SHOULD THAT WHICH WAS NOT FORBIDDEN BY ALLAH BE FORBIDDEN BY MAN?
One of the most frustrating aspects of Christianity for me were those who picked and chose which scriptures they would follow. Often I would here the phrase, “But preacher that doesn’t mean what it says.” When I asked a Trinitary Preacher why there wasn’t one instance of any believer being baptized in The Name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghose recorded in Acts and that the verses Matthew 28:17-19 isn’t found in our earliest copies of the New Testament as is the case with Mark 16:18-20
Mat 28:17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Mar 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mar 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
Mar 16:20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
The Preacher replied to me, “Well, Brother, I would rather do what Jesus said that what the apostles said!”
I reminded him of 2 Tim. 3:16-17: 2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
When my wife read in the book of 1 Cor. 11: 1Co 11:13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
1Co 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
1Co 11:15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
1Co 11:16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
Some of the woman in the Church told her “Sister, that doesn’t mean what it says.”
Well, to my disappointment it seems that when a prohibition can’t be found in AL Qur’aan or in Strong Hadith to Forbid that which Allah never Forbad, many go to weak hadith some of which have to be twisted by interpretation to support their premise.
Al Qur’aan is complete and perfect:
Say (O Muhammad): What thing is of most weight in testimony? Say: Allah is Witness between you and me. And this Qur’an hath been inspired in me, that I may warn therewith you and whomsoever it may reach. Do ye in sooth bear witness that there are gods beside Allah? Say: I bear no such witness. Say: He is only One Allah. Lo! I am innocent of that which ye associate (with Him). (19)
Al-Anaam
Shall I seek other than Allah for judge, when He it is Who hath revealed unto you (this) Scripture, fully explained? Those unto whom We gave the Scripture (aforetime) know that it is revealed from thy Lord in truth. So be not thou (O Muhammad) of the waverers. (114)
Al-Araf
Verily We have brought them a Scripture which We expounded with knowledge, a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe. (52)
Al-Isra
And We appoint the night and the day two portents. Then We effact the portent of the night, and We make the portent of the day sight-giving, that ye may seek bounty from your Lord, and that ye may know the computation of the years, and the reckoning; and everything have We expounded with a clear expounding. (12)
Hud
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Alif. Lam. Ra. (This is) a Scripture the revelations whereof are perfected and then expounded. (It cometh) from One Wise, Aware, (1)
Fussilat
A Scripture whereof the verses are expounded, a Lecture in Arabic for people who have knowledge, (3)
Yusuf
In their history verily there is a lesson for men of understanding. It is no invented story but a confirmation of the existing (Scripture) and a detailed explanation of everything, and a guidance and a mercy for folk who believe. (111)
An-Nahl
And (bethink you of) the day when We raise in every nation a witness against them of their own folk, and We bring thee (Muhammad) as a witness against these. And We reveal the Scripture unto thee as an exposition of all things, and a guidance and a mercy and good tidings for those who have surrendered (to Allah). (89)
The Prophet Muhammad (Salla Alayhu ‘Alayhi Wa Sallem) lived by Al Qur’aan, ruled by Al Qur’aan, taught Al Qur’an , and admonished by Al Qur’aan alone, solely, explicitly.
Allaah (SAW) is the only source of law:
Al-Anaam
Shall I seek other than Allah for judge, when He it is Who hath revealed unto you (this) Scripture, fully explained? Those unto whom We gave the Scripture (aforetime) know that it is revealed from thy Lord in truth. So be not thou (O Muhammad) of the waverers. (114)
No one, not even our Prophet Muhammad (Salla Alayhu ‘Alayhi Wa Sallam) can prohibit what Allaah has not prohibited:
-Tahrim
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
O Prophet! Why bannest thou that which Allah hath made lawful for thee, seeking to please thy wives? And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. (1)
Al Qur’aan say Allaah does not forget. So isn’t it blasphemy to say that he forgot to prohibit music in The Old Testament.
Psa 150:1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Psa 150:2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Psa 150:3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Psa 150:4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Psa 150:5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Psa 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
Psa 104:33 I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
Psa 146:2 While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
Psa 92:1 A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
Psa 92:2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,
Psa 92:3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.
1Ch 9:33 And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free: for they were employed in that work day and night.
Psa 33:3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
Psa 96:1 O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.
Psa 98:1 A Psalm. O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
Psa 144:9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.
Psa 149:1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
1Ch 15:22 And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was for song: he instructed about the song, because he was skilful.
Mat 26:30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
Act 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
Eph 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Jas 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
1Ki 10:12 And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king’s house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day
1Ch 15:16 And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.
Isa 38:20 The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.
