Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Our local Islamic center, run by eager doctors and engineers with a silent imam’ is hosting an interfaith event soon and are planning to show a film called “God and Allah Need to Talk” produced by a non-Muslim woman Anyway, when I heard about this, I became concerned, in part because the film contains haram music and questionable content: “Artists who donated their time and talent at the event included Mitra, a singer from Iran, Alula, an Ethiopian singer, Stephen Longfellow Fiske, a peace activist and folk singer, Naser Musa, a Palestinian from Jordan, Yuval Ron, a composer and musician who performed with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, Jamie Papish, a percussionist, Stefani Valadez, singer and guitarist and the Ismaili Muslim Dance Troupe, which performed a traditional Iranian dance.” and contains haram footage
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah.
This is the ‘other’ face of neo-Salafism: every engineer and doctor feels able to make legal and religious judgments.
There is obvious need to have interfaith links and foster understanding and cooperation in shared causes, especially in these troubled times. However, such things should be done with wisdom, careful thought, and as part of a clear long-term plan of beneficial action. The guidance of learned scholars (such as Shaykh Zaid Shakir, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Mufti Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf, or others, on the West Coast) should be sought.
If music is “music is merely mathematical expressions, and mathematics itself clearly reflects ‘Allah’s Sunnah’ in creation,” then zina is merely physical expression of human affection and it too reflects what animals do by the observed sunna of Allah. However, this would ignore something important: that Allah honored humans with someone named the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and something called the Shariah… without these two, we leave the light of guidance and return to the darknesses of our human limitations and whims.
Why not contact Mufti Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf by phone (contact info at www.alrashad.com) and ask him for advice and guidance?
Do that which maximizes the good, with wisdom, while carefully avoiding any direct or indirect open fitna: avoiding likely harm is given precedence to attempting to achieve uncertain benefits.
Wassalam,
faraz@sunnipath.com
hanafi@sunnipath.com