The Story of The Repentance of the Musician Zadhaan al-Kindyy (rahimahullah)
09 August 2023
One day Abdullah ibn Mas’ood (raḍiyAllāhu ‘anh) was passing by a town near the city of Kufa.
There was a gathering of corrupt youths in a house who were busy drinking alcohol at a party.
A musician named ‘Zazaan’ (زاذان الكندى) was playing the flute and singing in his beautiful voice.
When Abdullah ibn Mas’ood (raḍiyAllāhu ‘anh) heard his voice, he said: What a sweet-sounding voice is this. I wish this voice would have been used in the recitation of the Quran.
After saying those words, Abdullah ibn Mas’ood (raḍiyAllāhu ‘anh) put a cloak on his head and went on ahead.
Zazaan overheard Ibn Mas’ood’s (raḍiyAllāhu ‘anh) words. He asked his friends at the party: Who was that person?!
People told him: That person is a famous Companion of the Prophet Muhammad (ṣall Allahu ʿalayhi wa-’ālihi wa-sallam) and he said what he did because he heard your voice.
Upon hearing that, Zazaan went into a strange state of realization.
He suddenly broke all his musical instruments and ran to catch up with Abdullah ibn Mas’ood (raḍiyAllāhu ‘anh) and stood before him crying profusely.
Ibn Mas’ood (raḍiyAllāhu ‘anh) understood and he embraced him and started to weep himself and then said:
Why wouldn’t I love a person who repented from playing his musical instruments and Allah loves him (for his repentance)?!
After repenting, Zazan (rahimahullāh) became a student of Ibn Mas‘ood (raḍiyAllāhu ‘anh) and learned the Qur’an and Islamic knowledge from him.
Later, he became an Islamic scholar, (reciting, learning and teaching the Quran), and an authority in the Islamic sciences of his time.
[Kitab at-Tawwabeen — The Book of Truthful Repenters by Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisee (rahimahullah)]