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Fatwa CenterListening to song with music to learn melody
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. I read in one of your fatwas that it is not allowed to listen to a song which has permissible lyrics but contains music even if the aim is to learn the song since the song can be learned by reading. What does not want to learn only the lyrics but also the tune and melody (the way it is sung) of the song? Is it allowed to listen to it in that case? He will sing it without music afterwards. And can one hear songs with music irrespective of the lyrics if his aim is to learn the basics of singing so that he can sing better without music?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
It is not permissible to listen to music regardless of whether one wants to learn the lyrics or the melody and musical tones. A person must protect his hearing from what Allah has forbidden and try to be among the servants of Allah whom He praised, saying (what means): {And when they hear ill speech, they turn away from it and say: For us are our deeds, and for you are your deeds. Peace will be upon you; we seek not the ignorant.} [Quran 28:55]
Allah also says (what means): {And [they are] those who do not testify to falsehood, and when they pass near ill speech, they pass by with dignity.} [Quran 25:72]
Muhammad ibn Al-Hanafiyyah 
said, “Ill speech (in the verse) means singing.” The Muslim should not waste his time learning the melodies and singing tones which were invented by dissolute singers. Ibn Al-Qayyim said when speaking about melodious singing, “What there is of it is a profession, and it is not part of man's nature; rather, it is only achieved after struggling, endeavoring to learn it, and training in it, such as learning to sing to simple and compound melodies according to specific rhythms and invented tones, which can only be learned after exerting effort. This is what the Salaf (righteous predecessors) disliked and dispraised…”
Allah knows best.
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