refuting the hadeeth of abu musa used to permit music

7/29/2019 Refuting the Hadeeth of Abu Musa Used to Permit Music

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THE HADEETH OF ABU MUSA (R.A)

BEING GIVEN ONE OF THE MUSICAL

INSTRUMENTS OF DAWOOD (A.S)DOES NOT PERMIT MUSIC OR

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Whom so ever does not recite Quran in a loud and beautiful voice, he is

not amongst us.(Saheeh al-Bukhaari , hadith no. 7527)

Here the word does not means chant or singing, rather it means

a sweet melodious voice as imam Ahmed said in Al-Magni 10/161;Imam as-Shaafii ; Ibn abi Malikih; Abdullah ibn Mubarak; and others

said so [Ref: Fath-al-Bari 9/70]

Allamah manzoor copied from Imam Ibn al-Arabi that when the Arabs

used to travel , they used to hymn melodies or sing songs which in other

words can be called as travelling songs. These arabs also used to sing in

the gatherings of the prophet (s.a.w) , but the prophet (s.a.w)

commanded them to recite the Quran with a melodious voice (instead of

singing the songs)

[Ref: al-Lisaan Al-Arab 19/373]

This same saying has been copied by Allamah Zubaidi in Taj al-A'aroos

(10/272) and Haafidh Ibn Hajar classed it as Qaul-e-hasan in Fath-al-

Bari 9/70.


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Rather than chanting and singing songs, the prophet (s.a.w) commanded

us to make a habit of reciting Quran in a melodious voice. The above

narration shows the prohibition of music but the music lovers use this

narration to show the permissibility of music.

Al Haafidh Ibn Qayyum said that this hadith doesnt approve singing or

music, rather it shows that in such situations (as that of the arabs during

travel or etc one must) recite the Quran, for if you are forced to fulfill

your hobby then do it by reciting Quran but do not use some other

(prohibited) means. [Ref: Kashf Al-Gataa , pg: 203, 204]

The hadeeth of Abu musa al Ashaari and its

explanation in brief

Yet Some people get confused by another narration which states :

:""

It was narrated by Abu Musa that the prophet (s.a.w) said to him O

Abu Musa! You have been given one of the musical wind-Instruments of

the family of David (Vol: 6 Book :61 Hadith: 568).

In this narration the word mizmar is used. As for those who take the

literal meaning have translated this word into instrument and mis-

using and mis-portraying this hadeeth, we have some interpolated

versions of the bible , stating that the Prophet (s.a.w) has authenticated

bible which praises God using musical instruments (such as songs and

etc) (Ishraaq, pg:38).

The word mizmar literally means musical instrument but in this

narration it means sweet melodious voice.

Haafidh ibn Hajar (r.h) said: mizmar here means a sweet melodious

voice. Mizmar is an instrument; it is compared with the voice only


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because of its beautiful melody (and not to authenticate or permit the

usage of the instrument).

This very same meaning (and understanding) has been described by

Allamah Aaini in Umdah al-Qari vol:20 Pg:56 and by many otherMuhaddith. Thus it does not mean that Abu Musa (r.a) used to play the

instrument and recite Quran or that Dawood (a.s) use to praise Allah by

playing musical instruments.

Al Haafidh Ibn Katheer describes this virtue of Dawood (a.s) in his

tafseer : ( Surah Al-'Anbya':79 vol:3 pg:252)

(And We subjected the mountains and the birds to glorify Our

praises along with Dawud.)

This refers to the beauty of his voice when he recited his Book, Az-

Zaboor. When he (Dawood) recited it in a beautiful manner, the birds

would stop and hover in the air, and would repeat after him, and the

mountains would respond and echo his words. The Prophet passed by

Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari (r.a) while he was reciting the Qur'an at night, and

he had a very beautiful voice. So he (s.a.w) stopped and listened to his

recitation, and said:

This man has been given one of the wind instruments (nice voices) of

the family of Dawud. He (Abu Musa) said: "O Messenger of Allah, if I had

known that you were listening, I would have done my best for you.''

If we take in the literal meaning and derive an understanding from this

hadeeth as if this hadeeth permits the usage of musical instruments or

music then Naudhubillah , this implies the permissibility to sing or

recite the Quran accompanied with musical instruments and this is a

grave error and it is possible that some (weak intellect minded) people

might use this understanding and issue a fatwa permitting such an act.
http://quran.com/21http://quran.com/21


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Those who permit music using this hadeeth, base their proof for

permissibility on two things:

1. Prophet (s.a.w) compared reciting the Quran in a melodious voice

with a musical instrument.

2. The Prophet (s.a.w) mentioned (or compared) the people of Dawood

and the musical instruments in a positive manner. (Ishraaq pg:37)

However Allamah Ali Qari (r.h) writes in the summary of Sharh Fiqh Al-

Akbar pg:167

That whoever plays duff and stick while reciting Quran is a kafir. I (Ali

Qari) say that when one remembers Allah and says a poem about theprophet (s.a.w) and plays duff or stick (drums or etc in todays time) is

also close to it (i.e the ruling being a kaafir). The same ruling is applied

when one claps (as a musical gesture or tone) while remembering Allah.

The confusion of the word mizmar is cleared

when we see the same narration (of Abu musa)

with the following words:Apart from this narration (of Abu musa), it is narrated from Abdullah

ibn umar that two men from the east came and delivered speeches and

the prophet (s.a.w) said that some eloquent speeches have the fluency

(or similar effect) of magic. (e.g some people refuse to do something but

then a good eloquent speaker addresses them and they agree to it.)

[Ref: Sahih al Bukhaari, Vol: 7 Book:62 Hadith: 76]

As we can see in the above hadeeth , the prophet (s.a.w) comparedeloquent voice/speech with magic, so should we now claim that the

prophet (s.a.w) compared sweet voice/speech with magic and thus this

means that he (s.a.w) mentioned magic in a positive manner? If yes then

this would mean that magic is not haram but this is not the case for we

have ample of evidences showing magic is haraam in any and every way.


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Nevertheless even a layman would understand that in both the

narrations (Abu musa and Ibn umar) the comparison is only to serve the

purpose of encouragement in accordance to the shariah and not to

permit musical instruments or magic (of any kind, good or bad).

We have another athaar wherein a melodious voice served as an

encouragement in reciting Quran. For e.g , Uqba bin Amr (r.a) also had

a very beautiful and melodious voice. Umar (r.a) use to ask him to recite

for him and when he heard the rulings in the Quran, Umar (r.a) use to

start weeping heavily. The companions use to recite for each other. This

shows their encouragement in using a beautiful voice to recite the

Quran. However, to make the melodious recital of Quran similar or of

the same meaning as singing songs accompanied by musical

instruments is nonsense and foolish. Sadly many people use such weak

intellect to compare the melodious recitation with music and thus deemmusic to permissible.For more details see the book:http://sirat-e-mustaqeem.com/islam-

aur-mosiqi_book-66.html
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refuting the hadeeth of abu musa used to permit music

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