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| Painting of Persian instrumentalists, Hasht Bahesht, Iran |
Introduction
In the beginning, music was “pure”, argues abu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi. ibn al-Jawzi, a 12
th century scholar from the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence, believed that music originally represented rhythmical religious chanting that enhanced the religious experience. But as a society achieves material progress, it may fall into spiritual decadence, which becomes reflected in the complexity of melodies and instruments involved. As such, in his view over time music becomes
bid’a, or “innovation” of religious doctrine, which is strictly forbidden in Islam.
As A’isha, wife of Muhammad stated, “If somebody innovates something which is not in harmony with the principles of our religion, that thing is rejected.”
ibn Khaldun, one of the most prominent Muslim historians, agrees with the point of musical complexity related to the material progress of society, while disagreeing completely with the moral condemnation of social progress. In his seminal historical text Muqaddima (Introduction) he states that originally, before Islam, the Arabs only had poetry. This artform was highly valued and distinguished amongst their speech, bearing a certain amount of complexity given the proportion of vowels and consonants. The Arabs, being a people of the desert, had a small singing and instrumental performance tradition amongst camel drivers and amongst men, for leisure purposes.
However, after the birth of Islam came the conquests of Muhammad and his followers, which would create an empire that extended from Spain to India. ibn Khaldun castigates the early Arabs for their “desert attitude” and their “low standard of living”, and notes that early Islamic religious severity was directed at all activities of leisure that are of no utility in one’s religion or livelihood, including music.
As such, only the humming of poetry and recitation of the Qu’ran was permitted. ibn Khaldun believes that a social transformation that occurred within the Arab community in the following centuries stating that as “luxury and prosperity came to them…they came to lead splendid and refined lives and to appreciate leisure. The singers now left the Persians and Byzantines and became clients of the Arabs. Arab tradition began to incorporate music in a significant way, especially in the setting of poems to music.”
ibn Khaldun explicitly states his belief that music originates in social progress, stating that “the craft of singing originates in a civilization when people progress from necessities to conveniences and then to luxuries… it is only in demand by those who are free from other worries.” He cites the example of the Persians, who highly exalted the musician class and had a place for them at all courtly sessions. He describes the cultivation of music as a science central to intellectual thought, calling it “no blemish or probity on Arab culture”. He expresses disdainful views for moralistic attempts at music censorship, stating “music is the first to disappear from a civilization when it disintegrates and retrogresses.”
The controversy regarding music in Islam dates back to the earliest days of the religion and continues to this day. Using the concept of Islamic jurisprudence as a guiding framework, this paper will describe the varied moral currents in Islam towards music, from advocacy of censorship to exaltation as a source of spiritual inspiration.
Music in the Qu’ran
The basis of Islamic judisprudence on the issue of music, as with all other issues, lies with the Qu’ran. As it represents the divine revelation of God to mankind, the Qu’ran represents the final word on issues of moral jurisprudence.
The issue of music quickly becomes problematic as unlike clearly restricted items like pork, there is no direct mention of music within the Qu’ran itself. Two verses have been cited by scholars as obliquely referencing music, though this in itself is controversial.
The first is from
Surat An-Najm 53:59, which states “Then at this statement do you wonder, and you laugh and do not weep, while you are proudly sporting? Rather, prostrate before Allah and worship Him.”
The central word of contention here is
samidun, translated above as “sporting”; other translations suggest “vanities.” Sufi scholar Ghazali (who will be discussed extensively below) responds to this
surah by arguing that the “vanities” suggested in the verse must also apply to laughter as well via orthodox logic, which was never formally proscribed.
The early Islamic scholar ibn Abbas, however, suggests that the verse refers to anti-Islamic Arabs who would perform music loudly in order to drown out the recitation of the Qu’ran.
The second verse of contention is
Surat Luqman 31:6, which has been variously used to condemn music. It states, via the Sahih International translation “And of the people is he who buys the amusement of speech to mislead [others] from the way of Allah without knowledge and who takes it in ridicule. Those will have a humiliating punishment.”
The central relevant words of this verse are
lahwa’l-hadith, which roughly translates to “idle talk” or “amusement of speech” in the Sahih translation.
