Are music and singing allowed in Islam? If the answer is a definite yes or no, then why has the question of its lawfulness become the subject of debate among Muslim scholars for centuries?
In this treatise translated from the eighteenth book of Ilya’ ‘Ulum al-Din, readers get an insight into the pros and cons of the controversy and be guided by the greatest authority of traditional Islam none other than Imam al-Ghazali. For Al-Ghazali, it is important to have true knowledge to reap the benefit of music. Those who have no sufficient knowledge of God and His attributes, he writes, are liable to apply what they hear both to what is allowable and what is not allowable.
Imam al-Ghzali, 450-550 AH (1058-1111 AD), ranks among the greatest of Muslim thinkers and needs no introduction. His greatest work, Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), is the definitive word on Islamic beliefs until today and it immortalised his name and earned him the title Hujjah al-Islam (Proof of Islam).
