Among the strongest stimulants of satanic states is listening to singing and musical amusement—the very form of “listening” practiced by the idolaters. Allah the Exalted says:

“Their prayer at the House was nothing but whistling and clapping” (Qur’an 8:35).

Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them both—and other early authorities explained that at-tasdiyah means clapping with the hands, while al-mukāʾ is akin to whistling. The polytheists had turned these acts into a form of worship.

By contrast, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and his Companions devoted themselves to the acts of worship Allah had enjoined: the prescribed prayer, Qur’an recitation, remembrance, and other lawful gatherings. Never did the Prophet and his Companions assemble to listen to singing—whether accompanied by hand-clapping, tambourines, ecstatic swaying, or claims that his cloak fell from him in rapture. All such reports are, by unanimous agreement of the hadith scholars, fabrications.

When the Companions gathered, they would appoint one of them to recite while the others listened. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—may Allah be pleased with him—would say to Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, “Remind us of our Lord,” whereupon he would recite and they would listen.

The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—once passed by Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī while he was reciting and said to him, “I passed by you last night while you were reciting, and I stopped to listen to your recitation.”