The Rock Star and the Mullahs

Interesting and yet another ``ground level`` article on Pakistan.

Finally understood why films and music were absolutely kosher on board buses and inside homes/hotel rooms in Pakistan, television and video seems to be ``always on`` wherever you go in Pakistan . . . . while music is simply not heard in other open public places . . . maybe SOMEBODY needs to pay off the cops and place a few speakers and a link to worldspace in public areas, to start with.

Cacophony, maybe, is what you may get in the beginning, but hey, it has dynamics of its own too, which will resolve soon, right?

I think too many stiff upper lips in Pakistan have spent a couple of generations trying to be ``propah``, now it is time to unwind, stop blaming the Saudis for your own melancholic attributes, and get along, shake a leg. I walked into this cattle/farm animal fair in a little town in Punjab a few months ago when I went walkabout in Pakistan, and Mullah or no Mullah, they had local music blaring from the loudspeakers as well as promise of a ``record dance`` later in the evening with male actors in drag.

Once again, the acoustics and score for Phantom of the Opera at Islamabad Club was, to my discerning ears, about the best I`ve heard lately in our part of the world. Some of the key roles were played by orthodox Haafiz young men.

The question, therefore, should now be changed, and asked again:- ``why is music not allowed (openly) in Pakistan``, instead of Islam.

The possible answer may have to do with something as simple as haftaas to the cops. But when you have even the local English media running for their lives with tails between their legs when the local SHO yells at them, then how would an artiste or singer be expected to push the envelope? All music is also media, and all media is about mind-bending, right?

So, if the mind-benders in Pakistan wish to retain control, then one simple method would be to destroy all other tools of mind-bending. Music, traditions, folklore, ceremonies, happiness . . . all these, and more, replaced by stern dictates. I mean, it took BBC to make a movie on the subject? In and about Pakistan?

Bina Shah:

It was time for a Muslim rock star to collide with a Mullah and mullahism. There are almost un-resolvable conflicts between religion and culture. People find difficult to live without culture even if they have to abandon the puritanical faith in the religion, or religion itself if push comes to shove. So the priorities are clear.

The issue of music and singing, and Islam is age-old. People have ignored its implications and moved ahead with their lives. “Happiness is no sin” and what is a better way to express feeling of happiness than by singing. And singing they do.

I haven’t found any direct reference to singing or Mauseeqi in Quran. The closest that I came to the mention of singing in Quran is an interpretation of verse 6, chapter 31 (Luqman) of Quran.

According to Yusuf Ali’s translation, the verse reads as follows:

But there are among men, those who purchase idle tales, without
Knowledge for meaning, to mislead (men) from the Path.

The key word in Quran is “Lah-wal-Hadith”, which Yusuf Ali has translated as “idle tales”. Maudoodi (Tafheem-ul-Quran, Vol. 4, pp. 9-10) has translated it as “kalam-e-dilfareb” meaning approximately “attractive words.” In his interpretation in footnotes, Maudoodi has tied “Lah-wal-Hadith” directly with singing. He has quoted several traditions (Hadith) in support of his claim. According to one of them attributed to Anas, “who ever listens to the songs of a slave singing girl (laundi) will be condemned at the Doom’s Day and molten lead will be poured into his ears.” It’s a great stretch from the text of the Quran.

Mr. Ahmad and other cultural revolutionaries are not going to buy it, and they shouldn’t, and they will justifiably hammer as to why Maudoodi’s interpretation be any weightier than Yusuf Ali’s. Rock music has become a fact of our life and it will remain. So Mullahs should find a way to live with it. The Mullah’s religion needs to be laundered to give it a shine appropriate to the needs of modern times.

Sheikh Abdul Qadir has mentioned in the Preface of Iqbal’s “Baang-e-Dara” that Iqbal at one time had seriously considered abandoning his natural gift of poetry to do something more meaningful. He did not give any specific reason for his thought but there is a religious “slur” on the poets also. Quran has berated the poets also.

What a great cultural loss it would have been had Iqbal abandoned poetry.

Wishing you well,

Mohammad Gill

[Salman Ahmed is a man on a mission: to challenge Pakistan`s hardline mullahs on why they believe music is not allowed in Islam. ]

I watched this documentary. I am wondering if ``mission`` is the correct way to put it. I mean, a ``mission`` is when you are on the losing side of the argument and you are trying to change the equation. Clearly music-hating mullahs have lost this argument looooooong time ago. Music lovers have won (not that they lost it at any time in Islamic history. Music has been alive and kicking throughout Islamic history - Abbasid, Ottoman, Mughal, Safavid empires) Just look around and see the EXPLOSION of music bands in Pakistan in the last 20 years. Not that prior to these 20 years there was any shortage of musicians either.

