Music and singing: at the walima and beyond

The text authorizing music: 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 against music: 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.

Singing and music 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 on music and singing

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.