As described by the scholar ibn Jareer at-Tabari in
Jami’ul Bayaan, these two words have been the source of great controversy regarding the role of music in Islamic society. Two important scholars have been cited to define
lahwa’l-hadith as music: ibn Abbas and ibn Masud. ibn Masud is particularly fervent about this association, claiming that “I swear by the One other than Whom there is no god that it refers to singing.” ibn Abbas asserted that it referred to “singing and the like.”
Ghazali, however, takes a different stance. He responds to the verse by emphasizing that if music does not distract from the worship of God, it does not become
lahwa’l-hadith. In fact, minor amusements may help to refresh the mind, and assist seriousness in religious pursuits.
As such, it cannot be said to be formally proscribed by God.
Hadith
The word
hadith (plural
ahadith) literally means “conversation” or “narrative”. In Islamic jurisprudence, it refers to the narratives regarding the words and actions of the prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam. As Muhammad was granted divine revelation, these narratives are used as clarifying tools for increased understanding of the Qu’ran and issues of jurisprudence.
In terms of understanding the moral perception of music, an understanding of the ahadith is especially important, given the lack of direct mention within the Qu’ran itself.
One such hadith regards Aisha, wife of Muhammad, who was listening to two girls singing exaltory poetry and playing on a drum. Her father, abu Bakr, came to admonish her, but was stopped by Muhammad, who said “Let them be, abu Bakr. These are the days of Eid,” referring to the periodic Islamic feasts. ibn Taymiyyah responds to the hadith with Muhammad and Aisha’s singing girls by suggesting the context of the situation does not provide a general permit for music, given that the age of the girls and the poetry involved are very specific to the occasion.
In one famous hadith, the Prophet Muhammad asked his wife A’isha if a woman of the Ansari tribe had entertainment, as was their custom. In another hadith, Muhammad is known to have requested a singer for a marriage ceremony to an Ansari, quoting a popular song.
10
th century Sufi and Spanish writer ibn ‘abd Rabbihi, in his work “The Unique Contract” uses this hadith to support his case for music. Muhammad is also to have known to have stopped abu Bakr (first caliph of the Muslim Empire) before he silenced two female singers, as it was the Eid celebration. According to ibn Taymiyya, this hadith is not clear, in that his approval may have been inadvertent since it is not clear that he was actively listening to music at this time.
However, other scholars have noted the acceptability of music during the time of Muhammad and his companions. abu Talib al-Makki notes “Many of the first believers have listened to music alongside their pious works”, commenting on the lack of music censorship in Medina and Mecca.
Further testimony is given from Tahir ibn Bilal al-Hamdani al-Warraq, who describes his meeting with the Prophet Muhammad while his father-in-law, abu Bakr, recited poetry to him. ibn Jurayj also gives testimony that the Prophet Mohammed enjoyed listening to music, saying that “music resides neither in thy good deeds or thy evil deeds”.
In summary, according to 11
th century Spanish scholar abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, “no sound Hadith is available concerning the prohibition of singing.” Prominent contemporary Egyptian Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi believes that hadith that do prohibit singing are weak and unsound in terms of scholarship.
Fiqh
“Fiqh” is the Arabic term for Islamic jurisprudence. It is the scholarly process in which the Qu’ran and the Ahadith are expanded upon to apply to new situations, or to give answers to questions not concretely advised upon in the Qu’ran. A series of scholarly tools are used by scholars (fuqaha’) to reach their conclusions. Beyond the Qu’ran and the Ahadith, deductive logic is used to apply precedent to a new situation. The historical tradition of the intellectual community comes into importance as well. The wealth of interpretation within Islam has led to large-scale doctrinal schisms (Sunni and Shi’a) as well as smaller interpretative divides (jurisprudential schools).
Despite the lack of prohibition within either the Qu’ran or the Ahadith, the founders of all four of the Sunni jurisprudential schools (Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi’i, and Maliki) condemned music. Imam al-Sha’afi is considered the founder of Islamic jurisprudence and founder of the Shafi’i school. al-Shafi’i in “The Book of Giving Judgment” wrote “Singing is a sport which is disliked and resembles what is false; he who meddles much with it is light of understanding,”adding that listening to a woman singing is prohibited, whether she be free or slave.
However, al-Shafi’i is known to have not opposed the practice of reciting the Qu’ran alongside music.
