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His saying, peace be upon him: 'Zayyinu aswatakum bi'l-Qur'an' — Adorn your voices with the recitation of the Qur'an. And another narration: 'Zayyinu'l-Qur'an bi'l-aswat al-hasan' — Adorn the Qur'an with fine, beautiful voices. His saying, exalted: 'He increases in creation what He wills' (Fatir 35:1). The commentators said that this refers to a beautiful voice, and whoever wishes to hear the voice of David, let him hear the voice of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari.

And it is well known in the traditions that in Paradise the people of Paradise have audition (sama'), and it is such that from every tree comes a different sound and melody. When these sounds are composed together, the natures find in them a great delight. This kind of audition is universal among created beings, human and otherwise, that are alive, by virtue of the fact that the spirit is subtle and in sounds there is a subtlety; when like hears like, the kind inclines toward its kind. And this is the doctrine of a group whom I mentioned.

And among the physicians and those who claim verification among the people of experience, there is much discourse on this matter, and they have composed books on the composition of melodies and given it great importance. Today the traces of their art are apparent in the wind instruments (mazamir) which they have arranged to strengthen passion and to seek amusement, in accordance with Satan — to the extent that they say: Ishaq al-Mawsili was singing in a garden, and a nightingale (hazar-dastan) was singing; from the delight of it he fell silent and listened until he fell from the tree dead. And I have heard many stories of this kind, but the intent is other than this.

And they say: 'All the comforts of the natures come from the composition and combination of sounds and melodies.' Ibrahim Khawwas, may God be pleased with him, says: I once came to a tribe of the Arab tribes and lodged at the guest-house of a chief among the chiefs of the tribe. I saw a black slave, chained and bound, cast down before the tent door in the sun. Compassion arose in my heart, and I resolved to ask the chief to release him as an intercession. When food was brought, the chief came to honor his guest and to keep me company. When he set about eating, I refrained. And to the Arab nothing is harder than that someone should not eat their food. He said to me: 'O young man, what keeps you from my food?' I said: 'A hope I have in your generosity.' He said: 'All my possessions are yours; eat the food.' I said: 'I have no need of your possessions; give this slave into my charge.' He said: 'First ask about his crime, then remove his bonds; for you have command over all things while you are our guest.' I said: 'Tell me what his crime is.' He said: 'Know that this is a slave who is a camel-driver (hadi) and has a beautiful voice. I sent him to my estate with a hundred camels to bring me grain. He went and loaded a double load on each camel, and on the road he sang the camel-song (hida), and the camels hastened until in a short time they arrived here, with twice the load I had ordered. When the loads were taken off the camels, the camels all perished, one by one, two by two.'

Ibrahim said: I was greatly astonished. I said: 'O chief, your nobility requires you to speak only the truth, but I need a proof for this statement.' While we were in this talk, they brought several camels from the desert to the well to water them. The chief asked: 'How many days is it since these camels drank water?' They said: 'Three days.' He ordered this slave to raise his voice in the camel-song. The camels became absorbed in his voice and in hearing it, and did not put their mouths to the water, until suddenly they bolted one by one and scattered into the desert. He then freed the slave and gave him to me.

And we see some of this in observation — that when a cameleer or a donkey-driver hums a tune, joy appears in the camel and the donkey.

And in Khurasan and Iraq there is a custom that hunters hunt gazelles at night by striking a basin (tasht), so that the gazelles hear the sound of the basin and stand still in their place, and they catch them.

And it is well known that in India there is a group who go out into the plain and sing and modulate melodies. When the gazelles hear this, they approach them. They circle around the gazelle and sing until, from delight, its eyes close and it sleeps, and they catch it.

And in small children this rule is apparent — that when they cry in the cradle and someone plays a melody, they fall silent and listen to it; and the physicians say of such a child that its senses are sound and that in adulthood it will be clever. And it was for this reason that when a certain king of Persia died, a two-year-old son was left of him. The viziers said: 'Should we seat this one on the throne of the kingdom?' They took counsel with Buzurjmihr. He said: 'It would be right, but we must test whether his senses are sound and whether hope may be placed in him.' They said: 'What is the plan for this?' He ordered that they sing, and in the midst of it the child became joyful and began to move his hands and feet. Buzurjmihr said: 'This one is a hopeful candidate for the kingship.'

And the effect of sounds is too apparent to the intelligent to need the demonstration of a proof. Whoever says: 'I take no pleasure in melodies and sounds and instruments' either lies, or is a hypocrite, or has no senses and is outside the category of humans and beasts. The prohibition of a group concerning it is because they observe the command of God. And the jurists agree that when there are no instruments of amusement and no immorality (fisq) appears in the heart, hearing it is permissible; and on this they bring many traditions and reports. As it is narrated from Aisha, may God be pleased with her, she said: 'I had a slave-girl who was singing, and Umar sought permission to enter; when she heard his sound she fled. When Umar entered, the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, smiled. Umar said to him: What made you laugh, O Messenger of God? He said: We had with us a slave-girl who was singing, and when she heard your sound she fled. Umar said: I will not leave until I hear what the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, heard. So the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, called the slave-girl, and she began to sing while the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, listened.'

And many of the Companions, may God's approval be upon them, have transmitted the like of this, and Shaykh Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami collected all of that in the Book of Sama' and decided in favor of its permissibility. But the intent of the Sufi masters in this is other than this; for in works one must consider the benefits. Seeking permissibility is the business of the common people, and the place of the permissible is the beasts. The charged servants must seek benefit from their deeds.

Once I was in Marw. One of the imams of the people of Hadith, who was the most renowned, said to me: 'I have written a book on the permissibility of sama'.' I said: 'A great calamity has appeared in religion, that the master imam has made lawful amusement (lahw), which is the root of all immoralities!' He said to me: 'If you do not hold it lawful, why do you do it?' I said: 'The ruling on this is according to circumstances; one cannot decide upon a single thing. If the effect in the heart is lawful, the sama' is lawful; if unlawful, unlawful; if permissible, permissible. A thing whose outward ruling is immorality, but whose inner state is according to circumstances — to make an absolute judgment upon it as a single thing is impossible.' And God knows best what is right.