ALSHARIF 1

Sami AlSharif

Samantha Kirby

ENGL 108

March 16, 2018

Between Traditionalism and Modernism: Maher Zain’s Ramadan

Many Islamic movements evolve as responses to the social and political ‘crises’ of

modernity. Prominent among these movements are the traditionalist and the modernist

movements. Modernists espouse an accommodating approach; they seek a reinterpretation of

Islam that would fit into a modern Western framework (“Islamic Modernism”). The modernist

movement, therefore, stresses the importance of independent reasoning (ijtihad) to derive Islamic

ideology. Traditionalists, on the other hand, attempt to purify Islam from the liberal ideology of

the West. They call for a return to traditional texts to arrive at a more authentic Islamic ideology.

The controversy surrounding modernism and traditionalism continues to manifest itself in

Islamic cultural expression. An example of such “manifestation” can be found in Maher Zain’s

Ramadan and the corresponding music video. Ramadan implicitly pits modernism against

traditionalism by presenting controversial elements from each movement. Through Zain’s

careful use of lyrics, for example, Ramadan seems to align itself with the modernists’ approval

of musical instruments. In the same time, however, the music video presents scenes that portray a

traditionalist conception of women roles.

Prior to any analysis of Zain’s Ramadan, it is important to present a summary of relevant

terms from Islamic literature. A prominent feature of Islamic legal theory (usul al-fiqh) is the

classifiable nature of all human actions (Hallaq). There is no distinction between sacred action

(e.g. prayer) and non-sacred action (such as eating or sleeping). Any human action can be
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classified into one of these five categories: permissible, recommended, neutral, disliked and

impermissible. Each ‘category’ is known as a hukm, or legal ruling. It is the responsibility of

legal ‘specialists’ (‘ulama’), therefore, to determine the ruling on any given action. In order to

determine that, the ‘ulama’ can refer to the Qur’an. Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the

verbatim word of God, as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through the archangel Gabriel. But

the Qur’an can be vague, particularly on issues relating to music and women. In these cases,

specialists turn to the hadith: reports from the Prophet that were transmitted through various

chains of “narrators.’’ The hadith supplement the Qur’an in areas where the Qur’an is either

vague or largely silent. Traditionalists tend to rely on these two sources for their legal rulings.

Not all hadith, however, are authentic (sahih) and reliable. A report can be a fabrication by

another human. A report is also subject to change throughout its chain of transmission.

Therefore, there is another source in legal theory, which is known as ijithad (independent

reasoning). Modernists tend to rely heavily on ijtihad for their derivation of rulings.

Ramadan is a product of the controversy surrounding the positions of traditionalism and

modernism because it presents opposing elements from each movement. There are two broad

‘categories’ of controversy: music and women. Traditionalists usually express opposition to

music; they deem music a distraction (lahw) from remembering God (Otterbeck and Ackfeldt).

Modernists, on the other hand, approve of music for its potential “benefits” such as healing,

encouraging hard work and alleviating grief (Shiloah). Ramadan, in its incorporation of wide

variety of musical instruments, obviously reflects a modernist stance toward music. In fact, Zain

uses the aforementioned modernist argument to defend his music: “people want to hear good

music but with a positive message. I think it can reach out to new people…” (Shahid). When it

comes to women, traditionalists generally support veiling (wearing the hijab) and confinement to
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the house. They are reluctant to condone the involvement of women in the public sphere.

Conversely, modernists tend to be skeptical of veiling and they promote gender equality.

Modernists encourage women to do useful things for themselves and for others through

participation in the public sphere (Shaaban). In this category of the controversy, Ramadan leans

toward traditionalism. Most of the women are depicted with their veils (hijabs) around their

heads. Also, two women are shown at home cleaning silverware, which suggests that women

should be concerned with “their primary responsibility of home and child care” (Winter 49).

Zain’s Ramadan is also a producer of further controversy because it promotes a “middle-

ground” position between traditionalism and modernism. This produces controversy because the

middle-ground position seems distant to the two polarized “extremes” of traditionalism and

modernism. Traditionalists will be uncomfortable with the use of musical instruments in

Ramadan and modernists will bash the music video for the way it portrays woman. Interestingly,

Maher Zain anticipated some of these responses to his music video. For example, he released an

alternative “vocals only” video that does not involve the use of musical instruments (Marshall).

