The Qur'an, music and cyberspace
In this blog I thought it would be very interesting to see what the Qur'an says about music as an online resource.
Muslims regard the Holy Qur'an to be the sacred word of Allah.
Generally the Qur'an can be accessed very easily on the internet and interestingly it has a very high number of websites full of different information regarding it.
Online Qur'an
Whether its time that's the issue or lack of manual resources, in today's society people seem to be making more and more use of the resources on the internet. These resources have become reliable even when it comes to such a delicate issue of looking for evidence in the Qur'an. The reason for that is the online materials contain the same authenticity as that of the physical book.
Websites
The following were a number of websites which I came across with different arguments basing themselves on ayah's in the Qur'an.
Although each website was easily accessible and informative, the difficulty was to understand which material was reliable, as each one very obviously is very biased in their opinion according to their own beliefs. Further to this the difficulty was to define which 'school of thought' the websites followed in order to prove the rights and wrongs on this.
The following is one of the verses used by different Scholars and interpreted according to what they believe:
"The judgement ever approaching draws nigh
No (soul) but Allah can lay it bare
Do ye then wonder at this recital
And will ye laugh and not weep
Wasting your time in vanities
But fall ye down in prostration to Allah and adore (Him)!
According to many 'wasting your time in vanities' is making reference to amusements such as music and singing etc therefore it has been forbidden. However other interpreters say this 'ayat' has no real evidence which determines reference to music is being made here. ''Wasting your time in vanities...could be referring to any act which refrains a Muslim from his duties e.g. 'Salah'. (physical prayer).
In summary, websites give biased opinions according to the beliefs of the people who control the website; therefore there is always a danger of misinterpretations.
I agree with you we are only human and prone to make mistakes. I think taking the middle path is the best way forward especially in world that is constantly playing with our nafs. Holding the extreme view of no music may work for a small minority but for the majority it would be impossible(which may lead to one listening to anything and everything). For me personally this is were nusheeds come in - I can listen to music where the lyrics have a meaning and inspire my to do good.
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