Is Music Western Civilisation?
Why Do Some Pious Muslims Destroy Musical Instruments?
Leading Muslim authorities teach that Islamic doctrine forbids music. Some classify musical instruments as instruments of evil that should be destroyed.
For these authorities, music is dangerous, lahw al-ḥadīth (لَهْوَ الْحَدِيث)—“distracting” or “idle talk,” because it competes with religious devotion, encourages prohibited social relations and exposes Muslims to ways of life associated with the West.
Imam abu-Ameenah Bilal Phillips:
Music as we know it today, produced by wind and stringed instruments, is haram (forbidden). When we look at the tradition of the early scholars of Islam they made all kinds of statements against it. Some scholars refer to music as Quran of Shatan.
Compensation for destroying Music Instruments
Islam Q&A:
Destruction. This means the destruction of evil items, such as breaking and burning idols, breaking musical instruments, smashing wine vessels, burning down taverns in which wine is sold, destroying books of heresy and atheism and promiscuous movies and three-dimensional pictures, and so on.
Among the items for which there is no obligation to pay compensation if they are destroyed are: musical instruments; crosses; vessels for wine; books of misguidance.
There is a proven text concerning the prohibition of musical instruments, as in the hadith of Abu Maalik al-Ash‘ari , who heard the Prophet PBUH say: “There will surely be among my ummah people who will regard as permissible adultery, silk, alcohol and musical instruments.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari in a mu‘allaq report (5590); See: as-Silsilah as-Saheehah by al-Albaani (91).
Is Smashing Instruments a Manifestation of Fundamentalist Islamism—or Fundamental to Islam?
Imam al-Hasan ibn ʿAli al-Barbahari (d. 941) was an influential tenth-century Sunni scholar and Hanbali jurist in Baghdad. His followers enforced religious morality by entering homes suspected of containing wine or musical instruments and smashing the instruments.
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