Answer: He said this singing without musical instruments is called music; what it is called falsely today as an-nasheed al-Islaamiyyah. And the `Ulamaa of old, Ibnul Qayyim رحمه الله and other than him have classified this under the classification of music and it falls under the aayaah in which Allaah سبحانه و تعالى says:
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَشْتَرِي لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّخِذَهَا هُزُوًا أُولَئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُّهِينٌ
{And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing etc.) to mislead (men) from the Path of Allâh without knowledge
and takes it (the path of Allâh, or the Verses of the Qur'ân) by way of mockery. For such there will be a humiliating torment (in the Hell-fire).}
[Luqmaan 31:6]
This falls under that. And it has been made permissible at certain times such as weddings; women, when they sing at the weddings or at the time of ‘Eid where the hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم and Abu Bakr, where Abu Bakr protested saying, "Musical instruments of Satan in the house of Allah's Apostle!" It happened on the ‘Eid day and Allah's Apostle said, "O Abu Bakr! There is an ‘Eid for every nation and this is our ‘Eid." [1] So it is permissible in that situation as he صلى الله عليه و سلم did not say that Abu Bakr رضى الله عنه was wrong (nor did he) prohibit Abu Bakr from saying “instruments of the Shaytaan” meaning that this is what they are; he did not prohibit him from it but in that situation, he let them sing because it was ‘Eid and this is the fundamental principle and who ever wants to oppose it, then bring the daleel.
As for the singing and taking it as a way of attaining some type of Eeman or keeping yourself busy with it, then this is bid'ah. This is some type of bid'ah - the Sahaaba رضى الله عنهم were not upon this. And there is no daleel that the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم used to take this singing of the people to keep them busy. The Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم was not upon this. But what the Arabs had was something where poetry was made upon the way of the Bedouins; in their poetry, they had a little tune to it or something to this effect but it was the way of the Bedouins who do not say many words, so it was short. In fact, the Salaf, they used to call the man that used to say too much in this type of sitting, they used to call him mukhanath(مخنث). Mukhanath means a person that is like a woman, a man that is like a woman (i.e. effeminate). This was the affair with the Salaf.
And this is the Ummah of work and being serious; this is not an Ummah of being exotic and wasting time and this is the danger of this Dunya. As for our singing and enjoying ourselves all the time and drinking and playing, then this is in Jannah inshaa’ Allaah, but this is not the affair of this dunya, this is not the place for it.
Answered by: Shaykh 'Abdul-Maalik Ramadaani al-Jazaairi