As for the author of al-Rawḍ considering this recommended, there is room for discussion. The correct view is that it goes no further than being permissible, for marriage has a particular status, and the Prophet ﷺ commanded that it be publicly announced. (1) As for these other occasions, the most that can be said is that the soul may take a certain measure of delight in such things.

Some scholars have said that the same applies to every newly occurring occasion of joy. According to this view, if someone succeeds in his studies, he may gather his brothers and they may beat the daff. All of this is excessive latitude. Yet for it to reach the level of extremism, as some people do, is not permissible.

We have now been afflicted with musical instruments and songs, which are in reality a grave tribulation. They have corrupted many aspects of people’s lives and affairs, to the point that some people regard them as arts to which people are invited, for which certificates are awarded, and for which praise is given. There is no doubt that this hardens the heart and makes it heedless of Allah and of that for which it was created—indeed, heedless of the interests of both religion and worldly life. A person then becomes concerned with nothing but entertainment. Muslims should therefore be made aware that this is impermissible.

Worse than this is to make such things into a form of religion: such as—Allah’s protection be sought—when someone sets certain verses of the Quran to a tune, rendering them in the manner of an indecent, vile song, and perhaps even assigning them a particular musical rhythm. This—Allah’s protection be sought—is among the gravest forms of disrespect toward the Speech of Allah, and the one who does so is in immense danger.

There are also some people who similarly make it a religious practice: they recite certain poems, whether sorrowful, entertaining, or supposedly stirring, as they claim—