Musical Instruments and Shafi`is
GF Haddad
>"Imam Ghazali has a lot to say about musical
>instruments. It is not the relied-upon position in
>the Shafi'i school but he is no light-weight. Imam
>Rafi'i allowed some kind of flute. The Hadrami
>Shafi'is are said to be quite lenient about some
>instrumentation and electronic sounds." [...]
>
>The relied-upon position of the Shafi'is is stated
>in the Reliance and I am aware of their position.
>However, I wanted clarification on this matter and
>the possible acceptable differences on this subject
>as in Shafi'i Malaysia (where I currently live) some
>forms of musical instruments (in addition to percussion)
>seem widely acceptable by even the learned amongst
>the Malay Muslims (who follow the Hadrami Shafi'is a
>great deal). I would greatly appreciate a reply.
I am not aware of any difference between Imam al-
Ghazzali's position and the main Shafi`i position
on the impermissibility of musical instruments.
In the Ihya' (2:272, 2:276, 2:278 Sama` and 2:282
Mahabba) he repeatedly prohibits the lute, the flute,
and the two-ended cylindrical drum, as he does in al-
Wasit (7:350 Shahaadaat), even allowing those that
hear their sounds coming out of a house to enter
without permission and shatter them to pieces (Ihya'
2:325 Adab al-Suhba). This is the relied upon position
of the Shafi`is. The texts translated in the Reliance
from al-Nawawi and al-Haytami to that effect, come
straight out of al-Ghazzali.
But a famous fatwa by Imam `Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam states:
"As for the recital (sama`) that stirs one towards
states of purity (ahwal saniyya) which remind one of
the hereafter: there is nothing wrong with it, rather,
it is recommended (bal yundabu ilayh) for lukewarm and
dry hearts. However, the one that harbors wrong desires
in his heart is not allowed to attend the sama`, for the
sama` stirs up whatever desire is already in the heart,
both the detestable and the desirable." [Fatawa Misriyya p. 158.]
This is similar to Mawlana al-Rumi's definition of any
music as acceptable if it lifted the soul toward
remembrance of Allah.
So it is possible that the Hadramis' position is not as
strictly Shafi`i as it is Sufi, and based also on Madani
and Ahl al-Bayt precedents (see below). After all, Habib
`Umar ibn Hafeez teaches that one should wipe the neck
in wudu' because there is a spiritual meaning to doing
so. Had not one benefited from hearing this one could
have continued to believe that it is nothing more than
a bid`a just as stated in the Shafi`i books of Fiqh.
A permissive Shafi`i source for the use of strings
and pipes is probably that of the historian,
epistolarian, and president (ra'is) of Damascus
Abu Ya`la Hamza ibn Asad al-Qalanisi's (d. 555)
epistle on music but I've not seen it so far.
The great Sufi Hanafi Faqih if Damascus, Shaykh
`Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi's book _Idaah al-Dalaalaat
fi Samaa` al-Aalaat_ is really the most authoritative
and precise work to date on this issue. He cites reports
that the Companion `Abd Allah ibn Ja`far ibn Abi Talib
- Allah be well-pleased with him - used to listen to
musical arrangements of his own poetry sang back to
him by his lute-playing slavegirl in the Khilafa of
Sayyidina `Ali radyAllahu `anh.
Another Companion, `Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, kept a
lute used by his slave-girls, in the Khilafa of
Sayyidina `Umar, radyAllahu `anh.
Another learned slave-girl played the lute and chanted
Hassan ibn Thabit's own poetry back to him in public
before the Muhajirun and Ansar at a banquet given on
the occasion of the circumcision of Zayd ibn Thabit's
sons and did so until Hassan's eyes brimmed with tears.
At that time he had lost his sight completely.
Mu`awiya radyAllahu `anh also heard the lute played
before him on several occasions.
As for the great Tabi`in who relished artful singing
they include Ibn al-Musayyab, `Ata' ibn Abi Rabah,
`Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz, al-Sha`bi, Ibn Jurayj, and
Abu Ishaq al-Zuhri. The latter lived almost 90 years
and made it a point, when invited by Harun al-Rashid
to narrate before a gathering of Ahl al-Hadith some
of the 17,000 hadiths he had memorized in the rulings
(Ahkam) alone, to ask for a lute and sing first, so as
to shake them up with his fatwa that it was permissible!
Added to the Sufis and certain contemporary leaders,
the position of permissiveness for these instruments
seems strongest in the Maliki and Zahiri Madhhabs.
Al-Dhahabi says in several places of the Siyar (e.g.
chapters on the Qadi of Madina Abu Ishaq al-Zuhri and
that on its Faqih Yusuf ibn Ya`qub ibn al-Majishun)
that the Madhhab of the people of Madina was permission
of musical instruments (including flutes and lutes)
while al-Shawkani in Nayl al-Awtar cites al-Qaffal as
attributing this permissibility to the Madhhab of Malik.
Maliki Andalusia was a musical world without doubt.
As for the Zahiris, Ibn Hazm's ardent defense of musical
instruments is well-known.
In his book _The Sunna of the Prophet_ (al-Sunna al-
Nabawiyya bayna Ahl al-Fiqh wa-Ahl al-Hadith) the
late Egyptian Faqih, Muhammad al-Ghazali - rahimahullah
- said (trans. A. Bewley):
"The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
praised the voice of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, which was sweet,
when he heard him chanting the Qur'an. He told him, "I
think that you have been given one of the flutes of the
family of Da'ud!" If the flute had been a vile instrument,
he would not have said that. The Messenger of Allah heard
the sound of the tambourines and flutes without being
annoyed. I do not know what the grounds are for some people
totally forbidding music and people who listen to it.
However, it is true that tunes differ in both their effects
and psychological resonance."
Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi in _The Lawful and the Prohibited
in Islam_ cites several hadiths concerning dancing, vocal
and instrumental music. He then says, "All these hadiths
are reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim in the two _Sahihs_
and clearly prove that singing [, dancing] and playing
[instruments] are not haram."
The late Imam Muhammad Abu Zahra rahimahullah also held
views similar to Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi and al-Ghazali's.
This is also the conclusion of Dr. Muhammad Mar`ashli's
unpublished Ph.D. dissertation on music in Islam at the
Islamic University of al-Awza`i in Beirut, recently
defended before Dr. Wahbe al-Zuhayli and others.
It is clear from the above that _The Islamic Ruling on
Music and Singing in Light of the Quraan, the Sunnah,
and the Consensus of our Pious Predecessors_ by Abu Bilal
Mustafa al-Kanadi, Abul-Qasim Publishing House, Jeddah, 1991,
whose conclusion is that some forms of singing are allowed
but that ALL instrumental music is haraam (except for the hand
drum, duff, in certain circumstances), must be taken with a
grain of salt, as must several new books cut from the same cloth.
The rule is: "Do not leave what the Umma concurred on keeping,
do not keep what the Umma concurred on leaving, and in between
one may keep or leave." The Umma did NOT concur on prohibiting
all instrumental music. And Allah knows best.
Hajj Gibril