Mal 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Luqman
And if all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea, with seven more seas to help it, (were ink), the words of Allah could not be exhausted. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Wise. (27)
Al-Kahf
Say: Though the sea became ink for the Words of my Lord, verily the sea would be used up before the words of my Lord were exhausted, even though We brought the like thereof to help. (109)
An-Nahl
And speak not, concerning that which your own tongues qualify (as clean or unclean), the falsehood: “This is lawful, and this is forbidden,” so that ye invent a lie against Allah. Lo! those who invent a lie against Allah will not succeed. (116)
Al-Araf
O Children of Adam! Look to your adornment at every place of worship, and eat and drink, but be not prodigal. Lo! He loveth not the prodigals. (31) Say: Who hath forbidden the adornment of Allah which He hath brought forth for His bondmen, and the good things of His providing? Say: Such, on the Day of Resurrection, will be only for those who believed during the life of the world. Thus do we detail Our revelations for people who have knowledge. (32) Say: My Lord forbiddeth only indecencies, such of them as are apparent and such as are within, and sin and wrongful oppression, and that ye associate with Allah that for which no warrant hath been revealed, and that ye tell concerning Allah that which ye know not. (33)
Al-Araf
Have they not considered the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and what things Allah hath created, and that it may be that their own term draweth nigh? In what fact after this will they believe? (185)
Yunus
Most of them follow not but conjecture. Assuredly conjecture can by no means take the place of truth. Lo! Allah is Aware of what they do. (36)
Luqman
And of mankind is he who payeth for mere pastime of discourse, that he may mislead from Allah’s way without knowledge, and maketh it the butt of mockery. For such there is a shameful doom. (6)
Al-Jathiya
These are the portents of Allah which We recite unto thee (Muhammad) with truth. Then in what fact, after Allah and His portents, will they believe? (6)
At-Tur
Then let them produce speech the like thereof, if they are truthful. (34)
Al-Qalam
Leave Me (to deal) with those who give the lie to this pronouncement. We shall lead them on by steps from whence they know not. (44)
Az-Zumar
Allah coineth a similitude: A man in relation to whom are several part-owners, quarrelling, and a man belonging wholly to one man. Are the two equal in similitude? Praise be to Allah! But most of them know not. (29)
Every verse in Al Qur’aan that is used to prove Music is Haraam has to be twisted and wrestled to fit that premise. How does praising Allah, exhorting Muslims to hold fast to the faith, telling stories of the Prophet (Salla Alayhu ‘Alayhi Wa Sallam) equal vain, foolish or deceiving the believer. How are these things vain. It seems to my mind that for each hadith that is used to forbid music there is a hadith that permits music. Statements are often made that all the scholars agree that music and singing are haraam. But that is not the case.
According to Wikiepedia there are many scholars who believe Music is permissible:
The question of permissibility of music in Islamic jurisprudence is historically disputed.
“Some jurists of the classical era of Muslim scholarship opined that music is forbidden both by the Qur’an and by the Hadith. They believe that Muhammad censured the use of musical instruments in the report from him: “There will be among my Ummah people who will regard as permissible adultery, silk, alcohol and musical instruments,”[1]; Some of the Islamic scholars of the past agreed upon this.[2] However others including Imam Nawawi permit music stating that the prohibition of music and instruments at the time of the Prophet related to the usage – at the time the polytheists would use music and musical instruments as part of their worships. The others who saw the permissibility of music include Qadhi Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi and Qadhi Iyyad from the Malikis, Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali and al-Izz ibn Abdesalam from the Shaafi’is, Mawlana Jalaluddeen Ar-Rumi from the Hanafis, and Ibn Hazm from the Dhahiris. Imam Ghazali also reports a narration from the saint al-Khidr, where he expressed a favourable opinion of music, provided it be within the usage limitation of virtous areas.
Furthermore many modern Muslim interpretations allow music and singing under certain conditions, mainly if they do not encourage committing sinful acts”
Could the praising of Allah, the encouraging of Muslims, and the singing of the exploits of The Prophet (Salla Alayhu ‘Alayhi Wa Sallem) be considered the ‘idle talk” of Lugman 6?
In his fatwa ” Does Islam Go against Laughter? “, Sheikh Yusuf `Abdullah Al-Qaradawi stated that when Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq (may Allah be pleased with him) tried to stop two young girls from singing in the Prophet’s house, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told him: ‘Let it be, for we are now in the feast.’
In supporting their view that Music is Haraam, they cite the hadith narrated by Imam Al-Bukhari on the authority of Abu Malik or Abu `Amir Al-Ash`ari (doubt from the sub-narrator) 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 (clothes), the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, as lawful.’ Although this hadith is in Sahih Al-Bukhari, its chain of transmission is not connected to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and this invalidates its authenticity. Ibn Hazm rejects it for that very reason. Moreover, the sub-narrator, Hisham Ibn `Ammar is declared ‘weak’ by many scholars of the Science of Hadith Methodology.
