What does Islam say about music? The short answer, as the books in this library give it, is that singing and musical instruments are not lawful for a Muslim. They come under the “idle talk” [frivolous speech that turns a person away from Allah] that Allah condemns in Surah Luqman, the Companion Ibn Mas’ud explained that phrase as singing, and the commentators name singing and the instruments of the Shaytan inside it. The books also name one narrow exception, stated with its fences: the duff [a frame drum] beaten by women to announce a wedding. This page sets out the verse, the explanations, and the ruling in the scholars’ own words. It states the teaching as the books give it; it judges no person.
The Verse: Buying Idle Talk
Surah Luqman first describes the people who are guided by the Qur’an, then turns to the people who turn away from it. Allah says:
But among people are some who resort to frivolous talk in order to mislead others from the path of Allah without knowledge and to make a mockery of it. For such there will be a humiliating punishment.
Allah’s words in Surah Luqman (31), verse 6, Tafsir as-Sa’di (Vol. 7, printed p. 335). Ibn Kathir renders the same verse: “And of mankind is he who purchases idle talk (Lahw Al-Hadith) to mislead from the path of Allah without knowledge, and takes it by way of mockery. For such there will be a humiliating torment.” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Abridged), on Surah Luqman (31), verse 6). Lahw al-hadith is the Arabic of the phrase, idle talk. The next verse says that when Allah’s verses are recited to such a person, he turns away in pride as if he had not heard them, and Allah tells him the tidings of a painful punishment (31:7).
The verse does not name singing in its own wording. The naming comes from the explanation of the Companions and the commentators, and that is the subject of the next section. Nothing on this page rests the ruling on the verse alone read without its explanation.
The Explanation: Singing and Musical Instruments
Ibn Kathir heads his explanation “The Doomed are preoccupied with Idle Talk and They turn away from the Ayat of Allah”. Ayat means verses or signs. He writes that after mentioning the blessed, who are guided by the Book of Allah and benefit from hearing it, Allah connects that with the mention of the doomed:
those who turn away from the Qur’an and do not benefit from hearing the Words of Allah. Instead, they turn to listening to flutes and singing accompanied by musical instruments. As Ibn Mas`ud commented about the Ayah: (And of mankind is he who purchases Lahu Al-Hadith to mislead (men) from the path of Allah), he said, “This — by Allah — refers to singing.”
Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Abridged), on Surah Luqman (31), verse 6. Ibn Mas’ud is the Companion Abdullah ibn Mas’ud. Ibn Kathir also records Qatadah on the word “purchases”: a man may not spend money on it, but his purchasing it means he likes it, and the more misguided he is, the more he prefers falsehood to the truth and harmful things over beneficial things. And it was said that “purchases idle talks” means buying singing servant girls. Ibn Jarir, as Ibn Kathir records him, said it means all speech that hinders people from seeing the signs of Allah and following His path.
Ibn Kathir explains the next verse the same way. The one the verses are recited to is, in his words, “one who is fond of idleness and play”, who “turns away from them and does not want to hear them”, because hearing the Book of Allah annoys him and he gains no benefit from it as he sees it. And on the punishment the first verse names, he writes: “Just as they showed no respect to the signs and path of Allah, so they will be shown no respect on the Day of Resurrection, and they will be subjected to a painful, ongoing torment.” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Abridged), on Surah Luqman (31), verses 6-7). The picture in both commentaries is one picture: a man turns his ears to singing and instruments, and turns them away from the words of Allah.
The edition of Tafsir as-Sa’di carries the same explanation in its footnote on this verse. The footnote is the edition’s own note, not as-Sa’di’s prose, and it is presented here as the book’s footnote:
Frivolous talk refers to spending one’s time listening to baseless tales and stories, jokes and idle talk; it may also include singing and music, according to many commentators.
Footnote 45 in Tafsir as-Sa’di (Vol. 7, printed p. 335), on Surah Luqman (31), verse 6. The footnote also records that the verse was revealed concerning an-Nadr ibn al-Harith, who bought books of Persian tales and told them to Quraysh in place of the Prophet’s ﷺ teaching.
