Here is a link to an article about Maria Ulfah

http//www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200003/recited.from.the.heart.htm

Why should we not conccentrate on the music???

salam,

Because the Qur'an has meanings for a reason. We have tto reflect on those meanings.

http//www.sparklywater.com/files/flash/presentations/nur.html

Brothers and sisters whoever knows the Index site for this webpage please let me know - it's great for people to read in English while listening to the recitation.

salam,

you can download that and other presentations at this link under the 'Flash Presentations' category

http//www.sparklywater.com/sparklywater/downloads.html

Another video of Mais Shalash performing live

http//i83.imagethrust.com/i/1260952/shalashardstar2.jpg

( http//uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xkN0KOLUYFE )

And God tells us not to speak without knowledge. That is what happens when people throw opinions of what hadeeth says and make generalizations without understanding the language of hadeeth. If scholars adopted anti women stances, then it is not because of hadeeth, but because of men making the judgement. They would have arrived at the same conclusion whether they were hadeeth followers or Qur'an aloners.

salam,

Every single Qur'an-alone person I've come across knows the anti-women nature of the Hadith, and that is not my own opinion but a fact that you too would know if you had studied the Hadith enough. I am yet to find a single Qur'an-alone person who has an anti-women attitude in them like Sunnis do, and I'm not surprised at all because the Qur'an teaches equality and justice between men and women whereas the Hadith are quite the opposite and teach a degrading and subservient role of women. And of-course I AM making a generalisation about Hadith, and rightly so because IN GENERAL THE HADITH ARE ANTI-WOMEN IN THEIR TEXT AND MEANING AND MANY CONTRADICT WITH VERSES FROM THE QUR'AN. This is not only a matter of interpretation; any person with a grasp of the Qur'an will realise the anti-women nature of the Hadith.

wasalam

A fatwa by definition of Sunni law, is a non binding religious or legal opinion of a scholar. A person can take it or leave it. The ruler can chose to enforce a Fatwa, but by Sunni thought, it will always be subject to challenge if a rival opinion came through and that depended on sound grounds. Sound grounds would be based on Qur'anic understanding and critique of relevant hadeeth, either through presenting potential weakness in it or presenting alternative understanding of what it indicates or through presenting alternative hadeeths with stronger cases that may be talking about an alternative.

salam,

A fathwa may or may not be non-binding; that does not change the fact that the mufthis base their fathwas on their Hadith and the opinions in the fathwas reflect the mentality they have adopted from reading the anti-women Hadith. So there's no point in mentioning that a fathwa is supposed to be non-binding IF A FATHWA IS EVIL THEN IT IS SPREADING EVIL. We all have a duty to forbid the evil so we have to look beyond people's own definitions of things and realise the evil that they breed.

wasalam

I think we are talking about different undertsandings when we mention "fatwa". I understand it as a legal, official opinion that calls for a law to implement it. It should, therefore, be issued by an official body. What you mean is a mere opinion. Since women voice is heard on TV's and workplaces, it means that no legal fatwa has yet been issued, or that the prevailing understanding has not been endorsed as legal or has to be applied. There isn't even a suggested punishment for women who raise their voices or any mention of any of them by name.

salam,

I was referring to the kind of fathwa which is issued by mufthis all over the world; they may be mere opinions of these mufthis but the Muslims who follow these mufthis take these fathwas as undeniable Law which must be implemented. The type of fathwa you are talking about only exists in the countries which are run by Sunni Muslims themselves, and does not affect the rest of world not following such a system. Just because some countries are being run by Sunni Muslims does not make their fathwas any more 'official' or 'legal', because the fact is that it is in their teachings to ban women's voice and they do ban women in the countless fathwas issued by mufthis all around the world. What matters is that the Muslims are following these fathwas and are being affected by them, so the question of what happens in some 'Muslim' countries is irrelevant.

wasalam

Do you know of any fatwa that has/had been issued against any female singer?

salam,

Those fathwas are not One; they are everywhere! If you go to any fathwa-website and search on women's voice, you are sure to find fathwas prohibiting the women's voice. For example, you can take a look at the following fathwa on one of the most popular fathwa-websites

http//qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=1&ID=1321&CATE=88

It is a very good point to mention that they have also banned women from reciting the Qur'an like the male Qaris do, and this is due to the very same reason as why they ban women from singing. In the following fathwa, both singing AND reciting the Qur'an is being banned in one shot, using the same excuse that the women's voice 'leads to fithna'

http//qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=1&ID=1361&CATE=88

I also recently posted those nasheed-videos on two other forums, and the Sunni moderators at those forums immediately DELETED and removed my threads because of the influence of these anti-women fathwas. One of these moderators actually posted links to the fathwas I mentioned above, which shows that these fathwas provide a blanket-ban on ALL women's voice being used for ANY purpose, even if it is being used for such a noble purpose as reciting the Qur'an. So I'm not sure why you are asking for a fathwa which has been issued against a single female singer in the Arab world? The issue is much broader than that because their fathwas rule the WHOLE female population not just one or two individuals.

