melodies of singing, then it is not permissible to listen to them.
Fourth: If they occupy a person to the extent that he is distracted from taking a lesson from the Book and the Sunnah, such that his heart does not soften unless he listens to them, and if he listens to a verse of Allah or the words of the Messenger of Allah, nothing moves him, but if he hears these songs, they have taken possession of his heart, then he must turn away from them so that he may benefit from the admonitions in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. If these prohibitions are absent, then there is nothing wrong with them, and there is no harm in listening to them.
The Shaykh : There is a lot of questioning about this. Regarding listening to Islamic songs, we must know what their subject matter is. The subject of these songs may include something forbidden, such as a song that contains exaggeration regarding the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that Allah and His Messenger do not approve of, such as saying:
"O noblest of creation, to whom shall I take refuge *** Other than You when the general calamity befalls
If you are not taking my hand on the Day of Resurrection, *** then forgive me, or else say, "O slip of the foot."
For from Your generosity is the world and its neighbor *** And from Your knowledge is the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen"
I bear witness by Allah that if the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) were to appear to the one who said this statement, he would reject it. As some scholars said, if the bounty of the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) includes this world and its counterpart, what remains for Allah is its counterpart, meaning the Hereafter. If this world and the Hereafter are from the bounty of the Messenger, what remains for Allah? Nothing. If he knows the knowledge of the Preserved Tablet and the Pen, then he would know the unseen. And Allah the Exalted says:
I do not tell you that I have the depositories [containing the provision] of Allah or that I know the unseen
قل لا أقول لكم عندي خزائن الله ولا أعلم الغيبSecond: If they are accompanied by an instrument of amusement, such as music, then music is forbidden, or the drum.
Third: If they are composed with melodies that resemble the lewd and degrading melodies of singing, then it is not permissible to listen to them.
Fourth: If they occupy a person to the extent that he is distracted from taking a lesson from the Book and the Sunnah, such that his heart does not soften unless he listens to them, and if he listens to a verse of Allah or the words of the Messenger of Allah, nothing moves him, but if he hears these songs, they have taken possession of his heart, then he must turn away from them so that he may benefit from the admonitions in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. If these prohibitions are absent, then there is nothing wrong with them, and there is no harm in listening to them.