The Etiquette of Samāʿ and Ecstasy
Volume 2: Customs
This document presents in-depth analyses drawn from the text "Adab al-Samāʿ wa'l-Wajd" (The Etiquette of Samāʿ and Ecstasy). The text's central focus is the nature of listening (samāʿ) and the spiritual ecstasy (wajd) that arises in the heart as a result of that listening, its juristic status, and its practical principles. The core thesis is that samāʿ is a "touchstone" that reveals what is hidden in the heart, and its ruling varies according to the listener's intention, the conditions of the gathering, and the quality of the content.
Summary
This document presents in-depth analyses drawn from the text "Adab al-Samāʿ wa'l-Wajd" (The Etiquette of Samāʿ and Ecstasy).
Sections
1. The Nature of Samāʿ and Its Effect on the Heart
The text compares the human heart to treasuries containing secrets and gems within. Samāʿ is the most effective way to bring those hidden gems to light.
- Samāʿ as Touchstone: Samāʿ does not add anything new to the heart; it only stirs into motion whatever is already there. Like a vessel that leaks its contents, samāʿ reflects the heart's virtues or vices outward.
- Spiritual Journey: The seeker of truth is counted as still at "the gate of the homeland" so long as he needs the outward eye to see. True vision is sometimes possible only by closing the eyes and undertaking an inward journey (passing through the corridor of samāʿ).
2. Juristic Status and the Scholars' Disagreement
There is wide disagreement among the scholars regarding the permissibility or unlawfulness of samāʿ:
- Those Who Say It Is Unlawful or Disliked: It is reported that Imām al-Shāfiʿī, Imām Mālik, and Abū Ḥanīfa generally regarded taghannī (singing) as disliked, likening it to "vanity" and saying it is "not the art of men of honor." Especially the type intended for play and amusement, or that incites to the unlawful, has been forbidden.
- Those Who Say It Is Permissible: It is transmitted that Companions such as ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar and ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubayr, and Sufi leaders such as al-Junayd al-Baghdādī and Dhū al-Nūn al-Miṣrī, regarded samāʿ as permissible and listened to it themselves.
- Synthetic View: Samāʿ is not unlawful in itself; but it may become unlawful for five external factors (ʿāriḍ):
1. The Performer: The voice of women or youths who may cause temptation. 2. The Instrument: The ʿūd, mizmār, and stringed instruments that recall drinking gatherings. 3. The Words (Naẓm): Poetry containing obscenity, disbelief, or satire against someone. 4. The Listener: Young people enslaved to lust who listen. 5. Excess: Common people making samāʿ a mere amusement and habit.
3. Degrees of Listening and Ecstasy (*Wajd*)
The text divides listeners into four main groups according to their states of ecstasy (wajd):
- Those Who Listen by Nature: The common people and animals (such as the camel) who take only the pleasure of the sound.
- Those Who Listen by State: Those who apply what they hear to personal lusts or to created beings (this is dangerous).
- The Seekers (Murīdūn): Those who refer what they hear to their spiritual states before God. For this group, samāʿ is a means to increase ardor and fear.
- The Gnostics (ʿĀrifūn) (the station of fanā): Those who have passed away from everything and witness only the Real. Ecstasy at this degree may be so intense as to carry a person beyond himself.
4. The Distinction Between *Wajd* and *Tawājūd*
- Wajd: A spiritual stirring that comes to the heart beyond one's will, as a unveiling or spiritual state.
- Tawājūd: Forcing oneself to obtain ecstasy, appearing to weep, or moving for effect. If this is done out of ostentation (riyā), it is blameworthy; but if it is to summon a spiritual state and soften the heart (as when trying to weep while reciting the Qur'an), it is acceptable.
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Key concepts
- The Performer
- Performance by women or beardless youths who may arouse lust.
- Instrument
- Use of instruments (mizmār, ʿūd, etc.) that recall wine gatherings or are marks of the people of sin.
- Words (*Naẓm*)
- Poems containing disbelief, obscene speech, or slander against the Companions.
- Listener
- Young people in whose hearts there are only human lusts, who use samāʿ to inflame those desires.
- Commonness / Habituation
- Making samāʿ a habit for amusement alone, not for worship or a spiritual state.
- First Degree
- Those who take pleasure only in a beautiful voice (the nature shared by humans and animals).
- Second Degree
- Those who apply what they hear to human love and lusts (regarded as unlawful or disliked).
- Third Degree
- Seekers who interpret their spiritual states and their relation to God through the allusions in poems (separation, union, coquetry).
- Fourth Degree
- Gnostics who have passed away from their own being and states and are occupied only with the Witnessed (God).
- Samāʿ
- Listening, hearing; in Sufism, attending to spiritual truths through beautiful voice and melodies.
- Wajd
- The sudden ecstasy, absorption, love, and longing that wells up in the heart during samāʿ.
- Tawājūd
- Forcing oneself, when not in a state of ecstasy, to appear as if weeping or to move with the rhythm in order to obtain that state.
- Lahīn
- Melody, tune; the performance of voices in a fixed order and meter.
- Permissible (*Mubāḥ*)
- An act in which there is no religious objection, left free to do or leave.
- Amusement (*Lahw*)
- Empty entertainment that keeps a person from serious affairs and the remembrance of God.
- The Pure Ones (*Aṣfiyāʾ*)
- Those who have attained purity, the elect, saintly servants cleansed of sins.
- Touchstone
- A standard or test stone by which a thing's value, purity, or truth is measured.
- Fanā fi'n-nafs
- A person's passing away from his own self and states and being lost entirely in divine witnessing.
- External Factor (*ʿĀriḍ*)
- An external factor or defect added to a thing afterward that changes its ruling.
Study questions
According to the text, what is the way to bring out the hidden gems in the heart?
To pass through the corridor of samāʿ and stir the heart with measured, pleasing melodies.
What is Imām al-Shāfiʿī's general view on *taghannī* (singing/listening)?
He regards taghannī as a disliked amusement resembling vanity; he states that the testimony of one excessively devoted to it may be rejected.
Define the relationship between Samāʿ and Wajd.
Samāʿ is a beginning; the spiritual state that arises in the heart as the fruit of that beginning is called wajd.
Which musical instruments are absolutely forbidden because they recall drinking gatherings?
Stringed and bowed instruments such as the Iraqi mizmār, ʿūd, sang, ruhbāb, and barbūṭ.
What is the ruling on tearing one's garment (ripping one's cloak) while in a state of ecstasy?
If a person has completely lost his will (as in intoxication), he is excused; but to do so for show or while one's will remains is not appropriate.
What was the Prophet's attitude toward the games of the Abyssinians in the mosque?
He stopped ʿUmar, who wanted to prevent them, and allowed them to continue their games; this is taken as evidence that play and samāʿ are permissible on days of joy such as festivals.