36. Poetry

36. Poetry

chapter 381. There is some wisdom in poetry

856. Khalid ibn Kaysan said, “I was with Ibn ‘Umar when Iyyas ibn Khaythama got up and said to him, ‘Shall I recite some poetry, Ibn al-Faruq?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘but only recite good poetry to me.'” He recited until he came to something which Ibn ‘Umar disliked whereupon he told him to stop.
Grade: Da’eef (Weak)

857. Mutarrif said, “I accompanied ‘Imran ibn Husayn from Kufa to Basra. Very rarely did he arrive at my house without reciting some poetry to me. He said, ‘Indirect speech accords great scope in avoiding lies.'”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: Shaykh Husayn al-‘Awaayisha (hafizahullah) explained that, “this is when one is constrained to do that to put off lies. But if their is no need or dire necessity, then no (it is not permissible)… Its connection with the chapter heading is that poetry involves allusions which prevent lying.”

858. Ubayy ibn Ka’b mentioned that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “There is some wisdom in poetry.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: That is, not all forms of poetry is vain and evil; some poems involve things that affirm the truth and exhort towards good deeds. Likewise speech, it is lawful when it contains good and unlawful when it contains vain and evil things. See hadeeth no. 792 and 865.

859. Al-Aswad ibn Suray’ said, “Messenger of Allah, I have praised my Lord, the Almighty and Exalted, in some words of praise.” He said, “Your Lord loves praise,” and did not say anything more.
Grade: Hasan (Sound)
Commentary: The Prophetﷺ approved of poetry that praises Allah the Mighty and Sublime since such is from wisdom.

860. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “It is better for a man to fill his belly with oozing pus than to fill it with poetry.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: Shaykh Husayn al-‘Awaayisha (hafizahullah) explains, “The meaning is that, when poetry becomes dominating on him, engrossing him so much that he gets busy away from the Qur’an and other sciences of the Sharee’ah and the remembrance of Allah the Exalted. Then, this is prohibited, no matter the kind of poetry it is. But if the Qur’an and hadeeth and other sciences of the Sharee’ah are the predominant, then there is no harm in memorizing some poetry alongside since his bowels would not have been filled with poetry.” Imam Muhammad al-Ameen ash-Shinqeetee (الله رحمه ( gave a similar explanation of the hadeeth.

861. Al-Aswad ibn Suray’ said, “I was a poet and went to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and asked, ‘Shall I recite some praises I have written for my Lord?’ He said, ‘Your Lord loves praise,’ and did not say anything more.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)

862. ‘A’isha said, “Hassan ibn Thabit asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for permission to satirise the idolaters. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘And what about my lineage?’ He said, ‘I will extract you from them as a hair is taken from dough.'”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: To criticize disbelief and its people is certainly wise and praiseworthy when it is done within the limits of the Sharee’ah. Similarly, the hadeeth is evidence that it is not allowed to compose satires that bring the noble and pious to disrepute. This is certainly not wise!

863. Hisham reported that his father said, “I began to abuse Hassan [ibn Thabit] in the presence of ‘A’isha and she said, ‘Do not abuse him. He used to defend the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.'”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: The hadeeth shows the virtue of Hassan bin Thabit , and exhorts towards defending one’s brother behind him when someone speaks of him inapprioprately and mentioning his praises in such circumstance especially his zeal to spread the truth and refute falsehood.

chapter 382. The good in poetry is like the good in words while some of it is bad

864. See hadith 858.
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)

865. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Poetry is in the same position as speech. The good of it is like good words and its bad part is like bad words.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)

866. ‘A’isha said, “Poetry is both good and bad. Take the good and leave the bad. I have related some of the poetry of Ka’b ibn Malik. That included an ode of forty verses and some less than that.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: It shows the great zeal with which Aa’isha (radiya Allahu anhaa) acquired knowledge. Apart from being amongst those who reported majority of the Sunnah including the Qur’an and the explanation of its verses and the legal deductions from both, she also learnt poetry diffrenciating the good of it from its evil. ‘Urwah bin Zubayr (الله رحمه (was one the greatest scholars among the students of the companions; he said, “I had been in Aa’isha’s company; I did not find anyone more knowledgeable about a verse revealed or an obligation or a recommendation or poem, or who recited it more or that was more knowledgeable about the history of the period of Ignorance or genealogy or in this or that or about the rulings or medicine than she was.” Imam Adh-Dhahabee (الله رحمه (summed it up: “I do not know (of any woman) in the Ummah of Muhammadﷺ, infact, of all women generally, who is more knowledgeable than her.”

867. Shurayh said, “I ask ‘A’isha, may Allah be pleased her with, ‘Did the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recite any poetry?’ She said, ‘He used to recite some of the poetry of ‘Abdullah ibn Rawaha: ‘Someone to whom you have not given provision brings you news.'”
Commentary: Sometimes he – peace and blessings be upon him – would imitate poetry of one line or even lesser which did not include sinful words nor agitate towards or praise sins or sinful people. As eloquent as the Prophetﷺ was, he did not use to compose poems even though some of the people took aspects of his expressions, albeit wrongly, for lines of poetry.
868. See hadith 859.
Commentary:Similar to No. 861, with a different isnād.

chapter 383. Someone who recites poetry

869. Ash-Sharid said, “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked me to recite the poetry of Umayya ibn Abi’s-Salt and I recited it. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, began to say, ‘Go on, go on!’ until I had recited a hundred lines.’ The Prophet said, ‘If only he had become Muslim.'”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: One could benefit from other peoples in the matters that conform to Islam – not contradicting it – including poetry, history, science and technology. In another version, no. 869, the Prophetﷺ said, “He (that poet) almost became a Muslim.”

chapter 384. Someone who dislikes for someone to be dominated by poetry

870. Ibn ‘Umar reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “It is better for one of you to fill his belly with pus than to fill it with poetry.”
Commentary: As No. 860, from Ibn ‘Umar, with a different isnād.

871. In respect of “And as for the poets, is the misled who follow them. Do you not see how they ramble on in every style and that they say things which they do not do?” (26:223-225), Ibn ‘Abbas said that it was abrogated and that an exception was made in His words, “except for those who believe and do right actions Éthe kind of reversal they will receive.” (26:226)
Commentary: See comments on the narrations in Chapter 381.

chapter 385. Someone saying, “There is magic in eloquence”

872. Ibn ‘Abbas said that a man or a bedouin came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and spoke some eloquent words. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “There is some magic eloquence and some wisdom in poetry.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)
Commentary: Magical spells make the victim perceive evil as good and viceversa. Likewise, listeners to powerful and articulate speech may get busy contemplating the articulation and eloquence and get swayed to accept falsehood as truth and vice-versa. Therefore, such use of eloquence is prohibited as magic is completely prohibited.

873. ‘Abdu’l-Malik ibn Marwan entrusted the teaching of his children to ash-Sha’bi and said, “Teach them poetry so that they will possess dignity and vigour. Feed them meet so that their hearts will be strong. Cut off their hair so that their necks will be strong. Make them sit with men of distinction who will contradict them in words.”
Grade: Da’eef (Weak)

chapter 386. Poetry which is disliked

874. ‘A’isha reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The greatest of criminals is the poet who satirises the entire tribe and a man who disclaims his father.”
Grade: Saheeh (Authentic)