Why don’t the mullahs want us to enjoy life? Most of the time (like, when they aren’t stuffing themselves up with high-cholesterol food), they talk about what we should or shouldn’t do to avoid suffering the tortures of the damned after we’re dead. That means we should avoid listening to music, watching TV, reading newspapers, in fact not do anything which will divert our attention from what they’re preaching. And in the month of fasting, every preacher talks as if he has the keys to the gates of heaven. If you donate to his mosque or madressah, you’ll be welcomed in paradise seconds after your soul leaves your body. But if you watch TV or read the newspaper, your town will be struck by an earthquake even if all the men living there are pious people with long beards. So for your sins, your neighbours will also suffer. Just where is the logic in all this? Haven’t we been told ever since we were kids that the time of our death has been fixed before we were born, and we cannot die before our appointed time even if ten earthquakes or tsunamis strike wherever we are?
Since newspapers were non-existent in the seventh century, I don’t know why it should be a sin to read them. As for the common perception that listening to music is forbidden, it should be borne in mind that in the early days of Islam, there was only one place where a person could go and listen to music: a “maikhana†(a place like a bar) where you could also drink alcohol. Moreover, the number of things which are “haram†(forbidden) are clearly stated in the Holy Quran, and listening to music is not one of them. And if there are any doubts on the subject, here is something from Sahi Bukhari:
Sahih Al-Bukhari HadithHadith 2.72 Narrated byAisha
Abu Bakr came to my house while two small Ansari girls were singing beside me the stories of the Ansar concerning the Day of Buath. And they were not singers. Abu Bakr said protestingly, “Musical instruments of Satan in the house of Allah’s Apostle !” It happened on the ‘Id day and Allah’s Apostle said, “O Abu Bakr! There is an ‘Id for every nation and this is our ‘Id.”
I hope this will be enough to convince the doubters that listening to music and enjoying life are not sins.
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