Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Ibn al-Arabi
In spite of the rigid official Malikism, Mu’tazilite ideas considered heretical by some, entered Spain in the garb of asceticism nourished by and developed into a philosophy by Ibn Masarra and finally transformed into Sufism by the great Murcian mystic Muhya al-Din b. al-Arabi, who spread pantheistic mysticism throughout Andalus and became known all over the East.
Muhya al-Din ibn al-Arabi (1164/5-1240 A.D.) of Murcia travelled to Africa and Asia, and composed several works including, ”Futuhat al-Makkiyyah” and Fusus, which preserved Neoplatonic and pantheistic ideas and influenced enormously the later philosophers and the, ’’Divine Comedy,” of Dante. He is called the ruling mystic of the age. Ibn al-Arabi believed in the primordial unity of all beings and was a sufi- philosopher.24
Music
No doubt music and its ancillary fields have formed an integral part of the social life of various peoples throughout the ages. In pre-Islamic times, Arabic women sang war songs and laments; they were accompanied by instrumentalists at nuptials, festivals, and other occasions. The lute, reed pipe, vertical flute, drum, tambourine, and other instruments were in use. These musical traditions survived to Islamic times, were enriched by new techniques, and enjoyed great popularity among the nobility and the common people. However, it seems paradoxical that a popular and flourishing art should have been considered unpraise worthy in Islamic tradition. In this connection, it is not clear \\hether the censure of music can be attributed to Muhammad (PBUH) himself, or to his followers who
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were jealous of their roles as torchbearers of social values and public morality. Traditions are contradictory with respect to the nature, lawfulness, or unlawfulness of music and smmng Some praise such pursuits, while others condemn them on the giound that they disturb the mind and dissipate the emotions. Some of the traditions which consider listening to music unlawful are: Iblis (Satan) was the first who wailed and the first who sang”, No one lifts up his voice in singing, but Allah sends to him two devils to his shoulders”. Music and singing cause hypocrisy to grow in the heart as water makes corn grow. Still another tradition asserts that singing girls and stringed instruments are signs of the end of the world and the most powerful means by which the devil seduces men.
Western Muslim authors Ibn Abd Rabbihi of Cordova and Ibn Khaldun of Tunis, among others concerned themselves with both the negative and positive attitudes toward singing and music and their practice. Ibn Abd Rabbihi. in ”The Unique Necklace,” says that it would be distasteful not to include the art of singing in a book containing all the arts, wisdom sayings, anecdotes, and proverbs. He gives the pros and cons for the permissibility of singing and music from a wide range of people - religious men, philosophers, physicians, rulers, and others. He says: People had opposing views concerning singing: the majority of the people of Hijaz condoned it while the majority of the ’Iraqis disapproved it. Those who condoned it argue that its source lies in poetry which was allowed by the Prophet (PBUH), who urged people to use it, eulogized his companions with it, and armed himself with it against the polytheists. And those who disapprove of singing argue that it shatters the heart, disturbs the mind, makes the forbearing lightuitted, leads to past time, incites the people to excitement (tarab), and for this reason, it is false from the outset.
This notwithstanding, Ibn Abd Rabbihi appears to be more inclined to favour singing and music, as evidenced by his numerous quotations praising those arts. In fact a full section is devoted to the praise of the lute (’ud) and includes some of his own poems. Ample space is given to statements supporting a beautiful voice: ’Physicians claim that a beautiful voice flows into the body and runs into the veins making the heart limpid and happ\. the soul cheerful, the limbs shaky, the movements soft.... Even the beasts take delight in a beautiful voice and know its excellence.