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Is he who deems permissible listening to a woman's singing – if it is without lust or temptation and does not contain prohibited elements – an infidel? And is it a known necessity of religion that a woman's singing without temptation or lust is forbidden?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A woman singing for non-mahram men is undoubtedly forbidden, because singing is one of the greatest forms of verbal submission, which Allah has prohibited in His statement: "So do not be soft in speech [to men], lest he in whose heart is disease should covet." It is difficult to separate a woman's singing from verbal submission and the pretexts for temptation. However, if that were possible, it would not be forbidden, as stated by some scholars. The issue is not one of excommunication (takfir), and some scholars have indeed permitted a woman's singing for non-mahram men—provided it is free from musical instruments and there is no fear of temptation—even though this is usually not free from temptation in our time. The prohibition of this is not something known to be an essential part of religion (ma'lum min al-din bi al-darurah), rather some scholars have permitted it with the assurance of safety from temptation.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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