ornaments it and urge to reach it. On the other hand, it uglifies the beautiful and discourages from doing it.
Surely, this is the true essence of hypocrisy.
To the same effect, songs are based on cheating, deception and illusion which constitute the essence of hypocrisy.
In the same regard, a hypocrite corrupts when he thinks he reforms as Allah (Exalted be He) told us so about hypocrites. Likewise, those who listen to songs corrupt their hearts and souls while thinking that they are reforming them. Similarly, a singer invades the hearts with the trial of desires, whereas a hypocrite invades them with the trial of
doubts. AlDahhak said, "Singing corrupts the heart and displeases the Lord."
Moreover, `Umar ibn `Abdul`Aziz sent a letter to his son's tutor stating, "The first thing you should teach them to believe in is hating musical instruments which are encouraged by Satan and lead to Allah's wrath. I was informed by trustworthy knowledgeable people that sounds produced by musical instruments, listening to songs and humming therewith grows hypocrisy in heart just as water grows grass."
Thus, singing corrupts the heart, which, once corrupted, becomes a fertile land for hypocrisy.
In total, farsighted people who think deeply how those who listen to songs are and how the people of the Qur'an are will easily find out how knowledgeable are the Companions about the maladies and medicines of the heart. May Allah grant us success!
Furthermore, Ibn AlQayyim in another place of his book AlIghathah said, "Imam Abu Bakr AlTartushy, one of the great Maliki scholars, stated in the introduction to his book about prohibiting listening to songs:
Praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds and the consequence is that of the pious and no aggression except on the oppressors. We ask Allah to show us the truth and help us to follow it, and to show us falsehood and help us to avoid it. In the past, people who would commit sins would hide from people and then ask Allah's forgiveness and repent to Him. Due to the increase of ignorance and decrease of knowledge, matters became so inverted that people came to commit sins in public. It became worse to the extent that we heard that some Muslim brothers, may Allah guide both of us, are overpowered by Satan who enticed them to love songs and listen to crackling fingers and whistling believing it to be a part of religion bringing them closer to Allah. Moreover, a group of Muslims practiced it in public and thus forsake the believers path and ran counter to scholars and religious leaders.
And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳـﻠﻢ) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers' way, We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell what an evil destination!
I considered, thus, it proper to clarify the truth and refute the claims of falsifiers through evidence implied in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. I will begin with mentioning opinions of those scholars worthy of being asked
for fatwa in all parts of the earth, so that such a group of people may know that they ran counter to Muslim scholars through committing such acts. May Allah grant us success!
He then added, "As for Malik, he prohibits singing and listening thereto. He even views that if a man buys a slavegirl and finds her a singer, he has the choice to return her to the seller for being defective. Malik (may Allah be merciful with him) was also once asked about the kind of songs deemed lawful by the people of Madinah, to which he replied, "It (singing) is practiced only here by the lewds." He added:
As for Abu Hanifah, He hates singing and considers it a sin. The same applies for the unanimously agreed upon view of the Kufah'a scholars, including Sufyan, Hammad, Ibrahim, A lSha`by and others. We also know no disagreement among the Basra scholars in this regard." End quote from AlTartushy.
My comment is that by the group that loved singing and considered it a part of religion bringing them closer to Allah (Exalted be He) he meant a group of Sufis. They innovated the Bid`ah (innovation in religion) of listening to songs claiming that it makes them more active in doing acts of worship and trying to get closer to Allah (Exalted be He) through all acts of worship. Actually, scholars of their time denied their behavior doing their best to advise them. Moreover, scholars of truth are unanimous that acts innovated by such a group constitute an abhorred Bid`ah. Therefore, AlTartushy composed the abovereferredto book to refute their false beliefs.
Hence, readers should know those who are fond of listening to songs and musical instruments are divided into two categories:
The first category: considered it a part of religion and an act of worship. This group is more evil, sinful and dangerous than the other group as they innovated in the religion something for which Allah (Exalted be He) gave no permission. It is very strange that they made singing and musical instruments, which are tools of profligacy and disobedience, to a religious rite seeking it to bring them closer to Allah (Exalted be He).
The second category: considered singing and musical instruments as means of amusement so that they might have some fun after hard worldly work. However, they are mistaken for doing so and on the verge of a great danger of going astray and leading others astray. Nevertheless, they are less sinful than the first