Islam with all its Ahkaam – the Shariah – is more than fourteen centuries old. Islam was not handed to the Ummah as an ambiguous concept to be interpreted by each successive generation to suit the whims and fancies of the wildly fluctuating vagaries of the nafs. The further we journey from the age of Nubuwwat, the greater is the degree of degeneration and corruption. The process of moral and intellectual decadence as evidenced by history is undoubtedly incremental. Allah Ta’ala has not allowed His Inviolable Shariah to suffer a process of degeneration in the way man’s morals have suffered. The purity of the Shariah has been maintained throughout the long corridor of Islam’s history. The Qur’aan guarantees this purity:“Verily, We have revealed The Thikr (the Qur’aan—Allah’s Law) and, verily We are its Protectors.” Every law, teaching, belief, custom and practice of Islam enjoy a sacred antiquity which is linked to Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) by an unbroken Chain of narration which has been reliably and authentically transmitted from one generation to the other. And so on will the process be perpetuated until the Last Day.

Any idea which is bereft of this peculiar attribute of antiquity is not Islam. It is not part of the Inviolable Shariah. It will not be an immutable Hukm of Allah Ta’ala. Any person who questions the validity of a Shar’i injunction which enjoys the antiquity linked to Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), does so at the peril of scuttling his Imaan. When Allah and His Rasool have issued a verdict, everything besides such Divine ruling is kufr. Declaring this Fatwa, the Qur’aan Majeed states:

“Then We have established you on a Shariah with regards to (all) affairs (of life). Therefore, follow it (the Divine Shariah). And, do not follow the vain desires of those who know not.”

Since there is absolutely no scope for a re-interpretation of the Shariah’s prohibition of music and musical instruments, or for any law of Islam, those who venture attempts motivated by the desire to abrogate the fourteen century Shar’i ban on the voice and instruments of shaitaan, are in fact renouncing their Imaan. Refutation of even a single item on which Allah and His Rasool have issued their verdict is kufr – kufr which expels its proponent from the fold of Islam.