I have received an email which strongly criticizes the tendency amongst Muslim groups living in the Western countries who are encouraging religious songs (nasheeds) as an alternative to the conventional musical concerts. The message claims that Muslim ladies lose their composure during the proceedings of these concerts. The message further laments the fact that Muslims living in the Western countries took pride in describing themselves as British, Americans etc. whereas it was a fact that the leadership of these very countries have caused the blood of Muslims to be shed in Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places. How would you comment on it?
Answer
I can only mention a few points:
i) While decent music is not haram in Islam, the kind of concerts this article was talking about should be discouraged. Most certainly, if a musical program is causing ladies to go wild, it should be called off.
ii) If people don’t feel comfortable with a certain country, they should not live in that country. It is a part of our contract with the country we live in that we’ll be loyal to it. And we are answerable to God for our contracts. (Quran; 17:34) If we disagree with some of its policies, we should criticize it for doing it, without being disloyal to it. If we disagree with it so much that we find their policies unbearable, we have the option of leaving the country. Living in a country and being disloyal to it is not an Islamic attitude.
iii) When we talk about the atrocities against Muslims, we tell only half the story. A Muslim is not just there to support fellow Muslims. He has to first ensure that he was supporting the truth. So let’s first find out the real truth about all the problems confronting us in an unbiased manner and then start making strong statements about them.
iv) One truth about the sorry state of affairs of the present-day Muslims is that whatever is happening to us is because God was allowing it to happen. If you read Quran (17:4-8) you would know that God Himself allowed tyrant kings to unleash their terror on people believing in His religion (Muslims) when they went wrong. While we condemn others, therefore, let’s find out why God was annoyed with us.