and musical instruments . . . .” The sourcing of this hadith, together with a response to Ibn Hazm’s declaration that it is weak, will appear after two more hadiths. I would not have wished the learned author to follow Ibn Hazm in making a claim whose falsity is evident to those who truly are “hadith jurists and scholars,” such as Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Asqalānī, and other discerning critical scholars. This is especially so given the barrage of criticism directed at Ibn Hazm for declaring this hadith weak without evidence, despite its presence in Sahīh al-Bukhārī. This is discussed at length under the topic of suspended hadiths in the hadith sciences. All those who criticized him unanimously held Ibn Hazm to be mistaken and affirmed the hadith’s authenticity. I also contributed a response to him in Silsilat al-Ahādīth al-Sahīhah, no. (91), where I cited another chain for the hadith of which Ibn Hazm was unaware and whose chain of transmission is authentic. I also mentioned the assessment of certain hadith scholars that Ibn Hazm frequently erred when discussing whether hadiths were authentic or weak. Refer to it. As for what the author quoted from Ibn al-Arabī, despite his knowledge and distinction, his pronouncements on hadiths are no better than those of Ibn Hazm. I have taken issue with him regarding more than one hadith whose basis or authenticity he denied in his book al-Awāsim min al-Qawāsim. One example that comes to mind is the hadith, “Which of you will be barked at by the dogs of Haw’ab?” I discussed it in detail in the aforementioned Series, no. (469), and I hope it will soon be published for the public(1).

(1) It was published many years ago, praise be to Allah.

I also have a monograph refuting Ibn Hazm’s treatise permitting musical entertainment. In it, I gathered all the hadiths reported concerning the prohibition of musical instruments, subjected them to scholarly hadith criticism, and demonstrated that Ibn Hazm was mistaken in declaring a large number of them weak. I still have the monograph and hope that I will have an opportunity to review it and prepare a fair copy so that we may publish it.

That is from the hadith perspective. As for the jurisprudential perspective, al-Ghazālī’s claim that the hadith is an explicit text proving that singing is not forbidden is plainly false to any jurist. The hadith pertains specifically to two young girls singing to the accompaniment of a frame drum on Eid. This, then, is what