Why Is Music Considered Haram in Islam

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Question:

Why is music forbidden (haram) in Islam? - An overview of classical Islamic scholarship on music, the hadiths cited against it, and modern interpretations on whether music is prohibited or permissible. :::

Answer:

The prophet saws was sent to explain what has been revealed Quran (16:44) which means, to understand the revelation we need to refer to prophets explanation and example as understood by the companions and pious predecessors. Now coming to the answer:

Islamic view Regarding Singing

Allaah says in Soorat Luqmaan (interpretation of the meaning):

“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of Allaah…” [Luqmaan 31:6]

ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The interpretation of the Sahaabah and Taabi’in, that ‘idle talk’ refers to singing, is sufficient. This was reported with saheeh isnaads from Ibn ‘Abbaas and Ibn Mas’ood. Abu’l-Sahbaa’ said: I asked Ibn Mas’ood about the aayah (interpretation of the meaning), ‘“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks’ [Luqmaan 31:6]. He said: By Allaah, besides Whom there is no other god, this means singing – and he repeated it three times. It was also reported with a saheeh isnaad from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them both) that this means singing.

Islamic view Regarding Musical Instruments

he Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“Among my ummah there will certainly be people who permit zinaa, silk, alcohol and musical instruments…” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari ta’leeqan, no. 5590; narrated as mawsool by al-Tabaraani and al-Bayhaqi. See al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 91).

This hadeeth indicates in two ways that musical instruments and enjoyment of listening to music are haraam.

The first is the fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “[they] permit” which clearly indicates that the things mentioned, including musical instruments, are haraam according to sharee’ah, but those people will permit them. The second is the fact that musical instruments are mentioned alongside things which are definitely known to be haraam, i.e., zinaa and alcohol: if they (musical instruments) were not haraam, why would they be mentioned alongside these things? (adapted from al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 1/140-141) It is known from the Sharee’ah according to the people of knowledge, such as the 4 imaams: Abee Haneefah (d.150H), Malik (d.179H), ash-Shafee’ee(d.204H) & Ahmad(d.241H) - rahimahullaah that music is unlawful. The 4 Imams who are from the most outstanding scholars of the muslims have ruled that it is unlawful (haraam) to listen to musical instruments and singing.

[source: http://www.troid.ca/media/pdf/music.pdf ]

Hence from Islamic perspective is is crystal clear that music, singing and musical instruments in general are prohibited. However we have nowadays the trend of Muslim apologists who try to change and interpret Islam to make themselves more acceptable to the society, and in doing so they reject the Authentic Sunnah and Methodology of the pious predecessors and use their intellect in opposition to the evidence.