Are English Islamic nasheeds permissible?

Published as Listening to English Islamic nasheeds

· 21 Rabiʻ I 1445 AH1 min readEnglish

Question

1. Are English Islamic nasheeds permissible?

2. If there are no musical instruments used but rather the "mouth" is used to imitate the musical instruments. Is this permissible?

Answer

1. If any of the following elements are found then it will not be permissible:

a. The song (nasheed) is rendered only for entertainment whether for oneself or for others.
b. It is accompanied by musical instruments like flutes and drums.
c. The song creates such a level of heedlessness that it leads to the abandoning of one’s shar`ee duties or causes one to get involved in haraam.
d. The person singing is such that one cannot listen to e.g. a female or amrad (young boy with girlish features) singing to a male audience.
e. The person singing has made this his profession.

2. Imitating musical instruments is also impermissible.

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

Answered by
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)
Questions about this ruling, answered only from the archive with sources.

Where scholars differ, it’s safer to take the more cautious view.

Fatawa SA is an independent, read-only index of fatawa already published by Mufti Online — Madrasah Ta'leemuddeen. It is not a fatwa service. For your own situation, please ask a Mufti. Report an issue

For corrections or mistakes, please email us at fatawasa786@gmail.com.

People also ask

Is listening to music haraam? What about nasheeds?

“If the nasheed was sung at the nikaah function and drums were beaten in order to enhance the nasheed and give it some extra tune, then this is not permissible as it has resemblance with music and musical tones or musical…”

Mufti Online · 251 fatawa from 7 Darul Iftas on this

What the Darul Iftas say