Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll

Courtesy: Music made me do it  - By: Dr. Gohar Mushtaq

http://www.iiph.com.sa/iiph-The_Music_Made_Me_Do_It-p208.html Its a Must buy. Excellent and highly recommended book

(Excerpt)

Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll

In one hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: «There will be people of my Ummah who will seek to make these lawful: illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk [by men], the drinking of alcoholic drinks, and the use of ma 'azif.» (Bukhari)

Based on this hadith, there are three things that can be regarded as three corners of a vicious triangle, namely: drinking alcohol, listening to music and illicit sexual relations. If we look at the history of fine arts in Europe and the paintings produced by the European artists during the periods of Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, we see that the pleasures of wine, women and musical instruments are depicted together in

many of those paintings. Even today, in American and European nightclubs, there is alcohol, music and dancing, and sometimes the presence of prostitutes.

The phrase 'rock and roll' itself has strong sexual connotations. Music, alcohol and illicit sex grievously affect the

society, and these three things always go together. It must be noted that in Islamic teachings, every form of music is haram, whether it be religious, classical, traditional, country, pop, rock and roll, jazz, heavy metal, or rap. In this chapter, the relationship of music and singing to sex and drugs will be discussed in detail.

Relationship of ghina' to zina

There is a profound relationship between music and fornication, as was noted by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the hadith above. In a similar hadith narrated by the Prophet's Companion 'Imran bin Husayn (RA), Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) mentioned about the period towards the end of time: « ... When singing women and musical instruments become prevalent and drinking alcohol becomes common.» (a sound hadith recorded by Tirmidhi)

As stated earlier, al-Fudayl ibn Iyad summarized this relationship in this eloquent saying: "Ghina' is a prelude to zina. " (,Awarij al-Ma 'arif)

Singing can act as a ladder to adultery. Music and singing ignite the sensual desires of a person, and this can ultimately end with bad consequences. Most songs speak of premarital relationships as a norm. As mentioned previously, if we go through the history of Western fine arts and look at the paintings of any period of art, we will see musical instruments, women and alcohol depicted together because music, fornication and drugs are related to each other. Abdur-Rahman Ibn al-Jawzi (who died in 597 AH) wrote:

There are two harms added together in singing. On the one hand, it diverts the heart from the remembrance of the Greatness of Allah (SWT); on the other hand, it persuades the heart towards material pleasures. It is known that among all the material pleasures, the strongest one is the pleasure of intimacy of man and woman. However, this pleasure is completed only when there is continuous novelty and uniqueness in it, and it is obvious that it is not possible to get such novelty in a halal way. Therefore, singing• persuades the person towards fornication and adultery. There is a deep connection between singing and fornication. Singing is a temptation for the soul, whereas fornication is the biggest pleasure of the body. 1

Renowned U.S. psychologist M. Scott Peck reiterates the same argument in his book The Road Less Traveled - that sex remains charming as long as we find novelty in it? Music and singing encourage people to seek such novelty.

It must be clarified here that Muslims are not puritanical in their attitudes towards sex. According to Islamic teachings, while procreation is the primary purpose of marriage, permitted forms of sex are encouraged between lawfully married husbands and wives. For example, Islam not only permits but encourages sexual foreplay between the spouses. Other purposes of marriage include companionship, fulfilment of the natural urge, comfort and relief to the soul and enjoyment of the spouse. Islam teaches us that if one cohabits with one's own spouse, it is an act of piety and devotion, meriting the pleasure and reward from God, as mentioned in hadiths.

The Qur'an clearly asserts that Allah (SWT) created spouses for both sexes to provide them with love, mercy and tranquility, and this is regarded as one of the signs of Allah (SWT).

1 Imam 'Abdur-Rahman Ibn aJ-Jawzi, Talbees Iblees (The DeviJ's Deception) (Multan: Kutab Khana Majeedia, 1991).

2 M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998).

And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.) (Qur'an 30: 21)

In a study published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media in 1985, Baxter and his associates analyzed the content of music videos and concluded that 60 of them portray sexual feelings and impulses. A substantial minority of those music videos also display provocative clothing and sexually suggestive body movements. 3

In another study, researcher Durant and his colleagues analyzed 518 music videos from MTV, CMT, and VH14 for

portrayals of alcohol and tobacco use. They found that portrayals of drug use differed among various networks and by music type, with MTV having the highest percentage of videos that portrayed alcohol and tobacco use. One of the striking findings from this study was that alcohol use was found in a higher proportion in music videos that had sexual content, as compared to those videos that did not have any sexual content in them.? This study shows

3 R.L. Baxter, C. De Riemer, A. Landani, "A Content Analysis of Music Videos," Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 29 (1985): 333-340.

4 MTV (originally 'Music Television'), CMT (Country Music Television) and VHl (originally 'Video Hits 1') are popular American television networks devoted to broadcasting music videos. [Editor]

5 R.H. DuRant et al., "Tobacco and Alcohol Use Behaviors Portrayed in Music Videos: A Content Analysis," American Journal of Public Health 87 (1997): 1131-1135.

that sex, drugs and music tend to coexist, as mentioned in the hadith at the beginning of this chapter.

In a recent study, the content of six different types of media was analyzed in terms of its exposure and its outcome on the young people. These media included movies, television shows, newspapers, magazines and popular music. Researcher Pardun and associates found in this study that sexual content is much more prevalent in popular music lyrics than in any other medium."

Just as promiscuity and free love destroy the physical health of a person, similarly they destroy the moral health of the whole society. One of the most important themes of music is premarital love and promiscuity; as a result, millions of young boys and girls commit 'moral suicide. ' These young people destroy their modesty and chastity under the intoxicating influence of music that fires up their sexual desires.

