Can You Read Quran In A Room With Pictures? The 103 Latest Answer

Muhammad depicted in culture

The admissibility of depictions of Mohammed in Islam is disputed. Oral and written descriptions of Muhammad are readily accepted by all Islamic traditions, but there is disagreement over visual representations.[1][2] The Qur’an does not prohibit images of Muhammad, either expressly or by implication. The ahadith (supplementary teachings) offer an ambiguous picture,[3][4] but there are some that have specifically forbidden Muslims to create visual representations of human figures.[5] All sides agree that there is no authentic visual tradition (images created during Muhammad’s lifetime) about the appearance of Muhammad, although there are early legends of portraits of him and written physical descriptions, the authenticity of which is often accepted.

The question of whether images in Islamic art, including those depicting Muhammad, can be considered religious art remains a matter of debate among scholars.[6] They appear in illustrated books, which are usually works of history or poetry, including those with religious themes; The Qur’an is never illustrated: “Context and intention are essential to understanding Islamic pictorial art. The Muslim artists who created images of Muhammad and the public who viewed them understood that the images were not objects of worship. The objects decorated in this way were also not used as part of the service”.[7]

However, scholars concede that such images have “a spiritual element” and were also sometimes used in informal religious devotions to celebrate the day of Mi’raj.[8] Many visual depictions only show Muhammad with his face veiled or depict him symbolically as a flame; other images, particularly from before about 1500, show his face.[9][10][11] With the notable exception of modern-day Iran[12], depictions of Muhammad were rare, never numerous in any community or epoch throughout Islamic history[13][14] and appeared almost exclusively in the private medium of Persian and other miniature books of illustration.[15 ][16] The key medium of public religious art in Islam was and is calligraphy.[14][15] In Ottoman Turkey, the hilya developed as an ornate visual arrangement of texts about Muhammad, possibly displayed as a portrait.

Visual images of Muhammad have always been rare in the non-Islamic West. In the Middle Ages they were mostly hostile and appear most frequently in illustrations of Dante’s poems. During the Renaissance and early modern period, Muhammad was sometimes portrayed, typically in a more neutral or heroic light; The depictions were met with protests from Muslims. In the internet age, a handful of cartoons printed in the European press have sparked global protests, controversy and links to violence.

background

Although nothing in the Qur’an specifically forbids images, some supplemental Hadith in Islam specifically forbid the drawing of images of living beings; other hadiths tolerate images but never encourage them. Therefore, most Muslims avoid visual representations of Muhammad or other prophets such as Moses or Abraham.[1][17][18]

Most Sunni Muslims believe that visual depictions of all of Islam’s prophets should be banned[19] and are particularly averse to visual depictions of Muhammad.[20] The main concern is that the use of images may encourage idolatry.[21] In Shia Islam, however, images of Muhammad are fairly common today, although Shia scholars have historically opposed such depictions.[20][22] Nonetheless, many Muslims who take a more rigorous view of the supplementary traditions will sometimes question any depiction of Muhammad, including those prepared and published by non-Muslims.[23]

Many major religions have experienced times in their history when images of their religious figures were forbidden. In Judaism, one of the Ten Commandments says: “Thou shalt make no graven image”, while in the Christian New Testament any covetousness (greed) is defined as idolatry. In Byzantine Christianity, during the iconoclasm periods of the 8th century and again in the 9th century, visual depictions of sacred figures were forbidden and only the cross could be depicted in churches. The visual depiction of Jesus and other religious figures remains a concern in parts of stricter Protestant Christianity.[24]

Portraits of Muhammad in Islamic Literature

A number of hadiths and other writings from the early Islamic period contain stories in which portraits of Muhammad appear. Abu Hanifa Dinawari, Ibn al-Faqih, Ibn Wahshiyya and Abu Nu’aym narrate versions of a story in which the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius is visited by two Meccans. He shows them a cupboard handed down by Alexander the Great and originally created by God for Adam, with a portrait of a prophet in each of the drawers. They are amazed to see a portrait of Mohammed in the last drawer. Sadid al-Din al-Kazaruni narrates a similar story in which the Meccans visit the king of China. Kisa’i says that God did indeed give Adam portraits of the prophets.[25]

Ibn Wahshiyya and Abu Nu’ayn relate a second story in which a Meccan merchant visiting Syria is invited to a Christian monastery where a number of sculptures and paintings depict prophets and saints. There he sees the images of Muhammad and Abu Bakr, who have not yet been identified by the Christians.[26] In an 11th-century tale, Muhammad is said to have sat for an artist’s portrait retained by the Sassanid King Kavadh II. The king liked the portrait so much that he put it on his pillow.[25]

Later, Al-Maqrizi narrates a story in which Muqawqis, ruler of Egypt, meets with Muhammad’s messenger. He asks the messenger to describe Muhammad and compares the description to a portrait of an unknown prophet that he has on a piece of cloth. The description matches the portrait.[25]

In a 17th-century Chinese story, the king of China asks to see Muhammad, but Muhammad sends his portrait instead. The king is so in love with the portrait that he converts to Islam, after which the portrait, having served its purpose, disappears.[27]

Portrayal by Muslims

verbal descriptions

Verbal descriptions of Muhammad are numerous in one of the earliest sources, Ibn Sa’ds Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir. A description of Ali ibn Abi Talib reads as follows:

The Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, is neither too small nor too big. His hair is neither curly nor straight, but a mixture of both. He is a man with black hair and a large skull. His complexion has a touch of redness. Its shoulder bones are broad and its palms and feet are fleshy. He has long al-Masrubah which means hair grows from neck to navel. He has long eyelashes, closed eyebrows, a smooth and shiny forehead, and a long distance between two shoulders. When he walks, he walks inclined as if coming down from a height. […] I have never seen a man like him before or after him.[28][ unreliable source? ]

Since the Ottoman period, such texts have been presented on calligraphic Hilya (Turkish: hilye, pl. hilyeler) panels, commonly surrounded by an elaborate frame of illuminated decoration, and either contained in books or more commonly in muraqqas or albums, or sometimes placed in wooden frames , so they can hang on the wall.[29] The elaborate form of the calligraphic tradition was established by the Ottoman calligrapher Hâfiz Osman in the 17th century. Although they contained a concrete and artistically pleasing description of Muhammad’s appearance, they complied with the strict rules against figurative depictions of Muhammad, leaving his appearance to the viewer’s imagination. Several parts of the complex design were named after body parts from the head down, indicating the Hilya’s express intention as a substitute for figurative representation.

The Ottoman hilye format commonly begins with a basmala, shown above, and is separated in the middle by Qur’an 21:107:[32] “And We sent you only as a blessing to the worlds”.[31] Four compartments, arranged around the central one, often contain the names of the rightly guided caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, each followed by “radhi Allahu anhu” (“may God be pleased with him”).

Hilye by Hâfiz Osman

Hilye by Hâfiz Osman

Hilye by Hâfiz Osman

Hilye by Mehmed Tahir Efendi (d. 1848)

Hilye by Kazasker Mustafa İzzet Efendi (1801–1876)

Hilye by Kazasker Mustafa İzzet Efendi

Hilye on the petals of a pink rose symbolizing Muhammad (18th century).

Calligraphic representations

The most common visual depiction of Muhammad in Islamic art, particularly in Arabic-speaking countries, is a calligraphic depiction of his name, a sort of monogram of roughly circular shape, often given an ornate frame. Such inscriptions are usually in Arabic and may rearrange or repeat forms or add a blessing or honor, or for example the word “messenger” or a contraction thereof. The range of ways to represent Muhammad’s name is considerable, including ambigrams; He is also often symbolized by a rose.

The more elaborate versions draw on other Islamic traditions of specific forms of calligraphy, such as B. those writing the names of God and the secular tughra or the elaborate monogram of Ottoman rulers.

Figurative visual representations

Moses, Muhammad leading Abraham Jesus and others in prayer. Persian miniature

Throughout Islamic history, depictions of Muhammad in Islamic art have been rare.[13] Nevertheless, there is a “remarkable corpus of images of Muhammad produced in various regions of the Islamic world from the 13th century to modern times, mainly in the form of manuscript illustrations”.[33] Depictions of Muhammad go back to the beginning of the tradition of Persian miniatures as illustrations in books. The Illustrated Book from the Persian World (Warka and Gulshah, Topkapi Palace Library H. 841, attributed to Konya 1200-1250) contains the two earliest known Islamic depictions of Muhammad.[34]

This book predates or shortly before the Mongol invasion of Anatolia in the 1240s and the campaigns against Persia and Iraq in the 1250s which destroyed large numbers of books in libraries. Recent research has found that, although surviving early examples are uncommon today, in general human figurative art was a continuous tradition in Islamic countries (e.g. in literature, science and history); As early as the 8th century, this art flourished throughout Spain, North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Mesopotamia, and Persia during the Abbasid Caliphate (c. 749–1258).[35]

Christiane Gruber traces a development from “veristic” full body and facial representations in the 13th to 15th centuries to “more abstract” representations in the 16th to 19th centuries, the latter also includes the representation of Mohammed by a special type of calligraphy representation, whereby the older types continue to be used.[36] An intermediate type, first found from about 1400, is the “inscribed portrait”, in which the face of Muhammad is blank, with “Ya Muhammad” (“O Muhammad”) or a similar phrase written in the space instead. these may be related to Sufi thought. In some cases the inscription appears to have been an underpainting that was later covered by a face or veil, thus a pious act of the painter for his eyes only, but in others it was intended to be seen.[33] According to Gruber, a large number of these paintings later underwent iconoclastic mutilations, in which the facial features of Muhammad were scratched or smeared, as Muslim views on the acceptance of veristic imagery changed.[37]

