I find it an odd concept that we become more righteous - we can follow God and do good works but mercy belongs to God not any righteousness we might attain. Why is that a righteous person would give up music - I see no logic in that at all and Prophet David throughout the Psalms urges us to sing praises to God as much as we can. There is nowhere in the Qu'ran or the Bible where we are told that giving up music is a righteous acts or brings blessing - so why do you think that?
In the Muslim tradition, one of the names of Allah [swt] is Ash-Shakoor, it means, "The grateful" or, "the appreciative." When we are discussing the names of Allah [swt], this means they are His attributes, or, elements of His Nature or essence.
Part of the act of appreciation is to show ones gratefulness. Allah [swt] shows His gratefulness for our good by giving the good we do some value, while it would otherwise have none. Part of that value is that it elevates us spiritually in ways that cannot be seen or understood fully by outside observers, but rather is a personal experience.
For example the Qu'ran says that "in the Dhikr of Allah [Dhikr is what Muslims call their litanies, an Arabic word which means, 'remembrance.'] hearts will find rest." -Another tradition of the Prophet Muhammad [saas] states that litanies will polish the heart, i.e. make it more pure.
Now, a person who sits in a mosque in solitude, before only his Creator, saying litanies of praise and seeking forgiveness... well the results are internal. You can't see them... but the person doing it surely feels it. He feels tranquility, a sense of security, he feels the anger, envy, and love of the temporal world evaporate a *little* more from his heart, and so on... And the more he does it, the more he will want to do it, and the results will become more and more permanent as time goes on. Not only that, but in the Muslim tradition, such a one is accumulating reward in the next life as well.
Now who gave this simple deeds such effects and results? Not me! I dont own the ability to give increase or decrease to the value of worship! Rather it was the Creator of the deed, Ash-Shakoor, the Appreciative One! And in my opinion, this is one of the great beauties of Islam. God gives our worthless deeds value, because one of the aspects of His perfect nature is Appreciation.
Now, how this relates to music is also a matter of an internal aspect of the religion which cannot be seen by an outside observer. One of the companions of Muhammad [saas] said that the Prophet emptied their hearts of everything, so that he could fill it with Islam. We could put it another way, the more love that resides in your heart for worship and closeness to Allah [swt], the less room there is for other things that can distract you from that love and closeness. Muslim scholars have traditionally forbidden many forms of music because of the control it can have over you. A Christian friend of mine once commented that people who dance look possessed. I was amazed at his insight, while he himself listened to music in every waking moment. Music also affects your brainwaves, pulse, blood pressure, etc. And our brains and hearts are like receptors, soaking it all up.
Something which controls us to such a degree could bring about harm, could easily distract us from our true purpose of knowing Allah [swt], etc. However, other scholars, such as Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, Ibn Hazm, and for a modern scholar, Sheiykh Yusuf Qaradawi have allowed it pending that it's message or environment it was listened to in was not forbidden or sinful. BUT they also go on to comment that if a muslim is listening to music, they still have to be their own mufti over their hearts. If they see that music is making them feel depressed, or giving them bad inclinations, or making them feel empty once the music goes away [as one brother has already commented on in this forum], or if they find they are not as close to Allah [swt] as they were before they started listening to music, then in this case they have to stop.
I incline toward the latter view myself, personally, but Allahu Alim.
Hope this has clarified the Muslim position on such issues.
