Is it permissible to listen to quiet music devoid of singing or idle amusement, knowing that there are opinions that the prohibition of musical instruments is linked to their presence with forbidden singing, fornication, and the drinking of alcohol?

Music is unanimously prohibited. Al-Qurtubi, Ibn al-Salah (definition), Ibn Rajab, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, and others have mentioned the consensus of scholars on the prohibition of listening to musical instruments. It is prohibited independently, and its prohibition becomes even more severe when associated with gatherings of wine and debauchery. Al-Haytami dedicated a separate chapter in his book "Al-Zawajir 'an Iqtiraf al-Kaba'ir" to playing and listening to instruments as a major sin. Al-Qurtubi said: "As for flutes, string instruments, and drums (kubah), there is no disagreement on the prohibition of listening to them. I have not heard of anyone whose opinion is considered, from the Salaf or the Imams of the Khalaf, permitting that. How could it not be prohibited when it is the emblem of drinkers and evildoers, and an inciter of desires, corruption, and debauchery? What is like that, there is no doubt in its prohibition, nor in declaring its performer a transgressor and a sinner." These scholars, therefore, view the prohibition of musical instruments as independent, without linking it to their presence in a gathering of amusement, wine, or fornication.