A number of surviving Persian manuscripts depicting Muhammad date to the Ilkhanid period under the new Mongol rulers, including a Marzubannama from 1299. The Ilkhanid MS Arab 161 of 1307/8 contains 25 illustrations, published in an illustrated version by Al -Biruni’s The Remaining Signs of past centuries, five of which contain depictions of Muhammad, including the two final images, the largest and most finished in the manuscript, emphasizing the relationship between Muhammad and ‘Ali according to Shia doctrine.[38] According to Christiane Gruber, other works use imagery to promote Sunni Islam, such as: B. a set of Mi’raj illustrations (MS H 2154) from the early 14th century,[39] although other historians have dated the same illustrations to the time of the Jalayrid Shia rulers.[40]

Depictions of Muhammad are also found in Persian manuscripts in the following Timurid and Safavid dynasties, as well as in Turkish-Ottoman art in the 14th to 17th centuries and beyond. Perhaps the most elaborate cycle of illustrations from Muhammad’s life is the 14th-century copy of the biography Siyer-i Nebi, completed in 1595, commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Murat III. for his son, the future Mehmed III, and contains over 800 illustrations. 41]

Probably the most frequently depicted narrative scene is the Mi’raj; According to Gruber, “there are innumerable one-page paintings of the Meʿrāj contained in the beginnings of Persian and Turkish romances and epic tales created from the beginning of the 15th to the 20th centuries”. These images were also used at the celebrations of the anniversary of Mi’raj on the 27th of Rajab, when the accounts were recited aloud before male groups: ‘Didactic and engaging oral stories of ascension seem to have had the religious aim of inducing attitudes praise from their audience”. Such practices are most easily documented in the 18th and 19th centuries, but manuscripts from much earlier appear to have served the same function.[43] Otherwise, a variety of different scenes may be depicted at times, from Muhammad’s birth to to the end of his life and his existence in paradise.[44]

gloriole

In the earliest depictions, Muhammad can be shown with or without a halo, the earliest haloes being round in the style of Christian art,[45] but soon a flaming halo or aureole is found more commonly in the Buddhist or Chinese tradition than the circular shape in the West , if a halo is used. A halo or flame may surround only his head, but often his entire body, and in some images the body itself cannot be seen because of the halo. This “luminous” form of representation avoided the problems caused by “veristic” imagery and could be used to convey textual characteristics of Muhammad’s person.[46] If the body is visible, the face may be covered with a veil (see gallery for examples of both types). This form of representation, which began in Persia at the beginning of the Safavid period,[47] was done out of reverence and respect.[13] Other prophets of Islam and Muhammad’s wives and relatives can be treated in a similar way when they appear as well.

T. W. Arnold (1864–1930), an early historian of Islamic art, stated: “Islam has never welcomed painting as the servant of religion, as both Buddhism and Christianity have done. Mosques have never been adorned with religious images, nor has pictorial art been used to teach the pagans or edify the believers.”[13] Contrasting Islam with Christianity, he also writes: “Accordingly, in the religious paintings of Islam was never given a historical tradition – no artistic development in the depiction of recognized types – no schools of painters of religious subjects; Least of all has there been guidance from religious thinkers equal to that of ecclesiastical authorities in the Christian Church.”[13]

Images of Muhammad remain controversial to this day and are not considered acceptable in many Middle Eastern countries. For example, in 1963 a Turkish author’s account of a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Pakistan was banned for containing reproductions of miniatures showing Muhammad unveiled.[48]

Contemporary Iran

Despite the avoidance of depicting Muhammad in Sunni Islam, images of Muhammad are not uncommon in Iran. The Iranian Shia seems more tolerant on this point than the Sunni orthodoxy.[50] In Iran, illustrations are still widely accepted today and can be found in the modern forms of posters and postcards.[12][51]

Since the late 1990s, Islamic iconography experts in Iran have discovered images printed on paper depicting Mohammed as a turbaned teenager.[50] There are several variants, all showing the same youthful face, identified by an inscription such as “Muhammad the Messenger of God”, or a more detailed legend relating to an episode in Muhammad’s life and the putative origin of the image. 50] Some Iranian versions of these posters attribute the original depiction to a Bahira, a Christian monk who met the young Mohammed in Syria. By attributing the image to a Christian and dating it back before Muhammad became a prophet, the makers of the image absolve themselves of any wrongdoing.[52]

The motif comes from a photograph of a young Tunisian taken by the Germans Rudolf Franz Lehnert and Ernst Heinrich Landrock in 1905 or 1906, which was printed in large numbers on picture postcards until 1921.[50] This depiction is popular in Iran as a curiosity.[52]

In Tehran, a mural was installed at a public crossroads in 2008 depicting the Prophet – his face veiled – riding a buraq, the only mural of its kind in a majority Muslim country.[12]

movie theater

Very few films have been made about Mohammed. The 1976 film The Message, also known as Mohammad, Messenger of God, focused on other people and never directly depicted Muhammad or most members of his family. A devotional cartoon titled Muhammad: The Last Prophet was published in 2004.[53] An Iranian film directed by Majid Majidi was released in 2015 named Muhammad. It is the first part of the trilogy film series about Muhammad by Majid Majidi.

While Sunni Muslims have always explicitly forbidden the portrayal of Muhammad in films,[54] contemporary Shia scholars take a more relaxed stance, stating that it is permissible to portray Muhammad, even on television or in films, if done with respect. 55]

Portrayal by non-Muslims

Western depictions of Muhammad were very rare until the explosion of images after the invention of the printing press; He is featured in some medieval imagery, usually in an unflattering way, often influenced by his brief mention in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Mohammed sometimes appears in Western depictions of groups of influential people in world history. Such representations are usually favorable or neutral; An example can be found in the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. Created in 1935, the frieze includes important historical legislators and places Mohammed alongside Hammurabi, Moses, Confucius and others. Controversy erupted over the frieze in 1997, and tourist materials have since been edited to describe the depiction as “a well-intentioned attempt by the sculptor to honor Muhammad” that “bearing no resemblance to Muhammad”.[56]

In 1955, a statue of Mohammed was removed from a New York City courthouse after the ambassadors of Indonesia, Pakistan, and Egypt requested its removal.[57] The extremely rare representations of Muhammad in monumental sculptures may be particularly offensive to Muslims, since the statue is the classic form for idols and the fear of any reference to idolatry is the basis of Islamic prohibitions. Islamic art has almost always avoided large sculpture of any kind, especially freestanding; only a few animals are known, mostly fountain heads, like those in the Lions’ Court of the Alhambra; the Pisa grip is perhaps the largest.

In 1997, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group in the United States, wrote to Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court William Rehnquist, requesting that the sculpted depiction of Muhammad on the north frieze in the Supreme Court building be removed or is ground down. The court denied CAIR’s application.[58]

There are also numerous book illustrations showing Muhammad.

Dante, in The Divine Comedy: Inferno, placed Muhammad in Hell with his entrails hanging out (Canto 28):

No barrel, not even one with the hoops and staves going every which way, had ever burst open like a frayed sinner I’ve seen, torn open from the chin where we fart at the bottom. His guts hung between his legs, showing his vitals, including that miserable sack that turns into shit whatever gets passed down the esophagus. As I stared at him, he looked back and opened his chest with his hands and said, “Look how I’ve opened the tear in myself! Look how twisted and broken Muhammad is! , saddened.”[59]

This scene was sometimes shown in illustrations of the Divina Commedia before modern times. Mohammed is depicted in a 15th-century fresco of the Last Judgment by Giovanni da Modena, which dates back to Dante, in the church of San Petronio in Bologna, Italy.[60] and artworks by Salvador Dalí, Auguste Rodin, William Blake, and Gustave Doré.[61]

Controversies in the 21st Century

The beginning of the 21st century was marked by controversy over depictions of Muhammad, not only in recent caricatures or cartoons, but also in relation to the display of historical artworks.

The calling of Mohammed by the angel Gabriel vom Spiegel 1999 by Theodor Hosemann, 1847, published in 1999

The German news magazine Der Spiegel printed pictures of the “moral apostles” Mohammed, Jesus, Confucius and Immanuel Kant on the same page in a moral novel at the end of the millennium in December 1999. In the weeks that followed, the magazine received protests, petitions and threats against the publication of Mohammed -picture one. The Turkish television station Show TV distributed the telephone number of an editor, who was then called daily.[63]

Nadeem Elyas, head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, said the picture should not be reprinted so as not to intentionally hurt Muslims’ feelings. Instead, Elyas recommended whitening the face of Muhammad.[64]

In June 2001, taking into account Islamic laws, Der Spiegel published a picture of Muhammad with a bleached face on its front page.[65] The magazine had already published the same Mohammed picture by Hosemann in a special issue on Islam in 1998, but without arousing similar protests.[66]

In 2002, Italian police reported that they had disrupted a terrorist plot to destroy a church in Bologna containing a 15th-century fresco depicting an image of Mohammed (see above).

