Ancient Notable Schoars those who studied music - were they sinners according to Islam?

Adaab. Recently many people in social media, including some of my Muslim friends, are literally scared that music has covered up the globe, and they thinks it is very sinful. I have seen many past Quora and Stackexchange questions which asked whether music is sinful, and there are admixtures of answers. Some say it is strictly prohibited and sinful, some other sects consider it to be permissible up to limits. But my question is something else. **From immemorable past, many notable Muslim scholars (not necessarily Islamic preacher but scholars who were Muslim) did lot of contribution to music and music theory. This includes Al Farabi, Al Kindi, Al Ghazali, Banu Musa, and many others.** **My question is, are these scholars considered to be sinner according to Islam?** Because they were knowledgeable person in islam, still they contributed in music? This looks very contradictory. Were they not considered as sinners? Were they forgiven or considered as some sort of exception? Kindly pardon weak English.