The Argument for Singing and Its Answer

Question

If the Messenger of Allah ﷺ listened to sama‘ (singing), permitted it to the girls of the Ansar, and watched the play of the Abyssinians in the mosque — and that was singing — then this act should not be idle amusement (lahw): that is far from the dignity of the Prophet ﷺ. Shall we call it mustahabb, or mubah? Or are the hadiths of prohibition later, so that the permissibility is to be regarded as abrogated (mansukh)?

Answer

The little girls of the Ansar were singing something, and the Prophet ﷺ did not forbid them; to argue from this for the singing of adults is far-fetched, because those girls were not mukallaf (legally responsible). The play of the Abyssinians in the mosque was a display of fighting skills.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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