Examples of altered depictions of Muhammad include a 1940 mural at the University of Utah in which the name of Muhammad was removed from under the painting in 2000 at the request of Muslim students.[68]

cartoons

In 1990, a cartoon of Mohammed was published in the Indonesian magazine Senang; the magazine was dissolved.[69] In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a series of editorial cartoons, many of which depicted Mohammed. In late 2005 and early 2006, Danish Muslim organizations sparked controversy through public protests and dissemination of information about the publication of the cartoons.[24] According to John Woods, professor of Islamic history at the University of Chicago, it was not only the depiction of Muhammad that was offensive, but the suggestion that Muhammad was somehow a supporter of terrorism.[18] An online cartoon competition was announced in Sweden in support of Jyllands-Posten, but Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds and the Swedish Security Service pressured the internet service provider to shut down the site. When her commitment became public knowledge in 2006, she had to resign.[70] On February 12, 2008, Danish police arrested three men allegedly involved in an assassination attempt on Kurt Westergaard, one of the cartoonists.[71]

In 2006, the controversial American animated television comedy show South Park, which had previously portrayed Muhammad as a superhero character in the July 4, 2001 episode “Super Best Friends”, and since that episode portrayed Muhammad in the opening sequence, [73] attempted to expand the Danish to perpetuate newspaper incident. In the episode “Cartoon Wars Part II” they wanted to show Muhammad presenting a salmon-colored helmet to Peter Griffin, a character from the Fox animated series Family Guy. However, Comedy Central, which airs South Park, dismissed the scene, citing concerns about violent protests in the Islamic world. South Park creators responded by instead satirizing Comedy Central’s double standards for show acceptance by including a section of “Cartoon Wars Part II” showing US President George W. Bush and Jesus on the flag of the United States Defecate United States.

The controversy surrounding Lars Vilks Muhammad’s drawings began in July 2007 with a series of drawings by Swedish artist Lars Vilks depicting Muhammad as a spinning top dog. Several art galleries in Sweden refused to show the drawings, citing safety concerns and fears of violence. The controversy gained international attention after Örebro-based regional newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published one of the drawings on August 18 to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of religion.[74]

While several other leading Swedish newspapers had already published the drawings, this particular publication led to protests by Muslims in Sweden, as well as official condemnations from several foreign governments including Iran,[75] Pakistan,[76] Afghanistan,[77] Egypt[78 ]. ] and Jordan[79] and by the Intergovernmental Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).[80] The controversy came about a year and a half after the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoon controversy in Denmark in early 2006.

Another controversy arose in September 2007 when Bangladeshi cartoonist Arifur Rahman was arrested on suspicion of disrespecting Mohammed. The interim government confiscated copies of the Bengali-language Prothom Alo in which the drawings appeared. The cartoon consisted of a boy holding a cat and talking to an older man. The man asks the boy his name and he replies “Babu”. The older man scolds him for not mentioning the name of Muhammad before his name. He then points to the cat and asks the boy what its name is and the boy replies “Muhammad the cat”.

The cartoon sparked a firestorm in Bangladesh, with Islamist militants calling for Rahman’s execution for blasphemy. A group of people set fire to copies of the newspaper and several Islamic groups protested, saying the drawings ridiculed Mohammad and his companions. They called for “exemplary punishment” for the newspaper’s editor and cartoonist. Bangladesh has no blasphemy law, although one has been called for by the same extremist Islamic groups.

Charlie Hebdo

Charlie Hebdo, renamed Charia Hebdo (Sharia Hebdo). The cover dated November 3, 2011, retitled). The word balloon reads “100 lashes if you don’t die laughing!” Je Suis Charlie and the title “Everything is forgiven”.

On November 2, 2010, the Paris office of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was firebombed and its website hacked after it announced it would publish a special edition with Mohammed as its “editor-in-chief” and the front page featuring a caricature of Mohammed pre-released on social media.

Im September 2012 veröffentlichte die Zeitung eine Reihe satirischer Cartoons über Mohammed, von denen einige Nacktkarikaturen von ihm zeigen. Im Januar 2013 kündigte Charlie Hebdo an, dass sie einen Comic über das Leben Mohammeds machen würden.[82] Im März 2013 veröffentlichte der Zweig von Al-Qaida im Jemen, allgemein bekannt als Al-Qaida auf der arabischen Halbinsel (AQAP), eine Abschussliste in einer Ausgabe ihres englischsprachigen Magazins Inspire. Die Liste umfasste Stéphane Charbonnier, Lars Vilks, drei Mitarbeiter von Jyllands-Posten, die in die Kontroverse um die Mohammed-Karikatur verwickelt waren, Molly Norris von Everybody Draw Mohammed Day und andere, denen die AQAP vorwarf, den Islam beleidigt zu haben.[83]

Am 7. Januar 2015 wurde das Büro erneut angegriffen, wobei 12 Menschen erschossen wurden, darunter Stéphane Charbonnier, und 11 verletzt wurden.

Am 16. Oktober 2020 wurde der Mittelschullehrer Samuel Paty getötet und enthauptet, nachdem er während einer Unterrichtsstunde über Redefreiheit Charlie-Hebdo-Karikaturen gezeigt hatte, die Mohammed darstellten.

Wikipedia-Artikel

Im Jahr 2008 unterzeichneten rund 180.000 Menschen, darunter viele Muslime, eine Petition, die gegen die Aufnahme von Mohammeds Darstellungen in den Mohammed-Artikel der englischen Wikipedia protestierte.[84][85][86]

Die Petition wurde gegen eine Darstellung von Mohammed gerichtet, der Nasīʾ verbietet

Die Petition lehnte eine Reproduktion einer osmanischen Kopie aus dem 17. Jahrhundert eines Manuskriptbildes der Ilkhanate aus dem 14. Jahrhundert (MS Arabe 1489) ab, das Mohammed zeigt, wie er Nasīʾ verbot.[87] Jeremy Henzell-Thomas von The American Muslim beklagte die Petition als eine dieser „mechanischen reflexartigen Reaktionen [die] Geschenke an diejenigen sind, die jede Gelegenheit suchen, den Islam zu verunglimpfen und Muslime lächerlich zu machen, und die eine Situation nur verschärfen können, in der Muslime und der Westen Medien scheinen in einer immer tiefer werdenden Spirale aus Ignoranz und gegenseitigem Hass gefangen zu sein.“[88]

Wikipedia hat einen Kompromiss in Betracht gezogen, aber abgelehnt, der es Besuchern ermöglichen würde, zu wählen, ob sie die Seite mit Bildern ansehen möchten.[86] Die Wikipedia-Gemeinschaft hat auf die Petition nicht reagiert.[84] Die Antworten der Seite auf häufig gestellte Fragen zu diesen Bildern besagen, dass Wikipedia sich nicht zugunsten irgendeiner Gruppe zensiert.[89]

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Das Metropolitan Museum of Art bestätigte der New York Post im Januar 2010, dass es stillschweigend alle historischen Gemälde, die Darstellungen von Mohammed enthielten, aus der öffentlichen Ausstellung entfernt hatte. Das Museum zitierte Einwände konservativer Muslime, die “unter Prüfung” seien. Die Aktion des Museums wurde als übermäßige politische Korrektheit kritisiert, ebenso wie andere Entscheidungen, die fast zur gleichen Zeit getroffen wurden, einschließlich der Umbenennung der „Primitive Art Galleries“ in „Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas“ und der geplanten „Islamic Galleries“. zu “Arabische Länder, Türkei, Iran, Zentralasien und später Südasien”.[90]

Alle zeichnen den Mohammed-Tag

Everybody Draw Mohammed Day war ein Protest gegen diejenigen, die Gewalt gegen Künstler androhten, die Darstellungen von Mohammed zeichneten. Es begann als Protest gegen die Aktion von Comedy Central, die Ausstrahlung der South Park-Folge „201“ als Reaktion auf Morddrohungen gegen einige der Verantwortlichen des Segments zu verbieten. Die Feier des Tages begann mit einer Zeichnung, die am 20. April 2010 im Internet veröffentlicht wurde, begleitet von einem Text, der vorschlug, dass „jeder“ am 20. Mai 2010 eine Zeichnung erstellen sollte, die Mohammed darstellt, als Protest gegen die Bemühungen, die Meinungsfreiheit einzuschränken.

Muhammad Kunstausstellung & Wettbewerb

A May 3, 2015, event held in Garland, Texas, held by American activists Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, was the scene of a shooting by two individuals who were later themselves shot and killed outside the event.[91] Police officers assisting in security at the event returned fire and killed the two gunmen. The event offered a $10,000 prize and was said to be in response to the January 2015 attacks on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo. One of the gunmen was identified as a former terror suspect, known to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[92]

Batley Grammar School

In March 2021 a teacher at Batley Grammar School in England was suspended, and the headmaster issued an apology, after the teacher showed one or more of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons to pupils during a lesson. The incident sparked protests outside the school, demanding the resignation or sacking of the teacher involved.[93] Commenting on the situation, the UK government’s Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick, said teachers should be able to “appropriately show images of the prophet” in class and the protests are “deeply unsettling” due to the UK being a “free society”. He added teachers should “not be threatened” by religious extremists.[94]

See also

General:

Remarks

references

Continue reading

Muslim clerics on Thursday supported the fatwa recently issued by Darul Uloom Deoband, banning Muslims from posting images on social media sites.

Mufti said: “In Islam, clicking on an image with useless intent is totally illegal.”

“If an image is clicked to use in the Aadhaar map, passport and other useful documents, it’s fine, but it’s not right for useless things like uploading to social media,” Mukkaram added.

On Wednesday, Darul Iftaa, who issues the edicts of the Darul Uloom Deoband, stated that Muslim men and women should not post pictures of themselves or their family members on social media, adding that it was un-Islamic.

Earlier, on October 9, the seminary issued another fatwa forbidding Muslim women from plucking, trimming and shaping their eyebrows.

