What Is Halal and What Is Haram?
Question: As-Salaam `Alaykum... Is dancing prohibited in any case in Islam? (i.e. dancing with a group of people like bhangra,
or by oneself, dancing with females) Thank you for your time. Jazakullah Khairan!
Name of Mufti Group of
Muftis
Answer: Wa`alykum
As-Salaamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most
Merciful.
All
praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His
Messenger.
Dear
brother/sister in Islam, we would like to thank you for showing keenness on
learning the teachings of Islam, and we appreciate the great confidence you
have in us. We hope our efforts meet your expectations, yet we apologize for
the late reply.
Islam
is a religion of moderation and does not approve of either extremism or
negligence. Islam does not prevent people from having entertainment; however,
it gives the rules that regulate this entertainment. On the other hand, Islam
does not tolerate any kind entertainment that contains Haram
or even lead to Haram things.
As
far as the issue of dancing is concerned, it can be either between women, or
between men, or mixed between both. If dancing happens between women, then it
is allowed unless this involves showing any of woman’s
`Awrah – that is between the navel and knee – in
front of other women, or the dancing impedes carrying out mandatory obligations
or coincides with unlawful acts.
n this regard, Dr. Su’ad Salih, professor of Fiqh
(Islamic jurisprudence) at
“Islam
is a religion of moderation; it does not prevent singing and dancing, but it
forbids anything that stimulates people’s desires, be it among men or women.
Women are supposed to observe good manners if they get to dance before other
women. They should not exceed limits by doing anything that stimulates the
desire and incites evil. We have seen many women tempted by other women.
However,
if a woman gets to dance before her husband, then there is no restriction, as
it is a way of cementing relations between spouses – and this a key pillar of
establishing the Muslim family.”
Dr.
Salim Ahmad Salamah, Dean of the Faculty of Usulud-Deen
at the Islamic University,
“It
is permissible for women to dance and sing so long as there are no males
around. In addition, the words of the song should be free from any foul words
or vulgarity. Furthermore, no non-Muslim women should be attending, for the `Awrah of a Muslim woman before them is the same as in the
case of a man. Thus, so long as the words of the song are pure and clean and
there no males or non-Muslim women around, there is nothing
wrong in dancing.”
By
analogy, men are allowed to dance together as long as they cover their `Awrah (between the navel and knee) and there is no fear of
temptation.
As
for the mixed dancing between men and women, it is absolutely Haram in all cases, save for a wife dancing before her
husband. The reason behind this prohibition is that with mixed dancing bodily
contact is close and improper sexual desires arouse. This has been strictly
forbidden by Islam in an attempt to block the way against evil. By letting men
and women dance together, lots of Haram acts can
happen. That is why mixed dancing is not allowed.
Another
important point that should be stressed here is that in all cases where dancing
is Halal music, if used, has to be also Halal. To know about the conditions of the permissibility
of music, please refer to the following fatwa:
Islam's
Stance on Music
Allah
Almighty knows best.