Are the mentioned pieces of information regarding the views of the jurisprudential schools of thought (Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali, Shafi'i, and Ibn Hazm) concerning the ruling on musical instruments accurate, and is music considered a matter of permissible disagreement?
It is well-known that the four Imams prohibited all musical instruments (alat al-malahi wal-ma‘azif) except in specific cases, such as the tambourine (duff) at weddings and drums (tabl) for warriors. A group of scholars has reported a consensus (ijma‘) on their prohibition. As for those who dissented, they are the Zahiris, such as Ibn Hazm and Ibn al-Qaysarani, because they do not consider any hadith on prohibition to be authentic. Ibn al-Qaysarani was of the Zahiri school, not Shafi‘i. The statement attributed to Ibn al-‘Arabi, which is often misquoted, pertains to singing (ghina’) and not musical instruments. He viewed singing as a permissible form of amusement at specific times, and he believed there was no evidence in the Qur’an or Sunnah to prohibit it, and that any hadith or verse cited for prohibition was invalid. It has been previously noted that singing has different types, and each type has its own ruling, but musical instruments and entertainments (alat al-lahw wal-ma‘azif) are a matter of consensus among recognized scholars.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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