10 manners (etiquette) in reading the Qur’an

Among the scriptures, the Holy Quran is the holiest and most revered book in the world. It was revealed to the last Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) and the full revelation took over 23 years.

In the Lord Almighty’s own words, it is unlike any other book in the world and is a source of divine guidance for both Muslims and non-Muslims.

The Holy Quran, unlike other books in the world, is special and must be treated as such.

Typically, the elders have a good idea of ​​the manners and etiquette of reading the Holy Qur’an, but the younger children need to be taught patiently and thoroughly.

If you often read the Quran in front of children, you will see how curious and excited they are to try it too. In the midst of all this, they might treat the Qur’an like an ordinary book, but don’t worry. With a little guidance, they will understand the rules of reading the Qur’an and use them with the utmost respect.

To help you with this process, we have compiled a comprehensive list of 10 ways of reading the Quran that you can follow yourself and teach kids to follow as well. You may also need to ask the children to read the concepts themselves to help them understand them better!

Learn to read the Quran word by word

The first step is to learn to read the Quran correctly and the best way to do this is to learn to read the Quran word by word.

Learning the Quran word by word reduces the chance of making mistakes during recitation and allows you to become more fluent.

This is important for children and adults who have no previous knowledge of the Arabic language. Once you have completed all 28 Arabic alphabets you will have the knowledge and ability to pronounce the Arabic words easily. You must first learn the sounds and correct pronunciation of each letter.

However, learning to read the Quran word by word is not an easy task. It takes time and, above all, a lot of dedication. But don’t worry, the ability to learn Arabic is no different than almost any other language. You must master the letters and words that will help you reach the sentence level in this language.

To learn to read the Quran word by word, we recommend getting professional help as a dedicated teacher from a reputable institution will help you pronounce the words the way they are meant to be pronounced. There are also very few details that you need to pay attention to when reading the Qur’an such as Dammah, Fatḥah and Kasrah. These are short vowels that help non-natives pronounce each word accurately.

If you want to enlist the help of a professional, there are several ways to do it. You can find some great teachers on YouTube. In addition, there are several online institutions that teach the Qur’an word for word to both children and adults.

Do you want to learn Quran recitation online? Online Quran Recitation Course Explore Course

Below are the rules for reading the Quran no matter how you learn to read the Quran:

1. Perform wudu before reading

The Qur’an must only be handled with clean hands, so it is important to perform wudu or ablution beforehand.

In addition to attaining physical purity, Wudu also enables the attainment of spirituality and mental clarity.

2. Sit in a respectable manner while reading the Qur’an

Due to the fact that the Qur’anic text was revealed by Almighty Allah Himself, one should pay for it out of admiration by sitting down properly.

You should always choose a considerate position while holding the Holy Quran in your hands to demonstrate the high opinion you have of our Holy Book.

3. Put the Quran in an elevated position

The Holy Quran is of great importance. For this reason you must place it in a high place while learning to read it word by word or during recitation. Many people use a clean pillow for this purpose, which you can try if you don’t have a wooden bookend specifically for reading the Qur’an.

4. Hold the Quran in your right hand

When holding the Quran, make sure to hold it in your right hand. Prophet Muhammad (saas) used his right hand while doing good work. So we encourage you to follow its Sunnah.

5. Recite Istiaazah and Basmalah

The first and most important thing you should do is to recite Istiaazah and Basmalah before you start reading Quran.

The following is the translation of Istiaazah: “I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the accursed.” [The Noble Quran]

The following is the translation of Basmalah: “In the name of Allah – the Most Merciful, the Most Merciful.” [The Noble Quran]

6. Recite at a slow pace

Most beginners make the mistake of trying to read faster, assuming that reciting faster will increase their fluency.

However, this is not the case. If you try to recite the Quran quickly, there is a high possibility that you will make mistakes. It is advisable to slowly recite the sacred book of creation to understand its true meaning.

7. Follow the Tajweed Rules

This rule is similar to the one mentioned above.

When reciting the Holy Quran we must pay great attention to how the words are pronounced as Arabic is one of the most complex languages ​​in the world and a little mispronunciation can change the true meaning of the verses.

You should also try to read the Holy Quran in an engaging tone.

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8. Don’t talk while reciting Quran

Before you start reading the Quran, be sure to eliminate any distraction that might distract you from reading the Quran.

This includes cell phones and even talking to other people.

Staying away from worldly affairs means not being influenced by Satan.

9. Fulfill all the requirements of the Quran

As you may already know, Holy Verses have sajdah (prostration) signs that prompt the reader to perform sajdah whenever he/she goes through them.

You must perform a sajdah as soon as you read that particular verse because later you might forget it.

A person is also instructed to pause at the appropriate points while reading the Qur’anic verses.

10. Praise Allah SWT

The last item in the list of 10 ways to read the Quran is about praising Allah Almighty for guiding you to read His Holy Book.

Easy way to learn to read Quran

After discussing 10 ways to read Quran, it is best to mention tips and techniques that you can follow to learn how to read Quran and below are some of them.

1. Get a dedicated teacher

We would advise you to get help from a dedicated teacher, because if you don’t have a teacher to correct you when you pronounce something wrong, you will learn something wrong, whether it’s the pronunciation of a single letter.

Remember that mispronouncing a word changes the meaning of the whole sentence.

Do you want to learn Quran recitation online? Online Quran Recitation Course Explore Course

2. Don’t overwhelm yourself

If you are not a native speaker, it is important to know that you cannot learn to read Quran fluently in 24 hours.

It’s a slow process and what would really help you is creating levels and then completing them one by one. If you are unfamiliar with the pronunciation of the letters, you may want to start with a course designed specifically for beginners.

Once you have a good grasp of the letters and their sounds, you can start reading slowly to avoid making mistakes in the process.

3. Revise

As we have already mentioned, learning to read the Quran takes time.

However, you can make yourself efficient by repeating the letters and then the ayah each day. This way you will see a significant improvement in your reading ability within a few days.

How to read the Quran correctly

Here are a few tips that can help you read the Quran properly:

1. Learn the Tajweed Rules

Tajweed will help you pronounce the words correctly.

The Quran must be recited as it is written and different words are pronounced with different parts of your mouth. By following the rules of Tajweed, you can read the Quran more closely.

Best Online Tajweed Course Learn Quran with Tajweed online Explore Course for FREE

2. Pay attention

As we mentioned earlier in this article, make sure you eliminate all distractions so you can focus only on reciting the Quran.

3. Listen to famous reciters

Listening and imitating famous Quran reciters will make you proficient in reciting Quran.

Try listening to Abdul Rahman Al Sudais, Mishary Rashid Al-Afasy and Abdul Basit Abdus Samad.

4. How to Learn Quran Easily

If you are looking forward to memorizing the Quran, then you may be confused about how and where to start.

Don’t worry. Below are some suggestions that may enable you to do this:

1. Prepare your environment

The environment plays a key role in helping your brain remember better.

That is why it is important to sit in a quiet place so that you are not distracted by worldly things. If you are studying through an online platform, make sure your internet connection is reliable.

2. Get involved with your teacher

Individual sessions are great for learning the Qur’an. You can interact with your teacher as much as you need to and address your concerns.

Most importantly, it helps you understand and stay focused. In addition, your teacher can point out our mistakes to eliminate sources of error.

3. Practice

Practice makes a man perfect.

It is very important to practice what you learn every day. You should also try reading to your teacher or a family member to make sure you don’t make any mistakes.

frequently asked Questions

Below are some of the most frequently asked questions about reading and learning the Quran.

How can I learn to read the Quran fluently? The best way to learn to read Quran fluently is to practice it as much as possible. In this regard, you should get help from a professional teacher and repeat your lessons in front of him on a daily basis. What should I read before reading the Quran? As we have already mentioned in our guide about 10 ways to read Quran, you should recite Istiaazah and Basmalah before you start reading Quran. We must do this to prevent Satan from leading us astray from the path of light. How long does it take to learn to read the Quran? The time it takes to learn to read the Quran depends greatly on the age factor. It probably takes children under 10 years old about 2 years to become fluent in reading Quran. On the other hand, it takes much less time for elders as it only takes months for some people. Is Arabic difficult to learn? Arabic is definitely a challenging language to learn, but learning Arabic is not impossible at all. If you practice daily and keep asking Allah (SWT) for help, you will be able to learn it much faster than you think.

Conclusion

This brings us to the end of our guide on the 10 ways to read the Quran. We have tried to guide you through all the manners and etiquette in detail and hope they have helped you in learning how to read the Quran accurately.

Feel free to contact us for further information on the subject. You can also check out our previous blog posts where we have discussed the subtopics in detail.

Do you want to learn Quran recitation online? Online Quran Recitation Course Explore Course

Relevant Articles:

Easy learning method for beginners

How to memorize the Quran and not forget it

Reprehensible but not forbidden action in Islam

In Islamic terminology, something that is makruh (Arabic: مكروه‎, transliterated: makrooh or makrūh) is an unpopular or objectionable act (literally “disgusting” or “abominable”[1]). This is one of the five categories (al-ahkam al-khamsa) in Islamic law – Wajib/Fard (compulsory), Mustahabb/Mandub (recommended), Mubah (neutral), Makruh (rejected), Haram (prohibited).[2]

Although a Makruh act is not haram (prohibited) or punishable, .[1] Muslim It is one of the degrees of recognition (ahkam) in Islamic law.