wasalam

In fact they are more encouraged to do religious songs than ordinary, sentimental songs. And definitely political singing is not frowned upon...

salam,

Maybe I should have made clear; I am referring to singers who usually sing songs which would be classed as 'religious' or spiritual, or about a good political / moral message. In other words, I was referring to singers who only focus on this kind of songs, and I was not referring to singers who always sing 'love-songs' but occasionally happen to write a spiritual one. The type of singers I am referring to are the ones listed on that website www.thenasheedshop.com. These are the singers which Muslims accept as being legitimite Nasheed-singers, and many of these singers have their own websites, like www.samiyusuf.com and www.zainbhikha.com. But until today, these Muslims have not accepted a single Muslim woman into this category of Nasheed-singers despite their talents, and this is because of their Sunni teachings from Hadith and their corrupt mentality against the nature of women in general.

Thanks for the links.

wasalam

Also, who told you women do not sing in Muslim/Arab countries, or are restricted from singing? In fact they are more encouraged to do religious songs than ordinary, sentimental songs. And definitely political singing is not frowned upon, even by sunnis. There is countless number of female singers in all fields. Nobody issued fatwas against them, to my knowledge, so far. This might sound like a paradox, but it is a fact.

salam,

Can you please show me one or two links to such 'religious songs' or Nasheeds sung by Muslim women the ones which you speak of? Most Muslims, at-least here in the West, frown upon and ban women from singing publicly because they class the woman's voice as 'awrah' ie. something that must not be heard by the men. This of-course has no basis in the Qur'an, but is what their Hadith and scholars teach. For example, take a look at this famous nasheed-shop online www.thenasheedshop.com , and you will see that every single Nasheed-singer listed is male. There are frequently Nasheed-concerts and events held in the West, like www.theglobalunity.com, and not ever will you find a female singer performing on-stage, because this to them is totally haram, as the woman's voice would be 'beautified' to the men. And most of the fathwas do ban women from singing publicly; can you please show me a fathwa which has allowed this? Yusuf Al-Qaradawi has been an exception to this, and the singer Mays Shalash actually went to this sheikh to get a verdict on her singing in public.

wasalam

This is a mere political call to the free world not to forget them, and is telling about their sufferings and how they are being oppressed. Not even a mention of God or Allah. Could be sung by someone of any faith or even faithless. But her voice is beautiful and the song is nice.

salam,

A Nasheed does not necessarily have to mention the word 'God', or refer to specific 'Islamic words' to make them Islamic. Talking about the oppressed and reminding others not to forget them is a good enough reason to make it a good song. I believe any song with a good message can be referred to as a Nasheed, and such a song should be valued for its good meanings and morals.

Nevertheless, even if these songs are 'typical sunni stuff' with elements of Sunnism in them, the reason I posted them is not much to do with lyrics, but to encourage Muslim women to perform Nasheeds like Mays Shalash did in those videos. Sunni restrictions prevent females from singing as soon as they reach the age of puberty, using their own baseless teachings that the woman's voice is a 'Fithnah' and a threat which must not be heard publicly. So Mays Shalash is a special case which breaks these Sunni barriers and gives us hope of more female Nasheed-artists in the future, of which there exists none today.

wasalam

Its all good, praise God and his prophet then.

salam,

Where in the Qur'an does it say PRAISE both God AND the Prophet?

In-fact, the very first Verse in the Qur'an says 'All Praise belongs to Allah the Lord of the worlds'.

wasalam

salam,

I understand what you mean. Those Nasheeds are not anti-Hadith; they just are not obsessively focused on Prophet Muhammad. Some of them have parts in Arabic, and many of them don't use a lot of musical instruments. The Nasheeds can be listened to online, and also downloaded in mp3 format by clicking on the links below the embedded players.

wasalam

as-salamu'alaikum,

Please check the following link, which only features Nasheeds which are focused on God and Qur'anic principles

html//www.sparklywater.com/sparklywater/nasheeds.html

wasalam

salam FJ,

thanks for your time and effort.

much appreciated.

wsalam

thank you 1God4theBelievers!

JazakAllahkhair,

wsalam

salam,

this website is good for comparing translations

http//www.islamawakened.com/Quran/

wsalam

salam,

thanks br. alen, for your comments.

and thanks RezaTheBeliever for your participation )

May Allah reward you.

wsalam

as-salamu'alaikum,

thank you v. much dr. shabeer and Winter_White for your participation.

May Allah reward you both for your help.

wsalam

What is the premise of your thesis?

Please take a look at the following thread on another forum

http//www.quraninstitute.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=247

wsalam