The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) listening to poetry and other things

Ibn al-Sharid or Ya'qub bin Asim, one of the two, said that Sayyiduna al-Sharid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) seated me behind him on his mount and said: "Do you remember any of the verses of Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt?" I said: "Yes." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Recite." So I recited one verse to him (peace and blessings be upon him). He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Recite more." He (peace and blessings be upon him) kept on saying: "Recite more, recite more!" until I had recited a hundred verses to him (peace and blessings be upon him).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, some poetry is full of wisdom, and indeed some eloquence has the effect of magic."

Sayyiduna al-Sharid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I recited to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) a hundred rhymes from the verses of Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt. Between each rhyme he (peace and blessings be upon him) would say: "Recite more." And he said: "He very nearly accepted Islam."

Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) affirmed Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt in some of his poetry, or the narrator said: in two couplets of his poetry. He composed these verses: "Zuhal and Thawr are beneath his right foot, and Nasr is beneath his left foot, and Layth lies in wait for him." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "He spoke the truth." The second couplet is: "The sun rises at the last part of every night, red, its colour turning rosy." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "He spoke the truth."

Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to recite this verse: "And the one you did not provision will bring you the news."

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, the truest word ever spoken by a poet is the word of Labid." Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) recited the first half of his verse and left out its second half. The half-verse is (in translation): "Everything other than Allah is false and perishing." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt very nearly accepted Islam."

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, the truest word ever spoken by a poet is this half-verse of Labid (in translation): 'Everything other than Allah is false and perishing.'" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt very nearly accepted Islam."

Habib bin Abi Thabit said: Sayyiduna Hassan bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) recited these verses to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "I bear witness by the command of Allah that Muhammad is the Messenger of that Allah who is above the heavens. Yahya and his father (Sayyiduna Zakariyya), the deeds of both of them are accepted in this religion. So too are the deeds of Sayyiduna Hud, when he would stand among the people, calling them to the religion, and would act justly."

Imam al-Sha'bi said: Sayyiduna Hassan (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for permission to compose poetry about Quraysh. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "How can you do that when my lineage too is among them?" He submitted: "I will draw you (peace and blessings be upon him) out from among them just as a hair is drawn out of dough."

Imam al-Sha'bi said: Sayyiduna Hassan (may Allah be pleased with him) was mentioned in the presence of Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), and it was said to her: "Indeed, he gave help against you, and did such and such." Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: "Leave it, for indeed I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'Allah Almighty aided Hassan in composing poetry through the Holy Spirit, that is, Sayyiduna Jibril.'"

Imam al-Sha'bi said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Satirize the polytheists, for indeed the Holy Spirit, Sayyiduna Jibril, is with you."

Urwah bin al-Zubayr said that Sayyiduna Hassan bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about satirizing Abu Sufyan. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "How will you do that, when he is my close relative?" He replied: "By the One who has honored you (peace and blessings be upon him), I will draw you (peace and blessings be upon him) out from among them as a hair is drawn out of dough."

Sayyiduna al-Bara bin Azib (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Hassan bin Thabit: "Satirize the polytheists, for Jibril is with you."

Al-A'mash said that Abu Khalid al-Walibi said: We used to sit in the gatherings of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and they would recite poetry and recall the events of the Jahiliyyah.

Nafi' said: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Rawahah (may Allah be pleased with him) had a slave woman, and he used to conceal from his wife that he had relations with her. One day he had relations with her, and when he came to his wife she accused him of having had relations with the slave woman. He denied it, so his wife said to him: "If that is so, then recite the Qur'an." He recited these verses: "I bear witness, by the permission of Allah, that Muhammad is the Messenger of the One who is above the heavens. And Yahya and his father, both of them, have deeds accepted in His religion." She said: "Woe to you!"

Khaythamah said: A poet came to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "Shall I recite poetry to you?" He told him to recite. As he was reciting he mentioned Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "May Allah forgive Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) for the patience he showed." Sayyiduna Umar said: "Allah has indeed done so." Then he mentioned Abu Bakr and Umar together, and he said: "What Allah wills."

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Sayyiduna al-Bara (may Allah be pleased with him) was humming a line of poetry. I said to him: "You are humming poetry; what would happen if death came to you in this state?" He replied: "I will not die in my bed. I have killed ninety-nine of the polytheists and hypocrites."

Al-A'mash said that Abu Khalid al-Walibi said: I used to sit with the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). At times they would speak of nothing but poetry in their gatherings until they dispersed.

Imam al-Sha'bi said: Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was a poet, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was a poet, and Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was also a poet.

