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IslamQA: The Islamic view of listening to Rihanna, Beyoncé and Adele

SalamunAlekium,I'm from Germany and I'm listening USA and UK artist like Rihanna,Beyoncé,Adele... And some members of family says "They're nude all the time and they sing dirty songs,you shouldn't listen them,it's a sin,if you listen or love you are gonna be like them" is that true? I just love all the types of music and I like their personalities,does Islam or Quran says anything like that?

Listening to music in general is permitted in Islam as discussed here. Regarding listening to songs by those singers, it is not a clear-cut issue between it being forbidden or permitted. While one song might not contain anything morally harmful, another might contain much that is disliked in Islam. The following hadith sheds some light on this:

I went to Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he asked me, "Have you come to inquire about piety?" I replied in the affirmative. Then he said, "Ask your heart regarding it. Piety is that which contents the soul and comforts the heart, and sin is that which causes doubts and perturbs the heart, even if people pronounce it lawful and give you verdicts on such matters again and again." (Riyad al-Salihin Book 1, Hadith 591)

It is your obligation to develop a close relationship with God (such as through Quran-reading and tahajjud). Once you have a close relationship with God, you can tell for yourself whether something is harmful or not. You will feel it in your heart when something conflicts with your piety and decreases God’s respect for you. So focus on God and start judging things from that perspective.

Personally I strongly dislike all songs that celebrate casual sexual relationships, drinking and drugs, and I consider them harmful to a Muslim’s soul to engage in listening to them.

As your character develops through study and worship, you will start to feel too much respect for yourself to allow yourself to be subject to such questionable pleasures. These singers are often rather pitiable humans with broken lives and little to no wisdom and high character. A person who recognizes these facts will naturally feel repulsed by their songs since they come from a lowly place that is beneath him. I do not say that this applies to all songs and singers. But personally I naturally feel repulsed by most pop songs and could never sit to enjoy them, while I generally have no trouble with classical Western and Persian music.

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