So not sure if the purpose of this documentary is to convert the converted (that is the music lovers) or to enlighten those music-hating mullahs that they should not look down upon music. If it is the later, then BBC has just spent an enormous capital for a ``mission`` few people care about in Pakistan.

Besides, if Salman is sincere in his attempts to get the answers on why some Mullahs believe that Music is haraam, then getting into ``intellectual`` arguments with a Mullah who believes that ``all the people living in the world`s 52 Islamic nations are the children of swine. `` is perhaps an exercise in futility. You know at that time in documentary that you will not get to hear the compelling arguments against music (believe me, i have heard some `compelling` arguments against music. Not that I have ever subscribed to them. I love U2 way too much). Unless of course, if the documentary is looking for entertainment value for the viewers to increase its ratings.

Abu`l Hassan Ali Hajveri, the Data Sahab of Lahore has given an apparently unbiased discourse on the status of music in Kashaful Mahjoob, his persian treatise on Sufism. I have scanned and uploaded it here:
Concerning Audition
This discourse is somewhat hard to comprehend for people who are not familiar with Sufi conventions. I recently saw a detailed and very interesting article supporting the legality of music, by Mr. Javed Ahmed Ghamidi. I`ll see if I can find the text again, and scan it into a pdf file to share on here.




Re: #2 by freethinker
In his interpretation in footnotes, Maudoodi has tied “Lah-wal-Hadith” directly with singing. He has quoted several traditions (Hadith) in support of his claim.

Sir, I would advise you never to trust this honorable but crooked Islamic scholar. There are more than one versions of each hadith listed in the compilations one after another. Modudi is known to take only one of the versions that supports his point of view. He has committed this dishonesty in such debates as the status of music, the punishment of apostacy and the finality of prophethood.

Having seen this documentary multiple times (since I have a recording of it) I must say it was quite interesting. Salman’s dialogue with Mullah Electricity (at end of which, Mullah himself ended up singing something) and his reciting of some Quranic verses in the madrassah while he played a riff on his guitar were the main highlights I think. And why can’t one do that, when the book itself is quite poetic and rhythmic. Even Azaan is recited in some Arabic scale, as Salman pointed out.

MMA has to realize that people didn’t vote them in to ban music, and most of their voters are quite ticked off at their policies. They got all those votes cashing on the anti-American sentiment in NWFP, because NWFP people have ethnic ties with Taliban in Afghanistan. Next time, they are going to be kicked out, because they haven’t delivered on any of their promises. Other provinces didn’t vote for them anyway.

This documentary reminds me of some interesting experiences from the university days in Pakistan. Even the tableeghi people who sometimes walked into my room for their usual tableegh never left without hearing a riff or two on the guitar. They didn’t manage to convince me to join their ranks, but I wonder if any of them picked guitar too. Music is a part of every one of us, and denying it is something unnatural.

Tradition local music in Pakistan seems to be in danger of extinction because classical and folk music doesn’t appeal to majority of the young audience (something which is globally true perhaps). So that void is being filled by the ever-growing rock/pop bands in all major urban centers of Pakistan. But most of these new bands sound quite raw and need a strong music industry (instead of corporate sponsorships) to back them up.

The good thing is that unlike Zia’s 80’s, people are now quite open to accepting music and musicians. Number of public concerts has increased in magnitudes, and TV channels have started giving plenty of coverage to music, including emergence of dedicated music channels. Probably 10 years from now, we will have a strong music industry, driven by the rock stars of 90’s, as they get older and move towards production stuff.

Thanks.

PS: Saw this documentary a while ago... Salman Ahmed has his heart at the right place... unfortunately however... the documentary failed to impress...

Pakistanis love Music... and no Mullah is ever going to be allowed to ban it.

Kinda reminds me of this story by Ghulam Abbas.... oh never mind... I already told you about that one..

-YLH

Salman`s one hell of a rock star! Also liked the international debut of Maulana Bijli.

I agree with Malik99 ... #4

X vs. the mullahs seems to be big business now. I think a lot of people who occupy the X slot should thank the mullahs. If these documentaries were just about X (where X = music, political philosophies, social habits etc.) and not X vs. the mullahs, I doubt too many people would watch them. Definitely not in the West.

