Nasyid

Nasyid is a form of religious singing based on Islamic teachings, stories and so on. It used to be more in the Arabic tune but nowadays Nasyid is sung to newer musical tempo to suite taste of current listeners. Professor Margaret Sarkissian has published a paper entitled "Religion never had it so good": Contemporary nasyid and the growth of Islamic popular music in Malaysia, in the Yearbook for Traditional Music, vol. 37, pp. 124-152, 2005.

Anasheed are Islamic songs that usually are sung with no musical instruments in the background. Anasheed use only drums. Sometimes anasheed are used with the (aahaat), used in keyboard or with the human voice. Islamic Nasheed are often popular in the Islamic World and the Arab World. The material and lyrics of Anasheed reflect on Islamic beliefs, history, and religion. They have a dramatic and serious tone, and not a playful, pump-up style music. They are very popular among Arabs and Muslims. Religous Muslims also enjoy listening to anasheed.

A Nasheed (Arabic: singular نشيد , plural أناشيد; also spelt Nasyid in Malaysia and Indonesia; in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ilahija) is an Islamic-oriented song. Traditionally, it is sung a cappella, accompanied only by a daff. This musical style is used because many Muslim scholars interpret Islam as prohibiting the use of musical instruments except for some basic percussion. Many people admire the purity and simplicity of the music.

A new generation of "Nasheed" artists use a wide variety of musical instruments in their art. This has caused controversy amongst the Muslim community because of the vast range of scholarly opinions that exist on Music in Islam. These range from absolutely no music and singing, to that of any musical instruments allowed so long as the subject matter is of an Islamic ethos. There is also a crossover of mainstream music of groups like Outlandish, Aman, and solo artists like Dawud Wharnsby Ali, Sami Yusuf, Slave of Allah and Idris Phillips, appealing to a significant Muslim crowd and also leading to performance of such artists at Islamic orientated festivals, conferences, concerts and shows (e.g. ISNA, Celebrate Eid, Young Muslims). Other artists and organisations such as Noor Media promote a 100% instrument free stance with nasheeds, differing from the current trends of the increasing usage of instruments in nasheeds.

Nasheeds are also increasingly being accompanied by professionally produced videos for certain tracks. Examples include Madinah Tun-Nabi by Aashiq al-Rasul Al Mu'allim, Meditation, Hasbi Rabbi (all by Sami Yusuf), Du'a by Seven 8 Six, Mercy like the Rain by SHAAM & Our World by Zain Bhikha.

Some example of a Nasheed artists now is Mishary Rashid Al-Afasy.

Nasheeds are popular in Middle East, Southeast Asia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and South Asia. They are also popular in the UK among British Muslims.