Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
Sidi, I don't know what reasoning the CD was based on. Allah knows best. There is difference of opinion on this issue, but the position conveyed by Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari is the very same as that mentioned in the relied upon works across the Sunni schools of fiqh, and held by most traditional Sunni scholars now and in the past [see, for example, the entries on Music in the Reliance of the Traveller].
Some scholars did, in fact, allow instruments if not used for vain purposes, including in this the use of some Sufis and others of instruments for 'spiritually uplifting' purposes, as long as this was free of other impermissible matters (such as impermissible song content, female singing for non-females, free-mixing at such gatherings, etc.).
This remains a minority opinion, however, and religious precaution would indicate avoiding it, for the many reasons, explained by Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam in his answer.
At the same time, Ibn Abidin explains in his Radd al-Muhtar [6.349, Ilmiyya ed.], one should not condemn to those (like upright Sufis) who have noble intentions in their listening to such songs and are far from vain purposes (lahw), as long as nothing else impermissible is conjoined with the listening.
As such, religious caution and following sounder legal opinion (and the outward purport of the prohibitions of the Qur’an and Sunna) would indicate scrupulously avoiding music and singing with instruments besides the duff. However, one should not condemn others about this because of the difference of opinion regarding this.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani
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