American intellectual and professor at the University of Chicago, Allan Bloom, is quite correct when he asserts in his book The Closing of the American Mind that the present-age music has one appeal only:

a barbaric appeal, to sexual desire - not love... but sexual desire undeveloped and untutored... rock [music] gives children, on a silver plate, with all the public authority of the entertainment industry, everything their parents always used to tell them they had to wait for until they grew up .... This has a much more powerful effect than does pornography on youngsters."

6 Carol J.Pardun, Kelly Ladin L'Engle and Jane D. Brown, "Linking Exposure to Outcome: Early Adolescents' Consumption of Sexual Content in Six Media," Mass Communication and Society 8 (May 2005): 75-91.

7 Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind.

There are plenty of examples, but owing to the length of this section, a look at a few recent top songs and their titles will suffice. At the end of 2009, AOL Radio Blog published its list of the year's top ten songs, as rated by AOL Radio listeners. Even by looking at the titles of these songs, it is obvious that the focal point of their message is free love. Here are the titles and brief descriptions of a few of those songs:

"You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift

In this song, the singer is in love with a friend, so she tries to convince him that she loves him more than his other girlfriend.

"Replay" by Iyaz

This song is about a girl that the singer cannot get out of his head. As a result, both of them are singing continuously while their 'iPod's stuck on replay.'

"Poker Face" by Lady GaGa

The main themes of this song are sex, gambling, and bisexuality.

"Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon

The lyrics of this song talk about feeling lonely on the road.

"My Life Would Suck Without You" by Kelly Clarkson

In this song, Clarkson sings that although she and her boyfriend often fight with each other, she cannot let him go because somehow he makes her life better.

"Right Round" by Flo Rida

This song is about a night that the singer spent at a strip club.

"Whatcha Say" by Jason Derulo

The lyrics of this song focus on a situation in which a girlfriend catches her boyfriend having an affair with another woman.

In October 1987, a conference was held in Washington, D.C. on the topic "Raised on Rock and Roll - The Sound and the Fury." In that conference, United States Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop indicated that this type of music appears to be 'a close relative of pomography.t" Hence, the U.S. Surgeon General accepted the fact that music and pornography are close relatives. It seems that he understood the wisdom of the saying of the Prophet, uttered about fourteen centuries ago, in which he (PBUH) described music along with fornication, to show that they are closely related.

               

Relationship of ghina' to hypocrisy

Abdullah Ibn Mas’ood (RA), the distinguished Companion of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), said, "Singing fosters hypocrisy in the heart.,,9

               

Similarly, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, when asked about his position regarding music, replied: "Singing sprouts hypocrisy in the heart; it does not please me." 10 There exists a subtle link between singing and hypocrisy. Both fornication and hypocrisy are signs of a diseased heart. When we look in the Qur' an, we will notice that in soorat an-Noor (the Light), the punishment for fornication and the rulings of covering modestly and Islamic dress

               

               

8 King, "Heavy Metal Music and Drug Abuse in Adolescents."

9 Ibn al-Qayyim, Ighdthat ul-Lahfiin min Masii'id ash-Shawano

10 Ibn al-Jawzi, Talbees Iblees.

are mentioned, and right after that, the defects or traits of hypocrisy and the hypocrites are described.

In soorat al-Ahzab (the Combined Forces), the subject of hypocrites is discussed along with the rulings of hijab. It is obvious that singing is a prelude and impetus to fornication.

In this quote from Ibn Mas 'ood, singing and hypocrisy have been brought together. The hypocrisy of Muslim singers who use musical instruments in their songs can be seen from their press releases, in which they are often thanking God for selling so many records or winning awards. They do not understand that they cannot serve two masters; a person cannot dance with the devil and praise the Lord at the same time. The condition of hypocrites

is described in the Qur'an:

And of the people are some who say: We believe in Allah and the last day; but they are not believers. They [think to] deceive Allah and those who believe, but they deceive not except themselves and perceive [it] not. In their hearts is disease, so Allah has increased their disease ... ~ (Qur'an 2: 8-10)

In his book Ighdthat ul-Lahfdn min Masd'id ash-Shaytdn, the great Islamic scholar Ibn al-Qayyim sheds light on other aspects of the relationship between singing and hypocrisy:

It must be known that singing has specific characteristics that weaken the heart, causing hypocrisy to spring therein, just as water sprouts plants. Among its characteristics is that it distracts the heart and prevents it from contemplation of the Qur' an and from applying it to ourselves. This is so because the Qur' an and songs can never coexist in the heart, since they are mutually conflicting. There is no doubt that the Qur' an forbids the pursuit of frivolous matters and commands restraint of the passions of the soul and temptations to evil. On the other hand, singing encourages the exact opposite of these qualities, as it incites the hidden inner self and entices the soul to

injustice by driving it towards every shameful desire... In addition, hypocrisy is based on falsehood, and singing contains many false lyrics. It attempts to beautify the ugly and to encourage it, while seeking to make ugly and to discourage that which is good. This is the nature of hypocrisy. A person's addiction to songs noticeably makes listening to the Qur' an a heavy burden upon his heart and hateful to his ears. If this is not hypocrisy, then what is hypocrisy?11

               

Relationship of ghina' to alcohol and drug use

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said (as mentioned previously):

«There will be people of my Ummah who will seek to make these lawful: illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk [by men], the drinking of alcoholic drinks, and the use of ma 'azif.» (Bukhari)

11 Ibn al-Qayyim, Ighiithat ul-Lahfdn min Mas/i'id ash-Shaytiin.

In this hadith, music has been described along with alcohol. By analogy, it applies to drugs as well because they also cause intoxication. In the Islamic teachings, everything that causes intoxication is treated like alcohol. The Prophet's Companion fun 'Umar (~) narrated this hadith in which Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) said: «Every intoxicant is khamr (alcohol), and all alcohol is unlawful. He who drinks alcohol in this world and dies while he is addicted to it, not having repented, will not drink it in the hereafter.» (Muslim)

Indeed, there is a profound relationship between music and drugs. Music temporarily paralyzes and hypnotizes our minds just like narcotics such as alcohol, opium, heroin and cocaine, as well as other addictive substances such as tobacco. In fact, they act on the same region of the brain (the limbic system), as discussed in Chapter 2. The late American guitarist, singer and songwriter James Marshall 'Jimi' Hendrix is considered by many people to be one of the most influential musicians of his era. Jimi Hendrix said the following about the power of music in an interview with Life magazine published on October 3, 1969:

I can explain everything better through music. You hypnotize people to where they go right back to their natural state, and when you get people at their weakest point, you can preach into their subconscious what you want to say. There is no doubt that music and drugs are closely related.

