CSI Monday Majlis: Badr Tachouche

Music occupies a paradoxical position in Islamic tradition: central to the lived realities of Muslim societies yet often contested in the pages of classical jurisprudence. Whereas jurists often classified musicians as artisans yet morally suspect, Sufi thinkers debated its spiritual value, and modern reformist movements weaponized permissive or prohibitive rulings to advance competing political agendas.

Against this backdrop of restriction and controversy, this talk foregrounds the Andalusian legacy of muwashshaḥāt and azjāl as alternative models for engaging with music in Islamic thought. These poetic-musical forms not only emerged from a multireligious and multilingual milieu—blending Arabic with Romance, Hebrew, and Amazigh—but also embody aesthetic and epistemological innovations that extend beyond performance. By situating muwashshaḥāt and azjāl alongside juridical and doctrinal discourses, I propose a more inclusive framework for Islamic studies. I argue that these genres make theology emotionally resonant and intellectually accessible, inviting a rethinking of how Muslims articulate, teach, and experience God-talk in the modern age.