the prophets, peace be upon them, nor is there any indication of it in any of the scriptures sent down from heaven. Allah the Exalted has said, “Today I have perfected your religion for you” (Q 5:3). Had the use of those melodious instruments of amusement—or listening to them—been part of the religion and a means of drawing near to the Lord of all worlds, the Prophet ﷺ would have explained it to his community with the utmost clarity. Indeed, he ﷺ said: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, I have left nothing that brings you closer to Paradise and farther from the Fire without commanding you to do it, and I have left nothing that brings you closer to the Fire and farther from Paradise without forbidding you from it.” 1

This, then, is what I have been able to record of the well-known scholars’ statements denouncing Sufi singing and showing that it is a misguided innovation, after first establishing the prohibition of singing from the Qur’an and the sunnah. Other quotations—such as those of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah—have already appeared in earlier chapters.

On this occasion I must relate to the readers an exchange I once had with one of the blindly imitative students about this accursed singing. It occurred half a century ago while I was in my watch-repair shop in Damascus. A student customer entered, wearing the ornate aghbānī turban familiar in Syria. What caught my eye was a large envelope tucked under his arm; I assumed it held a few phonograph records, the kind used at that time. When I asked him, he confirmed my supposition. I therefore asked, reproachfully, “Are you a singer?” He replied, “No, but I do listen to songs.” I said, “Do you not know that listening to them is forbidden by consensus of the four Imams?”