Religion and Music: It's A Contest In Idiocy; Who Proves To Be A Greater Fool!

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 14 August 2023 There's no gainsaying the fact that music-before-mosque has been the biggest irritant and agent provocateur in communal riots for the last 150 years. Now music and festivity are dove-tailed in Hindu India. Come to Maharashtra during Ganeshotsav. Any sane person will start crying with a palpable sense of helplessness and anguish. It's like the Big-Bang happening constantly for the ten days of Ganeshotsav. Other festivals are also equally noisy and nauseous. Drumming, music and noise are the main and major constituents of all Hindu festivals. What was initiated by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1894 has become a nuisance. Tilak, who hated Muslims much more than he disliked the Brits, is a revered character among the Brahmins of Maharashtra. That apart, Muslims are also to be blamed. When they know that brainless and communal Hindus are provoking them with music, why on earth do they get provoked? If a dog bites you, do you bite it back? Moreover, who says, music is prohibited in Islam? Does the Quran state anywhere in its 6, 234 verses that music is Haram? That music is Haram an injunction supposedly based on an inauthentic Hadees (in fact, all Hadees or Muhammad's garbled teachings are dubious). Music echoes the sounds of the cosmos, and our souls love it because those moments of treble and bass evoke the universal harmony of which they were a part long before our current birth. What's Marsiya-Khwani (dirge singing) in Arabic Islamic culture? Isn't it music, albeit elegiac by nature? I read somewhere, the Sufi mystic Rumi extolled the sacred beauty and majesty of music and often led his congregants in religious chants and songs all night long. One night, a conservative practitioner joined the congregation but became so uncomfortable with the singing, music, and drumming that he finally burst out in protest," What's all this singing and singing?!" Rumi replied, " It's the sound of the creaking of the doors of Paradise." "Well, I hate the sound of creaking," cried the outraged man. Rumi answered back, "That's because when you hear the sound of creaking, for you the doors of Paradise are closing! " To cut the matter short, whether Hindus or Muslims, all are primitive in understanding the gist of their respective faiths. If Hindus are playing blaring music during their countless religious festivals, Muslims are shunning it because they erroneously think that their Islam prohibits it. It's a contest in idiocy; who proves to be a greater fool! ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/music-indian-festivals-mosques/d/130443 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism