Tabriat al-Khalifa al-Adil wal-Radd ala al-Mujadil bil-Batil
- Author died
- 1413 AH
- Editions
- Sharikat al-Madinah lil-Tiba'ah wal-Nashr
Tabriat al-Khalifa al-Adil wal-Radd ala al-Mujadil bil-Batil (Exonerating the Just Caliph and Refuting the False Disputant) is a polemical treatise written by the Saudi scholar Hammud ibn Abdullah al-Tuwayjiri (d. 1413 AH / 1992 CE). The work was composed to defend the Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz against allegations that he had engaged in singing and composing musical melodies prior to his caliphate, and to argue for the religious prohibition of singing and musical instruments.
Background and Purpose
The treatise was written in direct response to a short biographical essay by Ahmad Zaki Safwat regarding Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. In his piece, Safwat asserted that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz sang and set poems to music during his youth and governorship in Medina, relying on reports preserved in Kitab al-Aghani by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani. Safwat further advocated the permissibility of singing, characterizing it as an innate, legitimate human pleasure and a fine art. Al-Tuwayjiri considered these assertions to be false and slanderous against the caliph, motivating him to compose the treatise to refute Safwat's historical claims and legal reasoning.
Contents and Arguments
Al-Tuwayjiri organizes his refutation around critical examination of the historical sources and legal proofs regarding singing:
- Critique of the Historical Reports: Al-Tuwayjiri rejects the reliability of Kitab al-Aghani, citing critical assessments of its author, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, from classical biographers and scholars such as al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ibn Abi al-Fawaris, Ibn al-Jawzi, and Yaqut al-Hamawi. He argues that prominent historians and biographers of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz—including Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Abd al-Hakam, and Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani in Hilyat al-Awliya—recorded no narrations indicating that Umar ever sang, composed melodies, or kept company with singers.
- Historical Stance of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz: The author cites well-attested reports demonstrating Umar's opposition to singing and musical instruments. These include Umar's instruction to his children's tutor to instill in them a hatred of musical entertainment—stating that listening to instruments and singing causes hypocrisy to grow in the heart—as well as his explicit denunciation of musical pastimes under figures like Umar ibn al-Walid and Qurra ibn Sharik.
- Refutation of the Permissibility of Singing: Al-Tuwayjiri systematically counters the view that singing is permissible or praiseworthy. He presents numerous prophetic hadiths, statements of the Companions and Successors, and rulings from the four Sunni legal schools (Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal) condemning singing and musical instruments, referring readers for extended citations to his earlier book Fasl al-Khitab fi al-Radd ala Abi Turab.
Reception and Publication
The work was read to the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia and Head of Judges, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al al-Shaykh, who endorsed it on 12 Sha'ban 1387 AH. In his commendation, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim praised the author for defending Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz and adequately refuting the fabrications attributed to him. The treatise was published at the expense of Dar al-Ifta in Saudi Arabia under the editorial supervision of Abd al-Aziz ibn Sulayman Al Hayshah.
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