Islam and music
Relationship between Islam and music / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The relationship between Islam and music has long been a complex and controversial matter.[1][2][3][4][5] Some Muslims believe that the Qur'an and Sunnah prohibit music (instruments and singing);[6] however, other Muslims disagree and believe that some forms of music are permitted.[2][7][8] Despite this controversy, music has been popular and flourished at various times and places in the Islamic world, often in palaces and private homes to avoid censorship.[9]
In many parts of the Muslim world devotional/religious music and secular music is well developed and popular. In recent decades, "the advent of a whole new generation of Muslim musicians who try to blend their work and faith", has given the issue "extra significance".[10]
Historically, Islamic art and music flourished during the Islamic Golden Age,[11][12][13] yet it continued to flourish until the 19th century in the Ottoman, Safavi, and Mughal Empires. Ottoman music in particular developed into a diverse form of art music. Islamic music is also credited with influencing European and Western music; for example, French musicologist Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger in his assessment of the Abbasid Caliphate in Islamic history credits Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi's Kitabu l'musiqi al-kabir ("The Great Book of Music") with this influence.[14]