Zumarrad

Now, I am no religious expert, but it seems very clear to me that the Imam in this case is decrying the celebration *because* the marriage is dodgy. As the questioner points out, the groom has expressed his intention not to work and to live off his in-laws - something he hasn't told them. So the mehndi and the dancer and what have you are not *of themselves* haram, but attending them would be because they are in celebration of a marriage that is clearly doomed to be very bad.

I notice also that the *one* Koranic quote the Imam gives in response to the questions these people posed is one that he *interprets* as referring to music and dance being bad *because* he believes they can lead one into doing things that are *actually* sinful, like adultery, by exciting the senses.

Anthony Shay (yes, him again) has written a good article called Belly Dancing and Jurisprudence, where he quotes the two references to actual dancing that are in the hadiths, and points out that imams have been arguing about whether or not the prophet's comments approved or disapproved of dancing for centuries. He also says categorically that if the Koran *did* explicitly prohibit dance and music, *there would be no dance and music* in Islamic communities, because there would be no room for debate and people would simply not do it. Same as they don't eat pork. If you are Muslim and you eat pork, you know damn well you are doing something haram.

A lot of imams, like a lot of Christian religious leaders, teach strongly against dancing and music because they are stimulating. Not because they are forbidden.