Examples[edit]

Examples of what is considered Makruh include using a large amount of water when performing ritual purifications known as wudu (partial ablution or abdest) and ghusl (complete ablution), or eating garlic before visiting the mosque or socializing with others. 1][3]

An example of a food that is considered Makruh for Muslims of the Hanafi school is shrimp (but only for the Hanafi school).[4] However, there are divided opinions within the Hanafi school as to whether shrimp are considered waterfowl and therefore halal. Hanafis believe in abstaining and eating something else whenever possible.[5]

Other examples of Makruh acts in Islam include cursing, speaking during ablution for prayer, biting your nails, and slaughtering an animal for food where other animals of its kind can see it.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

In many parts of the Muslim world, devotional/religious music and secular music are well developed and popular. However, whether music is permitted under Islamic law is historically disputed.[1] Legal scholars’ views range from music that is strictly forbidden to music that is generally forbidden but with different restrictions, such as: B. Singing is permitted, or some instruments such as drums are permitted or permitted if it does not tempt the listeners. This may change taking into account their own decision. In recent decades, “the emergence of a whole new generation of Muslim musicians trying to combine their work and their faith” has given the issue “additional importance”.[2]

Overview [ edit ]

The words “Islamic religious music” are, strictly speaking, a contradiction in terms. The practice of orthodox Sunni and Shia Islam does not involve any activity recognized as “music” in Muslim cultures. The melodic recitation of the Holy Qur’an and the call to prayer are central to Islam, but generic terms of music have never been applied to them. Instead, technical terms were used. However, there are a variety of religious and spiritual genres that use musical instruments, usually performed at various public and private gatherings outside the Orthodox realm. Eckhard Neubauer, Veronica Doubleday, Islamic religious music, New Grove Dictionary of Music online[3]

Music and Interpretations of Islamic Law[ edit ]

One scholar, Jacob M. Landau, distinguishes “four main groups” in the dispute over whether music is haram:

uncompromising purists who reject all musical expression;[4] religious authorities who only allow the chanting of the Qurʾān and the call to prayer or adhān;[4] scholars and musicians who prefer music and believe that there is no musical difference between secular and religious music;[4] and important mystical brotherhoods for whom music and dance were a means of communion with God.[4]

Forbidden, no exceptions except maybe call to prayer[ edit ]

Those who believe that the Qur’an and hadith “strictly” prohibit music include the Salafi and Deobandi denominations, respectively.[2]

The Qur’an does not specifically refer to the music itself. Nevertheless, some scholars (Ibn ‘Abbaas, Al-Hasan al-Basri, Al-Sa’di, Ibn al-Qayyim, Abu’l-Sahbaa’) have used the expression “empty talk ” in Sura (chapter) by Luqman interpreted in relation to music:

“And of mankind is he who buys idle speech [in another translation, ‘the entertainment of speech’; in another: “theatrics”] to turn others away from the path of Allah…” [Luqmaan 31:6].

Several scholars have also suggested as evidence that music is forbidden the passage in which Allah says to Iblis: “And gradually deceive them with your voice, those you can deceive among them, mobilize all your cavalry and infantry against them, manipulate their property and their children and make them promises.” [al-Israa’ 17:64][5][6][7]

It has also been said that some hadith relate to music, “always in an unfavorable way”[2] – for example:

“Singing makes hypocrisy sprout in the heart as rain sprouts plants”; [2]

“There will be among my ummah people who will regard adultery, silk, alcohol and musical instruments as permissible.”[8] Some dispute the authenticity of this hadith, notably Ibn Hazm al-Dhahiri.[9] – Therefore, there are differences of opinion as to whether these hadiths are reliable or weak.[2]

The historian Michael Cook, in his study of Islamic scholarship, found that “it enjoined what was good and forbade what was bad” in accordance with Islamic law

“Attacks on offensive objects are a ubiquitous theme… There are, for example, knocking over chess boards, cutting down supposedly sacred trees and destroying or defacing decorative pictures… But the targets that are repeatedly mentioned are liquor and musical instruments again. (An exception was sometimes made for tambourines, which were used to announce marriages)”[10]

Music bans have been rare or nonexistent in Muslim-majority states since Muhammad bin Salman came to power in Saudi Arabia, but have often been enforced where Islamist insurgents have risen to power—in Afghanistan under Taliban rule;[11] and at since at least January 2013 “large parts of two-thirds of Mali…controlled by Islamic rebel groups”.[12]

Some exceptions[edit]

There are quite different opinions about what exceptions to the music ban can be made. Permitted are, for example: singing, but no instruments; singing, but only if the audience is of the same sex; singing and drums, or singing and traditional single-sided drum and tambourine, but no other instruments; any kind of music provided it is not passionate, sexually suggestive or contains lyrics contrary to Islam.

Other Muslims believe that musical instruments are haram and only singing is allowed, but the performer must be of the same gender as the audience. [13]

Non-instrumental music (regardless of the audience) has given rise to a rich tradition of devotional a cappella singing in Islam. [2] In support of chanting being halal, the jurist Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi says: “Regarding the prohibition of chanting, no solid hadith is available”, while Ibn Hazm says: “Everything reported on the subject is false and invented.” [14]

In support of halal chanting, the jurist Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi says, “Regarding the prohibition of chanting, no solid hadith is available,” while Ibn Hazm says, “Everything reported on the subject is false and fabricated.” There are some Muslims who believe that drums are permitted but no other instruments. [2]

Zakir Naik claims that musical instruments are haram, except for two – the daf (a traditional single-sided drum) and the tambourine, which are also mentioned in hadith. [15] According to a minority of Sunni Islam and another group of Shia, an exception to the music ban can be made for women playing daf at celebrations and festivals. [16] This exception comes from a well-known hadith in which two little girls sang to a woman and the Islamic prophet Muhammad instructed Abu Bakr to let them continue, saying: “Let them to Abu Bakr, for every nation has an oath (i.e. Feast) and that day is our oath”. [17]

Still other Muslims believe that all instruments are permissible provided they are used for acceptable or halal-style music and are not sexually arousing or un-Islamic. [14] Thus, there is a long history of instrumental accompaniment to devotional songs, particularly in the Shia and Sufi traditions. [2] Many Sufi orders use music as part of their worship. [18]

Hence, there is a long history of instrumental accompaniment to devotional songs, particularly in the Shi’a and Sufi traditions. Many Sufi orders use music as part of their worship. According to the Irish Times, “a majority of Muslims” follow the view of modern scholars like Yusuf al-Qaradawi that music “is forbidden only if it leads the believer into activities clearly defined as forbidden, such as drinking alcohol and alcohol illegal sex”.[2]

Imam al-Ghazzali, narrated several hadiths and concluded that music is permissible in and of itself, saying: “All these hadiths are narrated from al-Bukhari and chanting and playing are not haram.” He also relates to a narration from Khidr in which a positive opinion about music is expressed. Although this is disputed by others who disagree.[19][13] On the other hand, his account of the prohibition of wrongs in (Book 19) of his famous work The Revival of the Religious Sciences includes listening to musical instruments and girls singing as prohibited activities.[20]

According to Hussein Rashid, “Contemporary scholars including Shaykh al-Azhar Mahmud Shaltut, Shaykh Yusuf Qaradawi and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini have all issued legal rulings that audio art [including music] that does not encourage people to go against belief is permitted .” [21] Notable people believed to consider music halal include Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, Ibn al-Qaisarani, Ibn Sina, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Rumi, Ibn Rushd and Ibn Hazm. 22][23]

Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Yusuf al-Qaradawi states in his book The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam that singing is not haram unless:

The theme of songs is “against the teachings of Islam”, such as praising wine; the “way” of singing is haram, such as “being accompanied by suggestive sexual movements”; it leads to “over-preoccupation with entertainment,” such as wasting time that should be devoted to religion; when it “rouses one’s passions, leads him to sin, excites animal instincts, and dulls spirituality”; when it occurs “in connection with haram activities – for example, a drinking bout.”[14]

Shia interpretation and Iran[ edit ]

Based on the authentic Islamic ahadith, numerous Iranian Grand Ayatollahs; Sadiq Hussaini Shirazi, Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani, Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ahmad Jannati and others ruled that all music and instrument playing is haram regardless of the purpose. better source needed] Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took a similar religious position, declaring on July 23, 1979: “If you want independence for your country, you must suppress music and not fear being labeled old-fashioned. Music is a betrayal of the nation and youth.”[27] During the Iranian revolution, Khomeini said: “…Music is like a drug, once you get into the habit, you can no longer devote yourself to important activities. We must abolish them altogether.”[28] From 1979 to 1989 all music on radio and television was banned, with the exception of the occasional “revolutionary song” performed in a strongly martial style.[29] After Khomeini’s death, the reform-oriented Rafsanjani and Khatami governments gradually lifted the music ban. The current Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, expressed his admiration for Western music in 2014,[30] and nowadays music in Iran is officially allowed by the government as long as it is Iranian – Iranian folk music, classical music and pop music are allowed .[31]

doubts about the ban

At least some sources attribute the prohibition of music not to the rigorous interpretation of Scripture but to the association of “fashionable” secular music “with erotic dancing and drinking” (Jacob M. Landau)[32] or “more music-related illegal conduct” than to the music itself” (Hussein Rashid).[21] According to Rashid, the Qur’an contains “no direct references to music” and the Hadith contains “contradictory evidence”;[21] Landau states that scholars hostile to the music have “relyed on forced interpretations of some unclear passages in the Qur’an” or Hadith”.[32]

Islamic music[edit]

A Musical Gathering – Ottoman, 18th century

Notwithstanding the music prohibitions of Islamic scholars, devotional/religious music and secular music are well developed and popular in many parts of the Muslim world.

