Alahadrat Azeemul Barakat Radi Allahu Anhu on Qawaali

with musical instruments and the conditions of Samaa'

Allah's Name we begin with, The Most Compassionate, Most
Merciful.
Question:
What do The Respected Ulema e Deen say in regard to this, that a
friend of mine said to me after the Salh, Come, lets go to an Urs. I
went with him, and when we reached there I saw that a large number of
people were gathered and Qawwli was taking place in such a way that
one drum and two harps were being played, and some Qawwl were
singing poetry in praise of Prn e Pr Dastagr (Shaykh `Abdul Qdir
), as well as some poetry in praise of the
al-Jlni

Beloved Prophet

followed by couplets regarding
the status of the Awliy Allh.
Such instruments (the drums and harps that were being used) are
arm Qat' (explicitly forbidden) in the Shari'ah !
Would the Beloved Messenger

and the Awliy
Allh be pleased with such acts?
Are those present at this gathering sinful or not? Is such Qawwli
permissible or not?
If it is permissible, then what kind of Qawwli is permissible ?

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Al-Jawb (Answer):
Such Qawwli is arm. All those present in the gathering are sinful,
and all of their sin is upon those who arranged such an Urs and upon
the Qawwli singers.
Furthermore, the sin of the Qawwli singers is also upon the organiser
of such an `Urs, without the sin of the Qawwli singers being lessened
in any way, due to their sin also being upon the organiser of the `Urs,
and without the sin of those present in the gathering being lessened in
any way due to the devastation of their sin also being upon the Qawwli
singers and the organiser.
No! On the contrary, every single person present in the gathering has
his own personal complete sin, and the Qawwli singers have their own
sin separately, as well as the sin according to all of those present in the
gathering upon them in addition to this separately; and the organiser of
the `Urs has his own sin separately, the sin equivalent to the sin of the
Qawwli singers in addition to this separately, as well as the sin of all
those present in the gathering separately.
The reason for this is that the people present in the gathering were
invited by the organiser of the Urs and were only provided with the
means to commit this sin through him, and the Qawwli singers played
the music for them to listen to.
If he did not provide the means, and the drums and harps were not
played, then how would those present at the gathering have fallen into
this sin? It is for this reason that all of their sin is upon them both, and
then the cause of this sin of the Qawwli singers was that organiser of
the Urs. If he did not organise it and if he did not invite them, how
would they have come and played the music? Therefore, the sin of the
Qawwli singers is also upon the one who invited them;
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As the Fuqah e Kiraam have said about the one who, despite being
strong and healthy, takes charity, that he himself, and the one giving to
him, are both sinful. This is because if those who give to him did not
give, then he would not take up this shameful business of begging. So
their giving is the cause of his begging and all of this is apparent to
those familiar with the laws of Shari`ah; and towfeeq lies with Allh
Almighty only.
(Raddul Mukhtar, kitaab al khatar, vol 5 page 273 )
The Beloved Messenger

said, Whoever invites
towards any act of guidance will receive the reward equivalent to all
those who follow him, and there will be no reduction in any of their
reward, and whoever invites towards any act of misguidance will receive
the sin of all those who follow his invitation, and there will be no
reduction in any of their sin.
(Narrated by Imm Amad and Imm Muslim from Sayyidun Ab
Sahih Muslim kitab al ilm vol 2 page 341,
Hurayra

Musnad Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah vol 2
page 397)
The mas'ala e Nass will be taken from the Shariah of The Prophet Sall
Allahu Alaihi Wasallam, or from The Imam e Mujhtahid of Fiqh. If the
nass from the Shariah is required,Numerous Aadth have been
narrated regarding the prohibition of instruments reaching hadde
tawaatur.
It is narrated in Sa Bukhri Sharif that the Beloved Messenger

said, Indeed there will be those people in my
Ummah who will deem all the private parts of women (adultery),
silk clothing, alcohol, and musical instruments.
Fataawa Ridawiyya Shareef

Some ignorant folk, or half-baked Mullhs, or fake Sfis present weak

tales, unreliable incidents, or dubious anecdotes against authentic,
definite Aadth which have chains back to the Beloved Messenger

.
These people do not have the least amount of intelligence, or they
purposefully act ignorant, because it is clear that it is necessary to reject
the weak in favour of the authentic, the doubtful for the decisive, and
the dubious for the definite. Furthermore, how can the Qowl be
compared with the Fel mentioned in some anecdote, but who has the
cure for such submission to desires?
If only they would know the sin as a sin after committing it and state it
as such, but this stubbornness is even more severe that they feed their
desires and then refuse the guilt, and make all (permissible) for
themselves that which is arm (forbidden). Besides this, they do not
stop here, but they, Allh Almighty forbid, slander the beloved ones of
Allh Almighty, the great elders of the Silsilah liyah Chishtiya
by falsely attributing this act to them.
They neither have fear of Allh Almighty, nor shame in front of the
people. Even though Mabb e Ilhi Sayyidi wa Mawli Nizam ul Haq
himself says in
wal Dn Suln ul Awliy

Fawid ul Fawd Sharf ;

Musical instruments are arm.
Mawln Fakhr ul Dn Zarwi, Khalfah of Sayyidun Mabb e Ilhi
wrote an epistle on the Mas`alatu Sam` entitled,

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Kashful Qan an Usl il Sam` in the blessed era of the great Shaykh
due to the decisive order of the Shaykh himself.

