—and to the many other instruments that have multiplied over the centuries, especially in our own day, whereby some singers have been tried through using them while the masses are tried through listening to them and being diverted by them?

There is no doubt that, even granting the earlier assumption, the evidence furnished by this ḥadith is narrower than the claim being made, as the jurists put it. In truth, it supplies no proof whatsoever—indeed, it actually shows the Prophet’s ﷺ aversion to the shepherd’s pipe, an aversion that is unquestionably a legal one and therefore falls under the Qur’anic injunction, “Surely in the Messenger of Allah you have a beautiful example” (33:21).

That is why ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar followed his example and plugged his ears, even though there was no deliberate intent involved, as we have explained. When deliberate intent is present, the reprehensibility is all the greater, as is obvious. For this reason Ibn al-Jawzi remarked (p. 247): “If this was their reaction to a sound that does not exceed moderation, then what of the singing and pipes of the people of our time?!”

I say: What, then, should be said of the people of our own age and their music—will anyone take heed?

Before closing this chapter, I would like to present readers with a rare and valuable report that, to my knowledge, no one who has written on musical amusements has included. It concerns one of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. The discerning reader will see from it that musical instruments were viewed with disapproval by the early generations and that anyone seeking to promote them deserves disciplinary action and public censure. Imām al-Awzāʿī, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “Together with ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz there was sent to ʿUmar ibn al-Walīd a letter in which it was written…”