The power of dhikr:
“We’re just beginning the processes,” Bono told The Independent. “We did some recording in Morocco last year. All the band went to an amazing religious music festival in Fez with some incredible sufi singers. It was a real humbling thing for a punk-rock shouter, listening to these people who just close their eyes for 40 minutes and sing the most sophisticated melodies.” - Bono, band member of U2
SubhanAllah! Can you imagine millions of people who will be listening to some beautiful poetry praising Allah (swt) and sending salawat upon Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)!? Although many of you will shout out haram. It’s not haram for a non-Muslim to use it for their music. It’s also not haram for the millions of non-Muslims to listen to the Sufi melodies. Who knows, maybe some will want to investigate more about Sufism and then start studying Islam. Only Allah knows if this will be a bridge for people to come to Islam.
Shout out to Chuck who posted it on his blog.
Source: Yahoo News
53 Responses for "U2’s new Album will feature Moroccan Sufi Music!"
lol may Allah reward you for your intention bro.
awesome, subhanAllah.
what we dont want is a backlash! who knows how they are going to ‘use’ the sufi-music (with Allah and the Prophets name in it)… we had the danish cartoon, sudan doll, and now the bono controversy!??
We’ll have to find out, but I doubt it will be used in a negative way. Probably just used as a interlude track on the album. Meaning it will be a 30 second clip of some dhikr on the CD in between the songs.
Allah knows best, for Allah is the best of planners.
Hope insh’Allah many people want to know more about islam when they will listen to dhikr on the U2’s cd!!!!INSH’ALLAH!!!!
right, let’s see this for what it is on our front, an opportunity for people to become interested in Islam
Alsalamualaikum,
Br. Amir, not sure I follow your logic. Are you saying that even if one were to consider sufi melodies haram, “It’s not haram for a non-Muslim to use it for their music. It’s also not haram for the millions of non-Muslims to listen to the Sufi melodies”?
NOTE: I’m not questioning the permissibility of sufi and/or pop music, just trying to follow your train of thought.
The logic is, there is difference of opinion whether or not the Muslims can listen to it. When it comes to the non-Muslims they can listen to it with no problem. There really isn’t much logic to what I mean. All I’m saying is the non-Muslims can listen to Sufi music all they want.
akhi explain how you think this will bring ppl close to islam whilst Allahs name being being mentioned with musical instruments and yet worse Kuffars exploiting this to make money and get publicity. and the differences of opinion of listening to music within islam well…no such thing! the 4 great school thoughts where all against it even Abu Bakre sadiq (r.a) disliked it! read the notes below akhi
so is it ok To sing with musical instruments?
Firstly: In the narration found in Bukhari it states that when Abu Bakr entered the house he said: Is this the Mizmaarah (voice/instrument)of shaytan next to the Prophet?! to which the Prophet made his reply.
The fact that the Prophet(saw) did not rebuke Abu Bakr for understanding (i.e. that music is from shaytan = thus haram) that what he saw was prohibited indicates that the general ruling of music is that it is Haram.
However, the Prophet (saw) made an exception in this case.
Secondly: After determining that the original ruling on music is that it is prohibited, we have to determine the exception and whether we can extend the exception to other scenarios.
The Prophet (Saw) said in response to Abu Bakr that it is a time of eid, hence he should leave them singing. And in another narration he said: da’huma fa-innaha ayyaamu ‘eed.
Here the Prophet used the word ‘inna’ which is loosely translated as ‘verily’. This term according to the scholars of Usul is used to dertermine the ‘illah or the legal reasoning behind a ruling. Thus the ruling will revolve around this legal reasoning. The statement that always comes after the term inna usually, if not always, explicitly states the legal reasoning. Therefore the legal reasoning in this narration that permits the singing/duff is the fact that it was ‘eid: ‘fa innaha ayyaamu ‘eed.
Therefore, according to the principles in usul, this legal reasoning is qaasirah i.e. restricted. This is because the Prophet specifically mentioned the day of eid and no other. Hence, one could ask, is it allowed to make qiyaas (anology) to extend this exception to others days/events as some have?
so is it ok To sing with musical instruments?
The answer is no. This is because in order to do such a thing the legal resoning cannot be qaasirah i.e. restricted rather it has to be muta’addiyah (unrestricted). This is a principle that scholars of Usul are united upon. (NOTE: There are other circumstances that the Prophet (saw) also specifically allowed the use of duffs. e.g. weddings, war etc)
Mystical music might apparently seem to bring one closer to Allah, but that doesnt justify it. Ends do not justify means in all matters especially matters of worship. Take the classic example of the three men who wanted to become close to Allah by fasting all day, not comming to women and praying all night. Their intentions were sincere, but their actions did not conform to the shariah hence the Prophet rebuked them for that.
