36. Poetry
قَالَ لَهُ أَمْسِكْ
✧ He said to him: "Hold back."
عَنِ الْكَذِبِ
✧ About lying.
أَخْبَرَهُ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ ﷺ قَالَ إِنَّ مِنَ الشِّعْرِ حِكْمَةً
✧ He informed him that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Indeed, there is wisdom in some poetry."
عَنِ الأَسْوَدِ بْنِ سَرِيعٍ قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ إِنِّي مَدَحْتُ رَبِّي عَزَّ وَجَلَّ بِمَحَامِدَ قَالَ أَمَا إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يُحِبُّ الْحَمْدَ وَلَمْ يَزِدْهُ عَلَى ذَلِكَ
✧ From al-Aswad b. Sari': I said: "O Messenger of Allah, I have praised my Lord, Mighty and Majestic, with words of praise." He said: "Indeed, your Lord loves praise," and he did not add anything to that.
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ لَأَنْ يَمْتَلِئَ جَوْفُ رَجُلٍ قَيْحًا حَتَّى يَرِيَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْ أَنْ يَمْتَلِئَ شِعْرًا
✧ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "For a man's belly to be filled with pus until it destroys him is better than for it to be filled with poetry."
عَنِ الأَسْوَدِ بْنِ سَرِيعٍ قَالَ كُنْتُ شَاعِرًا فَأَتَيْتُ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ فَقُلْتُ أَلاَ أُنْشِدُكَ مَحَامِدَ حَمِدْتُ بِهَا رَبِّي؟ قَالَ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يُحِبُّ الْمَحَامِدَ وَلَمْ يَزِدْنِي عَلَيْهِ
✧ From al-Aswad b. Sari', who said: I was a poet, so I came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "Shall I recite to you praises with which I have praised my Lord?" He said: "Indeed, your Lord loves praise," and he did not add anything to it.
عَنْ عَائِشَةَ ؓ قَالَتِ اسْتَأْذَنَ حَسَّانُ بْنُ ثَابِتٍ رَسُولَ اللهِ ﷺ فِي هِجَاءِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ فَكَيْفَ بِنِسْبَتِي؟ فَقَالَ لَأَسُلَّنَّكَ مِنْهُمْ كَمَا تُسَلُّ الشَّعْرَةُ مِنَ الْعَجِينِ
'A'isha said, "Hassan ibn Thabit asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for permission to satirise the idolaters. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'And what about my lineage?' He said, 'I will extract you from them as a hair is taken from dough.'"
عَنْ أَبِيهِ قَالَ ذَهَبْتُ أَسُبُّ حَسَّانَ عِنْدَ عَائِشَةَ فَقَالَتْ لاَ تَسُبَّهُ فَإِنَّهُ كَانَ يُنَافِحُ عَنْ رَسُولِ اللهِ ﷺ
✧ From his father, who said: I went to curse Hassan in the presence of 'A'isha, and she said: "Do not curse him, for he used to defend the Messenger of Allah ﷺ."
عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ قَالَ مِنَ الشِّعْرِ حِكْمَةٌ
✧ From the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "There is wisdom in some poetry."
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ الشِّعْرُ بِمَنْزِلَةِ الْكَلاَمِ حَسَنُهُ كَحَسَنِ الْكَلامِ وَقَبِيحُهُ كَقَبِيحِ الْكَلامِ
✧ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Poetry has the status of speech: its good is like good speech, and its bad is like bad speech."
أَنَّهَا كَانَتْ تَقُولُ الشِّعْرُ مِنْهُ حَسَنٌ وَمِنْهُ قَبِيحٌ خُذْ بِالْحَسَنِ وَدَعِ الْقَبِيحَ وَلَقَدْ رَوَيْتُ مِنْ شِعْرِ كَعْبِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ أَشْعَارًا مِنْهَا الْقَصِيدَةُ فِيهَا أَرْبَعُونَ بَيْتًا وَدُونَ ذَلِكَ
'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."
أَكَانَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ يَتَمَثَّلُ بِشَيْءٍ مِنَ الشِّعْرِ؟ فَقَالَتْ: كَانَ يَتَمَثَّلُ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ شِعْرِ عَبْدِ اللهِ بْنِ رَوَاحَةَ: وَيَأْتِيكَ بِالأَخْبَارِ مَنْ لَمْ تُزَوِّدِ.
