Islam in Andalusia

How Music Caused the Ruin of Islam in Andalusia (Spain)

Islam in Andalusia

Discussion about the reason behind the disaster that afflict the muslims between the experts and professionals just stop in the technical outer scope which can be seen or heard, without touching the non-technical aspect that can’t be seize by men’s senses, while actually, it is the main cause of those disasters; sin. Allah the Exalted decreed,

وَمَا أَصَابَكُمْ مِنْ مُصِيبَةٍ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ

“Whatever misfortune befalls you is a consequence of your own deeds. But much of it He forgives.” (Chapter The Consultation:30)

Ali Ibn Abi Thalib – may Allah be pleased with him- said, ,

مَا نُزِّلَ بَلاَءٌ إِلاَّ بِذَنْبٍ وَلاَ رُفِعَ بَلاَءٌ إِلاَّ بِتَوْبَةٍ

“A misfortune will no befall anyone but because of sin. And it will not cease but because of repentance.” (See: al-Jawabul Kafi, page 87).

Likewise, regarding the collapse and ruin of a country, the observers and historians merely talk about the problems of weak governance, sloppy economic condition, natural disaster, etc; whereas the main culprit which inflicts those misfortunes are sins committed by its citizens. They are people who commit wrongdoings;instead of enjoining to do good and doing betterment, they forget about the religion that Allah had revealed for them to embrace. Allah the Exalted decreed,

وَمَا كَانَ رَبُّكَ لِيُهْلِكَ الْقُرَىٰ بِظُلْمٍ وَأَهْلُهَا مُصْلِحُونَ

“And your Lord is not such as would wrongfully destroy human habitations while their inhabitants are righteous.” (Chapter Hud:117)

It also happened in Andalusia, a civilization of Islam aged about 800 years old, that eventually destroyed with the collapse of the Kingdom of Granada. The residents of Andalusia at that time forget Allah, away from obeying Allah, and were busy fighting for its throne.

Then, the question is, what drove them to forget Allah’s rules? Maybe no one imagine that the reason of their ignorance is very close to our daily life; it was music. Correct, the residents of Andalusia had been occupied by listening to music. Music had overpowered their Qur’an recitation, their remembrance of hadith, and made them to forget remembering and thinking about Allah’s verses. The person who brought music to the land of Andalusia was Abu al Hasan Ali Ibn Nafi’ (789-857) or who was more famous as Ziryab.

Who was Ziryab?

Ziryab was a Persian or Kurdian who at the beginning lived and worked in Iraq, then he moved to Andalusia and lived there for 30 years. He was a musician, song writer, also expert in cosmetic, culinary, fashion, and several branches of sciences. The European know Ziryab as the Father of Culture.

If we try to depict him today, We’ll find that Ziryab is like a celebrity. People looked up to him in the matter of clothing fashion, hairstyle, and culinary trend. He decided that color and clothing trend should match certain seasons. Today, we see people mimicking Ziryab’s trend by their terms of winter clothes, summer or spring clothes. Ziryab also changed the way a food was served or consumed. No one in Europe or Andalusia in particular cared about food serving, since in the past they served all foods in one time. Ziryab divided it into three parts by with distinct menus for each parts. Today, we know it by the terms appetizer, main course, and dessert. Likewise hair styling, he made short and neat style for men and longer hair with bangs for women.

Some of us might think that the modern style in clothing, culinary, and hairstyling of the European today is a culture that originates from their own habit. Well, it is a wrong assumption. That habit comes from a muslim who originally came from Baghdad; Ziryab. Even more, Ziryab taught the European to use deodorant, toothpaste, and shampoo.

Giving Lessons in Music

After mentioning about some cultures that he had spread in Europe, we shall know that there’s another thing that he brought among the muslims in Europe, and the European in general; music. When he came to Spain, Ziryab was warmly welcomed by the government of The Umayyan Empire II. At there, he established a music school. He was very good at playing musical instruments, both the traditional Arab instruments and local instruments.

