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-alBari 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 misusing 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 other Muhaddith. 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, AzZaboor. 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.

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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 AlAkbar 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 the prophet (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) compared eloquent 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 deem music to permissible. For more details see the book: http://sirat-e-mustaqeem.com/islamaur-mosiqi_book-66.html

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