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Islam's Hypocritical Prohibition of Music

The predominant view in Islam is that musical instruments are Haram (forbidden). The website Al-Islam.org presents what I find to be the standard conservative Muslim view:

The Status of Music in Islam - Shaykh Saleem Bhimji

Playing instruments of music is a great Sin. It is haram to play instruments such as the guitar, piano, tambourine, drums etc. Listening to music is also a great sin.

All the Mujtahids are unanimous in their opinion that the manufacturing, selling and purchasing of musical instruments is haram and any income derived from musical activity is also haram. The transactions involving these instruments are invalid (bātil). It is haram to keep instruments of music in one's possession - it is obligatory to destroy them.

While the above is taken from an article on a Shia website, there are likewise Sunni articles declaring much the same thing, citing scores of Muslim sources - music, musical instruments, and singing are all forbidden, and sinful, outside of scant, hyper-specific exceptions.

The primary Hadith referenced in this discussion is from al-Bukhari:

Sahih al-Bukhari 5590

Narrated Abu 'Amir or Abu Malik Al-Ash'ari:
That he heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, "From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, as lawful. And there will be some people who will stay near the side of a mountain and in the evening their shepherd will come to them with their sheep and ask them for something, but they will say to him, 'Return to us tomorrow.' Allah will destroy them during the night and will let the mountain fall on them, and He will transform the rest of them into monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Resurrection."

Above, "musical instruments" are included alongside other forbidden things, in a list of what some of Muhammad's hypocritical followers will allow. Therefore, they are assumed to be forbidden in the same manner as the rest of the things in the list are forbidden.

Muhammad's "Affirmation" of the Bible

Muhammad, in the Quran, constantly claimed that he was affirming the Bible (Surah 3:3-4, 5:43-48, 5:68, etc.). Notice how he explicitly names the Psalms as having been sent from God:

Surah 4:163

163 Indeed, We have sent revelation to you ˹O Prophet˺ as We sent revelation to Noah and the prophets after him. We also sent revelation to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and his descendants, ˹as well as˺ Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon. And to David We gave the Psalms.

Surah 17:55

55 Your Lord knows best all those in the heavens and the earth. And We have surely favoured some prophets above others, and to David We gave the Psalms.

What's so ridiculous about the above, in light of the Muslim view of music and singing, is that the book of Psalms is a song book, containing 150 songs. The word "Psalm" means "song". More than 50 of the Psalms are addressed "to the chief musician". The author of most of the Psalms, David, was known for playing the harp (1 Samuel 16:23: 2 Samuel 6:5: 1 Chronicles 13:8).

The Psalms frequently and explicitly extol the use of musical instruments in worship of the Lord (Psalm 57:7-9, 68:24-25, 71:22, 81:1-4, 87:7, 92:1-4, 108:1-3):

Psalm 33:2-3

2 Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

Psalm 144:1-3, 9

1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

Psalm 150:3-5

3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

Notice above that in addition to the use of many different kinds of instruments, dancing - another thing deemed Haram by most Muslims - is also extolled, in a book predating Muhammad by about 2,000 years, which he claimed to affirm, and professed was sent by God.

The use of instruments and singing is encouraged many times in the Bible outside of the book of Psalms, in both the Old Testament (Exodus 15:20-21: 1 Samuel 10:5-6: 1 Chronicles 15:16-29, 16:41-42, 23:5: 2 Chronicles 5:12-14, 7:6, 29:25-26, 30:21, Isaiah 38:20, Jeremiah 31:4, Nehemiah 12:27, 12:36, Habakkuk 3:17-19), and again in the New Testament (Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16).

This is consistent with the claim that the same God gave us both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It's utterly inconsistent with the claim that this same God also gave us the Quran. The false religion of Islam utterly contradicts the Bible on this subject, because they came from two entirely different sources.

Conclusion

This seemingly small issue is a microcosm of Islam - a religion that claims to affirm a divine song book which extols the use of musical instruments, then prohibits music, and musical instruments. That's a perfect snapshot of Muhammad's relationship to the Bible. He had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.