Bismillah... Long time no blog.
Music. I'm not entirely sure as to whether or not I've covered this topic on my blog before but it's been on my mind recently so here I am. See, I'm not here to give you 100 Sahih references about music being Haraam in Islam - Google can do that. I just want to discuss it on a (hopefully) more relatable level, Muslim to Muslim, Sinner to Sinner.
Both Muslims and non-Muslims might ask at some point "but why is Music forbidden in Islam? Not all music is bad, right?"... Unfortunately, it kind of is. The thing is, 'haraam' or not, it takes control of us without us even fully comprehending its ability. I can act as a first hand witness to this, having recently started a job in retail which sees it as necessary entertainment to provide customers with music whilst they shop. You know why? Because it's been proven to make people want to buy things. Take Christmas for example, we don't play Christmas songs all day every day to simply get you in the holiday spirit from the goodness of our heart, we play it to make you somewhat enjoy spending all of your money in our store on unnecessarily expensive gifts for another commercial holiday, maybe even making you stay in the store a little longer if we manage to play one of your favourites. Sorry! More on this topic can be read in here, but this was just a side note to give one example of how music controls us.
Sometimes the words of others cover perfectly our thoughts, and theres a video on YouTube that does just that with my opinion of music. It's a video by One Path Network, titled "The sad reality of today's Music": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1dafblZJec...
As a revert, I found it easy to stop listening to music despite listening to it every day without fail at one point, Alhamdulillah. The thing that I struggle with is the memories that come with music, but to the reverts that feel the same as me, I just want to say that that's okay. For example, a song might remind you of your childhood, or of a family member that has passed away, and it's no sin for you to think back to those times when you hear a song playing in public where you can't avoid it. The sin comes when you are alone and you opt to listen to music to deliberately bring back those memories, to escape reality - letting the music take over you to put you in a mental place of temporary peace.
What I wanted the main purpose of this post to be is me providing "Halaal" alternatives to music. A lot of you will most likely be aware of the options, but I will share my alternatives in the hope that at least somebody finds them useful, inshAllah.
1. Qur'an
This one goes without saying, Qur'an is the cure to everything. We listen to music for a temporary fix, it helps us go into our little fantasy worlds for a moment until we come back to our senses, whereas Qur'an is something which will/can actually provide a legitimate solution. Surah Rahman has been one of my favourites recently, I will put a link with the surah along with English translation and the most beautiful background video to put everything into perspective here. Some other favourites are Surah Yasin, Surah Ad-Duha, Surah Naba, Surah Mulk & Surah Waqia.
2. Khalid Siddique is a nasheed artist, he does use musical instruments in some of his tracks, but for the most part he makes accapella/vocals only nasheeds. Sometimes he covers popular songs from the likes of Ed Sheehan and Justin Beiber - except he converts the lyrics to make them about Islam, his jihad and love for Allah. I think that this is what's good about him as it appeals to the younger generations of Muslims, keeping his work fresh and reminding us that we are all sinners, we have all had a past and more importantly that it's never too late to turn back to God/Religion. I will link the ones that I listen to myself below.
The Moon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-C8jEHAwiY
My Love - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDC2pzJ3Q3Q (a take on Bieber's 'Love Yourself')
Home - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Im7-s85Gs (a take on 'Ed Sheeran - Photograph')
On Deen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBOIORrojK0 (for those into rap/grime)
Jahiliya (ignorance) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23CNHWHiQUs
Aleppo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VhrS6AaMyk (again, appealing to the younger generation to make us conscious of worldly problems)
3. Maher Zain; if you've ever been to a wedding within the Asian community then you know this guy. He's widely known and so I can't add much about him, I'll just link some favourites again.
