What is Islamic music?

By Sami Yousaf
Our current popular cultural trends approach music primarily as a form of
entertainment and enjoyment. The faster the beat and the more outrageous
the words, the more listeners seem to be entertained and enjoy their musical
experience. Yet somehow with the loudest sounds there also comes a great
hollowness in the human soul. The Muslim listener rightly asks what the
relationship is between his or her faith and music.

It seems that these days the two most common responses to the question of Islam
and music tend towards the extremes. One side sees only the misuses of music
and rejects it completely. The other approves of any sort of music as long as it is
branded Halal, as if Islamic phrases can simply be copy-pasted over the music
of the day, whatever its form. Yet the reverberations of centuries of diverse
musical traditions that we hear today from around the Islamic world lead us down
another path, in a quest to understand music that is authentically Islamic. This
search is no simple venture. It requires that we both forge a profound connection
with the musical traditions that have been passed down to us and open our souls
to the deeper mysteries of the heart.
The center of the Islamic soundscape is undoubtedly the recitation of the Quran,
which while not being considered music is undeniably musical. Along with
the adhan, the rhythms and cadences of the Quran have left an indelible imprint
on the souls of Muslims throughout the centuries, deeply influencing musical
traditions as well as the poetry that is sung to this music. The Quran reverberates
audibly in many musical genres, from songs of praise to the Prophet and
recitations of dua to the traditions of chanted dhikr in Sufi khanqahs and zawiyas.
However, the diverse traditions from Morocco to Indonesia and South Africa to
the Central Asia show us that it is not necessary for music to be recognizably
Quranic in its outward form for it to be Islamic. Traditional Islamic music

encompasses a multiplicity of sounds and influences as diverse as

Arabic Muwashshah and Qasida, Qawwali and Kafi from the Indian subcontinent,
the Persian dastgah system, the Turkic maqam musics, and numerous folk
traditions. Yet despite this diversity, all Islamic music reflects the One. The
diverse types of traditional Islamic music breathe in an ambience that is tawhidi,
constantly reminding us of Gods Oneness and bringing us back to the
harmonious state of the fitrah in which we were all created. Though the intensity
of the presence of the sacred in different forms of Islamic music varies, it is always
present, like an all-pervading fragrance of paradise. And this is true even if there
is no explicit mention of religious themes, as we see in so many Islamic folk
traditions in which the passionate yearning of a lover raises the beloved to neardivine proportions, giving a reminder of the Divine and of the nature of true love
to those of us who know how to listen.
The spirit and outlook of traditional Islamic music are embedded within the notes
themselves, in scales that exploit the vast expressive possibilities of microtonality,
using notes not used in Western music. Found in innumerable permutations
across traditions, and even differing among masters of a single tradition, the
melodic frameworks of traditional Islamic music allow for the communication of
an infinite variety of human emotions and spiritual attitudes. Yet even more
important than the notes themselves are the ways in which their understanding is
passed down from master to disciple.
Education in traditional Islamic music is permeated by the presence of a certain
etiquette, or what we often hear in Islamic parlance as adab. The
concept of adab has various dimensions: it can refer to the manner one sings, plays
an instrument, and communicates with the audience, ones way of showing
humility and reverence towards elders, or even the intention to revere God and
His Messenger. Adab beautifies our outward behavior, and by doing so, our
inward substance. Music, or indeed any work of art, when practiced with adab, is

not only a matter of performance and the entertainment of an audience, but a

method of educating ones self and the individual souls of the audience members.
In this sense music shares a great deal with the practice of dhikr, the repetition of
the Divine Names and Quranic formulas in spiritual practice. The repetition of
certain words, the way one breathes, and even ones dress while chanting are all
significant, imprinting and ingraining moral qualities on the practitioners soul, as
do the way one holds an instrument, the notes that are played, and the inner
attitude of the musician. The goal is not so much a passing state of the soul as a
permanent transformation in its very substance.
The human voice and the instruments of Islamic music are treated as a trust,
an amanah, in the hands of the singer who has gone through years of training at
the feet of a master, who also instructs him or her in purifying the self (nafs) and
proper Islamic etiquette, passing on scales and melodies crafted by masters who
lived in times much more deeply imbued with the Sacred than the world we live
in today. When learned in this way, from heart to heart and with proper reverence,
the inner world of the disciple is literally transformed by the music, becoming a
vessel for centuries of expression and contemplation, yet also being able to
manifest the spirit of this music using the unique gifts that God has given that
musician, in the moment and space that he or she has been placed.
The spirit of tawhid, the cultivation of adab, and the inner return to the fitrah are
all missing from non-traditional music and represent much of what is most
valuable and must be preserved within Islamic musical traditions. We live in a
world in which music is so often used as a means to manipulate the emotions or
to provide a means of escape from the troubles of daily life. Traditional Islamic
music also contains profound emotional content, perhaps experienced most
profoundly in traditions of love poetry set to music, yet the emotions are directed
to a higher purpose, as the intensity of love is raised to such heights that we realize
it is only the Infinite Beloved that can be its true object. Rather than escapism,