Other than the MMA banning music at public functions, I am not sure what kind of restriction there is on music in Pakistan. And even this ban is more political than anything else. It will go away, once MMA cannot win political points out of it (kind of like Sikh politicians wearing kirpans in Canadian politics). Music is otherwise booming business in Pakistan. And has always been one.

So while such documentaries do point to one particular area of Pakistan, they tend to portray the whole problem as something much greater than it is. A much better documentary would have been, one based on someone going into the Red Light area (where much of Pakistan`s music talent used to come out of, and still comes out of), and trying to figure out why there has been a cultural taboo associated with certaining performing arts in Pakistan.

This taboo has now reduced to a great degree in music and TV. But still exists for movies and dancing, and too some extent for female singing.

Rock Star and Heera Mandi; that would be something that would hit at the real problem........

Malik99, your one sided argument about Salman confronting an extremely `fundo-sitic` maulvi, who thinks all 50+ countries are unislamic is not true. Well brother, he did confront some liberal mollahs, in one of Karachi`s best madrassahs too, so he showed both sides of the story! What a great documentary! I heard hes making another one pretty soon!

Salman Ahmed 4 life! And Maluana Bijli can stick it!

Bina
I am confused over objectives of Salman`s dialogue with Mullah Electricity. Let say that the Mullah agree with Salaman, what do we achieve from that? I dont think that it is a black & white issue. To me, it seems nothing more than a marketing for Salman. It is similar situation when a shia and sunni mullah arguing with each other to convince the other. Simply holding guitar, copying western beats and outlook does not make you a liberal person. Similarly, keepin long beard and teaching in maddrassah does not mak you a conservative irrational person. As long as Mullah hold his opinion against music, and he does not impose upon other. Society should acomodate his opinion. How does music in particular make you more spirtual? I think that it is your kind heart, strong moral values, and belief on the God make you spirtual person. What am i saying, that it comes from inside, like a fountain water.
I remember a Khan Baba from my street in lahore. He used to put the dry soil on slipping area in our street, when it had rained in summer. He did all that for no recognition, and for not means. I found it to be the most spirtual act, helping fellow humans silently without making speeches and arguement. Arguing with Mullah, and publishing the storey on BBC has no substance or value in it.

Regards,
shahryar

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garam_chai:

you wrote:

``As long as Mullah hold his opinion against music, and he does not impose upon other. Society should acomodate his opinion.``


Unfortunately, the Mullah DOES IMPOSE upon others. Even in places where the Mullah has NOT won elections, there are fatwas issued on banning local cultural dances that have been performed for centuries. Case in point, in the Northern Areas of Pakistan.

Salman is right in trying to take such topics head on.

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i strongly believed that the documentry is a ridicule on Islam and unfortunately the guy who make this is also a muslim.. so shameful thing... if we have some differences then isnt it good that we solve them within ourselves whats the reason of telling apney ghar ki batein to stranger,
what we call a person who tells your personal things to strangers.. what was Salman ahmed trying to do...just a publicity and in the way of his publicity he does not even think what is he doing....

tell you one thing... Islam is not make or built by Mullahs, it is there and Allah has given this religion to us from Hzarat Muhammad (SW), and it is complete then no one has amended it.. and no one can,, as Allah Himself took the responsibility.
So, now the muslims are trying to tell Allah that we follow Islam but the Islam Mullahs tell us is not the Islam our Prophet gave us it is something else....
WOW.. we muslims listen to Bush of US when he says Islam is a religion of peace but when same thing is said by some mullah we dont ever care.., what is he saying...

Islam gave the peace to mankind....but what is Osama doing or taliban doing was to save Islam and their nation from Jews and christians....

some ppl say that muslims are violent,...just tell me one thing.. who invaded Afghanistan....???
Iraq????
Phalastine...???
KAshmir...???
christians and jews.. rite???
so isnt it the duty of the ppl of the nations to stiop them from ruining their countries...
and as all muslims are one family... (u pppl must agree) isnt it a duty of other fellow muslims to help them .. and not help the enemies...??

power is yours...and its your decision whre you use it...

so ppl think a little.. what is rite and what is wrong... dont just start making comments about things....

there is a question for all of you...

HOW MANY TIMES YOU LIE IN A DAY....EVEN SMALL ONES??
if you can answer that question to urself and stop lieing... you will be a great muslim...
as lieing is one of the major differences bwtween non-muslim and muslim.



PS : I am not captain planet ;)