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Fatwa CenterListening to songs with sinful lyrics
Question
Asalam o Alaikum what is ruling on person listening songs containing words of kufr and what contradicts of Islam as containing the words like wine is halal if you drink it from some significant person. Is listening to such songs make person completely kafir and beyond pale of Islam?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, it is impermissible to listen to singing accompanied by musical instruments; please refer to Fataawa 81545 and 81239.
However, if the singing is not accompanied by musical instruments, it is permissible to listen to it as long as it does not involve prohibited matters such as deeming wine lawful as in the example mentioned in the question, as it is forbidden to listen to ill speech. Allaah, The Exalted, says about the attributes of the believers (what means):
• {And when they hear ill speech, they turn away from it and say, "For us are our deeds, and for you are your deeds. Peace will be upon you; we seek not the ignorant."}[Quran 28:55]
• {And [they are] those who do not testify to falsehood, and when they pass near ill speech, they pass by with dignity.}[Quran 25:72]
Ill speech in the verses refers to falsehood in general.
Listening to singing, even if the lyrics include words of disbelief, does not necessarily take the person beyond the pale of Islam as long as he is not pleased with or does not approve of such words of disbelief. At-Tabari 
commented on the verse that reads (what means): {And it has already come down to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allaah [recited], they are denied [by them] and ridiculed; so do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation. Indeed, you would then be like them. Indeed, Allaah will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers in Hell all together}[Quran 4:140] He wrote, “The verse means that if you failed to leave such gatherings (where the revelations of Allaah are held in defiance and ridicule), you are just like them because you have disobeyed Allaah by sitting with such people and listening to them disbelieving in and ridiculing the revelations of Allaah just as they have disobeyed Allaah by holding His revelations in defiance and ridicule. By doing so, you would have committed a sin similar to theirs; you would be like them in disobeying Allaah and doing what He has forbidden.”
Hence, such an act should not be considered an absolute act of disbelief. For more benefit, please refer Fatwa 91110.
Allaah Knows best.
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