Islamic music is fundamentally a means of remembrance, of the limitless Peace

or the passionate Love of the Real.
In this way, whereas nearly all contemporary music, classical or popular, is
horizontal, bringing forth interminable benign or even harmful emotional
responses in the soul, traditional Islamic music is vertical. It is like the
sacred alif of the Divine Name, discussed at great length for centuries by Muslim
mystics and philosophers alike. It points us towards the transcendent, towards the
Life beyond this life, and inculcates in us the yearning for the Beloved from whom
we have been separated. And sometimes it even lifts us in celestial ascent towards
the Beloved Himself.
In many ways, the qualities of Islamic music that we have been discussing are
common to all Islamic arts: imbued with the spirit of the Quran, passed on
through traditions of cultivation of the soul from master to disciple, and crafted
to bring us back to the remembrance of God. Yet Islamic music possesses another
characteristic that distinguishes it from arts such as the architecture of the mosque
or the recitation of the Quran, and which is deeply significant for the world we
live in today. Islamic music has a unique power to speak to all members of
humanity, regardless of faith. The wisdom of Islamic music springs from and
speaks to a wordless harmony that is found in the depths of the souls of all people,
the fitrah itself. Because of this common harmony, Islamic music has always
absorbed those pre-Islamic musical traditions that were in conformity with its
deeper spirit, be it in Persia or Indonesia. The integrity of the transmission of
Islamic musical traditions and the living presence of masters who embody the
values of these traditions make Islamic music an outstanding representative of the
values of spiritual cultivation, the remembrance of the transcendent, and the
ability to live in harmony with our environment. These are values that humanity
cannot bear to live without in a world that is growing ever more disharmonious
and forgetful of its Origin.

My own musical journey, the gradual deepening of awareness of what makes our
music truly Islamic, has been nothing short of a journey of growth and cultivation
personally. I have tried my best to inculcate my humble work with the qualities
described above to the best of my understanding and ability at each stage in my
quest. But more importantly, it has been my intention to remind my listeners of
these elements, to help them also to value the thought and reflection that goes
into creating a work that carries within it that resonant Quranic spirit. It is
undoubtedly an ongoing journey of discovery and a great distance remains to be
traversed. Much more work remains to be done, both academically and artistically
an endeavor I hope is taken seriously if we wish to preserve our heritage and
deepen our art for the present and future generations.
Young Muslims of today need to have humility when entering this field if they are
truly eager to call their music Islamic. They must understand that the sincere
apprenticeship to our traditions and the assimilation of their spirit must come
before innovation anddawah (proselytizing), no matter how good the intentions
may be. Truth must never be mixed with error, for all this will do is create the
tribulations of fitnah and confusion. Being a Halal alternative to the latest pop
sensation does not qualify music as being Islamic. This trend of distorting our
traditions to suit the passing fancies of the times can only lead to a loss of not
only what has been passed down to us but also our sense of who we really are.
Authentic Islamic music is not and cannot be indifferent to either its own form
or its content. It is fully conscious of its Origin and Source, which is the Truth,
the One and only Reality, Allah. Whether this awareness is reflected in explicit
terms that are drawn from the Quran or drawn in other dimensions of our human
existence, it remains graceful and dignified; the form of the music itself reflects
the harmonious inner spirit of its message. The intention is for the listener and
the composer to be drawn back to the depths of their own being, at the heart of
which is the sacred presence of the All-Compassionate. Islamic music neither

settles for frivolous lyrics that corrode our minds nor empty beats that only
stimulate our impulses rather than our deeper thirst for joy and for life. Music is
a gift sent from heaven as a sacred trust to remind us of the Truth. Let us continue
as our forefathers did in absorbing the wisdom, knowledge and unbelievable
repertoire passed onto us and, with humility, innovating with the musicians
unique God-given voice. Only then will what we create be a unique and yet
nonetheless authentic and Islamic music, which ultimately brings about the
remembrance of Allah the Centre of all.
WaLlahu Alam.
Sami Yusuf