Poetry

Khalid ibn Kaysan said, "I was with Ibn 'Umar when Iyyas ibn Khaythamagot 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 cameto something which Ibn 'Umar disliked whereupon he told him to stop.

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.'"

Ubayy ibn Ka'b mentioned that the Messenger of Allah, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, said, "There is some wisdom in poetry."

Al-Aswad ibn Suray' said, "Messenger of Allah, I have praised myLord, the Almighty and Exalted, in some words of praise." He said, "YourLord loves praise," and did not say anything more.

Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah blesshim and grant him peace, said, "It is better for a man to fill his bellywith oozing pus than to fill it with poetry."

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 somepraises I have written for my Lord?' He said, 'Your Lord loves praise,'and did not say anything more."

'A'isha said, "Hassan ibn Thabit asked the Messenger of Allah,may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for permission to satirise theidolaters. 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 themas a hair is taken from dough.'"

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 granthim peace.'"

See hadith 858.

'Abdullah ibn 'Amr reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allahbless him and grant him peace, said, "Poetry is in the same position asspeech. The good of it is like good words and its bad part is like badwords."

'A'isha said, "Poetry is both good and bad. Take the good and leavethe bad. I have related some of the poetry of Ka'b ibn Malik. That includedan ode of forty verses and some less than that."

Shurayh said, "I ask 'A'isha, may Allah be pleased her with, 'Didthe Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reciteany poetry?' She said, 'He used to recite some of the poetry of 'Abdullahibn Rawaha:

See hadith 859.

Ash-Sharid said, "The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, asked me to recite the poetry of Umayya ibn Abi's-Salt and I recitedit. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, beganto say, 'Go on, go on!' until I had recited a hundred lines.' The Prophetsaid, 'If only he had become Muslim.'"

Ibn 'Umar reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, said, "It is better for one of you to fill his belly with pusthan to fill it with poetry."

In respect of "And as for the poets, is the misled who followthem. Do you not see how they ramble on in every style and that they saythings which they do not do?" (26:
223-225), Ibn 'Abbas said that itwas abrogated and that an exception was made in His words, "except forthose who believe and do right actions the kind of reversal theywill receive." (26:226)

Ibn 'Abbas said that a man - or a bedouin - came to theProphet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and spoke some eloquentwords. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Thereis some magic eloquence and some wisdom in poetry."

'Abdu'l-Malik ibn Marwan entrusted the teaching of his childrento ash-Sha'bi and said, "Teach them poetry so that they will possess dignityand vigor. Feed them meat so that their hearts will be strong. Cut offtheir hair so that their necks will be strong. Make them sit with men ofdistinction who will contradict them in words."

'A'isha reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, said, "The greatest of criminals is the poet who satirises theentire tribe and a man who disclaims his father."