Imām al-Ṭurtūshī: Enjoining Singing As A Religious Practice

By Maulvi Muhammad Yusuf

The Maliki imam Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Walīd ibn Muḥammad al-Qurashī al-Fihrī al-Andalusī better known as Imām al-Ṭurṭūshī or as Ibn Abī Randaqah (d. 520 / 1126; Alexandria) who was from Tortosa in Muslim Andalusia which was the citadel of Maliki Fiqh in those times wrote a small book in denunciation of the Sufi practice of samāʿ in the deviated form that he found it in his time and which applies equally to all forms of it today which involve singing and body movements whether it be dancing or jerking or rocking or swaying the head back and forth and in general any movement which comes under the term tawājud, defined as body movements intended to induce wajd, defined as “spiritual” states or intense feelings frequently referred to as states of ecstasy or reverence or awe or remorse. Imām al-Ṭurṭūshī wrote another book called Kitāb al-Ḥawādith wa al-Bidaʿ on the topic of bidāʿ on which the Shafi imam Abū Shāmah (d. 665 / 1268; Damascus) drew heavily for his book al-Bāʿith ʿalā Inkār al-Bidaʿ wa al-Ḥawādith, a classic on bidaʿ as did Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Qurṭubī (d. 656 / 1258; Alexandria) in his book Kashf al-Qināʿ ʿan Ḥukm al-Wajd wa al-Samāʿ in condemnation of samāʿ and Ibn al-Ḥājj (d. 737 / 1336; Cairo) in his book al-Madhkhal which was another long remonstration against the many forms of bidaʿ that had overrun the ummah at that time and so did al-Shāṭibī (d. 790 / 1388) in his al-Iʿtiṣām in denunciation of all forms of bidaʿ and all of them both referred to al-Ṭurṭūshī in terms of highest respect. In the outset of his booklet al-Ṭurṭūshī states:

وهذه الطائفة مخالفة لجماعة المسلمين لأنهم جعلوا الغناء دينا وطاعة ورأب إعلانه في المساجد والجوامع وسائر البقاع الشريفة والمشاهد الكريمة وليس في هذه الأمة من يرى هذا الرأي .

Now this faction is opposed to the jamāʿah of the Muslims [that is, the orthodox Muslims defined as those who follow what the Companions laid down as the correct beliefs and practices] because they made singing religion [that is, a religious practice] and obedience to Allah [in other words they implied of necessity that Allah prescribed this and commanded it] and held that it should be announced in the mosques and central mosques and in all holy places and in the mausoleums , but there are none from the ummah [ referring to the orthodox imams and scholars] who hold such opinion [that such is a religious practice].

Source : al-faqih.com