I made a lot of new friends while staying in Gwalior for tour guide training, and two of them were Muslims. One of them, with whom I shared an apartment, is a doctoral student from JNU. He comes from a very small village in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district. He completed his schooling in Sitamarhi, then moved to Aligarh Muslim University for his B.A., and is now pursuing his Ph.D. at JNU. He works as a Spanish escort and earns a good income. He has a deep passion for music, and a substantial portion of his computer hard drive is filled with music files.

He played music constantly, and I noticed a large music system in his hostel room at JNU. He is set to marry in December, and he and his brother, who also lives in JNU, were discussing how to arrange the music for the wedding. They wanted a band for the wedding parade and music for the reception, but Islam forbids it, and his family and neighbors are very strict followers of Islamic traditions. He told me that in his village, playing any kind of music is forbidden. If someone is caught playing music, the villagers would yell at them and stop the music immediately. If he were to play music, people would criticize him for engaging in such a “bad” practice despite his education and Ph.D. Music is a serious issue in his village.

I listened to him and his brother discuss this for over an hour, and they couldn’t come up with a solution for including music at the wedding. I suggested that change often happens in society and perhaps this could be an opportunity for him to bring about change, but he felt it was nearly impossible to change deeply ingrained traditions in his community. I’ve never attended a Muslim wedding myself, but I’ve seen a few from the outside and noticed that they did include music. He explained that rules are enforced by influential people, and if they break them, it’s overlooked.

However, if ordinary people break these rules, it causes problems. He said that while wealthy Muslims can enjoy music, dances, and alcohol, the general Muslim population is restricted from these pleasures. When I asked how ordinary people view the rich Muslims who break these rules, he said they are seen as being out of touch with their community. Music is respected in many cultures around the world. In Hinduism, for example, Saraswati is the goddess of music, and people perform rituals with their musical instruments. It’s hard for me to imagine a wedding without music. Hindu weddings are lively, with plenty of music and dancing.

I’ve also heard that Christian weddings can be somewhat subdued, but I’m sure they include music. Music is enjoyable and even has proven health benefits according to scientific research. I respect people’s beliefs, but this issue is difficult for me to grasp. Many Mughal emperors, like Akbar, were great patrons of music. Tansen, one of the Nine Jewels of Akbar’s court, was a renowned musician. I conducted research by discussing the topic with Muslims and exploring online resources to determine Islam’s stance on music. To my surprise, I discovered that Islam indeed considers music to be haram and sinful. It seems like anything that makes the living creatures happy is prohibited in Islam but this rule does apply on the rich as said by my friend.