Amir said that Rib'i bin Hirash said: I came to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) among a party from Ghatafan, and they were speaking of poetry. Sayyiduna Umar said: "Who is the greatest poet among your poets?" They replied: "O Commander of the Faithful, you know best." At this Sayyiduna Umar said: "Who said this verse: 'I came to you barefoot, my clothes worn, and many fears surrounded me. I found my trust in such a state that you had not betrayed it. Nuh too did not betray.'" We replied: "Al-Nabighah." He then said the same again and asked: "Who said this verse: 'I swore, and left no doubt in my heart; and beyond Allah a man has nowhere to go.'" Then he said: "Who said this verse: 'Except Sulayman, when Allah Almighty said to him: Stand among the people and restrain them from wrongdoing.'" We replied: "Al-Nabighah." He said: "This is the greatest poet among your poets."

Abu al-Duha said: Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) asked Ma'dikarib to recite poetry, and he recited to him, and Abu Bakr said: "Since accepting Islam, I have not asked anyone before you to recite poetry."

Abdullah bin Ubayd bin Umayr said that Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: At times a poet says a word full of wisdom.

Hani' said: I heard Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) reciting this verse: "Make your chest ready for death, for death is going to meet you; and do not ever fear death when it descends upon your valley."

Ibn Sirin said that Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said this to Abd al-Rahman bin Muljam al-Muradi: "I intend his life, and he intends to kill me. Bring a friend from the tribe of Murad who would accept your excuse."

Mujammi' said: Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) built a prison and named it Nafi'. Then a thought occurred to him, so he broke it down and built a stronger one than it. Then he said this verse: "Do I not seem to you a man of intelligence, known for his wisdom? After the prison Nafi', I have built the prison Mukhayyis."

Imam al-Sha'bi said that Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote to Sayyiduna al-Mughirah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he should summon the poets to him and hear poetry from them.

Abd al-Malik bin Abi Bashir said that Ikrimah said: I was walking with Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) as we were heading to the plain of Arafat. I was reciting poetry and he was correcting my mistakes.

Qatadah said that Mutarrif bin Abdullah said: I set out with Sayyiduna Imran bin Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) toward Kufah. Not a day passed over him except that he recited poetry to us.

Imam Muhammad bin Sirin said that Kathir bin Aflah said: The last gathering in which we sat with Sayyiduna Zayd bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) was a gathering in which we recited poetry.

Urwah said that Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: We came to Madinah when it was a land stricken with epidemic, and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) fell ill. When Sayyiduna Abu Bakr recovered, he would recite this verse: "Every man wakes in the morning among his family, while death is nearer to him than the strap of his sandal." And when Sayyiduna Bilal recovered, he would recite these verses: "Would that I knew whether I shall spend a night in the valley of Makkah, with idhkhir and thumam grass around me. And shall I one day come down to the waters of Majannah, and will the springs of Shamah and Tafil appear before me?"

Urwah said that Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) often used to recite these two verses from the poetry of Labid: "Gone are those in whose shelter life was lived, and I remain behind like the hide of a mangy camel. People backbite and betray, and the one who speaks is faulted even if he stirs up no discord."

Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said that Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to recite this verse: "To You she runs, her saddle-girth loose, the young in her belly lying crosswise, her religion opposed to the religion of the Christians."

Masruq said: Sayyiduna Hassan bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) after he had lost his sight. Sayyidah Aishah was told: "The man has come to you about whom Allah, Lord of Might, said: 'And the one who took upon himself the greater part of it, for him is a great punishment' [Al-Nur: 11]?!" She said: "Is he not in a great punishment, having lost his sight?" The narrator said: Then Sayyiduna Hassan recited to Sayyidah Aishah a verse that he had said for his daughter: "She is chaste, without blemish, and has committed no evil deed. She does not point a finger at the honor of chaste women." Sayyidah Aishah said: "But you are not like that."

Al-Hakam said that Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Layla recited poetry in the mosque while the muezzin was giving the iqamah.

Hisham bin Urwah said that his father Urwah said: I have not seen anyone with more knowledge of poetry, the fara'id (obligatory shares) and fiqh than Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her).

Furat said that Sa'id bin Jubayr said: In the Qur'an, "al-qani'" [Al-Hajj: 36] means the one who asks. Then he recited this verse of al-Shammakh: "A man's wealth sets him right, replaces his poverty with sufficiency, and makes him chaste compared to those who beg."

Bayan said that Amir said concerning the verse of the Qur'an: "And at once they will be upon al-Sahirah" [Al-Nazi'at: 14]: Al-Sahirah means the earth. Then he recited this line of a verse of Umayyah: "In it is the flesh of the land and of the sea."

Asim said: I never heard al-Hasan al-Basri recite a line of poetry as a proverb except this verse: "The one who died and found rest is not truly dead; the truly dead is he who is dead while living." Then he said: "By Allah, the poet spoke the truth. He is indeed alive while his heart is dead."

Hisham said: I heard my father Urwah say: I left Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) three years before her death, and I have not seen anyone with more knowledge than her of the Qur'an, the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), poetry and the fara'id (obligatory shares).

Ikrimah said: When Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) was asked about something in the Qur'an, he would recite a verse from the poetry of the Arabs.