Samih - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1CGVolQ6y0
Ya Nabi Salam Alayka - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5vsICvAA8U&list=PLoagsPg26SY4vBcNJO-y-EXQsaqUbyDZU
Mawlaya - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvgFuOAmhZU (or personally I prefer this cover (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BXjjQKyTw8))
Forgive Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc6F_73UNNQ
4. Nohas/Latmiyas.
Muharram is fast approaching, I'm hoping to get some separate blog posts done on this topic but until then I want to recommend some of my favourite Nohas below. I know that there are a lot of different names for these, depending on where you're from. For anybody that doesn't know what I'm talking about, the following links are tracks predominantly related to the Martyrdom of our beloved Imam Hussain (AS) and about the many other calamities of Karbala. I will list both English and Farsi ones as I listen to both, but for those of you that aren't familiar, I recommend you listen to the English. I will try to only link Farsi ones that have English subtitles, too.
English:
Ammar Al Nashed - How Long I Longed for Karbala
Ammar Al Nashed - Ale Yaseen
Ammar Al Nashed - Ya Zainab
Farsi:
The Moon Upon the Spear (English translation provided)
Bassim Karbalai - Innocence of Love (Arabic, turn subtitles on for English translation)
Meysam Motiee - Jerusalem is our Flag (English translation provided)
Hamid Alimi - Take me to Karbala
Haaj Mahmoud Karimi - Until Qiyamah it's Me by Your Side
Haaj Mahmoud Karimi - Baba Biya (English translation provided)
Haaj Mahmoud Karimi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQi71A-Vvyk&list=LL3ausDDeae778ly34VGygBg&index=265
Amir Abbasi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIdvN5xfVzE
Amir Abbasi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf3waeEJ5AE
Meysam Motiee - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAJfLMs1B_w
Mohammad Hussain Pouyanfar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3eH0aiUNI4
I am going to leave it there, but just by searching you will see that the alternatives are endless. Music is not worth the sin. We don't need to listen to the popular artists of our generation sing about alcohol, forbidden love, nudity, objectification of women, you name it. In the above links and in many more we have the words of true love, the words of Islam, in so many forms. SubhanAllah.
Music. I'm not entirely sure as to whether or not I've covered this topic on my blog before but it's been on my mind recently so here I am. See, I'm not here to give you 100 Sahih references about music being Haraam in Islam - Google can do that. I just want to discuss it on a (hopefully) more relatable level, Muslim to Muslim, Sinner to Sinner.
Both Muslims and non-Muslims might ask at some point "but why is Music forbidden in Islam? Not all music is bad, right?"... Unfortunately, it kind of is. The thing is, 'haraam' or not, it takes control of us without us even fully comprehending its ability. I can act as a first hand witness to this, having recently started a job in retail which sees it as necessary entertainment to provide customers with music whilst they shop. You know why? Because it's been proven to make people want to buy things. Take Christmas for example, we don't play Christmas songs all day every day to simply get you in the holiday spirit from the goodness of our heart, we play it to make you somewhat enjoy spending all of your money in our store on unnecessarily expensive gifts for another commercial holiday, maybe even making you stay in the store a little longer if we manage to play one of your favourites. Sorry! More on this topic can be read in here, but this was just a side note to give one example of how music controls us.
Sometimes the words of others cover perfectly our thoughts, and theres a video on YouTube that does just that with my opinion of music. It's a video by One Path Network, titled "The sad reality of today's Music": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1dafblZJec...
As a revert, I found it easy to stop listening to music despite listening to it every day without fail at one point, Alhamdulillah. The thing that I struggle with is the memories that come with music, but to the reverts that feel the same as me, I just want to say that that's okay. For example, a song might remind you of your childhood, or of a family member that has passed away, and it's no sin for you to think back to those times when you hear a song playing in public where you can't avoid it. The sin comes when you are alone and you opt to listen to music to deliberately bring back those memories, to escape reality - letting the music take over you to put you in a mental place of temporary peace.
What I wanted the main purpose of this post to be is me providing "Halaal" alternatives to music. A lot of you will most likely be aware of the options, but I will share my alternatives in the hope that at least somebody finds them useful, inshAllah.
