Advice in this regard can affect only those of even partially living hearts. As for those of hard hearts who have sunk deeply into sins, the path to advising them is blocked. And whomsoever Allâh wants to put in Al­Fitnah [error, because of his rejecting of Faith], you can do nothing for him against Allâh. Those are the ones whose hearts Allâh does not want to purify (from disbelief and hypocrisy); for them there is a disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter a great torment. End quote from Ibnul­Qayyim (may Allah be merciful with him).

As for the Hadiths pertaining to dispraising songs and musical instruments, they are numerous. Following is one of the most authentic Hadiths in this regard.The hadith is related by Al­Bukhari in his Sahihwhich

Linguists unanimously agreed that the Arabic word Ma`azif should mean musical instruments. In fact, playing them is prohibited in view of the fact that it results in hard­heartedness, corruption of the hearts and diversion from the Qur'an and Salah (prayer). If playing them is accompanied by singing, it becomes more sinful and corruption becomes more potential as said by scholars whose views we will highlight later (we have already mentioned some of them).

There are other narrations of the Hadith replacing adultery with damask, a kind of silk. Muslim scholars have accepted the Hadith and deemed it as a proof of prohibiting musical instruments. However, the Hadith is criticized by Ibn Hazm and Abu Turab, following the opinion of Ibn Hazm, claiming that there is a link missing between Al­Bukhari (may Allah be merciful with him) and his Sheikh Hisham ibn `Ammar as the former did not state explicitly that he heard from the latter. Rather, Al­Bukhari left the whole matter undecided. However, Ibn Hazm was wrong in this and scholars denied his opinion in this regard, judging it to be mistaken. This is because Hisham was one of the Sheikhs of Al­Bukhari. Although Al­Bukhari recorded the Hadith in the form of a Mu`allaq Hadith (a Hadith missing a link in the chain of narration, reported directly from the Prophet), he used wording of certainty and the Hadith is thus Sahih (authentic) according to him. Moreover, scholars accepted his behaving as such and deemed as Sahih the Hadiths recorded by him in the form of Mu`allaq Hadiths for which he used wording of certainty. Actually, the Hadith at hand is one of the authentic Mu`allaq Hadiths. Perhaps, Al­Bukhari did not state explicitly that he heard the Hadith directly from his sheikh as he might have related it by way of Ijazah (authorization) or he might have related it through a chain of narrators including some of his trustworthy sheikhs which he omitted in an attempt to be brief. Supposing that

there is a missing link between Al­Bukhari and Hisham, there are still others who related the Hadith from Hisham ibn `Ammar through reliable trustworthy uninterrupted chains of narrators. Thus, the claim of Ibn Hazm and his follower Abu Turab is refuted and the truth becomes clear for those who seek the truth (We seek Allah's help).

Dear reader, below are the comments of scholars on the Hadith and their explicit refutation of Ibn Hazm's claim regarding judging the Hadith as Da`if (a Hadith that fails to reach the status of Hasan, due to a weakness in the chain of narration or one of the narrators).

A l­Hafiz Ibn Hajar in Fat­hul­Bary, said concerning this Hadith, after quoting Al­Zarkashy's refutation of Ibn Hazm's claim that the Hadith to be Da`if, "As for the claim of Ibn Hazm referred to by Al­Zarkashy, it was claimed before him by Ibn Al­Salah in his book `Ulum Al­Hadith. He said: Mu`allaq Hadith in Sahih Al­Bukhari are the Hadiths in which the chain of narration has a missing link. Although they apparently belong to the category of Hadith Munqati` (a Hadith with a missing link after the Follower; the generation after the Prophet's Companions), they are not to be judged as Munqati` and may not be judged to be out of the scope of Sahih. Moreover, we should not take into consideration the opinion of Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm Al­Zahiri, regarding denyingthe Hadith related by Al­Bukhari on the authority of Abu `Amir and Abu Malik Al­Ash`ary stating that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Verily, among my Ummah (nation) there will be people who will deem as lawful: Zina, silk, Khamr (alcohol) and musical instruments. He criticizes that Al­Bukhari related it saying: Hisham ibn `Ammar said... mentioning the latter's chain of narrators. Ibn Hazm claims that there is a missing link between Al­Bukhari and Hisham. Moreover, Ibn Hazm thus judged the Hadith to be invalid evidence of prohibiting musical instruments. However, Ibn Hazm was mistaken in this regard due to many reasons. In fact, the Hadith is Sahih and is related through other uninterrupted chains of narrators meeting the conditions necessary for a Sahih Hadith. Furthermore, Al­ Bukhari may do so because he related the Hadith in another place in his Book through an uninterrupted chain of narrators. He may also do so due to other reasons which may not necessarily indicate a missing link. End quote."

After quoting Ibn Al­Salah's statement, Al­Hafiz Ibn Hajar stated: It is an established rule according to all memorizers that Hadiths related by Al­Bukhari in a Mu`allaq form using wording of certainty are to be attributed authentically to the one from whom the Hadith is related even if he is not one of Al­Bukhari's Sheikhs. However, if a Hadith related as such is related by another memorizer through another uninterrupted chain of narrators

provided that the conditions necessary for a Hadith to be Sahih are met, there will be no room for controversy. Therefore, I, first of all, dealt with such a type of Hadith and composed a book called "Taghliq Al­Ta`liq" on the same subject. Our Sheikh said in his commentary on Al­Tirmidhy's book on talking about Hadith sciences that the above­quoted Hadith was related from Hisham ibn `Ammar through another uninterrupted chain of narrators in the Mustakhraj of Al­Isma`ily who said: "We were told by Al­Hasan ibn Sufyan that he was told by Hisham ibn `Ammar that... " The same Hadith is also related by Al­Tabarany in the Musnad of Shamites stating: "We were told by Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn `Abdul­Samad that he was told by Hisham ibn `Ammar that..." It is also related by Abu Dawud in his Sunan stating: "We were told by `Abdul­Wahhab ibn Najdah that he was told by Bishr ibn Bakr that he was told by `Abdul­Rahman ibn Yazid ibn Jabir ..." Abu Dawud's chain of narrators." End quote.