Is this haram?

What about music is prohibited? Listening to it? Making it? Manufacturing musical instruments? Bathroom singing? Whistling? Talking to musicians or dealing with them?

Pretty much everything about music is forbidden in Islam.

1) Allah says "And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the path of Allah…" [Luqmaan 31:6]

The great sahabi, Ibn ‘Abbaas (R) said: this means singing.

Al-Hasan al-Basri (r) said: this verse was revealed concerning singing and musical instruments (lit. woodwind instruments). (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 3/451).

2) Listening to music is haram. Ibn Qayyim (rahimullah) went as far as calling it hypocrisy.

Imam Ahmed said that music sows and cultivates hypocrisy in the heart.

The Prophet () said: "Among my ummah (nation) there will certainly be people who permit zinaa, silk, alcohol and musical instruments…" (Narrated by al-Bukhaari ta’leeqan, no. 5590; narrated as mawsool by al-Tabaraani and al-Bayhaqi. See al-Silsilah al-Saheehah by al-Albaani, 91).

Prohibition of Music:

Including what I have just mentioned is the following.

‘AbdulAllah ibn ‘Abbaas (r) said: The daff is haram, stringed instruments are haram, drums are haram and flutes are haram. (Narrated by al-Bayhaqi 0/222)

This is the same sahabi mentioned earlier. He was one the most knowledgeable among the sahaba about the tafseer (interpretation) of Qur'an.

Silk

The Prophet () said, "These are haram for the males of my ummah and permitted for the females.” (Reported by Ibn Maajah, 2/1189).

Prohibition of alcohol.

Allah says, "They ask you (O Muhammad) concerning alcoholic drink and gambling. Say: In them is a great sin, and (some) benefits for men, but the sin of them is greater than their benefit." [al-Baqarah 2:219]

Allah also says, "O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), and gambling, and Al‑Ansaab (stone altars for sacrifices to idols, jinn, etc), and Al‑Azlaam (arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Satan's handiwork. So avoid (strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful.

Satan wants only to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants (alcoholic drinks) and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah and from the prayer. So, will you not then abstain?"

[al-Maidah 5:90-91]


3) Making music is subsequently haram.

4) Bathroom singing falls under the same prohibition.

5) Talking to musicians is not haram, but working with them is.

6) Exceptions

The exceptions are only three.

Eid

It was narrated from ‘Aa’ishah that Abu Bakr (r) entered upon her and there were two girls with her during the days of Mina beating the daff, and the Prophet () was covering himself with his garment. Abu Bakr rebuked them, and the Prophet () uncovered his face and said, "Leave them alone, O Abu Bakr, for these are the days of Eid." That was during the days of Mina.

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 944; Muslim, 892

Marriage

It was narrated that al-Rubayyi’ bint Mu’awwidh ibn ‘Afra said: "After the consummation of my marriage, the Prophet () came and sat on my bed as far from me as you are sitting now, and our little girls started beating the daff and reciting verses mourning my father, who had been killed in the battle of Badr. One of them said, ‘Among us is a Prophet who knows what will happen tomorrow.’ On that the Prophet said, ‘Omit this (saying) and keep on saying the verses which you had been saying before.’”

(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 4852).

One who returns after being away

It was narrated that Buraydah said: The Messenger of Allah () went out on one of his military campaigns, and when he came back, a black slave woman came and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I vowed that if Allah brought you back safe and sound, I would beat the daff before you and sing. The Messenger of Allaah () said, "If you vowed that, then do it, otherwise do not do it.'" So she started to beat the daff, and Abu Bakr came in whilst she was doing so. Then ‘Ali came in whilst she was beating the daff, then ‘Uthmaan came in whilst she was beating the daff, then ‘Umar came in and she threw the daff beneath her and sat on it. The Messenger of Allaah () said, "The Shaytaan is afraid of you, O ‘Umar. I was sitting and she was beating the daff, then Abu Bakr came in when she was beating the daff; then ‘Ali came in when she was beating the daff; then ‘Uthmaan came in when she was beating the daff, but when you came in, O ‘Umar, she put the daff down.”

Furthermore

The duff drums must only be beaten by women.

Shaykh ul Islam Ibn Taymiyah – rahimullah - said:

In general, it is a well known principle of the Islamic religion that the Prophet () did not prescribe that the righteous men, devoted worshippers and ascetics of this ummah should gather to listen to verses of poetry chanted to the accompaniment of hand clapping, rhythm sticks or daffs. It is not permissible for anyone to go beyond the limits of Islam and follow something other than that which was narrated in the Qur’aan and Sunnah, whether that has to do with inward matters or outward, whether for the common man or the elite. But the Prophet () granted a concession for some kinds of entertainment on the occasion of weddings and the like, and he also granted a concession to women allowing them to beat the daff at weddings and on other joyous occasions. But with regard to the men of his time, none of them used to beat the daff or clap his hands, rather it was proven in al-Saheeh that he said, ‘Clapping is for women, and Tasbeeh is for men,’ and he cursed women who imitate men and men who imitate women.

Because singing, beating the daff and clapping the hands are actions of women, the salaf used to call a man who did that mukhannath (effeminate), and they used to call male singers makhaaneeth (pl. of mukhannath). This is well known.

Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 11/565, 566

Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 3690; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi, 2913.

Music is a noun. The prohibition is for a verb or action. What's the action that is prohibited regarding music? If you tell me that, I'll learn something that I can put into practice.

All music is prohibited from the above.