1. Qur'an
This one goes without saying, Qur'an is the cure to everything. We listen to music for a temporary fix, it helps us go into our little fantasy worlds for a moment until we come back to our senses, whereas Qur'an is something which will/can actually provide a legitimate solution. Surah Rahman has been one of my favourites recently, I will put a link with the surah along with English translation and the most beautiful background video to put everything into perspective here. Some other favourites are Surah Yasin, Surah Ad-Duha, Surah Naba, Surah Mulk & Surah Waqia.
2. Khalid Siddique is a nasheed artist, he does use musical instruments in some of his tracks, but for the most part he makes accapella/vocals only nasheeds. Sometimes he covers popular songs from the likes of Ed Sheehan and Justin Beiber - except he converts the lyrics to make them about Islam, his jihad and love for Allah. I think that this is what's good about him as it appeals to the younger generations of Muslims, keeping his work fresh and reminding us that we are all sinners, we have all had a past and more importantly that it's never too late to turn back to God/Religion. I will link the ones that I listen to myself below.
The Moon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-C8jEHAwiY
My Love - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDC2pzJ3Q3Q (a take on Bieber's 'Love Yourself')
Home - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Im7-s85Gs (a take on 'Ed Sheeran - Photograph')
On Deen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBOIORrojK0 (for those into rap/grime)
Jahiliya (ignorance) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23CNHWHiQUs
Aleppo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VhrS6AaMyk (again, appealing to the younger generation to make us conscious of worldly problems)
3. Maher Zain; if you've ever been to a wedding within the Asian community then you know this guy. He's widely known and so I can't add much about him, I'll just link some favourites again.
Samih - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1CGVolQ6y0
Ya Nabi Salam Alayka - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5vsICvAA8U&list=PLoagsPg26SY4vBcNJO-y-EXQsaqUbyDZU
Mawlaya - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvgFuOAmhZU (or personally I prefer this cover (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BXjjQKyTw8))
Forgive Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc6F_73UNNQ
4. Nohas/Latmiyas.
Muharram is fast approaching, I'm hoping to get some separate blog posts done on this topic but until then I want to recommend some of my favourite Nohas below. I know that there are a lot of different names for these, depending on where you're from. For anybody that doesn't know what I'm talking about, the following links are tracks predominantly related to the Martyrdom of our beloved Imam Hussain (AS) and about the many other calamities of Karbala. I will list both English and Farsi ones as I listen to both, but for those of you that aren't familiar, I recommend you listen to the English. I will try to only link Farsi ones that have English subtitles, too.
English:
Ammar Al Nashed - How Long I Longed for Karbala
Ammar Al Nashed - Ale Yaseen
Ammar Al Nashed - Ya Zainab
Farsi:
The Moon Upon the Spear (English translation provided)
Bassim Karbalai - Innocence of Love (Arabic, turn subtitles on for English translation)
Meysam Motiee - Jerusalem is our Flag (English translation provided)
Hamid Alimi - Take me to Karbala
Haaj Mahmoud Karimi - Until Qiyamah it's Me by Your Side
Haaj Mahmoud Karimi - Baba Biya (English translation provided)
Haaj Mahmoud Karimi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQi71A-Vvyk&list=LL3ausDDeae778ly34VGygBg&index=265
Amir Abbasi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIdvN5xfVzE
Amir Abbasi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf3waeEJ5AE
Meysam Motiee - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAJfLMs1B_w
Mohammad Hussain Pouyanfar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3eH0aiUNI4
I am going to leave it there, but just by searching you will see that the alternatives are endless. Music is not worth the sin. We don't need to listen to the popular artists of our generation sing about alcohol, forbidden love, nudity, objectification of women, you name it. In the above links and in many more we have the words of true love, the words of Islam, in so many forms. SubhanAllah.
JazakAllah for reading and May Allah guide us all.
Eltemase Dua.
اللّهُمّ صَلّ عَلَى مُحَمّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمّدٍ
Thx
ReplyDeletei am a youtuber i make cooking videos and art videos i dont put any background music . please tell me any sound that is not prohibited in islam that i can easy put in my videos.
ReplyDelete