Through a study in the field of social psychology, researcher R. E. Milliman showed that the tempo of background music in a restaurant affects the customers in the restaurant with respect to the duration of their meals and the amount of money they spend.

In addition, the background music played in the restaurant significantly influences the consumption of alcoholic beverages by regular customers during their meals. More importantly, the dining customers stay longer and consume more alcohol when slow tempo instrumental background music (such as classical music) is playing than when fast tempo instrumental music (such as pop music) is used.12

Similarly, Dr. Adam Knieste, a musicologist who studies the effects of music upon people, was quoted in a Family Weekly article on Jan. 30, 1983 as saying: "It's really a powerful drug. Music can poison you, lift your spirits, or make you sick without knowing why."

Music has been identified as a source through which young people learn about alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Alcohol has always occupied a central role in American popular music. In one study conducted for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, researchers Donald F. Roberts, Lisa Henriksen and Peter G.

Christenson examined one thousand of the most popular songs from 1996 to 1997. The music samples came from rankings compiled by Billboard, Radio and Records magazine and the College Music Journal. They found that about one-fifth of those songs contained references to alcohol. When alcohol was portrayed, no adverse consequences were associated with consumption in 91  of the songs. In other words, in 91  of the songs referring to alcohol, alcohol use was portrayed in a positive way. Commenting on the findings of this study, researcher Roberts noted that the extent of alcohol and tobacco use in music 'was the single most striking finding' and said, "This is a world 

12 R.E. Milliman, "The Influence of Background Music on the Behavior of Restaurant Patrons," Journal of Consumer Research 13 (1986): 286-289.

where alcohol and tobacco are similar to the air we breathe. It's all around us all the time." 13

In his book Popular Music Perspectives: Ideas, Themes and Patterns in Contemporary Lyrics, author Lee B. Cooper discusses the predominant themes in the history of popular songs. He lists a myriad of songs over the years that focus primarily on drinking alcohol. They include such titles as: "Red, Red Wine" (Neil Diamond, 1968), "Chug-a-Iug" (recorded by Roger Miller in 1964), "Margaritaville" (Jimmy Buffett, 1977) and "Scotch and Soda" (Ray Price, 1983).14 Many more examples could be easily compiled, ranging from early blues to contemporary rap, rock and

country music, and this is only considering the songs which have drinking alcohol as their major theme. Many other songs talk about drinking in the context of other subject matter.

For instance, the Mavericks sang of the sadness of lost love with these lines in their 1997 country hit song:

I can't sleep a wink anymore, Ever since you walked out of the door And I just started drinkin' to forget. 15

References to tobacco use are also found in popular music, although not as frequently as references to alcohol and drugs.

Tex Williams' 1947 recording of "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" adopted tobacco use as a central theme. However, in

13 Donald F. Roberts, L. Henriksen and Peter G. Christenson, Substance Use in Popular Movies and Music (Washington, DC: Office of National Drug Control Policy, 1999).

14 Donald F. Roberts and Peter G. Christenson, "Here's Looking at You, Kid": Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco in Entertainment Media (New York: Kaiser Family Foundation, 2000).

15 Ibid.

most of the songs, tobacco use is mentioned in passing, as in the following lines from the song "What I Got" (1996) by the alternative rock group Sublime:

Early in the morning

Rising to the street

Light me up that cigarette

And strap shoes on my feet. 16

In the content analysis of one thousand of the most popular songs from 1996 to 1997 (which was the first scientific study to provide a quantitative measure of the frequency of tobacco references in popular music), it was found that 3 of those songs mentioned smoking or chewing tobacco, although 64 of rap/ hip-hop songs contained such references.'? However, smoking appears more frequently in music videos than in the lyrics themselves. DuRant and his colleagues found that smoking was portrayed most frequently in rap music videos, in which 30 of

the characters were shown smoking. In country and R&B (rhythm and blues) music, the figure was 10, and in rock and adult contemporary music 22. The authors of this study note:

This positive portrayal of tobacco and alcohol use in music videos is likely to have a considerable impact on adolescent's normative expectations and subsequent behaviours.l" Many youth have a tendency to adopt musicians as their role models; hence, actual drug use by musicians is also a matter of

16 Ibid.

17 Roberts, Substance Use in Popular Movies and Music.

18 DuRant et al., "Tobacco and Alcohol Use Behaviors Portrayed in Music Videos: A Content Analysis."

concern. 19 The September 26, 1969 issue of Time magazine noted that: "Rock musicians use drugs frequently and openly, and their compositions are riddled with references to drugs."

For example, John Cale writes in the May 1990 issue of Spin magazine that songs such as Velvet Underground's "Heroin" encouraged young people to experiment with drugs, leading to tragic ends in many cases. Similarly, Wilson Bryan Key states the following about the Beatles:

The Beatles popularized and culturally legitimized hallucinatory drug usage among teen-agers throughout the

world. The Beatles became the super drug culture prophets and pushers of all time. 20

For instance, one of the most popular recordings of 1968 was the Beatles' single "Hey Jude." In this song, Paul McCartney sang "Hey Jude," providing to the listeners spiritual advice in the form of drugs as an escape route from the bitter experiences of life. Likewise, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the Beatles' most successful album, released by Capitol Records.

This album sold in the millions, and its music and songs were listened to repeatedly by innumerable people of all ages.

