The Ruling on Listening to Singing

Question :

What is the ruling on listening to singing?

Answer:

Every male and female, young or old, is prohibited from listening to singing, whether in the home, the car, or anywhere else, for doing so indicates a desire to participate in that which Allah Almighty has forbidden:
"And of mankind is he who purchases (Lahw Al-Hadith) idle talks to mislead from the Path of Allah without knowledge, and takes it by way of mockery. For such there will be a humiliating torment."

Singing is a form of Lahw Al-Hadith, since it entices people toward evil and takes them away from good, causing them to uselessly waste their time, so for these reasons it falls under the generality of the term Lahw Al-Hadith. Included along with singing and listening to it, is purchasing such Lahw to mislead oneself or someone else from the way of Allah. Allâh has censured this and threatened those who use it with a severe punishment. Just as the Qur'an has a general prohibition against singing and listening to it, so the Sunnah also has proven that.

Among the texts related, the Prophet ﷺ said:
"There will be from my Nation a people who will deem fornication, silk (for men), alcohol, and music to be permissible; and there will be a people who will camp beside a high mountain, when a poor man passes by them and asks for a need, they will say to him, 'Return to us tomorrow. In the morning Allah will make the mountain fall upon them and the others (who are saved) are transformed into apes and pigs, until the Day of Judgement."

Music is the use of instruments of Lalhw, and part of this is singing and listening to it. So Allah's Messenger condemned those who seek to legalize fornication, the use of silk for men, drinking alcohol, and such entertainment instruments and listening to them. Here he accompanied music with other major sins. In the end of the Hadith he threatened those who do that with a punishment.

This shows that listening to music is unlawful. But a person is not sinning when he accidentally listens to music, such as a person who is walking in the street and hears music being played in stores, or in a car, as long as he does not desire to listen to it. Such a person is not sinning because he has no choice; however, he must advise and warn those who are playing the music, and he must do so with wisdom and good exhortation. And he should avoid as much as possible going to places where music is played, and Allâh does not place a burden on a soul greater than it can bear.

Source:
Ibn Baz
Fatawa Islamiyah, Vol. 8 Pages 194-195