Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
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.
In this fatwa:
1- If by romantic music you mean music with sensuous or erotic messages, then no Muslim can ever play or listen to it.
2- If, however, you mean some nice tunes that contain no such themes or messages, but simply give you a good spirit and mood, then there is nothing wrong with it.
In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
Islam, as the true religion of Allah, deals with all aspects of life. Even in the marital life, Islam lays down rules that both the husband and wife has to abide by.
The husband and wife can enjoy each other in the way they see proper as long as they don’t violate the rules of the Shari`ah.
If by romantic music you mean music with sensuous or erotic messages, then no Muslim can ever play or listen to it; it is clearly the work of Satan. Such music will only corrode our soul and destroy it.
If, however, you mean some nice tunes that contain no such themes or messages, but simply give you a good spirit and mood, then there is nothing wrong with it.
It is important for us to consider our conjugal act as an act of worship. Therefore, we are encouraged to embark upon it with dhikr (remembering Allah) and duaa (supplication).
If we fail to remember Allah and surround ourselves with dirty music, then we will be inviting Satan to be a partner with us in our conjugal act.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) has told us that if we fail to remember Allah while eating or drinking or while sleeping, Satan will be eating and sleeping with us.
So drive away and repel the accursed one with the weapon of dhikr and duaa and surround yourself with messages that are ennobling spiritually and morally. May Allah help us all to dedicate all our acts to the pleasure of Allah.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.