The onlookers are seeing that the Muslim society in the West experiencing tribulations and pressures from every direction, especially when an individual begins to hold on to his Deen. We know that many allegations will be thrown at the practicing Muslim, as it has been foretold by our Prophet (pbuh). Some allegations thrown at Muslims, makes one laugh while others makes one cry. I recollect one controversial issue that occurred during my university days – which caused me to write this post – where an individual’s life was made very difficult because he reverted to Islam, and because of the sudden changes people saw in his appearance and character.
Many individuals that lives in the West, and then enters in the circle of being a ‘practicing Muslim’ may have noticed certain trends as to how a person is in their early days of ‘practicing Islam’, what interests them, what they go through in the initial stages etc. This individual may go through certain oft-repeated steps and phases initially, before this Muslim matures in his Deen over the years. One of the things I happen to notice, from many individuals, friends and family – the listening of nasheed, especially those individuals who were heavily entrenched in listening to music during their jahiliyyah; whose lives were revolved around music. So the nasheed was an alternative form of entertainment for them, from the lyrics of R‘n’B, Hip-Hop and the likes of them.
The word nasheed in Arabic means raising the voice when reciting verses and making the voice sound beautiful and gentle. The word nasheed is the singular and the plural of it is anaasheed. The true Islamic anaasheed does not contain lamella phone instruments, string instruments, or wind and brass instruments. The only instrument commonly allowed is the duff, which is a small hand drum, similar in size to a tambourine, but lacking bells. Anaasheed are popular throughout the Islamic world. The material and lyrics of anaasheed usually make reference to Islamic beliefs, history, and religion, as well as current events – in general.
It is nothing strange for an individual that had started practicing Islam to listen to anaasheed even if it happens to be ‘jihaadi’ anaasheed. What is strange in the face of a Muslim, perhaps even non-Muslims, when these anaasheed are labeled as “incitement for extremism” and the person who listens to it is labeled as “extremist”– whether these accusations are from government officials or ignorant Muslims, which has been witnessed and experienced.
Firstly, what needs to understood is that Arabic anaasheed is not effortlessly understood by even the lay-Arabs because of the rich and deep usage of Arabic Language in them. Some of the anaasheed are in the form of poetry, which makes it even harder to be understood. Hence, if it is difficult for a lay-Arab to understand such anaasheed, then it is even harder for a person with little Arabic background. I recall some years ago, asking some individuals (non-Arabs) who studied abroad for a year or so to translate a few phrases of a nasheed but it was very difficult upon them. If this is the reality of anaasheed, then how much understanding will a newly practicing person have of such anaasheed who does not have background in the Arabic language – which are most individuals in the West? The answer is, very little or even nothing. Anaasheed has become like a culture amongst newly practicing Muslims, call it the “nasheed culture” if you like. So if these ‘jihaadi anaasheed’ was sending out so called ‘messages’- it simply will not be understood!
Secondly, even if it was understood, by listening to it – is it logical to accuse that person of being extreme? The answer is obviously no. Lets strike an example from the music industry to illustrate this point which these people fail to perceive: ‘Gangster Rap’ music often includes many foul lyrics about raping, killing, shootings, revenge attacks on other gangs, fornication etc. Now if an individual listens to such jargon, can this person be accused of rape, murder and etc without any evidence simply because this individual listens to it? Obviously not – the same is applied for the individual who listens to anaasheed.
Finally, the listeners find anaasheed as a source of relaxation and entertament to pass time, and an alternative to all the haraam music that promotes evil and the following of lusts and desires. So such allegations are obviously false.
As Muslims, listening to anaasheed which are halaal, should not be a justification or a mean for us to be far from listening to the Qur’an – and this is very rampant these days. Being a Muslim, our focus and priority should be the listening to the Qur’an and benefitting from the many benefits within it. Anaasheed which are free from music, are permissible. Many of the anaasheed we find these days are musical, occupying many people and distancing us from the Qur’an. The Muslim should protect himself in falling into such pit-holes. There are some points Shaikh Munajjid mentioned regarding listening to anaasheed, which are as follows:
Not using forbidden musical instruments in nasheed.
Not doing it too much or making it the focus of the Muslim’s mind, occupying all his time, or neglecting obligatory duties because of it.
Nasheed should not be recited by women, or include haraam or obscene speech.
They should not resemble the tunes of the people of immorality and promiscuity.
They should be free of vocal effects that produce sounds like those of musical instruments.
They should not have moving tunes which make the listener feel “high” as happens to those who listen to songs. This is the case with many of the nasheed which appear nowadays, so that the listeners no longer pay any attention to the good meaning of the words, because they are so entranced by the tunes.
Just wanted to write these brief words, as some accusation such as the one mentioned are so bizarre, yet – many Muslims have accepted this idea and may even feel as if they are doing something extreme if they happen to be listening to such material.
Abu Siyaam [written from Taiz]