References to psychedelic drugs such as LSD were allegedly made in the songs in this album such as "Fixing a Hole" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (or LSD for short).21 More recent examples of drug references are just as easy to find. For example:

19 Peter G. Christenson and Donald F. Roberts, It's Not Only Rock and Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of Adolescents (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1998).

20 Wilson Bryan Key, Media Sexploitation (New York: Signet Books, 1976).

21 Ibid.

I don't get angry when my mom smokes pot,

Hits that bottle and goes back to the rock.

(Sublime, "What I Got," 1996)

Pass the hay (marijuana) you silly slut,

Blaze it up so I can hit that bud,

Get me zoned and I'll be on,

Cu: I love to smoke upon hay.

(Crucial Conflict, "Hay," 1997)

I'm a thug, I'm a die high,

I be out in Jersey, puffin' Hershey.

(Puff Daddy, "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down," 1997)22

Among the contemporary music stars who died because of drug abuse are Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison of The Doors, folk singer and songwriter Tim Hardin and R&B singer Frankie Lymon.

Recently, David Ruffin of the Temptations died from a cocaine overdose.r'' Similarly, many prominent singers of traditional music in Muslim countries have died due to alcohol overdose or alcohol abuse.

Dr. Paul King did a scientific study on the relationship of music and drugs.?" Over a three-year period, he studied 470 adolescent patients (242 boys and 228 girls) who were admitted to Charter Lakeside Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The patients, most of whom were white, were between 13 and 18 years old;

22 Roberts and Christenson, "Here's Looking at You, Kid": Alcohol, Drugs

and Tobacco in Entertainment Media.

23 Frank Ankenberg and John Weldon, The Facts on Rock Music (Eugene,

Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1992).

24 King, Paul M.D., "Heavy Metal Music and Drug Abuse in Adolescents."

they came from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, from cities or rural areas of Mississippi, Arkansas or Tennessee.

The results of this study revealed that nearly 60 of the patients who were involved in drug abuse designated heavy metal music as their music of choice. Dr. King notes:

Those who work with adolescents who have significant drug problems find that these youngsters not only are involved in antisocial behaviour and precocious sexual activity but also are preoccupied with heavy metal music. In fact, young people using drugs extensively enough to warrant treatment know the lyrics of a great many songs. Clearly, 'their music' is very important to them, and attempts to remove heavy metal music from the home environment may be met with extreme resistance and even aggressive behaviour. 25

According to Dr. King, a teenager who is already saturated with negative feelings can get inspiration from music that promotes antisocial, drug-addictive behaviour. In another study conducted to study the effects of media on behaviour, researchers Grube and Wallack found that simple exposure to alcohol advertisements does not affect alcohol use. Instead, the effects of alcohol advertisements depend largely on the extent to which young people like and attend to them. Consequently, music and humor were used in advertisements promoting alcohol use among adolescents. The results of this study (which used statistical modeling) showed that attention to alcohol advertising resulted in increased adolescent drinking.r'' Hence, music and humor were ,

•

25 Ibid .

26 J.W. Grube and L. Wallack, "Televised Beer Advertisement and Drinking Knowledge, Beliefs, and Intentions among School Children," American Journal of Public Health 84 (1994): 254-259.

the key elements in those advertisements encouraging alcohol use.

It must be noted that not only heavy metal music but also other kinds of music are related to alcohol and drugs. Many researchers have emphasized this point Similarly, field research on alcohol drinking behaviour has shown that an increased level of consumption of alcohol is directly linked to exposure and listening to country music.r" In a report published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Paul Chalfant and Robert Beckley analyzed the thirty most popular country songs and noted that the lyrics of country music'" often depict drinking alcohol as an essential and normal method of dealing with life's problems. Those songs suggest that "life is hard, and that drinking is the only way to face what cannot be dealt with any other manner.,,29

In 25 of those country songs, alcohol use was shown as contributing to illicit sex. For example, in a song entitled: "After the Fire is Gone," alcohol is seen as emboldening the characters to seek extramarital relations when "the fire's gone out at home."

The man and woman in "Third Rat Romance" check into a cheap motel after they have been drinking at a bar. In the song entitled "Take Me Home to Somewhere," the singer shows that in bars he has "had my share of good times and a lot of good women ... " The

27 James M. Schaefer, "Slow Country Music and Drinking" (paper presented at the annual meeting for the American Anthropological Association, Phoenix, Arizona, 1988).

28 Country music refers to a simple style of folk music heard mostly in the Southern United States but also popular in other countries. It is usually played on stringed instruments.

29 Paul Chalfant and Robert Beckley, "Beguiling and Betraying: The Image of Alcohol Use in Country Music," Journal of Studies on Alcohol 38 (1977): 1428-1433.

same theme of illicit sex and alcohol is promoted in songs entitled "City Lights," "Western Man" and "Here I am in Dallas.,,3o All this research confirms that there is a close relationship among music, drugs and sex and that they tend to coexist, as this relationship was mentioned by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) about fourteen hundred years ago.

Professor Allan Bloom of the University of Chicago, who also has experience teaching students at Yale U ni versity, the University of Paris, the University of Toronto and Cornell University, describes another similarity between music and drugs in the sense that both of them tend to have the same after-effects and both destroy future enthusiasm in people who are involved in them: "Rock music provides premature ecstasy and, in this respect, is like the drugs with which it is allied. ,,31

Professor Bloom noted, based on his decades of experience in dealing with youth, that students who had indulged in drugs in their early years and then got over it later on, had difficulty finding passion and enthusiasm in their life. It appeared as if all the colour of life had been drained out of their bodies, and now they viewed life as black and white only. The pleasure they received while experimenting with drugs was so intense that afterwards, they did not feel pleasure in anything in their life. Professor Bloom points out that in this respect, rock music is very similar to drugs in its effects on the youth.32

30 Ibid.

31 Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind.