Looking at the figure of Ziryab who was able to entertain people with his music, with trendy look, to teach people the more pleasurable trick to enjoy their food, etc, no wonder that he became the object of public affection and admiration at that time. Let alone the people who lived at that time, when we heard what have Ziryab taught to the people of Europe that they are able to achieve European civilization as now, maybe some of us will start to admire him, whereas what he taught basically were not crucial matters; meaning that human’s civilization wouldn’t extinct without those things. It wasn’t as important and great as the teaching of other Islamic scholars. That admiration caused people to begin to leave Qur’an recitation, or at least to reduce it more than usual, likewise studying the hadith, and stories of pious scholars. They started to be busied by that music.

This habit then inherited generation to generation, thus the muslims got weakened and farther and farther away from the teaching of their religion. Incident after incident happened in the history of Islam in Andalusia; the falling apart of Umayya empire II which was the only Islamic kingdom in Spain into small countries or “thaifah”. Some of those were later conquered by the christian kingdom of Europe. And the last blow of that misfortune was the collapse of the kingdom of Granada.

Is listening to the music considered as a sin?

Allah the Exalted decreed,

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَشْتَرِي لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّخِذَهَا هُزُوًا أُولَئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌ وَإِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِ آيَاتُنَا وَلَّى مُسْتَكْبِرًا كَأَنْ لَمْ يَسْمَعْهَا كَأَنَّ فِي أُذُنَيْهِ وَقْرًا فَبَشِّرْهُ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ

“There are some human beings who purchase an enchanting diversion in order to lead people away from the way of Allah without having any knowledge, who hold the call to the Way of Allah to ridicule. A humiliating chastisement awaits them. When Our verses are recited to such a person, he arrogantly turns away, as though he had not heard them, or as though there was a deafness in his ears. So announce to him the tidings of a grievous chastisement.” (chapter Luqman: 6-7)

When Ibn Mas’ud was asked about interpretation of these verses, he – may Allah be pleased with him- answered,

الغِنَاءُ، وَالَّذِي لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ، يُرَدِّدُهَا ثَلاَث َمَرَّاتٍ.

“It means the singing/chant. By He which none has the right to be worshipped but Him.” He repeated it thrice. (See: Jami’ul Bayan fii Ta’wilil Qur’an, 20: 127)

The Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- said,

لَيَكُونَنَّ مِنْ أُمَّتِى أَقْوَامٌ يَسْتَحِلُّونَ الْحِرَ وَالْحَرِيرَ وَالْخَمْرَ وَالْمَعَازِفَ

“There will be among my followers people who permit adultery, silk, alcohol and musical instruments…” (Narrated by Al Bukhari)

Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz once wrote a letter to the teacher of his children, and the content was, “Let the first thing that my children learned from your manners is your hatred of singing. Because it comes from satan, and its end is Allah’s wrath. I learn from the trustful scholars that listening to song and musical instrument and being fond of it will only develop hypocrisy inside heart as water grows grasses. By Allah, warding ourselves by abandoning singing actually is easier for those with intelligence than having hypocrisy in their hearts,”

Sheikh al Islam Ibn Taimiyya – may Allah have mercy on him- said,

اللَّهُمَّ إلَّا أَنْ يَكُونَ فِي سَمَاعِهِ ضَرَرٌ دِينِيٌّ لَا يَنْدَفِعُ إلَّا بِالسَّدِّ

“By Allah, even listening to singing (or musical instrument) is a grave danger for one’s religious commitment, there’s no way to block it except by not listening to it.”(See: Majmu’ Al Fatawa, 11:567)

Epilogue

Surely there are other sins which caused the collapse of Islam in Spain, but music held vital role to distance the muslims from their religion. They didn’t know which is tawheed and which is shirk since they didn’t study their religious matters anymore. They also didn’t know the correct ritual of worship, and so on.

Now, is it true that music causes people to neglect remembering Allah, the Qur’an, hadith, and study their religion? Let’s answer with our daily activities, which, between the Qur’an or hadith and singing that we hear and memorize most?

Many people laugh, feeling creeped, are touched, even cry when they listen to music, but only little among them feel the same when they listen to the Qur’an.

Reference:
Muqaddimah Ibnu Khaldun
Author: Nurfitri Hadi,MA
Article of www.whatisquran.com

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