💐 In The Name Of Allah The Most Gracious The Most Merciful
💌 My decision to completely stop being addicted to music didn't happen overnight. It was a long journey consisting of periodical breaks or episodes of deciding to quit listening to songs, then returning to music addiction, and then back to willingness to do Tawbah (repentance), from my teenage years until my late twenties.
As a former music addict, I remember listening to a wide variety of songs in my portable CD player frequently while studying, while working on my school projects and assignments, while doing aerobic exercise, and even before sleeping. I also tuned in to a number of radio stations to listen to the latest hits, and on some occasions I sent letters via email or fax machine to the DJ cheesily requesting certain songs to be "dedicated" to all the students of Middle East International School back then.
AstaghfurAllah Al-'Atheem.
Savage Garden, Evanescence, Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, Westlife, Shania Twain, P!nk (Alecia Beth Moore), Backstreet Boys (BSB), A-Teens, M2M, Eminem, Britney Spears, and the Spice Girls were some of the "artists", along with other Arab singers, whose songs I used to ignorantly listen to. Alhamdulillah I stopped listening to music when Allah the Almighty guided me through the consistent warnings and advice of my dear parents (Allah yarhamhuma. Ameen.) against such wrongdoing which a lot of people take lightly.
Afterwards I decided to replace them with so-called "anasheed", "nasheeds" or "Islamic songs", wrongly assuming that listening to them would strengthen my faith/Imaan when it actually did the opposite. Instead of calming my heart by listening to Allah's Magnificent Words in the Noble Qur'an regularly, there I was pretentiously chanting "nasheed" lyrics and guiltily staring at the good looks of "nasheed artists" such as Sami Yusuf, Native Deen, Maher Zain, Deen Squad, and Saif / Safe Adam while watching "nasheed video clips". Watching "nasheed videos" felt almost similar to watching music vids on MTV and other channels, but with a slightly different flavor. Imagine a divorcee who's dealing with severe depression trying to slit his wrists and arms with a razor blade. Instead of utilizing the razor blade, he uses the sharp edges of a broken piece of glass to cut himself. While both cutting tools look dissimilar outwardly, their disastrous effects are the same. Being addicted to music is still as sinful as obsessively listening to so-called "anasheed", even if your niyyah/intention is to gather sufficient energy to worship Allah Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala.
📝 Some tips to permanently stop music addiction, for Allah's sake:
1] Understand the real reasons why dancing and listening to music aren't allowed. Allah the Most Wise created your body so you can use it for praying to Him, not to dance, and your ears are meant for listening to the Adhaan, Qur'an recitations, and beneficial Islamic lectures, not for absorbing evil speech such as lies, gossip, and distracting songs.
2] Read more articles or listen to Islamic talks regarding the prohibition of listening to music.
3] Be inspired by the true stories of Muslims who willingly gave up their harmful addiction to music.
4] When commuting with a taxi or any vehicle, be confident enough to request the driver to switch off the radio if music is being played. The more often you command others to stop listening to music, the more you're trained to dislike music, thereby motivating yourself to practice what you preach since you recall how awful it is to act like a hypocrite.
5] Constantly ask Allah the Most Kind to keep you steadfast, as you strive to increase your good deeds to compensate for your past sins.
Pray that Allah Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala takes your soul while you're in a noble state, mentioning His Name, saying Dhikr, or after having performed wudhu/ablution, instead of while listening to musical instruments and nonsensical songs.
~•~
📖 Abu Qatadah RadhiAllahu 'anhu narrated: Allah's noble Messenger Muhammad SallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam said, "Verily, you will never leave anything for the sake of Allah the Almighty but that Allah will replace it with something better."
Source: Musnad Ahmed 22565
Grade: Sahih (Authentic) according to Al-Albani
📖 Abu Malik Al-Ash'ari RadhiAllahu 'anhu narrated: Allah's noble Messenger Muhammad SallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam said, "Some people from my nation will drink wine, calling it by different names, and musical instruments will be played for them and girls will sing to them. Allah will cause the earth to swallow them up, and He (Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala) will turn some of them into apes and pigs."
Source: Sunan Ibn Mājah 4020
Grade: Sahih (Authentic) according to Al-Albani
https://mjustsharingislam.blogspot.com/2021/01/poem-importance-of-staying-away-from.html
https://mjustsharingislam.blogspot.com/2021/05/poem-some-things-you-can-do-to-manage.html
https://mjustsharingislam.blogspot.com/2020/07/poem-when-youve-done-tawbah-dont-look.html
https://mjustsharingislam.blogspot.com/2020/11/note-from-sincere-tawbah-is-to-not-miss.html
https://www.abukhadeejah.com/ruling-on-music-and-singing-ibn-baz-albani-ibn-taymiyyah/