As-Sa’di’s own explanation of the verse then gathers singing and instruments into the phrase itself. Frivolous talk, he says, is talk that distracts people’s minds and prevents them from attaining sublime goals:
This includes all kinds of prohibited speech and all kinds of idle talk, falsehood and nonsense that encourages disbelief, evildoing and sin; as well as the talk of those who oppose the truth and argue on the basis of falsehood in order to undermine the truth; backbiting, malicious gossip, lying, reviling, insulting, singing and musical instruments of the Shaytan, and foolish talk in which there is no benefit in either religious or worldly terms.
Abdur Rahman as-Sa’di, Tafsir as-Sa’di, on Surah Luqman (31), verse 6 (Vol. 7, printed p. 336). Shaytan is Satan. So the commentators do not leave singing at the edge of the verse. The Companion swears by Allah that it refers to singing, Ibn Kathir describes the doomed as turning to flutes and singing with instruments, and as-Sa’di lists singing and the musical instruments of the Shaytan inside the prohibited speech the verse condemns.
The Ruling, as the Scholars State It
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen states the ruling in plain words, explaining the Prophet’s ﷺ saying about the bell. The Prophet ﷺ said: “The bell is one of the musical instruments of Satan.” (Recorded by Muslim; Hadeeth 1691 in Riyad as-Salihin). Shaykh al-Uthaymeen explains why the bell was forbidden:
The bell referred to here is the bell which is usually hung round the neck of animals. It has a specific sound that leads to ecstasy, delight and enjoyment; that is, through its sound. The Prophet ﷺ forbade it and warned against it. He ﷺ stated that the angels will not accompany travellers that have a bell with them because the bell makes sound that resembles music with the movement and shaking of the animal and it is well known that music is forbidden.
Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, Explanation of Riyad as-Salihin, Vol. 6, Chapter 307, on Hadeeth 1691 (printed p. 483). In the same explanation he says of music played down a telephone line while a caller waits: “This is forbidden because music is from musical instruments and it is prohibited.” (printed p. 483). The ruling is stated as something well known, not as a matter the scholars were unsure about.
Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan treats listening to songs and music as something a Muslim guards against, in his book of rulings for Muslim women. Listing the means by which a woman’s chastity is protected, he writes:
Another means by which a woman’s chastity can be protected is by avoiding listening to songs, and flutes (i.e. music).
Salih al-Fawzan, Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women (printed p. 136). In the same passage, after quoting earlier scholars on what music does to the heart, he closes in his own words:
So the Muslim woman should fear Allah and be warned of this dangerous sickness of character; listening to music which is distributed among the Muslims by many means and in various forms, which has caused many ignorant girls to try and obtain it from its distributors and exchange it with one another.
Salih al-Fawzan, Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women (printed p. 137). The book addresses women because it is a book of women’s rulings; its ground is the same evidence set out above, and the warning is stated about listening to music itself, in its many forms. The ruling the books give is not that music is disliked only, or a matter of taste. Singing and instruments stand inside the prohibited speech of the verse, and the scholars’ counsel is to avoid listening to them and to fear Allah concerning them.
The One Exception the Books Name: The Duff at a Wedding
Against that ruling, the same Shaykh states one case the law allows, and he fences it in the same words. In his ruling on beating the duff to announce a wedding, he writes:
It is mustahabb for the women to beat the duf (Tambourine) to announce and publicise the wedding. This should take place among women only, and must not be accompanied by music, instruments and female singing. There is no harm for the women to chant poetry on this occasion, as long as men cannot hear them. The Messenger of Allah, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him said: ‘The difference between that which is halaal and that which is haraam is the beating of the tambourine, and the raising of voices during a marriage.’ Narrated by the five narrators (Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Nasaa’i, Tirmidhi and Ibn Maajah) except for Abu Dawud, and Tirmidhee declared it hasan.
Salih al-Fawzan, Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women (printed p. 115). Mustahabb means recommended. Halaal means lawful, haraam means forbidden, and hasan means a hadith graded good, authentic enough to be accepted. The exception is exactly as wide as the book states it and no wider: women, among women only, beating the duff to announce the wedding, chanting poetry men cannot hear, and no music, no other instruments, and no female singing with it. The Prophet’s ﷺ words in the passage draw the line in the same place: the beating of the tambourine at a marriage is on the lawful side of the difference between lawful and forbidden.
