Music

[Thunderian]

Psalm 150 says to praise God with music ...

1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

But I have heard a couple of Muslims saying that music is bad for us and is forbidden. Maybe they could explain here why that is. Is this a common belief in Islam?

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

I think music is rather like money - it's what music is used for that makes it either good or bad... I was listening to this when I noticed your thread.

P.s. depending on your musical taste you may decide this music is bad, but I like it anyway!!!

 

[Lady]

Music is inherent in nature, as well as a gift from God given to man for the purpose of praising Him.

A good question, Thundo.
I too would like to know how widely held this philosophy may be among Muslims, if at all.

 

[Lurker]

Psalm 150 says to praise God with music ...

1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

But I have heard a couple of Muslims saying that music is bad for us and is forbidden. Maybe they could explain here why that is. Is this a common belief in Islam?

I have been curious as well.

 

[manama]

Depends on the type of music breh, it can't get more obvious than that. Music is addicting, i don't see anyone appreciating God with it. nor its about general life etc or love and relationships. We seem to be appreciating boobs and butts more.
Go read the story of Prophet Sheeth a.s, how satan made the people indulge in unlawful sex against all the rules placed between them, through erotic music. I don't say all music is haram, but music nowadays is cancerous.

Use the "Its for appreciating God" argument when you actually see people doing that rather than worshipping money and asses with it. Don't even come back with the excuse of christian worship songs, not even gonna lie, those are just noise pollution.

 

[Haich]

Depends on the type of music breh, it can't get more obvious than that. Music is addicting, i don't see anyone appreciating God with it. nor its about general life etc or love and relationships. We seem to be appreciating boobs and butts more.
Go read the story of Prophet Sheeth a.s, how satan made the people indulge in unlawful sex against all the rules placed between them, through erotic music. I don't say all music is haram, but music nowadays is cancerous.

That story is telling, really details how Satan uses music to control or dictate what we think.

 

[Haich]

When Satan introduced music to Sheeth A.S he would encourage them to dance and frolic with each other on Fridays and Saturdays, this weekend partying is still established to this day

 

[Haich]

Mufti menk explains it well in his prophets series, can be found on YouTube and explains the origin of music.

 

[manama]

That story is telling, really details how Satan uses music to control or dictate what we think.

I remember reading somewhere that if you want to make something taboo "normal". Introduce it through satire and music. And it will take a serious turn faster than you expect.

 

[manama]

When Satan introduced music to Sheeth A.S he would encourage them to dance and frolic with each other on Fridays and Saturdays, this weekend partying is still established to this day

Also how when Prophet David a.s used to praise God and read scripture in his beautiful voice, Satan used to fight against him by singing in the streets which would attract people to him rather than what Prophet David a.s was doing.

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

Would it be fair to say that Islam has a complex relationship with music, in the same way as it does over female beauty - if it can lead to sin, it should be suppressed?

In my view, there is nothing inherently wrong with music, but I agree that music is frequently used by those who have an agenda for corruption to communicate a message. In the same way, pride uses beauty for seduction and gain.

I never watched the film, but "The Clockwork Orange" combines music with the moral question freedom, which must include the freedom to choose evil as well as good.

 

[manama]

Would it be fair to say that Islam has a complex relationship with music, in the same way as it does over female beauty - if it can lead to sin, it should be suppressed?

In my view, there is nothing inherently wrong with music, but I agree that music is frequently used by those who have an agenda for corruption to communicate a message. In the same way, pride uses beauty for seduction and gain.

I never watched the film, but "The Clockwork Orange" combines music with the moral question freedom, which must include the freedom to choose evil as well as good.

Music itself isnt bad, even though most scholars do say it is, i refuse to believe that because the reasoning is shallow. Music can be used for good, how the children and women sang for the muslims returning from war victorious, how music is used to increase morale of people aka national anthem, patriotic songs etc. How it can be just a beautiful melody.
The problematic music for me is most of the current mainstream music. all about physical bodies and wealth, more towards mocking God than appreciation etc.
Music is a weapon and it can be misused and it can be misused very badly, that misuse is haram.

 

[Lady]

These are all great points given on how music can influence humankind. I think of Hitler's regime and the accompanying "patriotic" march-style music used to sway the masses to "the cause."
Note the use of the tuba: it adds a homey, cultural flavor.

 

[Haich]

Would it be fair to say that Islam has a complex relationship with music, in the same way as it does over female beauty - if it can lead to sin, it should be suppressed?

In my view, there is nothing inherently wrong with music, but I agree that music is frequently used by those who have an agenda for corruption to communicate a message. In the same way, pride uses beauty for seduction and gain.

I never watched the film, but "The Clockwork Orange" combines music with the moral question freedom, which must include the freedom to choose evil as well as good.

