So many of you who know me in the real world are aware of my views on music, as it stands in Islam.

For the uninitiated: Some elements within Islam have branded music as haram (forbidden) and have almost literally crushed the ambitions of many would-be musicians within the fold of Islam.

Of course this is a topic of some interest for me because I do have involvement with the local music industry in and around Chicago, and 2008 looks like it will be one of my busiest years to date in this field, if I choose to take on each of the projects that have been offered to me.

Of course this has yielded some very lively debates with Muslim brothers who view music as close to adultery on the haram scale. Unfortunately they seem to have forgotten that one of the most respected prophets (Dawood/David) was a popular musician in his day. They also seem to have forgotten the hadith in which the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) entertained him with music.

Why, you may ask am I writing about this today? A good friend of mine, (a play cousin in hood vernacular) named Anthony (who is a relatively recent convert to Islam, by the way) is releasing his first album on his own label and I just listened to some advance tracks from it. Be sure to check out the Album “No Love” from Skavanga Empire. Two of the guys in the group were formerly called “The EVEL” and were signed to my own Magnitude Records, now called “Magnitude International”.

Be sure to show them some love. You can check them out on Myspace in the meantime.

Peace.

So many of you who know me in the real world are aware of my views on music, as it stands in Islam.

For the uninitiated: Some elements within Islam have branded music as haram (forbidden) and have almost literally crushed the ambitions of many would-be musicians within the fold of Islam.

Of course this is a topic of some interest for me because I do have involvement with the local music industry in and around Chicago, and 2008 looks like it will be one of my busiest years to date in this field, if I choose to take on each of the projects that have been offered to me.

Of course this has yielded some very lively debates with Muslim brothers who view music as close to adultery on the haram scale. Unfortunately they seem to have forgotten that one of the most respected prophets (Dawood/David) was a popular musician in his day. They also seem to have forgotten the hadith in which the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) entertained him with music.

Why, you may ask am I writing about this today? A good friend of mine, (a play cousin in hood vernacular) named Anthony (who is a relatively recent convert to Islam, by the way) is releasing his first album on his own label and I just listened to some advance tracks from it. Be sure to check out the Album “No Love” from Skavanga Empire. Two of the guys in the group were formerly called “The EVEL” and were signed to my own Magnitude Records, now called “Magnitude International”.

Be sure to show them some love. You can check them out on Myspace in the meantime.

Peace.