The Maliki school of Islam (practiced mostly in Africa) is known to have placed the strongest strictures on the practice of music. Malik ibn Anas of Medina, the founder of the Maliki school, forbade most forms of singing and instruments, aside from simple songs like those for assisting women in childbirth as well as the performance of the tambourine (ad-duff).
Malik is especially opposed to the recitation of the Qu’ran alongside music; ibn Khaldun concurs with this opinion, stating that the recitation and pronunciation of the Qu’ran must be given preference over melody, given that any change in traditional transmission of the Qu’ran. According to ibn Khaldun, “one thing ruins the other”, and that “the Qur’an reminds man of death and what comes after, and is not an occasion to give pleasure in the perception of beautiful sounds.”
Music in the time of early Islam was typically under the purview of slave-girls, and as such music is often referenced side-by-side with the unapproved practice of public singing by concubines. An example is a statement by al-Kasani, 12
th century Hanafi scholar: “When a man buys a slavegirl and finds she is a singer, then it is his duty to send her back”.
ibn Taymiyyah provides a strong example of Hanbali scholarship, especially in his attempt to bring 13
th century Islamic theology back to its native roots. His writings on music are extensive and are among the more restrictive in Islamic theology. ibn Taymiyyah asserts that the consequences of music are primarily negative, drawing a comparison between fornication and music: both are pleasures that appear in the absence of reason.
ibn Taymiyyah draws out five categories of music that are specifically forbidden. The first are the traditions of “al-maka” and “al-tasdiyah”, which are traditions of whistling and clapping. The second is listening to instruments of amusement, specifically tambourines, cymbals, flutes, and string instruments. The third is singing performed by young boys and women; these represent a sensual temptation that must be resisted. The fourth is music which describes parts of the body (such as the breasts and hair); again, these evoke sensual temptations. The fifth is the category of love songs that includes secular love songs. He bases this off of a hadith from Muhammad, in which he is said to have forbidden Qu’ranic singers from using the language of love and longing, for risk of falling into corrupted sensual longing apart from that of God.
ibn Taymiyyah provides objections to common Islamic arguments for music. He suggests that simply because music is pleasing to the senses does not mean that it is permissible in theology, drawing another comparison to fornication. He also argues that simply because Allah provides beautiful voices to humankind does not suggest that we should unconditionally support them, considering that God also grants beautiful bodies but places sexual strictures on people.
Modern commentator Fadlou Shehadi suggests that ibn Taymiyyah commits a hypocritical error in his categorical judgment of music. According to Shehadi, “one has the impression that ibn Taymiyyah is happier with a wholesale condemnation, while, perhaps grudgingly, admitting in small print that this or that kind of music, for example during feasts, are explicitly allowed by the Qu’ran and the Hadiths and are therefore authoritative.”
Shehadi argues that ibn Taymiyyah’s weakness derives from his insistence on exalting the Hadith and Qu’ran, in that there exists no such blanket ban on music in either source.
The concept of intent is significant in the differing Islamic schools. Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi allowed dance if the intentions were pure, as intentions were to be judged by their character. al-Ghazali similarly agrees, stating that simply because an act represents something that is impious, it should not be condemned if the intentions are of good mind. ibn al-Jawzi, who broadly condemns musical practice as a temptation away from God and moderation, suggests that in certain cases where emotion is not present (holy fighters, camel drivers) then it becomes permissible.
Influential modern Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi summarizes his position regarding music in his work “The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam.” Drawing upon the scholarship of Ghazali, he suggests that music is to be allowed except the following cases: 1) The subject matter must not be against the teachings of Islam. 2) If the manner of singing is sexually suggestive; 3) If it takes up too much of one’s time that could be spent in worship or doing good deeds; 4) If it leads an individual towards sin; and 5) if it is done in conjuction with forbidden activities, like drinking of alcohol.
However, a question arises: given the various regulations regarding music, what of apparently musical practices like the call to prayer? Given the breadth of Islamic scholarship regarding music, Lois Lamya al-Faruqi constructed a classification of music based on her historical understanding of the cultural treatment of music in conservative Islamic theology. In her belief, given that virtually all Islamic theologians consider some forms of music to be problematic, a model must be established that separates religious expression from the controversial realm of music. As such, her model suggests that Quranic chant, the call to prayer, pilgrimage chants, eulogy chants and exaltory poetry on noble themes are
not to be considered music, instead occupying a cultural space that is independent of the more problematic aspects of music.
The Persian Perspective
As mentioned by ibn Khaldun, conquest of Persia in the mid-7
th century and the incorporation of Persian culture into the Arab-dominated empire played a significant role in its development, especially in its cultural and intellectual life. ibn Khaldun claims that “The intellectual sciences were the preserve of the Persians, left alone by the Arabs, who did not cultivate them”; this includes Ghazali and Ruzbahan Baqli, who will be discussed further below.
It is no surprise that the seat of Islamic intellectual thought (Baghdad) was built next to the ancient Persian capital of Ctesiphon instead of Mecca or Medina. As one Abbasid caliph would say, “The Persians ruled for a thousand years and did not need us Arabs even for a day. We have been ruling them for one or two centuries and cannot do without them for an hour.”
The rich intellectual culture of Persia led to the invention and popularization a number of new religious traditions, which would in turn deeply affect the scholarly perception of music within Islam. One of the most influential of these schools of thought would be Sufism. Sufism is a dimension of Islam that exists outside the sectarian divide of Sunni vs. Shi’a; instead, it is an attempt to unify one’s self with God through mystical dimensions.
Iranian philosopher Sayyed Hossein Nasr writes that “the spiritual states evoked by classical Persian music of the Sufis are closely related to the spiritual states of the Sufis, and through that to the Qu’ran…Persian music represents a spiritual art of a high order, a powerful aid in the attainment of the contemplative states of Sufism… it is not accidental that most of the performers of Persian, Turkish, and northern India have been associated with Sufism.”
A central figure in Islamic scholarship is abu Hamed Muhammad ibn Muhammad Ghazali, a Persian scholar whose work ranged from theology to psychology. His work, “Incoherence of the Philosophers” (tahafut al-falasifa) played a landmark role in reshaping Islamic philosophy, mainly due to its strong rejection of Aristotelian and Platonic philosophy, which set it on a philosophical course drastically different from Christian and Jewish philosophy. Claude Field opines that his greatness rests on his ‘victory’ over Greek philosophy, and his reconciliation of Islamic orthodoxy and mysticism.
Central to Ghazali’s philosophy is the school of
Asha’riyya, a school which rejects rationalist cause-and-effect processes in favor of what is now called “occasionalism”: instead of a fire directly causing cotton to burn, Allah causes the flame. This happens in a consistent manner due to the rational and non-arbitrary nature of God; to suggest that causation exists independent of God is to diminish his role in the universe.
His work, “Religious of the Religious Sciences” (Ihya’ ‘ulum ad-din), written in 1100, is one of the most widely read books in the Islamic world after the Qu’ran. It is divided into four parts, pertaining to different aspects of a Muslim’s life, be it ritual prayer, marriage, friendship, sexual intimacy, and so on. The second part, titled “Norms of Daily Life” (Ruba’ al-‘adat) contains within it a central text on the Islamic position towards music, titled “On Music and Singing” (kitabu adabi al-sama’i wa’l-wajdi). The text provides a wealth of sources contemporary to Ghazali that provide arguments for and against proscriptions of music, followed by Ghazali’s arguments.
al-Ghazali responds to these arguments by building a case based on the potential for music to reinforce and enhance one’s religious connection with God. Ghazali, as a Sufi, in his writings advocates an emotional connection with God, contrasted with the obedience-based theology of Orthodox Islamic theology. As he states, “Listening to music and signing in his case is an arouser of his longing and a strengthener of his passion and his love and an inflamer of the tinderbox of his heart…”
He goes on to describe a state of ecstasy,
wujd, in which “he encounters states which he had not encountered before he listened to music”. al-Ghazali regards music as “the secret of God Most High,” claiming that those who oppose music secretly marvel at this state of ecstasy “as a brute beast marvels at the pleasure of almond-candy and the impotent marvels at the pleasure of sexual intercourse”.
To respond to the claim that music cannot move passion towards God, Ghazali says “when love grows strong is called passion, and passion is nothing else than love strengthened beyond bound”.
Ghazali names six other conditions in which music is definitely acceptable: singing of pilgrims, singing by warriors, rajaz songs (songs to honor warriors), laments, singing on occasions of joy (such as marriages), and sounds to arouse the feelings of lovers.
