4 – Section Four: The purport of the hadiths in prohibiting entertainments in all their varieties
Know, dear Muslim reader, that the foregoing hadiths speak unambiguously to the prohibition of all musical instruments, in every shape and form. Some instruments are named explicitly—such as the mizmar (reed-pipe), the tabl (drum), and the barbat (lute)—while the remainder are subsumed under them for two reasons:
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The lexical breadth of the word maʿāzif (musical instruments), as explained in Section Two and as Ibn al-Qayyim will also affirm.
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These other instruments share the same essential feature, namely the production of pleasing melodies that distract. This is corroborated by the statement of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas, may Allah be pleased with him:
“The daff (frame drum) is unlawful, the maʿāzif are unlawful, the kubah (kettle-drum) is unlawful, and the mizmar is unlawful.”
Al-Bayhaqi recorded it, 10/222, through the route of ʿAbd al-Karim al-Jazari from Abu Hashim al-Kufi, from him.
I say: The chain is sound, provided that Abu Hashim al-Kufi is the same as Abu Hashim al-Sanjari, whose given name was Saʿd, for he was a Jazari like ʿAbd al-Karim, and the scholars mention that he narrated from him. I have yet to find anyone who explicitly calls him a Kufan, however; Ibn Hibban includes him among the trustworthy narrators (4/296) and notes that he settled in Damascus—Allah knows best.
Nevertheless, the first hadith—“They will deem fornication, silk, wine, and maʿāzif to be lawful …”