Which is a bigger sin, Smoking or Music?
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
OK Burhan,
Heres a tough one.
Between smoking
cigarettes & listening to music/songs , which is a bigger sin ?
(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above
statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and
statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
In the name of
Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah
guides none can misguide, and who-ever He allows to fall astray, none can guide
them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no
grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone,
and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of
His Messengers.
The truth of the matter is both,
smoking and music, are displeasing to Allah.
And whatever is displeasing to Allah Subhanah is a sin. Although neither smoking nor music are
regarded as ‘kabaair’ (major sins) in Islam, they are still sins and one must
strive to avoid both of them. There is an authentic narration where the Prophet
of Allah (saws) said, that if one does a minor sin repeatedly, it takes the
position of a major sin.
To directly answer your question
of which sin is bigger, it is very difficult to determine between two minor
sins, which one is bigger. For a
believer, both should be considered as sins and he should strive hard and beg
Allah to help him stay away from these sins.
It is not that one has to choose one of the two minor sins and do the
smaller one! Its best for the believer
to stay away from all things that are displeasing to His Creator… major and
minor!
Allah says in the Holy
Quran in Chapter 7 Surah Al-Ara’af verse 157: So, now Mercy has been assigned
to those who follow this Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whose mention they
shall find in the Torah and the Gospel. He (Mohamed (saws)) enjoins them to
do good and forbids them for evil. He
makes pure things ‘halaal’ for them and impure things ‘haraam’. He relieves them of their burdens and frees
them from the shackles that they bound themselves with (of customs and pagan
rituals).
Allah and His Messenger (saws)
declared all the pure things ‘halaal’ for the believers, and the impure things
‘haraam’. If something harms the body
or the soul, it will be considered impure and thus illegal in Islam. There is
absolutely no doubt that cigarettes harm the body, and music harms the soul;
thus both are forbidden to the believers.
Although cigarettes have not
been specifically mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah, the scholars are unanimous
that cigarette smoking is detrimental to ones body (which has been given as a
trust to the human being by Allah).
And thus it is a sin to abuse anything which Allah has bestowed upon His
slaves. Some scholars have even declared cigarette smoking ‘haraam’ in light of
the Quran and Sunnah.
Music (string/blowing instrument
music) has been specifically mentioned in the many ahaadiths of the Messenger
of Allah (saws) and has been termed the ‘handiwork of Shaitaan’. Music/songs that stir or arouse ones sexual
desires or propagate shirk are absolutely illegal and forbidden in Islam.
Whatever written of
Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever
of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows
Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.
May Allah guide you and us all
to the Straight Path of Islam.
Your Brother in Islam,
