Golden-hued of face—you would think him …, yet the very fire of Hell is kindled by his cheek.
They warned me of the scandal he would bring; if only he would arrive and be unmasked!

They have also composed a host of melodies for such songs, each one driving the listener outside the bounds of moderation and rousing his craving for amusement. One tune they call al-basīṭ: it first unsettles the heart little by little, then they follow it with the nashīd, which shakes the heart violently. To that they add striking a cane in rhythm with the chant, beating a tambourine fitted with jingles, and playing the shabbāba—a reed flute that stands in for the zummār.

Next Ibn al-Jawzī (p. 244) cites the prohibition of singing reported from Mālik—the text of which we already quoted on p. 99—and also from Abū Ḥanīfa; then he says (p. 245):

Al-Ṭabarī stated: “The scholars of every major city have agreed that singing is disliked and must be prevented. Only Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd and ʿUbayd Allāh al-ʿAnbarī departed from the community—and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Whoever breaks away from the community dies the death of the Age of Ignorance.’ ”¹

Ibn al-Jawzī adds: “The leading companions of al-Shāfiʿī—may Allah have mercy on him—used to denounce samāʿ (audition), and among the earliest of them no disagreement is known. The foremost scholars of later times likewise rejected it, among them Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī, who even authored a separate treatise condemning singing and arguing for its prohibition.”²