Fudayl ibn Iyaad said: “Verily, if an action was done sincerely for the sake of Allah but was not correct, it will not be accepted by Allah. And if the action was correct but not done sincerely it will not be accepted until the act is sincere and correct.
For it to be sincere, it has to be done for the sake of Allah, and in order for it to be correct, it has to agree to the sunnah.”
( notes taken from Brother Ustadh Alomgir)
ahmned.a(london) - There is nothing from the Qur’an and Sunnah that prohibits the use of Dhikr by non-Muslims whether it be with music or without music.
U2 is a non-Muslim band if you do not know.
You asked me how will this bring non-Muslims to Islam? Only Allah guides whom he wills. All I am saying is that when the non-Muslims listen to the album and hear the Sufi music, they may want to inquire what they are saying and what they mean. Upon researching it they me find Islamic websites and they may be interested in learning about Islam.
That’s all I’m saying. There is nothing haram about it.
My advice to the uptight DIY legal dept. above and anyone confused by the subject is to just go to Fez (or anywhere else in North Africa), find the singers, relax and join in. This is what you are meant to do. The ulema of Morocco have always condoned Moroccan Andalusian singing as it is fundamentally praise of the Prophet and God, both which are commanded in the Qur’an, Also to do it beautifully is to please God as the famous hadith states. So if Bono goes to Fez, then marhaba, he is only taking a step nearer to God. Musical instruments or not.
thats awesome. U2 is a great band!
I cant wait for their album!!!!
That would be SO COOL. If any of this stuff had a basis in the Qur’an or Sunnah.
i dont think you quite understood my post , my concern was not dhikr rather you looked past what i was trying to get you to understand never mind.
What I have said regarding the article and U2 using Sufi music applies to the non-Muslims (their fans) who will be listening to it. Nothing I say applies to the Muslims.
Allah knows best.
you then said this will bring ppl close to islam? and then you went on to say there is differences of opinion with the issue of music which led me on to think its ok to have dikhr and music alongside each other correct? forget the non muslims for the moment.
Yeah the non-Muslims who will listen to it, may wonder what they are saying. So they will investigate. I’m just guessing it will bring non-Muslims to Islam and inshaAllah, convert after studying.
Again, my post has nothing to do with Muslims.
understand
the non-muslims who listen and convert will become sufis lol. how will that help them??
haram for muslims = haram for everyone.
all hail mufti amir mujahideen thrall ryder.
I don’t think that’s the point. You would not be able to initially reach someone by telling them music is haram, and U2’s music won’t magically turn them into Muslims, but it CAN create interest. This does not have to be such a big deal
If they are not Muslim they are in a state of kufr, thus no Islamic law applies to them.
A Kafir is a Kafir. Kufr leads to the hellfire. Who gives a damn what a kafir does. They can do all the haram they want.
good grief.
Muslims are ridiculous.
The beautiful Sufi Music might spark some interest in Islam.
That’s a GOOD thing for all the slow ones among you readers out there.
Remember when the first Muslims had Islam introduced to them they were introduced tawheed, not rules. remember the hadith of aicha that says that if islam was introduced forbidding zina the people would have said that they would never give up zina.
rules were introduced in medina which was like 10 years after islam first came!!!!
all that matters at first is la ilaha ila Allah muhamaddan rasoolAllah!
let the rest come later. because as soon as they are safe from shirk, then they are safe from eternal punishment…
good grief.
People need to really examine the way they see this religion.
Instead of being like ahem people should only be interested in islam in a way based on quran and sunnah.
So Amir suggests maybe that some people might maybe become somewhat interested in Islam by teh incorporation of some nice Islamic music by this popular non-Muslim band.
And you get a stream of commentary of why musical instruments are haram.
Only Muslims!
LOL!
I love you all.
By the way: Go Morocco!
I’m so proud.
thats not what i am getting at.
MR and those who are pro-u2-using-sufi-music are promoting something HARAM. if a kafir listens to music, or a muslim listens to music, it is haram. the music in and of itself is haram, regardless of whose eardrums it rattles.
I’m not promoting the album. In fact, if I do listen to haram music, its def. not U2. I’m a hip hop type of person. I just thought it was interesting that they were going to add Sufi music to their album.
Subhanallah.
Its only fitting that (in my opinion) the greatest rock band ever (coincidentally from Europe) is sampling Moroccan music, when it was in fact Muslims from Morocco/Spain who introduced the guitar to Europe!