In his book, Al-Ahkam, Al-Qadi Abu Bakr Ibn Al-`Arabi says, “None of the hadiths maintaining that singing is prohibited are considered authentic (by the scholars of the Science of Hadith Methodology).” The same view is maintained by Al-Ghazali and Ibn An-Nahwi in Al-`Umdah. Ibn Tahir says, “Not even a single letter from all these Hadiths was proved to be authentic.”
Ibn Hazm says, “All the hadiths narrated in this respect were invented and falsified.”
However, a hadith which is strong states:
A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated: “Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him, came to my house while two girls were singing beside me the songs of Bu`ath (a story about the pre-Islamic war between the two tribes of the Ansar, the Khazraj and the Awus). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) laid down and turned his face to the other side. Then Abu Bakr came and spoke to me harshly saying, ‘Musical instruments of Satan near the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)?’ Thereupon, Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) turned his face towards him and said, ‘Leave them.’ When Abu Bakr became inattentive, I signaled to those girls to go out and they left.” (Reported by Al-Bukhari)
This indicates that these two girls were not so young as claimed by some scholars. If they were, Abu Bakr would not have been angry with them in such manner. In addition, in this hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to teach the Jews that Islam has room for merriment and that he himself was sent with a moderate and flexible legislation. There is also another important lesson to learn here. It draws our attention to the fact that one needs to introduce Islam to others in a good fashion, along with displaying its moderateness and magnanimity.
Al-Araf
Those who follow the messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, whom they will find described in the Torah and the Gospel (which are) with them. He will enjoin on them that which is right and forbid them that which is wrong. He will make lawful for them all good things and prohibit for them only the foul; and he will relieve them of their burden and the fetters that they used to wear. Then those who believe in him, and honour him, and help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him: they are the successful. (157)
Al-Maeda
They ask thee (O Muhammad) what is made lawful for them. Say: (all) good things are made lawful for you. And those beasts and birds of prey which ye have trained as hounds are trained, ye teach them that which Allah taught you; so eat of that which they catch for you and mention Allah’s name upon it, and observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is swift to take account. (4)
Conditions and Terms:
There are some conditions and terms that should be observed regarding listening to singing, as follows:
1. Not all sorts of singing are permissible. Rather, the permissible song should comply with the Islamic teachings and ethics. Therefore, the songs praising the tyrants and corrupt rulers disagree with Islamic teachings. In fact, Islam stands against transgressors and their allies, and those who show indifference to their transgression. So, the same goes for those songs that imply giving praises to such attitude!
2. Also, the way the song is performed weighs so much. The theme of the song may be good, but the performance of the singer – through intending excitement and arousing others’ lusts and desires along with trying to seduce them – may move it to the area of prohibition, suspicion or even detest. The Glorious Qur’an addresses the wives of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) saying, “O you wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women. If you keep your duty (to Allah), then be not soft of speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease aspire (to you), but utter customary speech.” (Al-Ahzab: 32) So, one has to show caution to music when there is softness of speech accompanied with rhyme, melody, and special effects!
3. Singing should not be accompanied with something that is prohibited such as alcohol, nakedness, mixing of men with women that is common in pubs and nightclubs, etc.
4. Islam has declared excessiveness as prohibited in everything. The same goes for excessiveness in leisure and recreation even though these things are permissible ! This indicates that the emptiness of the mind and heart has to be observed and tackled during man’s short-term life. One should know that Allah Almighty will ask every one about his life and his youth in particular.
There are some things in which one is to be his own judge and Mufti. If there is some kind of singing that arouses his own lust or desire, and takes him away from the real life, he should avoid it then and block that very gate from which the winds of trial and seduction may come and erase his religion, morals and heart. If he does this, he will live in peace and tranquility.
Warning against playing with the word “haram”
To conclude, we address the respectful scholars who tackle the word “haram” easily and set it free in their writings and fatwas that they should observe that Allah is watching over them in all that they say or do. They should also know that this word “haram” is very dangerous. It means that Allah’s Punishment is due on a certain act or saying, and should not be based upon guessing, whims, weak Hadiths, not even through an old book. It has to be supported by a clear, well-established text or valid consensus. If these last two are not found, then we revert the given act or saying to the original rule: “permissibility governing things”. We do have a good example to follow from one of our earlier pious scholars. Imam Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: “It was not the habit of those who preceded us, the early pious Muslims, who set good example for the following generations, to say, ‘This is halal, and this is haram. But, they would say, ‘I hate such-and-such, and maintain such-and-such, but as for halal and haram, this is what may be called inventing lies concerning Allah. Did not you hear Allah’s Statement that reads, ‘Say: Have you considered what provision Allah has sent down for you, how you have made of it lawful and unlawful? Say: Has Allah permitted you, or do you invent a lie concerning Allah?” (Yunus: 59) For, the halal is what Allah and His Messenger made lawful, and the haram is what Allah and His Messenger made unlawful.
The Conditions and Terms and the warnings and many of the Hadiths were used from http://www.islamonline.net
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