(modern) islamic music

by : muse_sic

Every time you feel like you cannot go on

You feel so lost and

That you're so alone

All you see is night

And darkness all around

You feel so helpless

You can’t see which way to go

Don’t despair n' never loose hope

Cos' Allah is always by your side

.........................

The text above is a piece of a Maher Zain's song which called Inshaallah, and recently so favored by Muslims around the world, especially in Indonesia. the song was arranged in style of R & B music which is combined with Arab ethnic musical instruments and Maher Zain's vocal that has typical Arabic style.
Maher Zain has been able to present non-mainstream music such as a music in demand by music lovers from various backgrounds, especially for the Muslims around the world.
when we talk about modern Islamic music, we can say that Islamic music can be developed following the time. such like in indonesia, there so many indonesian musicians who has made religious albums in various music styles. Some Indonesian musicians like Gigi, Ungu, Dewa 19, Tompi, Republik, Wali, and many more has  presented a modern Islamic music in various styles to their fans.
Gigi, this Indonesia's top band has made several religious (Islamic) albums with a strong rock feel which has a

popular singles like : Tuhan, Lailatul Qodar, and Pintu Sorga, although their performance when promoting their religious songs seems like their usual as a rock band.  
Ungu band as pop musicians also spawned a religious album with shades of pop rock, and Tompi who is known as a jazz musician as well bring Islamic music with strong jazz feel.
it shows that the modern Islamic music should not just to be confined to one style, but can also develop as non-religious music. seems like Pop music, islamic music also can be combined with rock, R & B, Jazz, Blues etc.
so what is the different between islamic music and non islamic music ? the difference is on the symbols ​​contained.a music can be regarded as an Islamic music, if there is symbols of Islam in it that could be assumed that the music is islamic music. 
the symbols are not only found in the arrangements of the music, but also in the lyrics, video clips, and the appearance of the musicians. but the most powerful symbol to indicate that the song is a religious song or not, is generally visible on the lyric. Islamic song lyrics often contain islamic words such as : Allah, Muhammad, Ramadan, bismillaah, etc..
in addition, there is Islamic-theme in the song, especially for Islamic values ​​such as: worship, reading al-qur'an, alms, birrul walidain, etc. 
so, the islamic song, Inshaallah, will always be meaningful and will always giving good value for the listeners. such like the song which i mentioned at the beginning of this paper ; Inshaallah