Tahrim Alat al-Tarab - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (164)

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā, vol. 11, p. 570:

“What al-Shāfiʿī declared—that it is an innovation concocted by the heretics—is the verdict of an Imām well-versed in the fundamentals of Islam. From the outset, no one ever took an interest in this form of samāʿ (musical audition) or invited others to it except people suspected of heresy, such as Ibn al-Rāwandī, al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā, and the like. Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, in his discussion of samāʿ, relates from Ibn al-Rāwandī1 that he said: ‘The jurists have differed about samāʿ; some have allowed it, others have disliked it. As for me, I deem it obligatory—or rather, I command it,’ thereby opposing the consensus of the scholars, who never prescribed it.

“As for al-Fārābī,2 he was highly skilled in the singing they call ‘music.’ He had a distinctive method admired by professional musicians, and his episode with Ibn Ḥamdān is well known: he played, causing them to weep; then he played again and made them laugh; then he played a third time and lulled them to sleep, after which he left.”

And he also said on p. 565:

(1) His name is Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn Ishaq al-Rawandi, the well-known zindiq (heretic). Ibn Hajar states in Lisan al-Mizan: “He started out as a Mu‘tazili theologian, then embraced zandaqa and became famous for ilhad (atheism). He wrote many books attacking Islam. The shaykh was right to drop his entry from this work, i.e., al-Mizan; I mention him only to curse him. He died in 298 AH.” (2) His name is Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan al-Turki. A concise biography is found in Shadharat al-Dhahab, 2/350–354; the anecdote alluded to there is recorded and reads more like a legend. Al-Ghazali and others branded him a disbeliever. He died in 339 AH.

قال شيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية ﵀ في المجموع ١١ / ٥٧٠: وما ذكره الشافعي ﵁ من أنه من إحداث الزنادقة -[فهو] كلام إمام خبير بأصول الإسلام فإن هذا السماع لم يرغب فيه ويدعو إليه في الأصل إلا من هو متهم بالزندقة كابن الراوندي والفارابي وابن سينا وأمثالهم كما ذكر أبو عبد الرحمن السلمي في مسألة السماع عن ابن الراوندي١ قال: اختلف الفقهاء في السماع فأباحه قوم وكرهه قوم فأنا أوجبه - أو قال: آمر به فخالف إجماع العلماء في الأمر به. والفارابي٢ كان بارعا في الغناء الذي يسمونه الموسيقى وله فيه طريقة عند أهل صناعة الغناء وحكايته مع ابن حمدان مشهورة لما ضرب فأبكاهم ثم أضحكهم ثم نومهم ثم خرج. وقال ص ٥٦٥:

١ اسمه أحمد بن يحيى بن إسحاق الرواندي الزنديق الشهير قال الحافظ في لسان الميزان: "كان أول من متكلمي المعتزلة ثم تزندق واشتهر بالإلحاد وقد صنف كتبا كثيرة يطعن فيها على الإسلام وقد أجاد الشيخ في حذف ترجمته من هذا الكتاب يعني الميزان وإنما أوردته لألعنه، توفي سنة ثمان وتسعين ومائتين". ٢ اسمه محمد بن محمد بن طرخان التركي له ترجمة مبسطة في شذرات الذهب ٢/٣٥٠- ٣٥٤، والحكاية التي أشار إليها مذكورة فيه وهي كالأسطورة كفره الغزالي وغيره مات سنة ٣٣٩،. ٢