Fatwa ID: 08685

 

 

Answered by: Maulana Nuski Cassim

 

Question:

 

Nowadays music with lyrics is essentially very bad, so because it’s hard for me to stop music, I only listen now to instrumental music. I listen to instrumentals from different countries.

 

However, a question came to me. For me it’s music, but let’s imagine that a person made this instrumental with the intention of making it a prayer for example, and that I listen without knowing that and I like the melody, would it be kufr? Concretely, we can’t know in what state of mind they made the instrumentals, so could it be kufr if I listen to these instrumentals from all over the world without understanding the title or knowing what purpose the song was made for?

 

 

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

 

Answer:

 

Instrumental music is essentially music without vocals. It is composed using a variety of instruments reflecting certain melodies, genres etc. [See: https://mixrecordingstudio.com/blog/10-types-of-instrumental-music-you-must-know/]

 

We acknowledge that at present it may be difficult for you to stop listening to music, and we applaud you for admitting that the music of today, alongside its lyrics, is not something praiseworthy nor is it something which is good.

 

Listening to ‘instrumental music’ is not kufr in and of itself. Normative practice/usage suggests that instrumental music is not rendered with religion or prayer in mind. Furthermore, simply having the doubt that a certain musical piece may have been rendered with the intention of being for prayer is not enough to establish certainty, and hence, the doubt will not prevail.

 

With that said, it is important that you slowly increase your resolve to leave out music altogether. Alhamdulillah, non-instrumental nasheeds are alternatives through which you can fulfil the desire of wanting to listen to music. There are also a great number of artists to choose from; your bound to find someone whose content you’ll enjoy. bWhenever you feel the urge to listen to music or instrumental music, pull yourself towards these nasheeds and slowly develop a habit of listening to them instead. You’ll find this to be of great help in slowly removing impermissible music from your life insha Allah. 

 

 

 

 

References:

 

قال المُدَقِّق شمس الدين الخيالي في “حاشيته”: قوله: ومن قواعد أهل السنة أن لا يكفر، معنى هذه القاعدة: أن لا يكفر في المسائل الإجتهادية، إذ لا نِزاعَ في تكفير من أنكر ضروريات الدين

[كتاب إكفار المُلحِدين في ضروريات الدين، صفحة ١٢١، المجلس العلمي باكستان]

 

والدليل على بطلان هذا: أن المؤمن لا يكفر بالذنب لقوله تعالى: “يأيّها الذين آمنوا توبوا إلى الله توبةً نصوحاً”، أمر المؤمنين المذنبين بالتوبة، إذ التوبة عبارة عن الرجوع إلى الله بمُوافقة أمره بعد المخالفة، وقد سَمَّى صاحب الذنوب “مؤمنا”، فدل على أنه لا يخرج عن الإيمان بالذنب

[شرح عقيدة الطحاوي للغزنوي، صفحة ١١٨، دار الإحسان]

 

أليقين لا يزول بالشك

 

أن الشيء المُتَيَقّن لا يزول بالشك الطارئ عليه وإنما يزول بيقين مثله

[الوجيز شرح القواعد الفقهية في الشرعية الإسلامية، صفحة ٤٢، مؤسسة الرسالة ناشرون]

 

 

 

 

Only Allah knows best.

Written by Maulana Nuski Cassim

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham