Jazakullahu Khairan Ustadh for this small taste of the scholarly discourse regarding such a crucial topic. One thing I would like to bring to light is the ever-growing popularity of music at our Islamic gatherings, particularly our conferences. Likewise, we see many of our performing artists (some of whom raised us with their children songs) adopting more controversial musical instruments into their songs.

Regarding these matters I think we should leave all Fiqhi contention aside and simply value and respect the opinions and values that many of the Muslim population contain regarding music. It is a lot more harmful to disrespect the sensitivities of a large population of Muslims by playing controversial music than LEAVING out music from our public performances. You don’t offend anyone by leaving music out, but you DO offend people by playing music at our events. So given this understanding, I think our major organizations and their gatherings should be mindful of such sensitivities.

I apologize for not being too articulate with my writing, but I pray I made sense.

Jazakumallahu khairan,
Arif

On this subject if there was an Ijma’a it would be known thus being the opinion of the salaf in toto and an establsihed ruling in Islam
ما علم من الدين بالضرورة.

It is easy to say what was the aqeedah of the salaf, but a much more difficult task as far as fiqh hence the 4 established madhhabs through 13 centuries.

As far as the establsihed principles اتقوا الشبهات أو الخروج من الاختلاف مستحب
Sٍtaying away from doubtful matters and Steering clear of matters of disagreement thus taking the opinon closer to taqwa.
Suhaib indirectly mentioned them.

The point is that it is not for us to say that someone who listened to music which DOESN’T lead one astray (leaving salah, not seeking knowledge/loosing thier Muslim identity, wasting much of their time in it etc..) is on munkar. But we can call them to what we see is better and the rest is in Allah’s hands most importantly ours and their judgmnet.

Da’wa is done in stages just as Allah did in revealing the Qur’an. If you have reached the understanding that music is Haram then more power to you as it is well known that none of the early generations were listening to music, but we can’t expect everyone to be Sahaba especially when first calling them to Islam. This goes aginst the whole understanding we get from reading the seerah and how Allah and His Messenger (saws) changed the arabs oever 23 years.

And Allah knows best

Interestingly, the word fiqh means ‘understanidng’. it is not the rule itself. It is the understanding of the rules. In other wordst is the ‘fiqh’ or understanding of the scholars, and scholars’ understanding can be right or wrong. They have no divine status.

Sh. Yusuf al-Qaradawi responded to the insightful commentary of Sh. Alban [ra]. One of the most stricking points made was that many of the hadith declared Da’if by Sh. Al-Bani in Sh. Yusuf’s book, Sh. al-Bani declared Sahih in his own books? This take nothing away from Sh. Al-Bani’s greatness, nor his scholarship. However, as many have stated, perhaps we need a tahqiq of his tahqiq. There is an article on this site that explains the position of some of the scholars towards Sh. Albani’s work. I would enourage you all to read it. Thanks for your important comments. Finally, about Imam Abu Hanifa, if you are not able to refrence such a quote, then you should shouldn’t quote it. I would encourage you to read al-Dhabiy’s siyar or any other major biographical work on the scholars. Inshallah, by doing so, your contention about the Imam will be corrected. May Allah reward you all for your comments.

Suhaib

Alhamdulillah our scholars who are upon the manhaj of salaf has clarified this issue for us. Please do beneficial for your limited time in here, learn tauhid and sunna.

I couldnt say better than aboo imraan (strong quote), shariif (good post) may Allah reward you both.

But on this topic, does “art” take the same ruling as “entertainment”? Does artistic expression with social value and commentary have any more leeway than the aforementioned jiggling starlets? I think this is one of the reasons that young people do not listen to sheikhs on these issues. They (young people) sense that there is no appreciation for what they really value in music, media, etc.

By the way, Sharif is out of pocket for his criticism of Imam Abu Hanifa.

A man said to Ibn ‘Abbaas, may Allah be pleased with them both, “What do you say about music? Is it permissible or prohibited?” He said: {I do not say that it is prohibited except for what is in the Book of Allah.} So the man said, “So it is permissible then?” He said: {I did not say that either.} Then he added: {When the Day of Judgment comes and you see truth and falsehood (presented), where will music fit in?} The man said, “It will be with falsehood.” Ibn ‘Abbaas said to him: {Go, for you have given your self the ruling.}

Thanks for the guidelines on an issue in which my life has been steeped as far back as I can remember. I’m glad that I could proceed in a safe manner.