I am quite confused about what Allah has commanded with regard to music. There are many ahadith that condemn music. Why then do you believe that music is allowed?
Answer
Music is not haraam in Islam. It is the misuse of it in the form of filthy songs, such obsession of it which keeps people away from remembering God, indulgence in shirk through it et cetera, that is haraam. The condemnation in ahadith of music was meant for these aspects of it.
Consider the following facts:
i) There is no Quranic verse that condemns music.
ii) Ahadith were compiled in book form in the third century hijrah. If music was condemned in the Shari’ah from day one, then it will have to be accepted that a vast majority of the Ummah didn’t know about it because they were unaware of it.
iii) The prophet, alaihissalaam, was greeted with the chanting of verses on the beat of a musical instrument called daff.
iv) It is also known that the prophet, alaihissalaam, allowed girls to sing and celebrate during Eid.
v) It is an established fact that Daud, alaihissalaam, used to sing the praise of the Almighty with the tune of musical instruments in the background.
With all these facts in mind, I am inclined to believe that the ahadith that are condemning music, are condemning those aspects of it which went against the established principles of shari’ah. If that is not the case, then we will have to admit that our Din has come to us through sources, some of which never reached some part of the ummah at all. That, I am not prepared to accept for a single moment. Ahadith, to me, clarify the Shari’ah but do not give anything new in it for the reasons I have mentioned.
If music is completely haram as you are inclined to believe, then it is a new injunction in Shari’ah. Did all the millions of Muslims know it who embraced Islam at the time when the books of ahadith were not available? That would mean that they knew incomplete Shari’ah and we know a more complete version of it.
I hope you understand my reasons.