Tahrim Alat al-Tarab - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (152)

Tahrim Alat al-TarabNasir al-Din al-Albani

Once this is understood, the devotees of singing and those who listen to it inherit a portion of this condemnation in proportion to how much it distracts them from the Quran—even if they do not incur its full weight. The verses censure anyone who trades the Quran for idle talk so as to lead people away from the path of Allah without knowledge, who turns it into mockery; when the Quran is recited to him he turns away in arrogance, as though he had not heard it, as though there were heaviness and deafness in his ears, and when he does learn something of it, he ridicules it.

The sum total of these traits appears only in those most steeped in disbelief; yet whenever some of them are present among singers and their audiences, they still receive their allotted share of that censure.

This is further clarified by the fact that you will not find anyone who is devoted to song and the hearing of musical instruments except that he is astray from the path of guidance—both in knowledge and in practice—or that he prefers listening to song over listening to the Quran. Should he be offered the choice between the two, he leaves the Quran for the song; the Quran weighs heavy upon him, and his state may even drive him to silence the reciter, deem his recitation too long, urge the singer to continue, and complain that the singer’s turn was too brief. At the very least, such a person receives a large share of the rebuke, if not all of it.

These words are addressed to anyone whose heart still possesses some life by which he can feel. As for the one whose heart is dead and whose trial has become immense, he has blocked the road of counsel for himself: “Whomsoever Allah intends to test, you have no power at all to protect him from Allah. Those are the ones whose hearts Allah does not wish to purify; for them is disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter a tremendous punishment.” (al-Ma’idah 41)

I say: From these early reports and Ibn al-Qayyim’s penetrating, beneficial commentary upon them, it becomes crystal-clear how Ibn Ḥazm erred when, after citing most of them, he said:

إذا عرف هذا فأهل الغناء ومستمعوه لهم نصيب من هذا الذم بحسب اشتغالهم بالغناء عن القرآن وإن لم ينالوا جميعه فإن الآيات تضمنت ذم من استبدل لهو الحديث بالقرآن ليضل عن سبيل الله بغير علم ويتخذها هزوا وإذا يتلى عليه القرآن ولى مستكبرا كأن لم يسمعه كأن في أذنيه وقرا وهو الثقل والصمم وإذا علم منه شيئا استهزأ به. فمجموع هذا لا يقع إلا من أعظم الناس كفرا وإن وقع بعضه للمغنين ومستمعيهم فلهم حصة ونصيب من هذا الذم. يوضحه: أنك لا تجد أحدا عنى بالغناء وسماع آلاته إلا وفيه ضلال عن طريق الهدى علما وعمل اوفيه رغبة عن استماع القرآن إلى استماع الغناء بحيث إذا عرض له سماع الغناء وسماع القرآن عدل عن هذا إلى ذاك وثقل عليه سماع القرآن وربما حمله الحال على أن يسكت القارئ ويستطيل قراءته ويستزيد المغني ويستقصر نوبته وأقل ما في هذا: أن يناله نصيب وافر من هذا الذم إن لم يحظ به جميعه. والكلام في هذا مع من في قلبه بعض حياة يحس بها فأما من مات قلبه وعظمت فتنته فقد سد على نفسه طريق النصيحة ﴿وَمَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ فِتْنَتَهُ فَلَنْ تَمْلِكَ لَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئاً أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُطَهِّرَ قُلُوبَهُمْ لَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا خِزْيٌ وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ﴾ . [المائدة: ٤١] قلت: ومن تلك الآثار السلفية وتعقيب ابن القيم عليها بكلامه الرائع المفيد يتبين لك جليا خطأ ابن حزم في قوله بعد أن ساق أكثرها: