in the way of sins, just as they regard speculative theology as recommended or obligatory, censure and revile those who abandon it, and treat them with the hostility shown to an unbeliever. Conversely, some scholars declare them unbelievers for regarding it as recommended or obligatory. Thus, among both those who recommend it and those who reject it, you find excesses that have caused division, enmity, and hatred. At the root of this is both groups’ abandonment of the listening that Allah has prescribed and that Allah, His Messenger, and His believing servants love.

Both these premises are erroneous, involving an imprecise argument akin to their appeal to what they suppose to be the general scope of His words:

“Those who listen to speech and follow the best of it.”
[Surah al-Zumar 18]

They also appeal to the beautiful sounds Allah has promised in the Hereafter.

These two premises, in which truth has been mixed with falsehood, have therefore given rise to a position held by none of the early generations of the Muslim community or its leading scholars. Although some of the people of Medina and others are reported to have listened to singing, none of them ever said that it was recommended in religion or favoured by the revealed law. Rather, those among them who did so nevertheless regarded it as something disliked, which was better avoided, or considered it a sin, hoping at most to escape incurring sin through it. Alternatively, they regarded it as permissible, like indulging in the pleasures of food, drink, clothing, and housing. As for hoping to earn reward through it and draw closer to Allah, this is not