Oh no? Muslims brought the guitar to Europe? How can that be???
“Instead of Rock and Roll, it should be called ‘Moroccan Roll’” - Shaykh Hamza Yusuf (On the Muslim origins of the basic beat of rock and roll music; the basic 4-2-4 beat is based on La-ilaha-il-Allah (SWT))
MR- i didnt say you were promoting there music, i said you were pro-”u2-using-sufi-music”. there is a difference there thrall.
SubhanAllah!
I don’t know what you’re thanking but if you’re going to be that thankful or u2, I will assume you pray alot and fast alot for the greater blessings much better than u2.
Can you imagine millions of people who will be listening to some beautiful poetry praising Allah (swt) and sending salawat upon Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)!?
Um…What is there to imagine. You listen to music. What’s the difference to them?
Although many of you will shout out haram. It’s not haram for a non-Muslim to use it for their music.
Since when did you decide that it’s halal for non-Muslims to listen to music? Or wait, maybe their Lord isn’t Allah…Or maybe Islam wasn’t a universal message for mankind.
It’s also not haram for the millions of non-Muslims to listen to the Sufi melodies. Who knows, maybe some will want to investigate more about Sufism and then start studying Islam. Only Allah knows if this will be a bridge for people to come to Islam.
Great way to invite people to Islam. Gee…I wonder why the Prophet stood on a mountain to call people to Islam rather than sing a song about Pre-Islamic sort of things…
Great way to legalize music, revolutionize Dawah techniques and make you’re self look confused.
Idiot said:
If they are not Muslim they are in a state of kufr, thus no Islamic law applies to them.
A Kafir is a Kafir. Kufr leads to the hellfire. Who gives a damn what a kafir does. They can do all the haram they want.
@ Idiot
Yes, your comment that “kaafirs” don’t get Islamic law applied to them…go and do some research please before you make a blanket judgment….
I think all this excitement at the prospect of Sufi music on a U2 album is premature and probably misunderstood….here is more of what Bono had to say..
He added: “We got this little riad, a small hotel with a courtyard in
the middle and set up the band there, with a square of sky over our
head. The two great catalysts of U2’s recording life, [producers] Brian
Eno and Daniel Lanois, joined us. We’d record during the day and then
disappear into windy streets of the medina at night. It was an
inspiring experience and a drummer’s paradise.”
The singer said the band are now working through those demos during the
French sessions and that while the new record is not world music, he
promised fans would “feel the difference”.
“U2 in dancefloor shock!” joked Bono. “Normally when you play a U2
tune, it clears the dancefloor. And that may not be true of this.
There’s some trance influences. But there’s some very hardcore guitar
coming out of The Edge. Real molten metal. It’s not like anything we’ve
ever done before, and we don’t think it sounds like anything anyone
else has done either.”
He explained that fans might even get more than they bargained for.
“We have enough material for two albums but it has to be
extraordinary,” he explained. “And I think we’ve got that”
There you go, he said its not world music. I would be very surprised if it was hard core Sufi music - if it was - U2 would probably lose alot of fans and they are too business savvy to do that.
The idea whether or not Bono U2 will have it in their song is a waste of time. Only people that have so much time on their hands would delve with knowledge that benefits neither us in this life or the hereafter.
rihla: you cleared up u2’s intentions, but what about thrall’s fatwa?
I have no idea what thrall’s “fatwa” is (assuming he is qualified to pass fatwas). His point if there is one, isn’t very clear to me.
I didn’t pass any fatwa.
Some of you need to get a life. Seriously. It’s just a news article that I blogged sharing a thought. You take it like a some magnificent graduate thesis paper on non-Muslims using music made my Muslims. Chill out! SubhanAllah.
On a side note, I personally find Bono a little unpalatable ever since I saw a pic of him holidaying with Tony Blair and issuing a statement saying the thing he admired the most about Blair was the fact he stood up for what he believed in despite all the opposition. Is that right Bono? It still doesn’t take away from the fact that Blair is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, whatever his motives were. And what about the 2 million people who took to the streets of London to protest the war? Don’t you admire them? Don’t their beliefs count for anything?
I don’t think I’ll be buying the new album.
thrall, you said:
“It’s not haram for a non-Muslim to use it for their music. It’s also not haram for the millions of non-Muslims to listen to the Sufi melodies.”
if that’s not a fatwa then i don’t know what is.
Muhammad Ibn Sereen: “This knowledge is a matter of deen, so be careful who you take your deen from.”
rihla: youre right about bono. i hate him more then Bush. standing alongside blair and saying that he stood for his beliefs is, in essence, not standing for your own.