I don't think female beauty is an issue in Islam at all, both sexes are told to guard their chastity and dress modestly. Patriarchal communities which adopt Islam as their faith leak their cultural practices and pass it off as Islam hence the wide misconceptions regarding this topic. They misuse and abuse scripture to serve their political or personal needs


With regards to music, many in Islam don't see it as a big problem. What I mean by that is, your average Muslim will listen to music regularly and it's not really given much thought. Those who study their faith will come to find the story of Sheeth and the introduction of music to that society caused a lot of issues and birthed promiscuity, pre marital shenanigans and general inappropriate behaviour. It's a great example of how music can be used to introduce ideologies to an unsuspecting audience who are unaware of how lyrics or beats can influence them or make them lose control aka go wild. This is the premise of what most people do when they go raving or partying on weekends and it's interesting to see the people of Sheeth (as) were the ones who first exhibited this behaviour

Having said that music is not forbidden in its entirety; you can use specific instruments such as a drum (daf) and acapella are fine as long as the messages are pleasant.

 

[Lady]

I don't think female beauty is an issue in Islam at all, both sexes are told to guard their chastity and dress modestly. Patriarchal communities which adopt Islam as their faith leak their cultural practices and pass it off as Islam hence the wide misconceptions regarding this topic. They misuse and abuse scripture to serve their political or personal needs


With regards to music, many in Islam don't see it as a big problem. What I mean by that is, your average Muslim will listen to music regularly and it's not really given much thought. Those who study their faith will come to find the story of Sheeth and the introduction of music to that society caused a lot of issues and birthed promiscuity, pre marital shenanigans and general inappropriate behaviour. It's a great example of how music can be used to introduce ideologies to an unsuspecting audience who are unaware of how lyrics or beats can influence them or make them lose control aka go wild. This is the premise of what most people do when they go raving or partying on weekends and it's interesting to see the people of Sheeth (as) were the ones who first exhibited this behaviour

Having said that music is not forbidden in its entirety; you can use specific instruments such as a drum (daf) and acapella are fine as long as the messages are pleasant.

Drums and voices are considered the acceptable instruments?

 

[Haich]

I never watched the film, but "The Clockwork Orange" combines music with the moral question freedom, which must include the freedom to choose evil as well as good.

I watched it numerous times and teach it too, at first I couldn't stomach the vulgarity of some of the scenes and the sheer callousness of the characters but it does raise a lot of questions regarding the influence or manipulation of music to serve someone's needs.

 

[Haich]

Muslims aren't absolute on the matter, my boy listens to ABC songs and number songs so if there's benefit it's fine. At my wedding we had an acapella singer and we had some traditional performances with instruments. No actual live music, but it was wonderful and everyone had a great time without their ear drums exploding

It's hard to excuse most of modern music as it's littered with filth and nudity. It also sells you idyllic and unattainable dreams on a subconscious level, hence why i see it doing more harm than good but that's a personal preference

I'm probably quite blunt about music because I haven't listened to it for years, not so much for religious reasons as I wasn't practicing much when I was a teenager, but because it just caused me too procrastinate so much.

I cut it out, read books instead and watching documentaries (the occasional film) and just got so used to life without it. I whack on a tedtalks seminar when I'm trying to pass time or listen to a debate, speaker's corners debates are pretty funny.

I realised we depend on music so much for meaning and joy but I didn't really need to rely on it anymore, I was content with myself and who I am and didn't really need to 'lose myself' in the music to have a good time or decipher what I was feeling

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

Music itself isnt bad, even though most scholars do say it is, i refuse to believe that because the reasoning is shallow. Music can be used for good, how the children and women sang for the muslims returning from war victorious, how music is used to increase morale of people aka national anthem, patriotic songs etc. How it can be just a beautiful melody.
The problematic music for me is most of the current mainstream music. all about physical bodies and wealth, more towards mocking God than appreciation etc.
Music is a weapon and it can be misused and it can be misused very badly, that misuse is haram.

I agree with you completely! Music is more often than not misused as it appeals to our senses. It is very easy to get people to swallow an evil message whilst listening to an appealing tune ...

My rule of thumb is that if you could read the lyrics and agree with them, enjoying them along with music is fine.

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

This was playing on the radio the other day in the car - I got to the chorus and then knocked the radio off, but most people would sing along with the hypnotic repetition without a clue as to what values (or lack of them) they were taking on board!!!

 

[Thunderian]

It sounds to me like the mainstream Muslim position on music is that popular music is rotten, there is music that is acceptable to God.

I think that most Christians can agree with that.

Don't even come back with the excuse of christian worship songs, not even gonna lie, those are just noise pollution.

That's kind of general and not really fair. There's a lot of garbage out there that is called Christian music, but then there are things like Alison Krauss singing Be Thou My Vision. It's a 6th century poem sung to a traditional Irish melody, and she has one of the loveliest voices ever heard.

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
​

Are there any Islamic songs that you find lovely to listen to? Songs that make you grateful for the Creator who blessed you with ears and the singer with a voice?

The Islamic view of Allah seems to be a God who has littered the earth with things that are tantalizing for us but are inherently evil. A God that seeks to trip us up by providing us with things that seem like blessings, but are evil made by God to trick us.

God only made two evil things -- angels and humans -- and both were made perfect, but chose evil of their own free will.

Now Satan and his angels prey on our fallen state to use things that God created for blessings against us. Our own nature makes us pervert and destroy God's gifts to us. But the gifts themselves from God, whether we are talking about music or sex or food or even money -- are never evil. It is always the way that we use them that makes them so.

Music isn't evil. Sex isn't evil. Nothing is evil except man and the devil.