32 Ibid.

Importance of Music in Mass Deception

We have to protect our body from sins because we will be responsible for our actions on the Day of Judgment. Satan does not have access to the thoughts that come into our hearts.

However, he has the ability to whisper into our hearts:

                ,              

~[Satan] who whispers [evil] into the breasts of mankind.s (Qur'an 114: 5)

The result may be a sinful action afterwards. If the heart is spiritually very healthy, the whisper of Satan is weak. On the other hand, if the heart is spiritually weak, the whisper of Satan is very strong and effective.

One of the interesting things about Satan is that he lacks originality. He keeps on using the same old tricks on humans, possibly because he knows that they work. Satan uses and abuses the weaknesses of human beings to cause disease in their hearts. Maryam Jameelah wrote about human nature:

Man's disposition, his biological and psychological needs, his physical and mental capacities, the temptations which make him succumb to evil and his eternal quest for the moral and spiritual values that give human life its meaning and purpose and distinguishes him from the lower animals, have not changed at all since the emergence of human beings.i"

33 Maryam Jameelah, The Generation Gap: Its Causes and Consequences (Lahore: Mohammad Yusuf Khan and Sons, 1981).

Because of the lack of originality on the part of Satan in manipulating and exploiting human nature, it becomes somewhat easy to understand the ways he deceives humans into falling into his trap. It is a fact that music deludes a person and creates negligence in its listener about his or her relationship with Allah (SWT). Music is an old trick of Satan that is used to make human beings negligent of the lofty purpose of their creation, which is worship of Allah (SWT). In soorah Luqman, Allah (SWT) has said:

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~And of the people is he who purchases idle talk [lahwal hadeetht to mislead [others] from the way of Allah without knowledge and who takes it in ridicule. Those will have a humiliating punishment.s (Qur'an 31: 6)

In this verse, the term 'lahwal hadeeth,' or idle talk, means music and singing, as it was explained by the Companions of the Prophet (PBUH) like Ibn Mas'ood, Jabir and Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) and by many of the tabi 'oon such as Ikrimah, Mujahid and Makhool. 34 The scholars of Hadith narrate the following incident in explaining the reason that this verse was revealed:

When Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was spreading his message in Makkah, there was a rich merchant there named N adr Ibn Harith who was using various methods to distract people from the message of Islam. One of the things he did was to buy some slave girls as songstresses. Whenever he found that a person , )

34 Abu Bilal Mustafa AI-Kanadi, The Islamic Ruling on Music and Singing

(Jeddah: Abul-Qasim Bookstore, 1986).

was taking interest in the Qur'an or in accepting Islam, Nadr would go to him and appoint one of his slave girls to feed the person excessively with food and wine and sing beautiful songs to him. After a few days, he would visit the person and ask: "Tell me, is that drinking alcohol and eating delicious foods and listening to music and singing better, or the message that Muhammad (PBUH) has brought, jihad, prayers, fasting and the like?" In this way, Nadr was able to divert many would-be Muslims or Muslims with weak faith, back to the religion of paganism.Y

In addition, according to the Arab historian al-Mas 'oodi, it was Nadr ibn Harith who first introduced playing the 'oud (a Middle Eastern stringed instrument) in Arabia after he learned how to play it and sing with it during his trip to Persia. 36

The rulers, politicians and capitalists of the present age still hold the same mentality as that of Nadr ibn Harith, and they employ the same methods of seduction that he used. In fact, the modem methods of seduction are much more refined and subtle because now they are backed up by modem technology and media. They have become weapons of mass deception. In almost all Muslim countries, the governments have devoted separate TV

channels for musical entertainment shows. They indulge their people in every kind of lahwal hadeetli (idle talk) so that they can rule their subjects easily. Roman rulers used to keep their public occupied with trivial entertainments that came to be called 'bread and circuses.'

!

               

               

III

               

35 Aloosi, Roolt al-Ma 'ani.

36 Mahmood ibn Abdullah al-Mas'oodi, "The First Ghina' among the Arabs,"

in Murooj adh-Dhahab (Beirut: Dar EI-Marefah, 2005).

It is the same method of rulers in every age: amusing their subjects to death. The rulers, who manipulate the media, deliberately want to keep the public in the dark. They want their subjects to be drugged by any activity that keeps them away from proper contemplation of their life. People become so busy trying to join in on the media-created activities (such as music and singing, sports and the like) so that they can have fun, that they

miss the really obvious questions about their very being. People become addicted to 'bread and circuses' so much that they waste their time in frivolous pastimes. In fact, this is the timeless art of seduction.

Hollywood is the biggest 'Nadr ibn Harith' of this century.

People spend an enormous amount of money on films, which are in fact the lahwal hadeetn on a grand scale. The film Titanic is one of the most expensive films of this era, costing approximately 285 million U.S. dollars. The theme of this movie is a love story; that is, if you indulge in love before marriage, you become a hero.

Music played a central and very crucial role in conveying this message in the movie. It is little wonder that the Celine Dion song from Titanic, "My Heart Will Go On", won many musical awards. In recognition of this manipulative power of music, contemporary writer David Chagall warned in an article in Family Weekly on Jan. 30, 1983: Music is used everywhere to condition the human mind. It can be just as powerful as a drug and much more dangerous, because nobody takes musical manipulation very seriously. Those who control the media are well aware of the power of music to bring about mental disturbances. They know that music can be used as an indoctrination tool by penetrating minds and controlling mental faculties.

Importance of Music in the Film Industry

Music is one of the strongest sources of emotions in the movies. If we take music out of the 'picture', the whole film industry will collapse because music is the strongest weapon through which they seduce the audience. The fact of the matter is that all the scenes in a movie, whether they are scenes of suspense, mystery, comedy or romance, depend primarily upon music, which is present during a major portion of the duration of the films. The sound tracks of movies and television series have music as their main ingredient. Music can transform a trivial and

silly story in a movie into something significant. Music animates the love scenes in a movie.

