The Ruling on Music

Sister Yvonne Ridley vs Brother Sami Yusuf

Although very short in their points, sister Yvonne and brother Sami both offered their personal fiqhi views on music:

Sister Yvonne
"Eminent scholars throughout history have often opined that music is haram, and I don’t recall reading anything about the Sahaba whooping it up to the sound of music. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for people letting off steam, but in a dignified manner and one which is appropriate to their surroundings."

Brother Sami
"As a Muslim artist, I regularly seek clarification and advice from world-renowned scholars on art, music, singing and culture. Be informed that the subject of music is one of the most controversial topics in Islamic Jurisprudence. I respect those who consider music to be haram. Yes eminent scholars of our past have opined such. However, I respect and follow the opinion of other eminent scholars – classical and contemporary, who permit singing and the use of musical instruments. The well-established jurisprudential rule states that ‘in matters where there is ikhtilaf (differences of opinion) there is to be no condemnation of either opinion.’ This is from the beauty of the religion of Islam. The diversity of our cultural, legal and social traditions is something we are in dire need of celebrating not condemning. So let’s agree to disagree on this one."

So the basic idea here is that Sister Yvonne has begun by saying this concert is haraam to begin with because it involves music.  Brother Sami's counter is that there exists legitimate ikhtilaaf on this issue, and so both opinions are to be respected.  In other words, he's moving to higher ground – he's left the fiqhi issue itself and is citing principles for dealing with differences of opinion.  He's taking aim at the big picture.

The problem with brother Sami's assertation is that while his statement is true regarding legitimate differences of opinion, this issue is not one which can be classified as such.  The issue of music being impermissible is a matter of ijmaa' – consensus.  That there have been a few scholars, even of good repute, that held an opposing opinion does not make for a legitimate difference of opinion.  Many great scholars have held odd views, which isn't abnormal since scholars are human beings who can make mistakes.  We love and respect them all the same

If anyone still doubts the impermissibility of music, they can read further into it on the following sites:

• Evidences for Ijmaa':  by the late al-Kanadi
• Islam Q & A's opinion:  Haraam 
• Islam Today's opinion:  Haraam
• Islam Online's opinion:  Halaal
• Sunnipath's opinion:  Haraam
• Ask Imam's opinion:  Haraam

This is one of those issues in which the controversy is not so much in Muslim scholarship as it is in Muslim laypeople.  The majority of Muslims, who love their Sharrukh Khan and J Lo, tend to blow the miniscule minority opinion out of proportion while minimizing as much as possible ALL the rest of the Ulamaa', past and present, who held that this was indeed a wrong and evil thing to engage in.

Round 1 Winner:  Sister Yvonne Ridley 

Pre-game Show

Sister Yvonne Ridley vs Brother Sami Yusuf

Alright, before we really start looking in-depth into this, I believe it would be good to get perspective on the issues that are discussed in these articles.  They don’t necessarily all come together under a common theme, and in certain parts of the respective letters, one person will be on the offensive and the other on the defensive.  Issues under discussion involve the following:

• The Ruling on Music
• The Disease of Popmania infesting the Muslim lifestyle
• Patriotism towards one’s land of birth
• Participation in law enforcement agencies in nonMuslim lands by Muslims
• The Suffering of the Muslim Ummah, and approaches to solving the Ummah’s problems
• The Adab of advising other Muslims
• Having fun while others in the Ummah are oppressed

If I find any other points, I’ll add them to the discussion, but for now, these will be the parameters of analysis, insha’Allah.

Sister Yvonne Ridley vs Brother Sami Yusuf

Introduction 

Ever been on a Muslim discussion forum before?  Besides the coy flirting, one thing is for certain – with so many different views on how Islam should be followed, the internet has unlocked the door to open, and sometimes hostile, discussion on the issues that face Muslims (of course, this is not unique to Muslims, I'm just speaking in the context of Muslims and Islam).

Recently, sister Yvonne Ridley wrote an article which blasted a Sami Yusuf concert that took place in Britain (I would say this concert took place within a month back of this posting).  In the weeks that followed, her letter was circulated all over the internet and itself received a lot of press time from Muslims.

Brother Sami Yusuf wrote back with his own thoughts on her article.  The Muslim internet community is now going back and forth (arguing, as usual )on these two letters.  Both letters can be read here:

Yvonne Ridley's Letter
Sami Yusuf's Letter

I personally like this discussion because it reads like an extended forum discussion.  The issues the two of them discuss are the same that are typically read in any internet forum, and I thought it would be interesting to go through what each of them has to say, and compare and contrast them against one another.  Perhaps I'll be a little more daring and even add my own commentary   The following few blog posts will be an attempt to do just that.

There’s no place like home

I finally found a site from which I could comfortably blog.  It’s easy to make additions and subtractions on this site, and for my purposes, that just great.  The real purpose of this blog is to serve me more than you   Well, alright, it might serve readers some purpose as well, but for the most part, it should capture accurately what I’m going through, reading, learning, etc, and by passing that on, and thinking about it, I’m hoping it’ll be a learning aid for me.

Confused?  Don’t sweat it grasshopper.  I’ve found a place online where I can write whatever’s on me wee mind without too much worry.  And, since this is not a very popular blog (and there must be a thousand popular ones out there), this should simply be a very quiet drop in the bucket, insha’Allah.