Secular and folk music styles in the Muslim Middle East can be found in Arabic music, Egyptian music, Iranian music, Turkish classical music. In North Africa, Algerian and Moroccan music. South Asia has distinctive Afghan, Bangladeshi, Maldivian and Pakistani music

Nasheed is a Muslim devotional recitation music recited in various tunes by some Muslims today without musical instruments or possibly with percussion.

Music for public religious celebrations includes:

Ta’zieh music (Shia, a passion play depicting the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, part musical drama, part religious drama, rarely performed outside Iran);

Ashura music (Shia performed during the Muharram mourning period to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein and his followers);

Thikiri (from the Arabic word “Dhikr” meaning “remembrance of God” – performed by the Qadiriyya Sufi orders of the waYao or Yao in East and Southern Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa);

Manzuma (moral songs performed in Ethiopia); Madih nabawi (Arabic hymns praising Muhammad).

At least according to one scholar, Jacob M. Landau, not only does secular and folk music exist in regions throughout the Muslim world, but Islam has its own distinctive category of music – “Islamic music” or “classical Islamic music”. development began “with the advent of Islam around AD 610.” as “new art”.[32] It grew out of pre-Islamic Arabic music, with “important contributions” from Persians, Byzantines, Turks, Imazighen (Berbers), and Moors. This music “is characterized by a most subtle organization of melody and rhythm” in which “the vocal component predominates over the instrumental,” there is no harmony, only “a single melodic line” is present, and the individual musician “is permitted, and thoroughly encouraged to improvise”. Their heartland stretches “from the Nile Valley to Persia,” and the further one travels, “the less genuine Islamic music one finds.”[32]

See also[edit]

Is Music Banned in Ramadan?

© Kertu/Shutterstock

Ryan Kristobak Music Editor May 25, 2017 View

Determining what is and is not haram (forbidden) during Ramadan is not an easy task. What is the dress code during the holy month? Is sex allowed? can you watch tv Can you listen or play music?

Looking at the latter of these queries, there doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer judging by the massive amount of online threads centered around the question that have popped up year after year, and some even go so far as to investigate whether music forbidden at all times inside is Islam.

Is Music Haram in Islam?

Reading through the Qur’an, there are no verses that explicitly call music haram. However, according to Zakir Naik, the controversial doctor-turned-television preacher who founded the Islamic Research Foundation and is now considered a “rock star of tele-evangelism” immensely popular in India, he believes certain parts of the Qur’an point to the prohibition of music there. He quotes chapter 31, verse 6:

“But there are those among the people who, without knowledge (or importance), buy idle stories to divert (people) from the path of Allah and cast mockery (on the path): for such there will be a humiliating punishment.”

Naik says that “empty stories” can be translated into “musical instruments”. Naik then quotes Bukhari, Volume 7, Book of Drinks, Hadith #5590:

“…he heard the Prophet say: ‘Among my followers there will be some people who consider illegal sex, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic beverages and the use of musical instruments to be lawful.”

However, as hadith (historical accounts of the life of Mohammad) by the Islamic scholar Muhammad al-Bukhari, you are entering the territory of man-made text against the Word of God (Quran). Some Muslims view the Qur’an primarily as hadith, and while the hadith are intended to aid in understanding the Qur’an, it is the text of the Qur’an that is held to be the absolute truth.

In 2010, the Daily Mail (it should be noted that the Daily Mail is traditionally a right-wing news outlet) reported that Muslim students were being withdrawn from music classes in various schools in England, despite the classes being a “compulsory part of the national curriculum.” While families have stated that playing musical instruments and singing is forbidden in Islam, the Open University’s Dr Diana Harris claimed that most families do not really know why they are withdrawing their children from classes, and many of them have just found out , “that it was not unacceptable”, and that one of the likely sources of this information was the Imams (the title given to a leader of worship in a mosque).

The article also mentions that in Sufism, a branch of Islam popular in Pakistan and India, “devotional music and song are central to the religion.” Just like the interpretation of the Koran and Hadith collections, the role of music in Islam also seems to be regional.

Is Music Haram in Ramadan?

Again, there seems to be no general agreement.

Back in April, Time Out Dubai published “A Beginner’s Guide to Ramadan”. On the subject of music they write: “People in general must refrain from listening to loud music during the Holy Month as it may offend those who are fasting. However, it is acceptable to use headphones to listen to music on your smartphone or iPod.” They also recommend not playing loud music while driving.

However, a 2005 Ramadan guide published on the BBC states that listening to music along with other activities such as television and board games is prohibited during the holy month.

Even looking at the adhan (Muslim call to prayer), there is debate as to whether it qualifies as music. While some object to such a notion, for others the issue is separating the worldliness of music from the otherworldliness of religious practice, and since the adhan is not strictly God’s Word it can be considered music.

However, percussive and drum-based “music” are widely considered acceptable, and these are often accompanied by Islamic poetry. A good example is the work of Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), who has released a number of albums following these guidelines.

The Amish hold humility a highly valued value and view pride as a threat to community harmony. Since items such as personal photos can emphasize individuality and draw attention to oneself, they are prohibited from the home. In addition, the Amish believe that photographs in which they are recognizable violate the Scriptural command, “Thou shalt not make thy graven image.” They want to be remembered for the life they’ve lived and the examples they’ve left behind, not their physical appearance.

Just as the Amish do not carry personal photographs or display them in their homes, they do not want others to photograph them either. Many visitors to Lancaster County find it hard not to. However, if there’s one thing the Amish seem to frustrate, it’s tourists trying to photograph them. Please follow our instructions not to take photos that reveal faces. Not taking photos is more than a courtesy; it’s a respect for our Amish neighbors and their way of life.

Arabic-Islamic term for religiously forbidden actions

Not to be confused with Harem or Herem

Haram (;[1][2] Arabic: حَرَام‎, ḥarām, [ħaˈraːm]) is an Arabic term meaning “forbidden”.[3]:471 This can refer to: either something sacred to which people have no access granted to those who are not in a state of purity or initiated into the sacred knowledge; or in direct opposition to an evil and hence “sinful act which is forbidden.” The term also means something “set aside” and is thus the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew term חרם, ḥērem and the term sacer (cf. holy) in Roman law and religion. In Islamic jurisprudence, haram refers to any act forbidden by God and is one of the five Islamic commandments (الأحكام الخمسة, al-ʾAḥkām al-Ḵamsa) that define the morality of human action.[4]

Acts that are haram are usually prohibited in the religious texts of the Qur’an, and the Sunnah category of haram is the highest prohibition status. If something is considered haram, it remains forbidden no matter how good the intention or how honorable the purpose.[5] Sins, good and meritorious deeds are placed on the Mizan (scales) on the Day of Judgment and weighed according to the sincerity of the doer.[6][7] The views of different madhhabs or legal schools of thought can differ significantly on what is or is not haram based on scholarly interpretation of the main religious texts (Quran and Hadith).[8]

Overview [ edit ]

Actions that are haram are harmful in one way or another and are therefore considered a sin when performed by a Muslim.[9]

They ask you about wine and gambling. Say: “In them is great harm and (still) good for people. But their harm is greater than their good…” [Quran 2:219]

By using the word “benefit” as opposed to “sin”, verse 2:219 of the Qur’an makes it clear that what is harmful is haram. In fact, everything becomes meaningful with its opposite; e.g. if there is no cold, we never understand what heat is. So sin is what hurts us. When God says “don’t do it,” he means “don’t hurt yourself.” An Islamic principle regarding haram is that if something is forbidden or prohibited, anything leading to it is also considered a haram act. A similar principle is that the sin of haram is not limited to the person who engages in the prohibited activity, but also extends to others who assist the person in the activity, be it material or moral support.[10]

The five categories of الأحكام الخمسة, al-ʾAḥkām al-Ḵamsa or the hierarchy of actions from permissible to not permissible are:[4][11]

واجب / فرض ( farḍ/ wājib ) – duty / “duty” مستحب ( mustaḥabb ) – recommended, “desirable” مباح ( mubāḥ ) – neutral, “permitted” مكروه ( makrūh ) – rejected, “poor,” ح”

The two types of haram are:

الحرام لذاته ( al-ḥarām li-ḏātihi ) – Prohibited because of its nature and the harm it does to an individual Adultery, murder, theft are associated with something that is forbidden[12] ill-gotten wealth acquired through sin. Examples include funds obtained through fraud, theft, corruption, murder, interest, or any other means of harming another human being. Also an offering or sale during the Friday prayer salat al-jumu’ah. In Islam, it is forbidden for a Muslim to benefit from such haram actions. Any believer who profits or lives from haram acquired wealth is a sinner.

Prayer in an illegally seized house.

The religious term Haram, based on the Qur’an, is applied to:

Acts such as swearing, fornication, murder, and disrespect to your parents.

Policies such as Riba (usury, interest).

Certain foods and drinks such as pork and alcohol.

Some ḥalāl items, foods or actions that are normally halal (permitted) but become haram under certain conditions. For example, halal food and drink during the day of Ramadan, or a cow or other halal animal that is not slaughtered in the Islamic manner and in the name of Allah (God).

