Hukm al-Ghina wal-Maazif wa Alat al-Malahi wal-Muaththirat al-Sawtiyya
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- Hukm al-Ghina wal-Maazif wa Alat al-Malahi wal-Muaththirat al-Sawtiyya
Hukm al-Ghina wal-Maazif wa Alat al-Malahi wal-Muaththirat al-Sawtiyya (Arabic: حكم الغناء والمعازف وآلات الملاهي والمؤثرات الصوتية, lit. 'The Ruling on Singing, Musical Instruments, Amusement Devices, and Audio Effects') is a contemporary Islamic legal treatise by Abu Faysal al-Badrani examining the jurisprudence of vocal singing, instrumental music, religious chants (anashid), and modern synthesized sound effects.
Sources and Composition
In the introduction to the treatise, the author notes that he compiled the work with slight adaptation primarily from the Fatwa Center of the Islamweb website, a research paper titled al-Iqna fi Hukm al-Iqa (الإقناع في حكم الإيقاع) by Amir ibn Muhammad Fida ibn Bahjat al-Juddi, and the al-Mishkat Islamic Network, among other sources.
Contents and Legal Arguments
The work gathers textual proofs and scholarly rulings across several interrelated topics:
- Prohibition of Musical Instruments: The author establishes the prohibition of musical instruments (al-maazif) and singing accompanied by instrumentation based on Quranic verses—such as the censure of "idle talk" ( وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَشْتَرِي لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِ ) in Surah Luqman, interpreted by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud as singing—and prophetic traditions, particularly the hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari reporting that groups within the Muslim community would deem permissible illicit sexual intercourse, silk, intoxicants, and musical instruments. The work cites consensus transmitted by scholars such as al-Qurtubi, Abu al-Tayyib al-Tabari, Ibn al-Salah, Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Ibn al-Qayyim, and Ibn Hajar al-Haytami regarding the prohibition of musical instruments, with an exception maintained exclusively for the tambourine (duff) for women during weddings and Eid celebrations.
- Beneficial Media with Background Music: The work addresses broadcasts that contain background instrumentation, ruling that listeners must lower or eliminate the volume if possible; if inseparable, the music falls under the general prohibition of listening to instruments, because preserving religious adherence takes precedence over the secondary benefit of the program.
- Contemporary Audio Effects and Rhythm: The treatise examines contemporary sound manipulation, where human voices are processed and digitally modulated via computers and audio software into artificial rhythms mimicking musical instruments. Al-Badrani details the scholarly disagreement over these effects:
- Those prohibiting them argue that Islamic law does not distinguish between equivalent sounds, that actions are judged by their resulting states (ma'alat), that the musical enjoyment (tarab) produced is identical to instruments, that modern audio devices used for this function classify as ma'azif, and that preventing pretexts to unlawful music (sadd al-dharai') requires their prohibition.
- Those permitting them appeal to original permissibility (istishab), the premise that human voices are inherently distinct from instruments, and the utility of offering permissible alternatives to music.
- The author adopts the prohibition of digital audio modifications that replicate musical instruments, citing opinions by contemporary jurists including Muhammad ibn Salih al-Munajjid, Hani al-Jubayr, and Issam al-Humaydan. However, purely natural human vocal imitation performed without software or instruments is deemed permissible though disliked (makruh).
- Recitation and Acapella Chants: The book outlines the legitimacy of beautifying the voice for Quranic recitation according to the rules of tajwid, while forbidding reciting the Quran to musical tunes. It summarizes that unaccompanied singing (nashid) by men with wholesome lyrics encouraging virtue is permissible in moderation, whereas obscene lyrics or singing performed by women for male audiences remain prohibited.
Responses to Opposing Views
A substantial section of the treatise is devoted to answering arguments raised by scholars who permitted musical audition or questioned the authenticity of hadiths prohibiting instruments, particularly Ibn Hazm, al-Shawkani, and Muhammad al-Ghazali. The author defends the chain of transmission of the narration in Sahih al-Bukhari by citing classical hadith scholars such as Ibn al-Salah, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, who demonstrated that the narration is connected and rigorously authenticated rather than broken (munqati'). He further maintains that the four Sunni legal schools agreed upon the impermissibility of musical instruments.
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