Discourse about music in Islam
The Qur'an says nothing explicit about music. The Hadith contains various texts, which may be interpreted as either supporting or condemning music. Sufi poetry is full of music.
Hadith. The definitive collections (e.g. of Bukhari, Muslim, and others) are called Sahih (true).
- Hadith often cited to support pro-music position.
- Hadith often cited to support anti-music position:
Musical metaphors in mystic poetry:
Here the circle is completed in the connections between text and context, poetry and performance; mystical images of music in Sufi poetry refer to the ritual of sama`; when performed in ritual, such poetic symbolism refers to itself...
Music in the sacred ayin ceremony of the so-called whirling dervishes, the Mevlevi Sufi order founded upon poetry and teachings of the mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273], who so loved the sama`...
Listen to the reed flute and its cry of separation...
Jalal al-Din Rumi's musical imagery:
Poetry by Shaykh Abu al-Huda al-Sayyadi (19th c), as sung by Shaykh Yasin al-Tuhami of Egypt.