Certain inaction such as leaving the salah.

culture [edit]

Linguistically, the root of the term haram [compare the ancient Hebrew herem meaning “dedicated to God”, “prohibited for profane use”] is used to form a variety of other terms that have legal implications, such as B. Hariim (a harem). and Ihraam (a state of purity). In addition, the same word (haram) is used in the Qur’an to denote the sacred nature of the Kaaba and the areas of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.[13] This category of sacred, holy, and sacred also includes spouses and college campuses.[14] As such, the legal use of the root ح-ر-م is based on a notion of boundaries between the profane and the sacred, as opposed to prohibitions as is usually assumed.

Colloquially, the word haram takes on different meanings and operates more as a dichotomy with halal, meaning what is lawful. In Arabic-speaking countries, pronouncing “haram” can mean “what a pity” or “what a pity” (this meaning has also been adopted from modern Hebrew slang and is similar to the Italian use of peccato). The term can be used formally as a method to chastise strangers who behave inappropriately, or between friends as a form of teasing. The word is also used to teach children how to behave, including telling them that harming other children or animals is haram.

The binary concepts of halal and haram are used in a number of cultural expressions, most notably ibn (boy) al-halal and bint (girl) al-halal. These expressions are often used to refer to suitable marriage partners and are in contrast to ibn al-haram or bint al-haram which are used as insults. In this case, the term haram is used to mean naughty or indecent, rather than strictly speaking unlawful. Halal and Haram are also used in relation to money (mal). Mal al-haram means ill-gotten money and brings destruction to those who make a living by such means.[15]

These cultural interpretations of what is haram influence and are influenced by the legal definitions used at the local level. This means that popular notions of haram are based partly on formal Islamic jurisprudence and partly on regional culture, and the popular notions in turn change how the legal system defines and punishes haram acts.[16]

Prohibited categories of actions[ edit ]

Food and intoxicants[edit]

In the Qur’an and early Muslim accounts, forbidden meats include pork, carnivores (lions, tigers, wolves, dogs, cats, etc.), non-ruminants (donkeys and horses), and animals slaughtered in the name of a god other than Allah, animals that did not die in the name of Allah due to illness, injury, drug, poisoning or slaughter. Herbivorous or ruminant animals such as cattle, deer, sheep, goats and antelope are some examples of animals that are halal and only if they are treated like sentient beings and painlessly slaughtered while reciting Bismillah and Allahu Akbar. If the animal is mistreated or tortured during slaughter, the meat is haram.[17]

Marriage and family[edit]

Islam very strictly forbids zina, whether it be adultery or sexual intercourse between two unmarried people.

With regard to marriage proposals, it is considered haram for a Muslim man to propose marriage to a divorced or widowed woman during her iddah (the waiting period during which she is not allowed to remarry).[18] The man can express his desire to marry, but cannot actually propose marriage. It is also forbidden for a Muslim man to propose to a woman who is married to another man.[19]

It is considered haram for a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim man.[18] This is due to the idea that the man is the head of the household, the one who supports the family, and the man is seen as responsible for his wife. Muslims do not believe in placing women in the hands of those who do not practice Islam and blaming them for Muslim women for not caring to protect the rites of the religion.[20][21]

Inheritance[ edit ]

It is considered haram for a father to withhold an inheritance from his children. It is also haraam for a father to withhold an inheritance from the wives or children of a woman who is not favorable to him. In addition, it is haram for a relative to deprive another relative of his or her inheritance by tricks.[22]

Business ethics[ edit ]

Riba, any excessive addition beyond capital, such as usury and interest, is forbidden in Islam in any form. Interest is at odds with the Islamic pillar of zakat, which allows wealth to flow from the rich to the poor. Riba is forbidden because it keeps wealth in the hands of the rich and away from the poor. Riba is also believed to make a man selfish and greedy.[23][24]

All business and trade practices that do not lead to the free and fair exchange of goods and services are considered haram, such as bribery, theft and gambling. Therefore, all forms of fraud and dishonesty in business are forbidden in Islam.[23][25]

Many Islamic jurists and religious bodies, including the Standing Committee on Scientific Research and Ifta[26] of Saudi Arabia, have considered MLM trading to be prohibited or haram for the following reasons: unrequited work, contract under another contract or condition under another condition, similarity to riba (interest), similarity to gambling, widespread uncertainty of wins and losses, not all benefit equally, financial fraud and torture, lies and exaggeration, etc.[27][28]

Clothing and jewelry[ edit ]

In Islam, both golden adornments and silk scarves are forbidden for men but allowed for women so long as they are not used to sexually attract men (other than their husbands). The ban on these adornments is part of a broader Islamic principle of avoiding a luxurious lifestyle.[29]

It is considered haram for both men and women to wear clothing that does not properly cover the body (which is what the term “aurat/awrah” is called in the dress code) and transparent clothing. In addition, Islam forbids excessive beautification, which involves altering one’s physical appearance. Physical changes considered haram such as tattoos, tooth shortening, cosmetic surgery, etc.[30]

Islam also forbids the use of gold and silver utensils and pure silk spreads in the home to avoid a luxurious lifestyle at home.[31] Statues are also forbidden in homes, and Muslims are forbidden from participating in the making of statues, as this negates tawhid.[32]

Shirk [edit]

Worshiping anyone or anything other than God, known as shirk, is a major sin for a Muslim.

See also[edit]

In many parts of the Muslim world, devotional/religious music and secular music are well developed and popular. However, whether music is permitted under Islamic law is historically disputed.[1] Legal scholars’ views range from music that is strictly forbidden to music that is generally forbidden but with different restrictions, such as: B. Singing is permitted, or some instruments such as drums are permitted or permitted if it does not tempt the listeners. This may change taking into account their own decision. In recent decades, “the emergence of a whole new generation of Muslim musicians trying to combine their work and their faith” has given the issue “additional importance”.[2]

Overview [ edit ]

The words “Islamic religious music” are, strictly speaking, a contradiction in terms. The practice of orthodox Sunni and Shia Islam does not involve any activity recognized as “music” in Muslim cultures. The melodic recitation of the Holy Qur’an and the call to prayer are central to Islam, but generic terms of music have never been applied to them. Instead, technical terms were used. However, there are a variety of religious and spiritual genres that use musical instruments, usually performed at various public and private gatherings outside the Orthodox realm. Eckhard Neubauer, Veronica Doubleday, Islamic religious music, New Grove Dictionary of Music online[3]

Music and Interpretations of Islamic Law[ edit ]

One scholar, Jacob M. Landau, distinguishes “four main groups” in the dispute over whether music is haram:

uncompromising purists who reject all musical expression;[4] religious authorities who only allow the chanting of the Qurʾān and the call to prayer or adhān;[4] scholars and musicians who prefer music and believe that there is no musical difference between secular and religious music;[4] and important mystical brotherhoods for whom music and dance were a means of communion with God.[4]

Forbidden, no exceptions except maybe call to prayer[ edit ]

Those who believe that the Qur’an and hadith “strictly” prohibit music include the Salafi and Deobandi denominations, respectively.[2]

The Qur’an does not specifically refer to the music itself. Nevertheless, some scholars (Ibn ‘Abbaas, Al-Hasan al-Basri, Al-Sa’di, Ibn al-Qayyim, Abu’l-Sahbaa’) have used the expression “empty talk ” in Sura (chapter) by Luqman interpreted in relation to music:

“And of mankind is he who buys idle speech [in another translation, ‘the entertainment of speech’; in another: “theatrics”] to turn others away from the path of Allah…” [Luqmaan 31:6].

Several scholars have also suggested as evidence that music is forbidden the passage in which Allah says to Iblis: “And gradually deceive them with your voice, those you can deceive among them, mobilize all your cavalry and infantry against them, manipulate their property and their children and make them promises.” [al-Israa’ 17:64][5][6][7]

It has also been said that some hadith relate to music, “always in an unfavorable way”[2] – for example:

“Singing makes hypocrisy sprout in the heart as rain sprouts plants”; [2]

“There will be among my ummah people who will regard adultery, silk, alcohol and musical instruments as permissible.”[8] Some dispute the authenticity of this hadith, notably Ibn Hazm al-Dhahiri.[9] – Therefore, there are differences of opinion as to whether these hadiths are reliable or weak.[2]

The historian Michael Cook, in his study of Islamic scholarship, found that “it enjoined what was good and forbade what was bad” in accordance with Islamic law

“Attacks on offensive objects are a ubiquitous theme… There are, for example, knocking over chess boards, cutting down supposedly sacred trees and destroying or defacing decorative pictures… But the targets that are repeatedly mentioned are liquor and musical instruments again. (An exception was sometimes made for tambourines, which were used to announce marriages)”[10]

Music bans have been rare or nonexistent in Muslim-majority states since Muhammad bin Salman came to power in Saudi Arabia, but have often been enforced where Islamist insurgents have risen to power—in Afghanistan under Taliban rule;[11] and at since at least January 2013 “large parts of two-thirds of Mali…controlled by Islamic rebel groups”.[12]

Some exceptions[edit]

There are quite different opinions about what exceptions to the music ban can be made. Permitted are, for example: singing, but no instruments; singing, but only if the audience is of the same sex; singing and drums, or singing and traditional single-sided drum and tambourine, but no other instruments; any kind of music provided it is not passionate, sexually suggestive or contains lyrics contrary to Islam.