This page does not widen that exception to other occasions or other instruments, because the held books quoted here do not widen it. What they state is a wedding announcement by women with the duff, fenced as above.
So, What Does Islam Say About Music?
Gathering the page together:
- Allah condemns the one who resorts to frivolous talk, idle talk, to mislead from His path and mock it, and promises him a humiliating punishment (31:6).
- The Companion Ibn Mas’ud explained that idle talk, by Allah, as singing, and Ibn Kathir describes those who turn away from the Qur’an as turning to flutes and singing accompanied by musical instruments (Ibn Kathir on 31:6).
- As-Sa’di lists singing and musical instruments of the Shaytan inside the prohibited speech the verse covers, and his edition’s footnote records that frivolous talk may also include singing and music, according to many commentators (Tafsir as-Sa’di, Vol. 7, printed pp. 335-336).
- The Prophet ﷺ called the bell one of the musical instruments of Satan (Muslim), and Shaykh al-Uthaymeen, explaining it, says the bell was forbidden because its sound resembles music, “and it is well known that music is forbidden” (Explanation of Riyad as-Salihin, Vol. 6, printed p. 483).
- Shaykh al-Fawzan counts avoiding listening to songs and flutes, that is, music, among the protections of chastity, and warns against listening to music in its many forms (Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women, printed pp. 136-137).
- One exception is named, with its fences: women beating the duff among women only to announce a wedding, with poetry men cannot hear, and no music, instruments or female singing added to it (al-Fawzan, printed p. 115, with the Prophet’s ﷺ hadith he quotes).
So Islam’s answer, in the words of these books, is that singing and musical instruments are prohibited, named by the Companions and commentators inside the idle talk Allah condemns, and that the one sound the books allow is the women’s duff at a wedding, inside the fences the scholars state. I have set out the evidence as the books give it, no softer and no harder, and I hope it sends the reader back to them.
Further Reading
- What Is Sharia?: Allah’s law, its sources and its aims, the frame every ruling stands inside.
- Does Allah Forgive Every Sin?: the repentance open to the one who has listened, sung or played, and to every other sin.
References
- Tafsir as-Sa’di, Shaykh Abdur Rahman ibn Nasir as-Sa’di, International Islamic Publishing House (IIPH), English Edition 1, 2018, translated by Nasiruddin al-Khattab. Vol. 7 (Juz 19-21), printed p. 335 (Surah Luqman 31:6, and the edition’s footnote 45) and printed p. 336 (frivolous talk explained, singing and musical instruments named).
- Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Abridged), the ten-volume set, on Surah Luqman (31), verses 6-7: the rendering “idle talk (Lahw Al-Hadith)”, the heading on the doomed and idle talk, the flutes and singing passage, Ibn Mas’ud on singing, Qatadah on purchasing, the singing servant girls, and Ibn Jarir on speech that hinders from Allah’s path.
- Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women, Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, Darussalam, Second Edition, June 2003, translated by Burhan Loqueman. Printed p. 115 (the ruling concerning beating the duf by women to announce a wedding, with the hadith of the tambourine); printed p. 136 (avoiding listening to songs and flutes) and printed p. 137 (the closing warning on listening to music).
- Explanation of Riyad as-Salihin (Sharh Riyaad as-Saaliheen), Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, Dar-us-Salam. Vol. 6, Chapter 307 (undesirability of hanging bells round the necks of animals), Hadeeth 1690-1691, printed pp. 482-483: the bell hadiths as Riyad prints them (recorded by Muslim), and the explanation that music is forbidden.
Verified on 2026-10-24 against: Tafsir as-Sa’di, Vol. 7 (IIPH, English Edition 1, 2018); the Abridged Tafsir Ibn Kathir set; Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women, Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan (Darussalam, Second Edition, June 2003); and Explanation of Riyad as-Salihin, Vol. 6, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen (Dar-us-Salam).