# Is music allowed in Islam?

*Is music permissible? Yes, and do not make haram what God did not*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/kwmtt2tqao0/s/2/
- Date: 2020-08-24 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #179 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (7:08–10:54)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWmtt2TQAO0&t=428s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/kwmtt2tqao0/

**Topics:** Music

**Question as asked:** Is music permissible?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Music is permissible; he says people have made far more things haram for themselves than God has.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that of course music is permissible.

**Evidence, his words at 7:44:** “of course first of all of course music is permissible but you see look how” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWmtt2TQAO0&t=464s)

## Longer summary

After more housekeeping a chat question asks whether music is permissible. Mufti Abu Layth says that of course music is permissible, and reflects that our time in this world is short and that God placed us in it to enjoy it, within certain rules. He says God has made nowhere near as many things haram as people have made haram upon themselves, as the Quran says of the Children of Israel [?], and that people follow sectarian talk and get stuck. He calls music the nourishment of the soul and warns against depriving oneself of it for a lifetime only to realise at sixty or seventy that one lived a lie, urging people not to accept the bizarre limitations placed by sects and certain clergymen.

## Sources and names cited

- Quran 3:93 [?] (what Israel made unlawful for itself) (reference uncertain; possibly https://quran.com/3/93)
- Bani Isra'il

## Transcript (machine tier, 7:08–10:54)

[7:07] and i'll be speaking a little bit about this later on foreign and the aftermath we'll take a look at that but let's come right back what have we got here let me just adjust this youtube chat it's taking up some that's better all right so right what is going on somebody asked um is music permissible

[7:44] oh music yeah you're still stuck on that [Laughter] yeah you're still stuck on uh music huh you know the thing is this look people of course first of all of course music is permissible but you see look how mukta how

[8:18] just summarized our time in this dunya is really when you think about it now from a perspective i understand qualitatively may it is still a long time but i'm just saying when you look at it you think whoa is that it allah has placed you in this world to enjoy it doesn't mean you see yeah i understand people will say oh does that mean no it doesn't mean that there are certain rules of course but you see you'll be surprised to know

[8:56] that allah has not made nowhere near as many things haram for you that you yourselves have made haram upon yourselves as allah mentions in the quran that it was bani israel who made the things haram upon themselves and it was not and then because of that they were then stuck with them so people they make these rulings they follow this kind of like sectarian talk they get stuck they're not allowed to disagree

[9:35] they live an entire lifetime like that i look at music music is it is the nourishment of the soul people allah for a person to have deprived him or herself of music their entire life only to you know maybe at a later age in life maybe when the 60 70 maybe to realize that you know

[10:16] to realize that maybe what i've lived my whole life has been a lie in the words of khalif that you know that a day of such a regret is in and of itself so regrettable so people do not you know limit yourselves to the to the bizarre limitations placed by sex

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment KWmtt2TQAO0/s/2. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/kwmtt2tqao0/s/2/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.