Response: I have read your argument regarding music and am convinced by your explanation that only music and songs which stimulate vulgar emotions are prohibited. However, I have a question which I hope you could address. In one of your answers with regard to the prohibition of music, you write:
On the contrary, it is a known fact that one of the other divinely revealed scriptures, the Psalms, is basically a collection of hymns. The Prophet David (sws) used to sing the various Psalms revealed to him on his harp.
Please can you give some proof of this because it seems to me that if this fact can be established, those who say that music is absolutely prohibited, will have very little to argue with.
Comment: The fact that Psalms is a collection of hymns that were sung is an established historical fact and all biblical authorities say so. In fact, the Psalms themselves say so; you just have to read them to know this. For example in every Bible at the top of most Psalms it is written1:
‘For the Director of Music.’
At the beginning of Psalm 5, for example, you will find the words:
‘For the Director of Music. For Flutes’
At the beginning of Psalm 6, the following words are inscribed:
‘For the Director of Music. For Stringed Instruments.’
At the beginning of Psalm 22, the words written are:
‘For the Director of Music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning”.
At the beginning of Psalm 30, the words written are:
A Psalm. A song. “For the dedication of the temple”
The first three verses of Psalm 33 read thus:
Sing joyfully to the Lord you righteous:
It is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Praise the Lord with the harp;
Make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Sing to him a new song;
Play skillfully and shout for joy.
Psalms 120-134 have the following words written at the top:
‘A song of ascents’
1. All quotations are taken from ‘The New International Version’, International Bible Society, Nineteenth impression, April 1992