The position of music and singing in the Shafi‘i madhhab

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the issues of the permissibility of music and singing in Islam within the framework of the theological and legal school of the Shafi‘i madhhab. Analyzing excerpts from the books of such Shafi‘i scholars as Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, ‘Izz al-Din ibn ‘Abd al-Salam, Kamal al-Din al-Damiri, Jamal al-Din ‘Abd al-Rahim al-Isnawi, al-Suyuti, Ahmad al-Saqqaf, etc., the work reveals two positions of the Shafi‘i madhhab regarding the permissibility of music and singing in Islam. The dominant position of the Shafi‘i madhhab is the opinion prohibiting all types of musical instruments, except percussion instruments, of which only the darbuk drum, common in the Middle East countries, and brass cymbals are prohibited. The second opinion allows the use of all types of wind instruments, with the exception of mizmar, known in Dagestan as zurna. There are many supporters of this point of view, among them such authoritative scholars as al-Ghazali, al-Rafi‘i, Ibn Ruf‘a, al-Bulqini. In addition, this position was held by the late scholars-theologians of the Yemeni school of Shafi‘i law, known as one of the strongest schools of the Shafi‘i Madhhab in the later centuries.

Based on the analysis of the positions of Shafi‘i scholars, the author comes to the conclusion that such statements as “music is completely prohibited in Islam” are not true, since there are permitted types of instruments. Moreover, there are scientists who allow all kinds of tools, and where there is controversy among theologians, there should also be tolerance for someone else's position.