To put it simply, the seductive power ofthe movies and dramas is enhanced dramatically with the use of music. Every film industry in the world relies heavily on the use of music, whether it is Hollywood, U.S.A., India's Bollywood or Arabic dramas and movies. Music has the capability to express emotions in the movies in a far better way than the picture alone. This is due to the ability of music to simultaneously carry various types of

emotional information in its harmony, melody, timbre and rhythm.

The importance of music in the film industry can be understood from the fact that when silent movies were first

introduced in the beginning of the twentieth century, music was used in the theatres to illustrate and explain the actions.i" Harvard

39 Annabel J. Cohen, "Music as a Source of Emotion in Film," in Music and Emotion: Theory and Research, edited by Patrik N. Justin and John A. Sloboda, 249-272 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

University psychologist Hugo Miinsterberg was a pioneer in the area of film theory. One of his last books was The Photoplay: A Psychological Study, originally published in 1916, which can be considered the first book on film theory. In this book, Miinsterberg stressed that there should be music in films because, according to him, music relieves tension, maintains interest, gives comfort, arouses emotions and provides the aesthetic experience.

He argued that cinema is more similar to music than it is to photography and drama because in the area of aesthetics, the art of musical tones has:

overcome the outer world and social world entirely, they unfold our inner life, our mental play, with its feelings and emotions, its memories and fancies, in a material which seems exempt from the laws of the world of substance and material, [musical] tones which are fluttering and fleeting like our own mental states.40

Miinsterberg died in 1916, the same year his book The Photoplay was published, and the film industry did not initially realize the significance of his ideas. In 1927, when talking movies became possible, music was taken out of the films. It was thought that with real voices and sound effects, music was no longer needed in order to elicit emotions and mood. Within a few years, people lost interest in films. They felt that there was no life in the film screen without music. Hence, the film industry learned the bitter lesson that emotions could not be expressed in a film without the presence of music.41 In the words of Kalinak:

40 Hugo Munsterberg, The Photoplay: A Psychological Study (New York: Amo, 1970).

41 Cohen, "Music as a Source of Emotion in Film."

When the possibility of synchronized speech and sound effects released sound film from its reliance upon continuous musical accompaniment, it initially rejected music entirely.

But the life span of the all-talking picture [with no music in it] was brief, the need that music filled quickly reasserting itself.42

For this reason, it has been proposed that music adds a third dimension to the two-dimensional film screen.P

In one study reported by Bullerjahn and Guldenring in 1994, top professional composers of film music created a total of five different background music tracks (for example, crime or melodrama) for the same ten-minute film segment.?" The results of the study revealed that depending on the musical soundtrack, the viewers made different judgments regarding the appropriateness of emotional categories (such as sad, sentimental, thrilling, or vivid), choice of movie scene (crime, horror, comedy, thriller), reasons for the actions of the leading character and expectations about the end of the movie. Hence, music alters the meanings of any particular aspect of the film. In

discussing the paramount role of music in films, Annabel 1. Cohen writes:

Music does more than echo or provide a counterpart to a concept already present in the film. Music can also direct attention to an object on the screen and establish emotionally 42 K. Kalinack, Settling the Score (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992).

43 C. Palmer, The Composer in Hollywood (New York: Marion Boyars, 1990).

44 C. Bullerjahn and M. Guldenring, "An Empirical Investigation of Effects of Film Music Using Qualitative Content Analysis," Psychomusicology l3 (1994): 99-118.

laden inferences about that object... Music heightens the sense of reality of or absorption in film, perhaps by augmenting arousal, and increasing attention to the entire film context and inattention to everything else.... Miinsterberg suggested that the psychological processes underlying film were more similar to those of music than to visual art or drama, which on the surface might seem more similar. Experimental evidence since then has shown that music influences the interpretation of film narrative and that the music becomes integrated in the memory with the visual information.45

Importance of Music in the Advertising Industry Music is a common element in commercials. It has been shown

through various studies that music is involved in mood inducement and that it affects behaviour and preferences in a variety of contexts. Studies on consumers indicate that music does influence what products they will select. Because of the profound importance of music in influencing the moods of people, the advertising industry also relies heavily upon music. They use the best musical lyrics to seduce people into buying their products, sometimes incorporating catchy jingles from the works of famous musicians into their commercials.

E. M. Brand argues that music in supermarkets is:

designed to make shopping more enjoyable and perhaps to help distract attention from the total cost of the shopping cart full of merchandise .... Carefully selected music proves highly

45 Cohen, "Music as a Source of Emotion in Film."

successful in creating a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in which to shop.:"

Studies also provide evidence that features such as humor, sex, colour and music in a commercial can directly influence our attitudes. For instance, Gerald 1. Govn of the University of British Columbia (Canada) has shown through his experiments on human subjects that when people hear music while being exposed to a product, this music can directly affect their product preferences. In addition, stimuli such as music and colours are so important that many North American commercials contain very little product information; instead they are comprised mainly of stimuli that can arouse emotions, such as music and colours (and other visual imagery such as female modelsj"

Interestingly, in one of Gorn's experiments, among all the subjects in the study who made the choice of the product based on the preferred music, 91  were not even aware that the preferred music was involved in influencing their decision. This could be partly due to the fact that people have their ego (which is termed 'cognitive bias' in the language of psychology), which is a result of their attempt to think well of themselves. Due to the cognitive bias, people try to convince themselves and the researchers that their minds cannot be manipulated by anything and that they always make rational decisions.l"

46 E.A. Brand, Modern Supermarket Operation (New York: Fairchild Publications, 1963).

47 Gerald J. Gorn, "The Effects of Music in Advertising on Choice Behavior: A Classical Conditioning Approach," Journal of Marketing 46 (Winter 1982): 94-101.

48 A.G. Greenwald, "The Totalitarian Ego: Fabrication and Revision of Personal History," American Psychologist 35, no. 7 (1980): 603-618.