Ghazali also states specific cases in which he believes music to be unlawful. The first case is the music comes from a woman, or “beardless youths,” a euphemism for young male sexual companions. Ghazali, like other theologians, justifies this on the basis of a slippery slope, as “kissing invites to sexual intercourse”.
However, Ghazali claims that this rule is flexible, given the age of the men listening and girls singing; the most important factor to Ghazali is the lack of sexual temptation between singer and listener. The second is instruments: pipes and stringed instruments are forbidden on the basis of their association with people who drink. The third is content: if there is any obscenity or satire of God it is unlawful.
Ruzbehan Baqli, a Persian mystic from the 12
th century, is similarly worth discussion. Baqli deeply exalts the role of music in Islamic practice. “It is incumbent on hum whose heart is joyous,” he writes, “whether he discovers or fails to discover the soul, to listen to music. For in music there are a hundred thousand joys which can achieve gnosis in a way that cannot be achieved through...any other form of worship.” However, he is conscious of the orthodox position, responding to the familiar argument of music as temptation; he writes “to some it is a temptation because they are imperfect. For others, it is an exhortation for they have reached perfection.”
He is also close to Ghazali in that he places limits on how and when music is to be exercised, specifically touching on how to exercise music in religious worship. For Baqli, music can only be appreciated by those who have moved past base desires. “In (the listener’s) soul he must be present before the divine and free...from the temptations of the carnal soul.” He identifies spiritual music as “coming from God; it stands before God; it is in God; it is with God.” As such, if music becomes related to something besides God, it is infidelity towards the divine.
Baqli describes the profound effects of this spiritual internalization of music. “In hearing spiritual music, reason is dethroned,” he writes. “When the gnostics listen according to spiritual unveiling they are in union; when they listen according to vision they are immersed in the Divine Beauty.”
Music leads to revelation: “during the spiritual concert such qualities as knowledge, truth, calamities… nobility and serenity will cast him to the Invisible beyond the invisible world, and reveal to him the mysteries of his origins.”
Beyond the spiritual implications of music, scientists were deeply interested in the scientific implications of music. The Islamic scientific approach to music was based on two schools of thought, both based on Ancient Greek thought. One was inherited from Pythagorean-based thought, in which music “has a relation of affinity to arithmetical and astral phenomena.” The other, based on the writings of Aristoxenus, was based more on the “primary substance” of music and how it is perceived, upheld by famous Persian polymath ibn Sina (Avicenna).
Music was applied by Islamic scientists for therapy purposes, specifically relating different strings of the lute to different bodily humours.
Conclusion
Islamic scholarship regarding music has wide-ranging direct implications on how music is treated within Muslim countries. The scholarly theme of music as temptation from the path of God is has had particular influence on policy in modern Islamic states.
The case of Iran is particularly insightful as to how Islamic theoretical scholarship results in policy in a conservative Muslim state. In 1979, after Islamic clergy came to power following the toppling of the western-backed Shah, new leader Ayatollah Khomeini told a newspaper that “Music is like a drug. Whoever acquires the habit can no longer devote himself to important activities. It changes people to the point of yielding to vice…we must eliminate music because it means betraying our country and youth. We must completely eliminate it.''
All concerts and radio broadcasts of music, payment of musicians, and even signing a document with the word “music,” were banned. The army was sent to villages to collect and destroy instruments.
Ethnomusicologist Ameneh Youssefzadeh notes, however, that in practice the abolishment of music “unexpectedly led to increasing practice of music within the family circle by the younger generation. One might deduce that this resurgent interest also stemmed from a continued desire, manifested by the Revolution itself, to rediscover the cultural heritage of Iran, as a reaction to the Westernization of the imperial regime.”
Khomeini would repeal his ban of music in 1989, eventually allowing concerts to be produced (with mandatory approval of government censors).
Reviewing the tradition of music in Islam, contemporary Iranian philosopher Sayyed Hossein Nasr takes a similar view to Youssefzadeh, believing that Islamic legal scholarship has served an ultimately protective role of the musical arts. He writes “the very sobriety of Islam prevented music from becoming an externalized profanation. While on the exoteric level it remained confined…to prevent it from arousing animal passions, esoterically music became the means of transmuting the sentiments and transforming the soul…a vibration and echo of the Reality which is at once transcendent and immanent.” In sum, “Islamic civilization has not preserved and developed several great musical traditions
in spite of Islam but
because of it.”
