Quran in Songs
Blogged by Nahk.
Over the course of last few weeks, I was privileged to have meaningful conversations with a few of my acquaintances, most of whom were Muslims. I'm not quite sure how the topic exactly started but soon we were all involved in a dialogue over the permissibility of Quranic Ayahs in mainstream Bollywood songs as well as some local forms of arts like 'Qawalli' & 'Shayri'.
Being least knowledgeable about the subject, it was a really interesting way to understand why Islam is against music & any other thing that is 'addictive'.
Altough we spoke about various points that demonizes music, I will try to concentrate on the use of 'Quranic Ayahs' in today's world.
One of the Hadith narrated was:
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “Among my Ummah there will be people who will regard as permissible adultery, silk, alcohol and musical instruments.” Narrated by Al-Bukhari (5590).
The above Hadith strongly implies that 'musical instruments' are not permissible in the Islamic religion. Hence, the recent irritation of some Muslims against the use of Quranic Ayah does seem understandable to me.
Some of the recent examples that come to mind are using words like 'Shukran-allah', 'Subanallah', 'Alhamdullah' and perhaps the one that displeases most of the people I conversed to is 'Kun fa yakun'.
It is a well known fact that most of these songs are from Bollywood and are heard mostly by a community whose mother-tongue is not Arabic.
One of my acquaintances said, " The muslims who know the meaning of 'Kun fa yakun' would not be
listening to the song in the first place...so these are those who
believe music is allowed in Islam, they hear Arabic and get happy...typical mindset of a Bollywood brainwashed 'muslim'."
There was also mention of 'Sami Yusuf' and his use of music while promoting Islam. This too raised tempers in the group but the consensus of the majority seemed to be that altough no one had any doubts on his intention to promote the religion, they felt that the way he has adopted is not right. Some of them even prayed to God that he be given 'Hidayah' to be on the right path!
Given the above facts, it does bother me that a lot of folks really do not understand what their religion warrants them to do. Is media such a strong force that it can literally send you in a trance, where you forget your duty towards your Creator? Is the 'imaan' of people at an all time low in today's world?
A friend who follows 'Hinduism' added that back in the old days, singers and dancers were looked down even in his religion. It is only Bollywood and the recent spurt of internet access and satellite television, that things have taken a dramatic turn.
All in all, I'm still intrigued by the subject. I do not believe that the major movie industries of the world like Hollywood & Bollywood will ever stop using religion & nationalism in their movies as it a huge selling point. Let us just hope that things do not get out of hand before normalcy is returned.
A friend who follows 'Hinduism' added that back in the old days, singers and dancers were looked down even in his religion. It is only Bollywood and the recent spurt of internet access and satellite television, that things have taken a dramatic turn.
All in all, I'm still intrigued by the subject. I do not believe that the major movie industries of the world like Hollywood & Bollywood will ever stop using religion & nationalism in their movies as it a huge selling point. Let us just hope that things do not get out of hand before normalcy is returned.
