He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

A beggar approached a man in the guise of a flute-player and played his flute. The man gave him something. Someone present told the recipient that this gift was unlawful for him under these circumstances, since flute-playing had been the means of obtaining it. The giver replied, “I gave it to him only because he was poor. Besides, even if I had given it to him for his flute-playing, that would have been permissible, for some have permitted listening to the flute.”

He cited as evidence the report that “the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, passed a shepherd while accompanied by Ibn ‘Abbās or someone else. The shepherd was playing a flute, so the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, blocked his ears with his fingers and kept asking his companion, ‘Can you hear the sound of the flute?’ He continued in this manner until his companion told him that he could no longer hear it, whereupon he uncovered his ears.”

He argued, “Had listening to the flute been forbidden, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would have instructed his companion to block his ears as he himself had done, or would have forbidden the shepherd to play. This proves that it is permissible for those who are not prophets.” Is this report authentic? And is this argument consistent with the Sunnah or not?

He replied:

Attributing this report to Ibn ‘Abbās is baseless. However, Abū Dāwūd narrated in his Sunan:

“He was with Ibn ‘Umar, who passed a shepherd carrying a pipe