The Hadra: Is the Group Dhikr With Singing and Swaying Permitted?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question

Is the group remembrance with the singing of spiritual poetry and rhythmic swaying, called the hadra, permitted?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful.

The hadra is in itself permitted, as writings of major Hanafi authorities make clear. Among the imams of the Hanafi school who have specifically permitted it are Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Kamal Basha, Imam Shurunbulali, Sayyidi Abd al-Ghani al-Nablusi, Shaykh Abd al-Qadir ‘Isa (who cites proofs for it from the major Hanafi reference works, including Ibn Abidin), and Imam Ashraf Ali al-Tahanawi in his “Imdad al-Fatawa” [5.151].

It is simply one way of fulfilling the general sunna of group remembrance, the general and unconditional encouragement for which is authentically established through numerous hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).

Wassalam,

[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus, and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of: Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.