Some modernists may claim that Ramadan’s portrayal of Muslim women is dangerous. The

hijab women are always shown smiling. In one light-hearted scene, women exchange laughs

while they cook for their children. All of this gives us a sense of confidence and power: the

women seem content with their position in the kitchen. Moreover, the children, who restlessly

run around the house, do not bother the women at all. Thus, the music video presents all Muslim

women as “strong-willed, happy and spiritual” (Saeed 188). In doing so, it glosses over the hopes

and fears of Muslim women. This is something that modernists may be uncomfortable with.

Traditionalists base their condemnation of music on scripture (i.e., the Qur’an and

hadith). The Qur’an is largely silent about music—the only reference to music occurs in the
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chapter of “Luqman,” wherein God says: “some… buy diverting talk (lahwal hadith) to lead

astray from the way of God” (The Qur’an Luqman 6). The earliest traditionalists interpreted

lahwal hadith as a reference to music (Shiloah). Consequently, musical instruments became

known as malahi, or “distractions.” According to the Islamic tradition, human beings are

inherently forgetful of God. In fact, scholars argue that the Arabic word for ‘human being’

(insan) comes from the trilateral root nsy which means “forgot” (Dogan). Traditionalists lump

music together with wine and women as distractions from God. Due to the absence of an explicit

condemnation, this is not the strongest argument. The traditionalists, therefore, turn to the hadith.

In the hadith, there is a connection between music and the devil (shaitan, cognate with the

Hebrew “Satan”). A report tells that the Prophet labeled the reed-pipe as mizmar al-shaitan: the

“devil’s reed-pipe” (Shiloah). The connection between music and devil (and by extension,

magic) is reiterated by modern-day traditionalists. The scholar Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr once said that

“earnings which are forbidden… [include] payments to fortune-tellers and those who claim to

know the unseen and astrologers, [and] payments for playing flutes” (Ederer). Notice that music

(“playing flutes”) is grouped together with fortune-telling, which is also associated with the

devil.

Modernists, on the other hand, approve of music by applying independent reasoning.

First, modernists reason that music cannot be entirely categorized malahi (Shiloah, “Music and

Religion”). They point to the traditionalists’ support of Qur’anic cantillation (ritual chanting).

The traditionalists refer to cantillation as qira’a (“reading”) as opposed to “singing,” which

removes any suspicion that cantillation is ‘music’ (Farmer). But proponents of music may argue

that singing and cantillation are not different; both involve melodic vocalizations. In fact, in a

report from the hadith, the Prophet says “Allah (God) listens more intently to a man… reading
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the Qur’an than does a master of a singing-girl to her singing” (Shiloah, Music in the World 33).

The comparison between Qur’anic “reading” and singing may suggest that they are both forms of

music. Modernists reject the permissible-impermissible dichotomy when it comes to music.

Instead, they evaluate music as beneficial or non-beneficial. In Ramadan, Maher Zain infuses his

music with pious elements. One lyric in Zain’s song, “Ramadan ya habib,” exemplifies this

(Zain). In Arabic, habib means “beloved,” so Zain is saying “Ramadan, my beloved.” Zain uses

the traditional love story template for his song: he yearns for his loved one (“I wish you were

always near”) and expresses how “alive” he feels around his loved one (Zain). In the song the

‘loved one’ is Ramadan. Ramadan is the holy month of Islam, during which Muslims fast from

dawn to dusk. Zain, therefore, uses his own music to remind himself of God. His music does not

entail pleasure that diverts him away from God. His music, modernists may argue, is beneficial

because it does not fall under the malahi (distraction from God) category. Proponents add that

music is listened to subjectively. The thoughts and feelings that arise from music are different

from one individual to the other. As one scholar succinctly says: “music does not produce in the

heart what is not in it” (Shiolah, “Music and Religion”).

The status of women in Islam is a more contentious issue, and traditionalists (again) base

their arguments on the Qur’an. The Qur’an does not have much to say about women’s clothing.

Of six thousand verses, only two mention clothing. One of these occurs in the chapter of “The

Light”: “[women] should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily)

appear thereof… they should draw their veils” (The Qur’an An-Nur 31). Based on this verse,

traditionalists divide “beauty” into the apparent and the hidden. God commands women to

conceal their hidden beauty with veils. The most popular opinion about hidden beauty is that it is

the woman’s whole body save for her face and hands (Hasan). This is directly related to the
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Islamic assertion that women possess raw, aggressive sexual energy. The assertion is that a

woman’s body consists of fully ‘vulnerable’ parts (awrat), and that her body needs to be

concealed because it is a temptation (Winter). In Zain’s Ramadan, the women are portrayed with

loose (as opposed to tight) outer garments, while men are portrayed wearing pants and even

jeans. The loose outer garment, known as jilbab, is favored by traditionalists because it conceals

the outlines of women’s awrat. Also notice that the camera focuses on the upper half of women’s

bodies in the music video (refer to the cooking scene, in particular). This effect could be

intentional, since it highlights the prominence of the hijab. In few instances throughout the music

video, women are shown without a hijab. An analysis of these instances shows that this mostly

occurs when the women are around those who have “no sexual appetite” for them (Hasan 67).

