MUSIC: WHAT IS EVIL LOOKS GOOD

BY : AHMAD MUSA JIBRIL

"Habibty, please mama, wear this hijab for me for five minutes? Please, just for five minutes?" pleaded the mother. The mother had a sorry look on her face. She seemed overwhelmed by the rebellion in her 8 year old daughter's eyes. "No! It's ugly! It does not match my pink pants!" Rasha responded as she crouched back in the corner of the leather sofa. Back and forth, back and forth the bargaining droned on.

Embarrassment appeared on her parents' faces as I stood there witnessing in silent shock. The little girl refused to wear what seemed to her as just a piece of cloth, up until her baba bribed her to wear it for a measly five minutes. Hearing the words "I will buy you a new toy if you do", the little girl's face finally lit up.

She tugged his arm and said in a small voice, "Baba is our visitor riding with us in the car? I wanna show her my new Sami Yusuf CD." I visited an old family friend I had not seen in many years. I became sorrowful to find that they too had been affected by the wave of corruption that plagues Muslims in the west today.

As my visit went on, it dawned upon me that the couple had also done something strange in their deen. Five years ago, both were clad in full modest clothing waving the banner of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Today, they live on a mortgage and a conscious effort to make their children blend into the western society. They genuinely believed they were improving and doing the right things.

My afternoon finally ended with a ride to a family dinner. The car speakers blasted a blend of Arabic musical instruments and the words of dhikr, the latest "Islamic" CD that's hit the shelves. The little 8 year old girl sitting next to me winded about her hips to the music.

At that moment, I realized what was killing this little girl's heart from loving Allah and His messenger.

Watching her imitate half-naked women she has seen on television while doing dhikr of Allah, it was made clear to me the direction her parents were taking their Islam- the confusing version. The little girl was unsure about her Islam, therefore her rebellion no longer came as a shock to me.

I imagined myself living at the time of the prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and telling the people that there will come a day when all the faire and flair of musical instruments of jahiliyah will be merged with the dhikr of Allah. I imagined the reaction, and realized that we have come to that.

Music. The shaitan, indeed, makes what is good look evil and what is evil look good.

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