Music and singing: at the walima and beyond

The authorization text: the walima's daff

The two Eids before the Prophet's eyes: the Abyssinians played with their spears, Aisha watched them, Abu Bakr wanted to rebuke them, the Prophet answered that festivals have their right (al-Bukhari 5147). And the young girls of a Medinan house sang with the daff, without reproach, on the wedding day (al-Bukhari 5590; Muslim 893). The Sunna even commands joyful publicity: "announce this marriage and beat drums for it" (at-Tirmidhi 1089): the wedding daff and the bride's licit singing are accepted by the majority.

The warning text: instruments

The restrictive reading: Ibn Qudama classifies the instruments: "instruments are of three kinds, forbidden: strings, flutes and horns: the oud, the tanbur" (al-Mughni, 10/153), a position taken up by the Saudi Permanent Committee, by Ibn Baz and by Ibn Uthaymin: the world of instruments is tied to the texts on wine and neglect of prayer.

The detailed reading: Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya answers that some songs are licit and others forbidden: "beautiful speech is beautiful, the ugly is ugly" (fatwa 16964); the origin is licitness when the content is virtuous, without obscenity or drawing away from prayer (fatwa 11981); the mufti's secretary at Dar al-Ifta recalled in 2025 that the origin of music and singing is licit when the words are good.

At the walima and in the family

At the wedding: the daff, licit singing, announced joy: universal. In the home: the nasheed with sound words is welcomed by both readings. Concerts and festivals: licit and sober in the lenient view, avoided in the strict one: do not accuse the other camp of deviance: the disagreement is old and documented.

Practical note

The guiding thread: content, context, measure. The Sunna celebrates marriage with the drum and forbids the world of wine and immorality: between the two, every Muslim follows an honest school and respects the house he enters.