For example, this occurs in the scene where three women are waving table cloth in the air. Since

there are no men in that scene, the women are comfortable without their hijabs.

Zain’s Ramadan also provides support for modernist arguments about women.

Modernists support the visibility of women in the public sphere. To back their arguments,

modernists often resort to records of early Islamic history. Records indicate that women assumed

prominent positions within Muslim communities. There are records of women such as Shajarat

al-Dur who assumed political authority. Others led military campaigns, engaged in literary

criticism (e.g. Aisha b. Talha), and even practiced medicine in the renowned cities of Qurtuba

and Baghdad (Shaaban). Women, modernists argue, were not confined to their homes. In

Ramadan’s music video, women are portrayed as active participants. Women, for example,

engage themselves in conversation at the dinner table toward the end of the music video. The

women are not segregated from the men; however, each woman sits besides her husband, a child,

or another woman. So again, each woman keeps away from men who may have any illegitimate
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“sexual appetite” toward her. This scene is still a breakthrough for modernists because

traditionalists support the complete segregation of genders. Some modernists are also skeptical

of the hijab. The skeptics trace the hijab back to its historical origins. They argue that the hijab

was assimilated from conquered societies in Byzantium and Persia (Syed). The hijab was a

custom of rich women and a symbol of social status. Rich women were often confined to their

homes. When they left their homes, they wore the hijab as a “portable tent” to distinguish

themselves from slaves, peasants, and prostitutes (Winter). Modernists would argue that this

distinction has no place in contemporary egalitarian societies. In the dinner scene, two women

are shown without a hijab. This may be a reaffirmation of the modernist argument. However,

these women are obviously the minority, so it can also be used as a support for traditionalism.

Maher Zain’s Ramadan continues to fuel the controversy around Islamic traditionalism

and modernism. Both sides adopt different approaches in presenting their arguments. Ramadan is

a ‘mediator’ between those two positions. If anything, it attempts to harmonize them by

including elements from both sides. In the same time, however, it implicitly pits the two

positions against each other. The conversation about women and music in the context of these

two movements is not a simple one. There are layers of evidence ranging from scripture to

history and even rational argument. Ramadan’s primary role in this controversy is to show that

the controversy is very relevant to modern-day Muslims. Songs and music videos like Ramadan

further the conversation. With the rise of the “green pop” genre of Islamic music, there does not

seem to be a near end for this conversation.

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Works Cited

Dogan, Recep. “Theological Foudations of Human Identity in the Qur'an.” Muslim Identity

Formation in Religiously Diverse Societies, edited by Derya Iner and Salih Yucel,

Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015.

Ederer, John. “Regarding the Permissibility of Music.” Virtual Mosque, 12 Mar. 2013,

www.virtualmosque.com/islam-studies/sciences-of-quran-and-hadith/regarding-the-

permissibility-of-music/.

Farmer, Henry George. “The Religious Music of Islam.” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic

Society of Great Britain and Ireland, no. 1/2, Apr. 1952, pp. 60–65.,

www.jstor.org/stable/25222545.

Hallaq, Wael. Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Hasan, Usama. “The Veil: Between Tradition and Reason, Culture and Context.” Islam and the

Veil, edited by Theodore Gabriel and Rabiha Hannan, Continuum International, 2011.

“Islamic Modernism and Islamic Revival.” Oxford Islamic Studies Online,

www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t253/e9.

This web article explains the roots of the modernist and revival (ihya’) movements. It provides
simple and concise definitions of these two movements. It also explores the nature of these
movements, where they occurred, and how they changed ‘culture’. The purpose of this article is
clear: to introduce Islamic modernism and revivalism (i.e., traditionalism) to the average person.
It targets an audience that is unfamiliar with these movements, which is why it uses simple
language. The article is not biased because it is actually adapted from the Atlas of World
Religions (second edition). The goal is to inform, not to persuade. Both sides are discussed in the
article. I can use this article as a helpful tool to provide a background about these movements.
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Marshall, Alex. “On Tour With an Islamic Pop Star Who Makes Fans Swoon.” The New York

Times, 9 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/arts/music/maher-zain-tour.html.