Another reason for this lack of awareness on the part of the subjects about their minds being manipulated by music could be that music sometimes acts on the subconscious, as a subliminal message. There is scientific evidence for this, which will be discussed in detail later in the section on 'Role of Music in the Suicide among Youth.' In the end, Gerald Gorn suggests to advertisers (capitalists and industrialists) that they reach their viewers 'through emotionally arousing features' such as music, so as to manipulate and influence their choice of products.T'

In a study by Ronald Millman and his colleagues at Loyola University, it was demonstrated that when slow music was played in the aisles of supermarkets, sales were 38.2 higher (as reflected in the sales receipts) as compared to sales when similar but fast music was played. When the customers who were exiting the supermarket were questioned, one-third of the shoppers were not aware that there was any kind of music being played, and 29 of the shoppers completely denied that fact that there was any music played in the market. 50

Again, as pointed out in the previous study by Gorn, this study affirms that the majority of the customers were unaware that their minds were being manipulated by music. It can also be deduced that advertisers use music to sell products while lying about their actual worth and quality.

49 Gorn, "The Effects of Music in Advertising on Choice Behavior: A Classical Conditioning Approach."

50 Rosenfeld, "Music, The Beautiful Disturber."

Chapter 4

Music Made Me Do It

" Music can move us to tears or to dance, to fight or to make love .... It is created by people to affect and communicate with other people. In one sense, it's no surprise that music grabs us - it's supposed to. But once you look at the process, it seems quite miraculous that people can bowl one another over just by jiggling sound waves." 1

(Anne H. Rosenfeld, psychologist and musician) According to the ancient Greeks, the root word for music is 'muse,' which referred to the spirit beings responsible for the inspiration of all arts. It seems that those 'spirit beings' are the satanic forces at work in music because, according to the Qur' an, Satan misleads human beings by his seductive voice.

Interestingly, one of the Webster's dictionary definitions for the word 'muse', the root of 'music', is 'a source of inspiration. ' Humans have two main sources of inspiration outside of themselves: Allah (SWT) and Satan. While both communicate ideas to willing listeners, Allah (SWT) communicates through inspiration and through His sacred scriptures, whereas Satan is an aggressive liar who desires to stir rebellion against Allah (SWT). In the realm of 1 Rosenfeld, "Music, The Beautiful Disturber."

social psychology, there is plenty of evidence demonstrating that music has a direct influence on the behaviour of people. Comparison between Soft, Slow Music and Fast, Loud Music In general, there are two major types of music, although the classification is somewhat arbitrary and there is some overlap:

1.            Slow and soft music (such as ballads, folk music, classical music and religious hymns)

2.            Fast and loud music (such as hard rock, heavy metal and punk)

The following is a comparison between the two types of music with respect to their effects on the society:

Slow, soft music swings the head of its listener, while fast, loud music swings the pelvis of its listener - although all types of music make the listener oblivious and forgetful of Allah (SWT).

Slower music may depress its listeners due to its soft tone, especially when it has a sad theme, whereas faster music may make them aggressive due to its loud beat and hyper stimulation.

A cursory look at the lives of some of the traditional music composers tells us about the depression in their lives. The musical genius Ludwig van Beethoven contemplated committing suicide during his life. Classical composer Mozart had a premature death at the age of thirty-five.

The German philosopher and poet Friedrich Nietzsche considered music an attempt to give form and beauty to the dark, chaotic forces in the soul - to make them serve a higher purpose? Yet Nietzsche was always cynical of God and even declared that "God is dead." He became permanently insane during the last ten years of his life.

Most songs of all types have the same theme of sex as their pivotal point, as was shown in the scientific studies in the previous chapter. In general, slow, soft songs inspire listeners to engage in illicit sex by presenting premarital love as a norm in the society, while fast, loud songs do so by stimulating sexual desires and even instigating violence in their listeners. The slower, softer songs often elevate women to the level of sex goddesses, whereas

many others degrade women to the level of sex objects, as will be shown later in this chapter. To draw an analogy, slow and soft music resembles alcohol in that it kills slowly, whereas fast and loud music acts like drugs that are more stimulating than alcohol, such as cocaine, heroin, MDMA (Ecstasy), MDEA (Eve), LSD or PCP (angel dust).

The above discussion makes it clear that while different categories of music may have different methods of actions, they are not really different from each other in terms of their results and  their evil influence upon the society. This is because all of them emanate from the same fountain of corruption. Loud music with a fast pace destroys its listeners more quickly, whereas softer, slower music is a slow killer. This may not be obvious at times,

but that should not mislead anyone to think that soft, slow music is angelic and humble; it is just that its dangers are more subtle.

All forms of music are prohibited in the teachings of the Qur' an and Sunnah. Various types of music are related to one

2 Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy and The Case of Wagner (New

York: Vintage Books, 1967).

another just as cigars are related to cigarettes, and research on one form of music applies to the other types as well. In fact, with the advent of modem acoustic technology, the traditional types of songs evolved into pop and rock songs. The filth and corruption that was lying hidden in traditional music became very obvious with the advent of modem technology such as radios, tape- recorders, amplifying speakers, music television stations, cables, dish networks, CD players, DVDs, the Internet, and portable devices such as Walkmans, iPods, and mp3s.

Although most music has a message of sexuality and rebellion against authority, the reason that the contemporary pop music culture is gaining more fame and momentum, as compared to more traditional types of music, is due to the fact that people become desensitized with the passage of time. Hence, singers and musicians must continually take the explicitness of the message of promiscuity and 'freedom' to higher levels. Only by increasing the intensity of their filthy message can those singers and musicians keep on amusing and gratifying the lowest desires of their listeners and viewers.