Shurayh said, "I ask 'A'isha, may Allah be pleased her with, 'Did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recite any poetry?' She said, 'He used to recite some of the poetry of 'Abdullah ibn Rawaha:
حَدَّثَهُ قَالَ كُنْتُ شَاعِرًا فَقُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ امْتَدَحْتُ رَبِّي فَقَالَ أَمَا إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يُحِبُّ الْحَمْدَ وَمَا اسْتَزَادَنِي عَلَى ذَلِكَ
✧ He narrated to him that he said: I was a poet, and I said: "O Messenger of Allah, I have praised my Lord." He said: "Indeed, your Lord loves praise," and he did not ask me for more than that.
عَنِ الشَّرِيدِ قَالَ اسْتَنْشَدَنِي النَّبِيُّ ﷺ شِعْرَ أُمَيَّةَ بْنِ أَبِي الصَّلْتِ وَأَنْشَدْتُهُ فَأَخَذَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ يَقُولُ هِيهِ هِيهِ حَتَّى أَنْشَدْتُهُ مِئَةَ قَافِيَةٍ فَقَالَ إِنْ كَادَ لَيُسْلِمُ
✧ From al-Sharīd, who said: The Prophet ﷺ asked me to recite poetry by Umayya b. Abī al-Ṣalt, and I recited it to him. The Prophet ﷺ began saying, “More! More!” until I had recited one hundred rhyme-lines. Then he said, “He almost became a Muslim.”
عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ قَالَ لأَنْ يَمْتَلِئَ جَوْفُ أَحَدِكُمْ قَيْحًا خَيْرٌ لَهُ مِنْ أَنْ يَمْتَلِئَ شِعْرًا
✧ From the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “For one of you to have his belly filled with pus is better for him than to have it filled with poetry.”
عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ {وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَ} إِلَى قَوْلِهِ {وَأَنَّهُمْ يَقُولُونَ مَا لاَ يَفْعَلُونَ} فَنَسَخَ مِنْ ذَلِكَ وَاسْتَثْنَى فَقَالَ {إِلاَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا} إِلَى قَوْلِهِ {يَنْقَلِبُونَ}
✧ From Ibn ʿAbbās: “And the poets—the deviators follow them” up to His saying, “and that they say what they do not do” (Q 26:224–226). Then this was abrogated and an exception was made, for He said: “Except those who believe” up to His saying, “they will return” (Q 26:227).
أَنَّ رَجُلاً أَوْ أَعْرَابِيًّا أَتَى النَّبِيَّ ﷺ فَتَكَلَّمَ بِكَلاَمٍ بَيِّنٍ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ إِنَّ مِنَ الْبَيَانِ سِحْرًا وَإِنَّ مِنَ الشِّعْرِ حِكْمَةً
✧ A man—or a bedouin—came to the Prophet ﷺ and spoke with clear, eloquent speech. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Indeed, some eloquence is sorcery, and some poetry is wisdom.”
أَنَّ عَبْدَ الْمَلِكِ بْنَ مَرْوَانَ دَفَعَ وَلَدَهُ إِلَى الشَّعْبِيِّ يُؤَدِّبُهُمْ فَقَالَ عَلِّمْهُمُ الشِّعْرَ يَمْجُدُوا وَيُنْجِدُوا وَأَطْعِمْهُمُ اللَّحْمَ تَشْتَدُّ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَجُزَّ شُعُورَهُمْ تَشْتَدُّ رِقَابُهُمْ وَجَالِسْ بِهِمْ عِلْيَةَ الرِّجَالِ يُنَاقِضُوهُمُ الْكَلامَ
✧ ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān handed his sons over to al-Shaʿbī to educate them. He said: “Teach them poetry so that they become noble and courageous. Feed them meat so that their hearts grow strong. Shave their hair so that their necks grow strong. And have them sit with the noble men so that they may challenge them in speech.”
عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ قَالَ إِنَّ أَعْظَمَ النَّاسِ جُرْمًا إِنْسَانٌ شَاعِرٌ يَهْجُو الْقَبِيلَةَ مِنْ أَسْرِهَا وَرَجُلٌ انْتَفَى مِنْ أَبِيهِ
'A'isha reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, "The greatest of criminals is the poet who satirises the entire tribe and a man who disclaims his father."