Otterbeck, Jonas, and Anders Ackfeldt. “Music and Islam.” Contemporary Islam, vol. 6, no. 3,

Oct. 2012, pp. 227–233., doi:10.1007/s11562-012-0220-0.

A journal article that presents trends in the theological debate about the nature of music. It shows
the categorization of music during the medieval period into haram (impermissible), halal
(permissible) and ambiguous. It also shows that music was generally frowned upon by
theologians. The purpose of this article is to examine traditionalist views of music. It gives
examples of works of scholars (e.g. Albani) to supplement its discussion. The article was written
in a time when there was increasing media coverage of Muslim opposition to music (e.g. Salman
Ahmed, a singer, was interrupted by Islamists). Audience is mostly a scholarly class; the article
is found in a scholarly journal. The article is not biased; the authors present documented opinions
of early scholars. This article is helpful because it clarifies the traditionalist stance regarding
music. I can use that to articulate traditionalist views.

The Qur’an. Trans. John Arberry. The Only Quran,

http://www.theonlyquran.com/quran//English_Arthur_John_Arberry/

Shaaban, Bouthaina. “The Muted Voices of Women Interpreters.” Faith & Freedom, edited by

Mahnaz Afkhami, Syracuse University Press, 1995.

Saeed, Amir. “Between Hip-Hop and Muhammad.” Postcolonialism and Islam: Theory,

Literature, Culture, Society and Film, Routledge, 2014.

Shahid, Omar. “Maher Zain: 'My Music Is a Message of Islam'.” The Guardian, 15 Dec. 2011,

www.theguardian.com/music/2011/dec/15/maher-zain-music-message-of-islam.

Shiloah, Ammon. “Music and Religion in Islam.” Acta Musicologica, vol. 69, no. Fasc. 2, July

1997, pp. 143–155., www.jstor.org/stable/932653.

Shiloah, Ammon. Music in the World of Islam: A Socio-Cultural Study. Wayne State University

Press, 1995.
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Syed, Ibrahim B. “The Development of Hijab.” Islamic Research Foundation International,

www.irfi.org/articles/articles_201_250/development_of_hijab.htm.

A web article on the emergence of the hijab in contemporary Muslim societies (particularly
Egypt and Iran). The author focuses on the modernist reinterpretation of the concept of ‘khumur’
in the Qur’an. The article also provides traces the history of the hijab back to conquered societies
of Byzantium and Persia. The purpose of the article is to articulate a modernist reexamination of
the claim that wearing hijab is incumbent upon women. The article is clearly biased. It
references modernist thinkers such as Muhammad ‘Abduh. It provides a summary of the
traditionalist point of view. The audience consists mostly of curious Muslims and Muslim
intellectuals. The article was written during a time when the hijab was faced with Western public
scrutiny in a post-9/11 world. I intend to use this article to show some of the arguments that
modernists have regarding the hijab.

Winter, Bronwyn. Hijab & The Republic. Syracuse University Press, 2008.

Zain, Maher. Lyrics to “Ramadan.” AZ Lyrics, 2013,

www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/maherzain/ramadan.html
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Song Lyrics (Ramadan)

Retrieved from: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/maherzain/ramadan.html

You lift me up high

You spread my wings
And fly me to the sky
I feel so alive
It’s like my soul thrives in your light
But how I wish you’d be
Here with me all year around

[Chorus]
Ramadan Ramadan,
Ramadanu ya habib
(Ramadan, Ramadan, Ramadan O beloved)
Ramadan Ramadan
Laytaka dawman qareeb
(Ramadan, Ramadan,
How I wish you were always near)

Love is everywhere
So much peace fills up the air
Ramadan month of the Quran
I feel it inside of me, strengthening my Iman
But how I wish you’d be Here with me all year around

[Chorus]
Ramadan Ramadan,
Ramadanu ya habib
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(Ramadan, Ramadan, Ramadan O beloved)

Ramadan Ramadan
Laytaka dawman qareeb
(Ramadan, Ramadan,
How I wish you were always near)

I just love the way you make me feel

Every time you come around you
breathe life into my soul
And I promise that
I’ll try throughout the year
To keep your spirit alive In my heart it never dies
Oh Ramadan!

[Chorus]
Ramadan Ramadan,
Ramadanu ya habib
(Ramadan, Ramadan, Ramadan O beloved)
Ramadan Ramadan
Laytaka dawman qareeb
(Ramadan, Ramadan,
How I wish you were always near)

Laytaka dawman qareeb

(Ramadan, Ramadan,
How I wish you were always near)