Role of music in the rebellion

of youth against parents

Music, whether from radio or recordings, is a popular form of entertainment for young people. It has been shown that youth between the ages of 11 and 14 spend 16.6 hours per week, and teenagers from 15 to 18 years old spend about 21.4 hours per week, listening to music on radios, CDs or various other media.:'

3 Donald F. Roberts, D.G. Foehr and V.J. Rideout, Generation M2: Media in=

Parents may perceive it to be innocent and normal when children and teenagers listen to music, but in reality, sometimes unbeknownst to the parents, music has deep psychological implications for children and teenagers. Music makes the children rebellious towards their parents.

In the 1989 issue (Sept 22/29) of the Journal of American Medical Association, physicians Elizabeth Brown, MD and William Hendee, MD noted that most teenagers listen to music in the privacy of their homes and interpret on their own the ideas presented in the music, without any guidance from their elders. In addition, adolescence is the time when teenagers begin to develop standards of behaviour and morality in light of the moral standards of adults. Brown and Hendee argue:

In this context, music, a powerful medium in the lives of adolescents, offers conflicting values. The explicit sexual and violent lyrics of some forms of music often clash with the themes of abstinence and rational behaviour promoted by adult society."

Professor Allan Bloom writes: "Though students do not have books, they most emphatically do have music. Nothing is more singular about this generation than its addiction to music." 5

American poet and author Robert Bly writes that the rock music of the 1950s and 1960s played an important role in the teenage liberation movement, the time when "Elvis Presley let his =the Lives of 8- to J8-Year-Olds (Palo Alto, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010).

4 Brown and Hendee, "Adolescents and their Music: Insights into the Health

of Adolescents."

5 Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind.

pelvis move to the music." He continues:

The popular heroes of the late 1950s, James Dean, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and Jack Kerouac, all took part in that struggle to loosen everyone up, and were loved for it..."

Robert Bly is arguing here that rock music was one of the major factors that contributed towards the teenage liberation mentality.

It is a fact that young people are the target audience for the music industry, although people in other age groups also listen to music. Young people spend an average of 2-1/2 hours a day listening to music, out of 7-1/2 hours a day of total media exposure." According to key statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America website, in 2008, sales of recorded music (including full-length CDs and cassettes, singles, music videos, DVDs, digital downloads, optical discs and LPs) in the U.S. exceeded eight billion dollars, and young people between the ages of 10 and 19 accounted for about 18 of the total sales.

The purchase of music in other countries is following the same trend as seen in the U.S., although at a slower pace. Many young people report feeling that the music they listen to, and the artists who create that music, act as role models for them.

They feel a connection because they think that the singer knows what mental conflicts they are going through and how they feel.

This idea of the artist becoming the role model can be described in the language of psychology in terms of 'social learning theory.'

6 Robert Bly, The Sibling Society (New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1996).

7 Roberts, Foehr and Rideout, Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18- Year-Olds.

According to this theory, an individual's antisocial, aggressive responses are normally shaped by early experiences with parents and other significant adults. When these role models are unavailable, children seek out others to replace them, in their desire to imitate their superiors. In such situations, music and song - and those who play or sing it - may fill these gaps, providing the listener with a sense of identity and peer acceptance. The likelihood of imitation increases when the model is perceived as attractive or similar to the self.

In today's society, children and youth are spending much more time by themselves in front of electronic media devices, in part because more and more mothers are working instead of spending time with the children. Being left alone has forced many children and youth to seek out new role models and people to help them with the tough decisions they face. Popular music and songs tell the teenagers what they want to hear the most.

As pointed out earlier, adolescence is a time of great stress, when the limbic system is already activated due to the high levels of sex hormones. At this time, music and drugs, both of which also act on the limbic system, may cause overstimulation.

Moreover, at this stage of adolescence, teenagers are at a turning point in determining the future directions of their lives. When music offers values that are in conflict with the values taught to them by their parents, teachers and the society, they become confused.

According to Dr. Paul King, a foremost expert in the area of child and adolescent psychiatry, young people who do not identify with the traditional values of their society have to identify themselves with something. All youngsters seek a higher power or authority that approves of what they are feeling and doing. In such a situation, music provides them with a justification and approval for their actions."

One school specialist, with vast experience in dealing with difficult children, confirmed that the influence of music continued to surface in his counseling sessions with students. In the NovemberlDecember 1989 issue of Media Update, he said: Time after time I saw them pattern their actions after the immoral behaviour of their rock stars. The kids showed their allegiances by the vocabulary they picked up, the song titles printed on their book jackets, by the posters they hung on the walls of their rooms at home, by the music they listened to in their cars, and by the clothes they wore.

Sometimes the rebellion of youth against their parents does not remain limited to forsaking their parents in nursing homes. Occasionally some rebellious youth go so far as to kill their parents. Again, music is a contributing factor.

On January 9, 1988, in the Jefferson township of New Jersey, a youth named Thomas Sullivan murdered his mother, Betty-Ann, in the basement of their house; then he set fire to the house in order to kill his father and younger brother. Finally, he ran outside and committed suicide by cutting his wrists. His father woke up in time, due to the sound of the fire alarm, but found his wife dead in a pool of blood in the basement of the house. The dead body of Thomas Sullivan was found in the backyard the next morning.

Police later mentioned that Thomas had been a talented student, an outstanding sportsman and a Boy Scout. Then he became immersed in rock music and was a fan of Ozzy Osbourne.

8 King, "Heavy Metal Music and Drug Abuse in Adolescents."

Thomas' father told the police that all week before murdering his mother, his son Thomas had been singing a song 'about blood and killing your mother.' 9

Similarly, according to an article in US News & World Report on October 28, 1985, a 14-year-old girl, who was fascinated with pop music, stabbed her mother to death. Although these are extreme cases, they do show that music has the power to make a person mentally deranged and violent. There may not always be a simple one-to-one correlation between listening to music and committing violence, just as there is no simple one-to-one correlation between smoking and developing cancer, but the fact of the matter is that there is a direct connection in both cases.

Smoking is not the only cause of lung cancer, although it is one of the most prominent reasons. Neither is listening to music the only cause of youth violence, but it does playa significant role, as will become obvious in the next section.