Tatar ‘ulama’ on permission of the music in Islam

Abstract

Guzel Sayfullina's article is focused on the discussion of Tatar 'ulama' on the problem of music, whether it is permitted or prohibited in terms of Islamic law. The question of permissibility of music (singing, playing on musical instruments) and listening of music in Islam is a subject of incessant discussions, which can be seen in significant number of sources in different languages. In this article, the contribution of the Tatar theologians into this polemics is shown basing on materials of the beginning of the 20^th century. The subject of music was among the most actual ones: it was discussed in periodicals by ordinary Muslims, it was touched in works of known writers and scholars (S.Nurlati-Bulghari, Sh. Mardjani, Q.Nasiri), and it was studied in special works by the outstanding theologians of the time: Riza Fakhreddin (special chapter in the commentary on hadith Jawami' al-kalim sharhe, 1916), Hasan-Gata Ghabashi (the manuscript of the article on the attitude of Islam towards singing and music, approximately 1908), Hadi Kildebaki (the monograph "Music and Islam", 1909). Written independently from each other and because of different reasons, these works have much in common. The most important for all authors is to show the futility of indiscriminate prohibitions of music and listening in Islam. In their evidence, the authors are based on the analysis of the Koran, various tafsirs, multiple hadith sources, showing brilliant theological erudition. They mention the dependence of interpretation of music on different social "contexts" and its positive influence on a person.