The story is told that when God created Adam's body it remained without a soul for a long time, because the soul of Adam was so disgusted by the body that he did not want to enter it. But then a group of archangels entered that body and began to play some heavenly music. Adam's soul, when it heard that angelic music, fell into a state of ecstasy and immediately entered its body.
Music is nourishment for the soul it is also a language, but a language that is especially beautiful and agreeable. That is why certain forms of prayers, such as the zekrs, are accompanied by music. Like all created things, music has its own stages of unfolding perfection. The depth and power of music's effects on each being are directly proportional to that creature's particular degree of spiritual purity. The purest part of each being is its soul, and every creature that has a soul is sensitive to music and affected by it.
Each musical note, like every creature, has its own particular properties; but the effects of those notes also differ according to who is listening to them. Those different aspects depend on a number of factors:
1. The primordial nature of the listeners' souls, as well as their education, their physical and mental state, and so on.
2. The particular time and place.
3. The customs, milieu and education of the listeners; the type of music that attracts them; and also their inner intentions, depending on whatever they are dominated by their angelic soul or their nafs. For example, listening to the very same music can give some people the desire to dance, while others will feel a nostalgia for their past pleasures. Others will be plunged into a state of spiritual longing and homesickness, or feel sadness at the thought of those dear to them who have died or are far away. And still others may experience a euphoric state of lightness and joy. That is why many people, when they listen to certain forms of sacred music, still only experience a purely physical form of please.
4. The composer and the person who performs the music. For example, musicians who possess a certain spiritual rank can evoke in their listeners whatever effect they desire. This particular factor dominates all the others.
5. The music itself. In ancient times certain doctors used specific melodies for healing purposes. And certain melodies and musical intervals are in harmony with the heavenly sounds. In such cases higher spirits come into play: then the listener has only to ascend on the wings of this this music and fly away towards heaven. If the person playing an instrument is spiritually powerful, then that person does not simply follow the moldy, but rather carries it along with.
6. The source of the musical sound, whatever that might be. Those sources might include, for example, human voices, musical instruments, animals, the sound of the wind or other natural phenomena. Which may be audible or inaudible to the physical ear, or the sounds of the metaphysical world, for those who are spiritually awakened and sensitive to them. Such sounds may have either a material origin (such as the voices of plants or minerals that are praising the Creator), or a purely spiritual one (as with the voices of the invisible beings). We have both a physical ear and an ear of the soul, and each of them is suitable for hearing a part of all those sounds and voices.
It is legitimate to use music for purely aesthetic purposes or for physical relaxation, but it is a shame for it to be used to serve the passions of the nafs, because music has an inner connection with the soul, and the soul is in connection with God. When the soul is carried away by the effect of music, its communion with its source also becomes more intense. That is why prayer combined with music is more pleasing and has greater effects." |