Other Muslims believe that musical instruments are haram and only singing is allowed, but the performer must be of the same gender as the audience. [13]

Non-instrumental music (regardless of the audience) has given rise to a rich tradition of devotional a cappella singing in Islam. [2] In support of chanting being halal, the jurist Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi says: “Regarding the prohibition of chanting, no solid hadith is available”, while Ibn Hazm says: “Everything reported on the subject is false and invented.” [14]

In support of halal chanting, the jurist Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi says, “Regarding the prohibition of chanting, no solid hadith is available,” while Ibn Hazm says, “Everything reported on the subject is false and fabricated.” There are some Muslims who believe that drums are permitted but no other instruments. [2]

Zakir Naik claims that musical instruments are haram, except for two – the daf (a traditional single-sided drum) and the tambourine, which are also mentioned in hadith. [15] According to a minority of Sunni Islam and another group of Shia, an exception to the music ban can be made for women playing daf at celebrations and festivals. [16] This exception comes from a well-known hadith in which two little girls sang to a woman and the Islamic prophet Muhammad instructed Abu Bakr to let them continue, saying: “Let them to Abu Bakr, for every nation has an oath (i.e. Feast) and that day is our oath”. [17]

Still other Muslims believe that all instruments are permissible provided they are used for acceptable or halal-style music and are not sexually arousing or un-Islamic. [14] Thus, there is a long history of instrumental accompaniment to devotional songs, particularly in the Shia and Sufi traditions. [2] Many Sufi orders use music as part of their worship. [18]

Hence, there is a long history of instrumental accompaniment to devotional songs, particularly in the Shi’a and Sufi traditions. Many Sufi orders use music as part of their worship. According to the Irish Times, “a majority of Muslims” follow the view of modern scholars like Yusuf al-Qaradawi that music “is forbidden only if it leads the believer into activities clearly defined as forbidden, such as drinking alcohol and alcohol illegal sex”.[2]

Imam al-Ghazzali, narrated several hadiths and concluded that music is permissible in and of itself, saying: “All these hadiths are narrated from al-Bukhari and chanting and playing are not haram.” He also relates to a narration from Khidr in which a positive opinion about music is expressed. Although this is disputed by others who disagree.[19][13] On the other hand, his account of the prohibition of wrongs in (Book 19) of his famous work The Revival of the Religious Sciences includes listening to musical instruments and girls singing as prohibited activities.[20]

According to Hussein Rashid, “Contemporary scholars including Shaykh al-Azhar Mahmud Shaltut, Shaykh Yusuf Qaradawi and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini have all issued legal rulings that audio art [including music] that does not encourage people to go against belief is permitted .” [21] Notable people believed to consider music halal include Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, Ibn al-Qaisarani, Ibn Sina, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Rumi, Ibn Rushd and Ibn Hazm. 22][23]

Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Yusuf al-Qaradawi states in his book The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam that singing is not haram unless:

The theme of songs is “against the teachings of Islam”, such as praising wine; the “way” of singing is haram, such as “being accompanied by suggestive sexual movements”; it leads to “over-preoccupation with entertainment,” such as wasting time that should be devoted to religion; when it “rouses one’s passions, leads him to sin, excites animal instincts, and dulls spirituality”; when it occurs “in connection with haram activities – for example, a drinking bout.”[14]

Shia interpretation and Iran[ edit ]

Based on the authentic Islamic ahadith, numerous Iranian Grand Ayatollahs; Sadiq Hussaini Shirazi, Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani, Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ahmad Jannati and others ruled that all music and instrument playing is haram regardless of the purpose. better source needed] Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took a similar religious position, declaring on July 23, 1979: “If you want independence for your country, you must suppress music and not fear being labeled old-fashioned. Music is a betrayal of the nation and youth.”[27] During the Iranian revolution, Khomeini said: “…Music is like a drug, once you get into the habit, you can no longer devote yourself to important activities. We must abolish them altogether.”[28] From 1979 to 1989 all music on radio and television was banned, with the exception of the occasional “revolutionary song” performed in a strongly martial style.[29] After Khomeini’s death, the reform-oriented Rafsanjani and Khatami governments gradually lifted the music ban. The current Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, expressed his admiration for Western music in 2014,[30] and nowadays music in Iran is officially allowed by the government as long as it is Iranian – Iranian folk music, classical music and pop music are allowed .[31]

doubts about the ban

At least some sources attribute the prohibition of music not to the rigorous interpretation of Scripture but to the association of “fashionable” secular music “with erotic dancing and drinking” (Jacob M. Landau)[32] or “more music-related illegal conduct” than to the music itself” (Hussein Rashid).[21] According to Rashid, the Qur’an contains “no direct references to music” and the Hadith contains “contradictory evidence”;[21] Landau states that scholars hostile to the music have “relyed on forced interpretations of some unclear passages in the Qur’an” or Hadith”.[32]

Islamic music[edit]

A Musical Gathering – Ottoman, 18th century

Notwithstanding the music prohibitions of Islamic scholars, devotional/religious music and secular music are well developed and popular in many parts of the Muslim world.

Secular and folk music styles in the Muslim Middle East can be found in Arabic music, Egyptian music, Iranian music, Turkish classical music. In North Africa, Algerian and Moroccan music. South Asia has distinctive Afghan, Bangladeshi, Maldivian and Pakistani music

Nasheed is a Muslim devotional recitation music recited in various tunes by some Muslims today without musical instruments or possibly with percussion.

Music for public religious celebrations includes:

Ta’zieh music (Shia, a passion play depicting the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, part musical drama, part religious drama, rarely performed outside Iran);

Ashura music (Shia performed during the Muharram mourning period to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein and his followers);

Thikiri (from the Arabic word “Dhikr” meaning “remembrance of God” – performed by the Qadiriyya Sufi orders of the waYao or Yao in East and Southern Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa);

Manzuma (moral songs performed in Ethiopia); Madih nabawi (Arabic hymns praising Muhammad).

At least according to one scholar, Jacob M. Landau, not only does secular and folk music exist in regions throughout the Muslim world, but Islam has its own distinctive category of music – “Islamic music” or “classical Islamic music”. development began “with the advent of Islam around AD 610.” as “new art”.[32] It grew out of pre-Islamic Arabic music, with “important contributions” from Persians, Byzantines, Turks, Imazighen (Berbers), and Moors. This music “is characterized by a most subtle organization of melody and rhythm” in which “the vocal component predominates over the instrumental,” there is no harmony, only “a single melodic line” is present, and the individual musician “is permitted, and thoroughly encouraged to improvise”. Their heartland stretches “from the Nile Valley to Persia,” and the further one travels, “the less genuine Islamic music one finds.”[32]

See also[edit]

Is Music Banned in Ramadan?

© Kertu/Shutterstock

Ryan Kristobak Music Editor May 25, 2017 View

Determining what is and is not haram (forbidden) during Ramadan is not an easy task. What is the dress code during the holy month? Is sex allowed? can you watch tv Can you listen or play music?

Looking at the latter of these queries, there doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer judging by the massive amount of online threads centered around the question that have popped up year after year, and some even go so far as to investigate whether music forbidden at all times inside is Islam.

Is Music Haram in Islam?

Reading through the Qur’an, there are no verses that explicitly call music haram. However, according to Zakir Naik, the controversial doctor-turned-television preacher who founded the Islamic Research Foundation and is now considered a “rock star of tele-evangelism” immensely popular in India, he believes certain parts of the Qur’an point to the prohibition of music there. He quotes chapter 31, verse 6:

“But there are those among the people who, without knowledge (or importance), buy idle stories to divert (people) from the path of Allah and cast mockery (on the path): for such there will be a humiliating punishment.”

Naik says that “empty stories” can be translated into “musical instruments”. Naik then quotes Bukhari, Volume 7, Book of Drinks, Hadith #5590:

“…he heard the Prophet say: ‘Among my followers there will be some people who consider illegal sex, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic beverages and the use of musical instruments to be lawful.”

However, as hadith (historical accounts of the life of Mohammad) by the Islamic scholar Muhammad al-Bukhari, you are entering the territory of man-made text against the Word of God (Quran). Some Muslims view the Qur’an primarily as hadith, and while the hadith are intended to aid in understanding the Qur’an, it is the text of the Qur’an that is held to be the absolute truth.

In 2010, the Daily Mail (it should be noted that the Daily Mail is traditionally a right-wing news outlet) reported that Muslim students were being withdrawn from music classes in various schools in England, despite the classes being a “compulsory part of the national curriculum.” While families have stated that playing musical instruments and singing is forbidden in Islam, the Open University’s Dr Diana Harris claimed that most families do not really know why they are withdrawing their children from classes, and many of them have just found out , “that it was not unacceptable”, and that one of the likely sources of this information was the Imams (the title given to a leader of worship in a mosque).

The article also mentions that in Sufism, a branch of Islam popular in Pakistan and India, “devotional music and song are central to the religion.” Just like the interpretation of the Koran and Hadith collections, the role of music in Islam also seems to be regional.

Is Music Haram in Ramadan?

Again, there seems to be no general agreement.

Back in April, Time Out Dubai published “A Beginner’s Guide to Ramadan”. On the subject of music they write: “People in general must refrain from listening to loud music during the Holy Month as it may offend those who are fasting. However, it is acceptable to use headphones to listen to music on your smartphone or iPod.” They also recommend not playing loud music while driving.

However, a 2005 Ramadan guide published on the BBC states that listening to music along with other activities such as television and board games is prohibited during the holy month.

Even looking at the adhan (Muslim call to prayer), there is debate as to whether it qualifies as music. While some object to such a notion, for others the issue is separating the worldliness of music from the otherworldliness of religious practice, and since the adhan is not strictly God’s Word it can be considered music.

However, percussive and drum-based “music” are widely considered acceptable, and these are often accompanied by Islamic poetry. A good example is the work of Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), who has released a number of albums following these guidelines.