Tashyid al-Ikhtiyar li-Tahrim al-Tabl wa al-Mizmar
- Author died
- 953 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Sahabah li-l-Turath
Tashyid al-Ikhtiyar li-Tahrim al-Tabl wa al-Mizmar ("Consolidation of the Choice Regarding the Prohibition of the Drum and the Flute") is a short legal and hadith treatise by the Damascene scholar Ibn Tulun (d. 953 AH / 1546 CE) examining the rulings on musical instruments, specifically drums (ṭabl) and flutes or pipes (mizmār).
Content and Structure
The work opens with an introduction by the author praising God for guiding believers to follow the Sunnah and avoid innovations, where he assigns the text its title. The body of the treatise compiles transmitted hadiths with their chains of transmission (asānīd) through Ibn Tulun's direct teachers, alongside juristic citations and fatwas regarding musical instruments.
The material covered includes:
- Hadith Narrations: Ibn Tulun transmits several prophetic reports via his shaykhs (including Abu al-Mahasin Yusuf ibn Hasan al-Salihi and Khadija bint Abd al-Karim al-Armawiyya), such as the prohibition of intoxicants, gambling, and the kūbah (identified as a type of drum), the report stating بعثت بهدم الطبل والمزمار ("I was sent to destroy the drum and the flute"), the report describing the mizmār as the caller (mu’adhdhin) of Satan, the action of Abdullah ibn Umar putting his fingers in his ears upon hearing a shepherd's pipe, and the report prohibiting "two foolish, corrupt voices": one in amusement with Satan's pipes and another in calamity.
- Juristic Rulings: The treatise cites legal assessments from Ibn Rajab regarding non-Arab musical instruments, Ibn al-Mibrad (Ibn Abd al-Hadi) on pipes and drums in warfare, and rulings from Hanafi texts—such as al-Waqi'at by al-Husam al-Shahid, Fatawa al-Walwaliji, and Sharh al-Kafi—addressing the impermissibility of hiring individuals to beat drums for amusement versus permitted purposes such as military expeditions, caravans, or weddings.
- The Case of the Samadiyya Order: Ibn Tulun includes a lengthy legal inquiry posed to Taqi al-Din Ibn Qadi Ajlun al-Shafi'i regarding the drum used by the Samadiyya Sufi group during sessions of dhikr, and a local preacher who declared them apostates. Ibn Qadi Ajlun's Jerusalem fatwa (issued in 908 AH) is quoted, ruling that only drums meant for diversion (such as the kūbah) are prohibited, whereas drums used for warfare, hunting, or animating remembrance are permissible or recommended, and harshly rebuking the preacher for exceeding bounds.
- Poetry: The tract concludes with contrasting poetic verses, one praising and another disparaging a flute player (zāmir).
Manuscript and Publication
A surviving manuscript of the text is preserved in the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya) within a composite manuscript volume (Majāmi‘ no. 759, microfilm 1673), spanning three folios (six pages) with approximately 23 lines per page, as part of a collection of works by Ibn Tulun. It is also recorded in the Ahmad Taymur collection (Majāmi‘ no. 373).
The treatise was edited and annotated by Majdi Fathi al-Sayyid and published by Dar al-Sahaba li-l-Turath in Tanta, Egypt, in 1413 AH / 1993 CE.
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