The 'Nasheed Culture'

Interesting article I was emailed today.


The ‘Nasheed Culture’By a concerned anonymous Muslim

http://www.themuslimweekly.com/fullstoryview.aspx?NewsID=272A78AD26AE85FF55DE775F&MENUID=COMMENT&DESCRIPTION=Comments

Islam is more than just a religion; it is a code, a full legislator for every aspect and sphere of one’s life. Allah (SWT) ordained duties upon His believers which must be followed in order to gain His pleasures, His Mercy and our inevitable abode (Heaven or Hell). One of the many duties is Da’wa; inviting people to the way of Islam. Parallel to this is Hisbah; enjoying the good and forbidding the evil. Is it rational to adhere to one and dismiss the other? As we know Allah (SWT) says in his Glorified Book.

"Oh you who believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow not the footsteps of the evil one (shaytaan/devil) for he is to you an open enemy"(Qur’an 2:208)

Alhamdulillah (All praises be to Allah), many people have become full time Da’ees (inviters) who propagate the true message of Islam to the masses. People have different methods, some like to go out onto the streets, and others like to hold circles and talks; both are effective and pleasing in the sight of Allah (SWT). However others, like our brother Sami Yusuf, like to sprinkle a bit of Haram with a bit of Halal to comprise his method. Scratching your heads…

Islam does not permit Muslims to indulge in music; there may be some ikhtilaaf (difference of opinion) of the issue of the duff (drum-like instrument), where some scholars have said it to be lawful under certain times, conditions and the extent of its use. But the piano, violin, xylophones, wind instruments, pluck instruments are absolutely forbidden in Islam. Scholars have no ikhtilaaf in this. Then why is our brother Sami Yusuf engaging in this Haram with his presumably honourable Halal intentions? Before I go any further, brothers and sisters this is not an attack on the brother, Sami Yusuf himself, but the whole music driven nasheed industry.

Many Muslims listen to nasheeds everyday, thinking it is good and our natural inclination is to increase our love for them. But this is creating for us a dangerous problem. Our new brothers and sisters that enter into the Deen are somehow becoming indoctrinated into this nasheed frenzy. We see people memorising lyrics, reciting them and sometimes even rejoicing over them, and it may seem that there is nothing at all wrong with this. But when the extent of the obsessions compromises our Deen, our recitations and memorisation of the Qur’an, the actual Sunnah of the rejoicing of Islam; and when the reliance upon the nasheeds becomes the primary sources for knowledge, inspiration and dhikr [remembrance of ALLAH (SWT)] the problems are indeed becoming very apparent. Excessive nasheeds can even lead to an actual dislike of Qur’an, a frightening statement, but one that which could really be true. Our young generations are slowly starting to distant themselves away from the Qur’an and immersing themselves into this "nasheed culture". We find ourselves in a situation where the nasheed boom has practically taken over our youth.

And brothers such as Sami Yusuf are not helping to stamp out the doubts but they are actually helping fuel the fire, as they blend the clear cut Haram to gist up their styles of nasheeds, feeding our youth with their deviant da’wa campaigns. They are teaching our youth the beauty of Islam through this detested Haram and through the most God forsaken means. Just watch the heads of the people who are listening to these "blended" nasheeds; they start with slight movements backwards and forwards, moving with the rhythms of the music, this slowly evolving into full body motion intertwining with the music and at the extremes bursting into fully blown dancing. Astaghfirullah!

Islam denounces the use of music and as Muslims we must not indulge in this Haram. We must stop encouraging the people who are creating this veiled fitnah for our community, even though their intentions may actually be noble. Muslims have many a times been led through that slippery slope and that is the reason why we find Muslims in such a shameful situation today. We have to correct the shortcomings of our brothers and encourage them to develop a Halal method to demonstrate the beauty of our Deen (religion) and to spread the message of Islam. Indeed Allah says in His Qur’an:

"Verily Satan is an enemy to you: so treat him as an enemy. He only invites his adherents that they may become Companions of the Blazing Fire." (Qur’an 35:6)