It is clearly written in that epistle:

is free from the
The Sam of our blessed Mashikh

allegation of using musical instruments. There would only be the voice

of the Qawwl with the verses of poetry that would signify the
perfection of the majesty of Allh Almighty.
Have justice for the sake of Allh! Will you accept the words of this
great Imam of the blessed Chishti order, or the unfounded slander and
evidently corrupt accusations of the claimants of today? ( whose
mischief is clearly evident )
()
Sayyid Mawln Muammad bin Mubrak bin Muammad `Alaw
Kirmni, murd of Shaykh ul `lam Fard ul Haq wal Dn Ganj Shakkar,
, writes in
and Khalfah of Sayyidun Mabb e Ilhi

his book Mustab Siyar ul Awliy:

Suln ul Mashikh would say that only under
some conditions is Sam` permissible; from which some are conditions
for those reciting, some for those listening, some for the poetry which
is recited, and some for the items used in the Sam`. The one reciting
should be an adult male not a small boy or a woman. The one listening
must not be heedless of Allh Almighty and the poetry being recited
must not contain any indecency or mockery. The items used in Sam
must not be anything similar to musical instruments. The items used in
Sam` must not include musical instruments such as harps, lutes,
flutes or any other instruments. When all of these conditions are
fulfilled, that type of Sam` is all.
Fataawa Ridawiyya Shareef

Muslims! This is the Fatwa (ruling) of the leader and the master of
. After this
Silsilah liyah Chistiyah Suln ul Awliy

conclusive ruling is there any way for the slanderers to show their face?

In addition, it is written in Siyar ul Awliy Sharf:

Once a man presented a matter in the court of Suln ul Mashikh that
these days some mystics reportedly belonging to an stna performed
Raqs (Sufi dancing) in gathering where harps and lutes were being
played. He answered by saying that they did not do a good thing and
that they did something which is impermissible and disliked in the
Shari`ah. After this someone said that when these people left that place
people said to them, What have you done? There were musical
instruments there! How did you listen to the Sam` and perform Raqs
there? They replied by saying, We were so ecstatically absorbed in the
Sam` that we were unaware whether there were any musical
instruments there or not. Suln ul Mashikh then said, This answer is
nothing; similar words could then be said for all sins
O. Muslims! How clear a statement this is that musical instruments are
arm, and what an irrefutable reply the Shaykh granted us to the
excuse that we were unaware of the musical instruments due to being
engrossed and absorbed in the Sam, that such an excuse could be
made for any sin. Someone could drink alcohol and then say that
because of intense absorption and captivation I was unaware whether it
was alcohol or water.
Or someone could commit adultery and then say that because of being
in the state of ecstasy I was unable to dierentiate whether she was my
wife or someone else.
It is written in the same book:

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Suln ul Mashikh has said that I have forbidden musical instruments

and other prohibited things from amongst them, and he stressed this
point strongly. This is to the extent that it has been said that if an Imam
makes a mistake in the Salah, a man should say SubnAllh to inform
the Imam, but a woman should not say SubnAllh because she
should not make her voice heard. She should not even clap her hands
by striking one palm upon the other as this would be like recreation or
play, but she should merely strike the back of one hand with the palm
of the other. When it has come to us that items associated with
recreation and play, and those which are similar to them, should be
refrained from to this extent, then the use of musical instruments in
Sam` is forbidden to an even greater degree.
O. Muslims! Those Imms of Tarqah whose caution and carefulness is
such that they tell of the prohibition of clapping in such instances, how
can they be linked to this slanderous claim of using musical
instruments?
Have justice for the sake of Allh Almighty! What an unfounded and
insane rambling it is (to claim that the Mashikh of Chisht used
musical instruments)! May Allh Almighty save us from following the
Shayn and may He grant us the ability to truly follow the true beloved
ones of Allh Almighty.

The discourse is getting lengthy here and this is sucient for those who
are just.

Taken From Fataawa Ridawiyya Shareef

vol 24 page 113 - 119
Taalib e dua
Faqeer Mohammed Shakeel Qadiri Ridawi.
Fataawa Ridawiyya Shareef

Fataawa Ridawiyya Shareef