The ruling on one who claims to benefit from songs in the same way as from the Qur'an

Q: I am a young man. One day I saw a young man listening to singing, and I know that it is forbidden. I wanted to advise him, so after I advised him, he asked me: What do you benefit from the Qur'an? I said: Listening to the Qur'an is worship and gaining understanding of the religion. He said: I benefit from it just as you benefit from the Qur'an. What is the ruling on that?

A: This is a denunciation-worthy statement that is not made by one who knows the religion of Islam and knows the reality of the Qur'an, that it is the speech of Allah. One fears for its speaker that he may fall into apostasy from Islam if he believes that he benefits from songs in the same way as one benefits from the Qur'an. So we ask Allah for safety and well-being from the deviation of hearts and the slips of the tongue, for He is the All-Hearing, the Near.
It should be said to this ignorant young man and those like him if he says: What do you benefit from the Qur'an? I benefit from the Qur'an what is in it of my well-being and guidance, and what is in it of my salvation and the rectification of my heart and my deeds, and what is in it of the safety of my religion and my worldly life. And I benefit from it the noble morals and the excellent deeds that please Allah and bring one near to Him. Indeed, the Noble Qur'an calls to noble morals and excellent deeds, and it teaches us the obligations of Allah that are upon us, and it teaches us what Allah has forbidden, and it teaches us the path of the messengers before us, and it teaches us the attributes of the prophets and the believers, and the morals of the prophets and the believers. It teaches us the attributes of the people of Paradise and their morals, and it teaches us the attributes of the people of the Fire and their morals. All of this is in the Great Qur'an. Is there a benefit greater than this benefit? Is there anything in this world greater than these benefits? That you know what pleases Allah with you, and what angers Him with you, and that you know His names (Glorified and Exalted is He) and His attributes, and that you know the attributes of the righteous, the good, and the believers so that you adopt them, and that you know the attributes of the people of Paradise so that you adopt them, and that you know the attributes of the wicked, the disbelievers, and the people of the Fire so that you avoid them. Is there anything better than this?
As for singing, one does not benefit from it except one whose heart is sick, who has deviated from guidance, and who has strayed from the truth. This is the benefit of singing.
Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, in what is authentic from him: "Singing causes hypocrisy to grow in the heart just as water causes herbs to grow." And Allah says in His great Book: [Luqman: 6] "Who buys" means who exchanges, "from among the people" is a condemnation of some people, "buys" means purchases. The hadith: Most of the exegetes said its meaning is singing, and some of them interpreted idle talk as singing, instruments of amusement, and pleasure, and every sound that diverts from the truth, so all of it falls under idle talk.
Then He said after that: And some read: We ask Allah for safety. Then among its dangerous benefits is that it is a cause for taking the verses of Allah in mockery, meaning: that it leads its practitioner thereafter to mocking the Qur'an, and not finding comfort in its recitation, and being arrogant about listening to it as well. We seek refuge in Allah from that. For this reason, He the Exalted said: [Luqman: 7] So these are the benefits of singing: straying, causing others to stray, mocking the path of Allah, and being arrogant about listening to the verses of Allah. We seek refuge in Allah from that, and we ask Him the Exalted for us and for the Muslims safety from everything that angers Him.