It’s not a fatwa.
back yourself up with some knowledge.
youre obviously stating that something is not haram. what proof do you have of that (considering the proof that goes against what you said)?
Since when do you need a fatwa for kuffar to do haram? its not haram for a kafir to do haram. or is it? who cares about the kuffar?
uh…you are wrong…
idiot…what a suitable name.
the kuffar are not supposed to do haram. does that mean we can stop them? no, but it is still haram.
i can take that logic and say it is not haram for the christians to worship Isa, because they are christians and therefore they can do haram, therefore the worship of Isa for the christians is not haram.
of course only an idiot would believe and follow such a train of thought. the same applies for music!
thrall?
i see a lot of you out there arguing your case against musical instruments. there is a hadeeth in which the prophet muhammad sal allahu alayhi was salaam states there will be some from among my ummah, who will make zina, wine and musical instruments halal. also he mentioned there will be some from among his ummah who will say we did not find anything regarding this in the quran. this all stems back to the people taking their nafs as their ilah, and their most beloved ilah. it makes you wonder how many of those who say they love allah and his messenger and truly muslims. may allah guide us to the straight path.
everyone knows sufis have nothing to do with islam. thats why whenever people talk about muslims they just say muslims and when people talk about sufis they say sufis. even the non-muslims know sufi and muslim is two completely different things. all these people do is sing and dance and puja like the hindus. no namaz or nothing and they dont like to work, they beg and begging is haram!!! the only real muslim is sunni muslim, not shia or sufi those are just misguided people who think they are following the prophet (saw) but they follow shaytan and baghwan.
so you’re basically saying there’s no room for spirituality in islam.
everyone defines spirituality in a different way. its metaphysical, that is what makes it spiritual.
you can define it as tasawwuf. a salafi can define it as keeping to the sunnah and avoiding the bidah. for them it is spiritual.
there is no right answer. so dont assume YOUR definition (or that of YOUR shuyookh) of spirituality is the only one or the most correct.
brother i did not say anything bad against being spiritual. i am talking about the sufis spinning around in circle, singing and dancing. they pray to prophet(saw) and other imams. that is not islam to pray to anyone else but Allah. la ilaha ill Allah means you only pray to Allah, not muhammad(saw) or other imams. they do lots of weird stuff. making strange sounds and calling it zikr. they dont want muslims to read the quran just follow the sheikh. maybe not all sufi do this but that is what sufi is all about. sufi think they can be one with Allah. no one can be one with Allah, Allah is one and no one can be inside Allah or Allah cannot be inside anyone. that is only hindu belief.
right. there are many forms of spirituality, sufism being one of them.
Has anyone read any Rumi?
I’m an American kafir. I’m generally acquainted with Islam and one of the conduits was Sufi music, particularly that of Latif Bolat. If any band is capable of incorporating Sufi music with respect, I imagine it would be U2.
(Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time Sufis and Americans have made music together; Eddie Veddar (Pearljam) sang with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on the Dead Man Walking soundtrack).
Anyway, peace.
a fine example of Sufi music there brought to a mass audience. I like Nusrat and his nephew. Jeff Buckley was a fan.
I still don’t think U2 will incorporate sufi music, respectfully or otherwise. From my reading what they have learned from the Sufi’s is the different ‘technical’ approach to composition. Thats the level they are operating on. I don’t think they will venture away from the sound of their ‘rock and roll’ - it’ll just be put together in a different way.
Talk of the ‘kafir’ vs the believers here doesn’t help anyone I’m afraid.
yes, true…i was defending you.
I still don’t think U2 will incorporate sufi music, respectfully or otherwise. From my reading what they have learned from the Sufi’s is the different ‘technical’ approach to composition. Thats the level they are operating on. I don’t think they will venture away from the sound of their ‘rock and roll’ - it’ll just be put together in a different way.
In retrospect, you’re probably right — in reading the original article, they says: “There’s some trance influences. But there’s some very hardcore guitar coming out of the Edge. Real molten metal. It’s not like anything we’ve ever done before, and we don’t think it sounds like anything anyone else has done either.”
They have done some suprising things and taken some odd turns in their career — Rattle and Hum for instance featured seamless integration of black American gospel and blues. I’m eager to see what they do regardless.
Talk of the ‘kafir’ vs the believers here doesn’t help anyone I’m afraid.
I agree — the reference to myself as such was a glib response to some earlier comments, no offense to the host of this blog.
No offense was taken Christopher. Thanks for the comments.
wow.
i <3 Bono
Personally I’m looking forward to the album.
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