opinion on the subject is clearcut: singing is an even greater sin than listening to singing, and finding it beautiful amounts to becoming an infidel. Such is in fact the status of all those preachers, muezzins and Sufis who indulge in music during their sermons, invocations, praises, and graces, and of those who go to mosques or frequent them in order to listen to them. Particularly interesting for the linguist, the musicologist and the historian of Ottoman religious practices, are the examples of word alterations of which our author then accuses the clerics and mystics of his time:
“Listening to singing (taghannī) is a major sin (kabīra) and someone singing for people brings them to commit this major sin together. As listening to singing is a major sin, that singing is a major sin is thus even more true. Someone singing thus also commits this major sin and the beauty which he puts in it amounts to making lawful that which is categorically forbidden; now this is unbelief (kufr). From this it is manifest that when one attends the Friday and collective prayers in our time, one hardly escapes committing a major sin. The sermons and the recitations of many of the preachers (khaṭīb) and the Qur’ān reciters are indeed rarely free from singing. On the contrary, in their sermons and their recitations, they adopt the ways that they follow with poems and ghazals, to the point that one almost does not understand what they say and what they recite, because of the melodic effects and the scansions. Such is also the situation with the muezzins in their blessings on the Prophet, their calls for God’s satisfaction with others, their “Amīns”, and their “Allāhu akbars” at the various intervals in the prayer. Those present who listen commit this major sin. Some of them or, rather, most of them, sometimes or, rather, most of the time, find them beautiful as the caprice of their soul predominates in them and they do not care about religious matters; from which it necessarily follows that they become unbelievers, according to what is related from Ẓahīr al-Dīn al-Marghīnānī.1 Similarly for those who attend the tarāwīḥ prayers during the nights of Ramaḍān in order to listen to the songs of praises (tasbīḥ) of the muezzins, in the great and the small mosques. The names of God appearing in these [praises], like “O Compassionate!” (yā ḥannān), “O Kind!” (yā mannān), “O Liberal and Beneficent!” (yā dhā l-jūd wa liḥsān), and [phrases] like “Praised be the One Who possesses the Sovereignty and the Royalty! Praised be the One Who possesses the Power and the Empire!” (subḥāna dhī l-mulk wa l-malakūt, subḥāna dhī l-‘izza wa l-jabarūt), and other of the most beautiful names and superior attributes, by multiplying the melodic and musical effects, they change them and they distort them to a degree where it is no longer possible to distinguish them and to identify them. They for instance say sūbḥānā l-mālikī l-ḥānnān! sūbḥānā l-mālikī l-mānnān! (“Prai-ai-ai-sed be-e-e th-th-the Com-m-mpassionate Ki-i-ing! Prai-ai-ai-sed be-e-e th-th-the Kind Ki-i-ing!”), by singularly lengthening the u following the s, the a following the n and the m, and the i following the l and the k, etc. Similar are the musical effects of the Sufis. They for instance say after the meals, as grace, al-ḥamdū lī-Llāh! al-shukrū lī-Llāh! (“Glory-y-y to-o-o God! Thanks-s-s to-o-o God!”), with long vowels after the d, the r and the l, etc. The Muslim ought to be wary of attending these things and hearing them, and shall look for a mosque that is free of them. Such things indeed have the appearence of worship but are in reality disobeying and a major sin. One perhaps even finds them beautiful and his religion is wiped out: he is not aware of it and the situation then is that ignorance will not be an excuse.”2
No wonder that ulema sing in the mosques as, for al-Aqḥiṣārī, they are grievously sick. They themselves suffer from the diseases from which they are supposed to cure people. Moreover, instead of being moral guides reminding the commonalty of the Day of Judgement and Hell, they corrupt them even more by charming them and deluding them with idle hopes in the divine mercy. And what beats all, these worthless ulema often solicit a reward for their evil services! Al-Aqḥiṣārī’s opposition to such clerical mercantilism once again brings him closer to Birgivī as the latter, according to Kātib Çelebi, declared in his al-Sayf al-Ṣārim – The Sharp Sword, “that it was unlawful to accept payment in return for reciting the Qur’ān, or for teaching, or indeed for any act of worship.”1
“One almost does not understand what they say and what they recite, because of the melodic effects and the scansions. Such is also the situation with the muezzins in their blessings on the Prophet…”2
“The physicians, these are the ulema and, in this time, they have become sick, seriously sick, to the point of being unable to treat themselves, not to speak of treating others. This is the reason why the disease is general, the therapy has been interrupted, and the creatures are perishing. Or, rather, the physicians keep themselves busy with various ways of misguiding [people]. Would to God, if only, as they do not improve matters, they were not corrupting them! If only they were keeping silent and were not talking! When they speak, in their religious exhortations, they indeed do not aim at anything else than to win the hearts of the commonalty. Now, they do not obtain access to them but by making mention of the hope [in God] and the [divine] mercy, as that is more pleasing to the ears and lighter on [human] nature. The creatures thus leave their councils of religious exhortation (majlis wa‘ẓ) with, as sole profit, an overplus of insolence in committing actions of disobedience. Now, as long the physician is like that, the sick are led to perish because of the remedy, as it is administered in the wrong manner.”1 “One ought to know that when the ulema, in the councils which they devote to knowledge, solicit something from the people, doing so is not lawful for them, as this is earning something by means of a scholarly activity and an action of obedience [to God], no matter whether they solicit [it] for themselves or for others. Among the blameworthy solicitations is the fact of offering a little in order to take a lot, as is done when one is invited to weddings or circumcisions, as well as the fact of taking care of [someone else’s] sheep with the intention of getting to keep its young, as it is said that it is about this that His words, Exalted is He, were sent down: “And show not favour, seeking wordly gain!”2
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