Surah As-Saaffaat (37) — Ayah 36

(Ayah 36){ وَ يَقُوْلُوْنَ اَىِٕنَّا لَتَارِكُوْۤا اٰلِهَتِنَا … :} That is, in response to the call of the word of Tawheed, they used to say: Should we abandon our deities, whom we and our forefathers have been worshipping, at the word of a mad poet? By this, they meant the Noble Prophet, peace be upon him. These wrongdoers did not consider mere denial of the truth sufficient, but declared the person with the most knowledge and intellect in all the worlds to be mad and a poet. Whereas they knew well that he had no connection with poetry or poets, nor was he mad. Therefore, Allah Almighty gave their answer in the next verse.

36. 1. That is, they called the Noble Prophet ﷺ a poet and a madman, and described his call as madness and the Qur'an as poetry, and said: Why should we abandon our gods because of the madness of a madman? Whereas this was not madness, but wisdom; not poetry, but reality; and in adopting this call, there was not their destruction, but salvation.

36. And they would say, "Should we really abandon our gods for the sake of a mad poet [19]?"

[19]
The Difference Between a Poet and a Prophet:

All prophets, including the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, have been labeled as poets and madmen. The work of a poet is to present the heights of his imagination and the subtleties of his thought in eloquent and rhythmic language in such a way that it brings about a temporary and momentary state of ecstasy in the listener. Although the Noble Quran is free from meter and rhyme, in terms of penetrating the heart, it possesses even greater impact than poetry. Because of this similarity, you have also been called a poet. However, there is a world of difference between a poet and a prophet. Unless a poet’s speech contains falsehood, exaggeration, and hyperbole, it does not acquire any charm. Whereas the word of Allah is free from all such absurdities. The field of a poet’s imagination encompasses every good or bad aspect of life. The influence of the environment dominates his temperament, and since the majority of society is misguided, his imagination also soars along those paths. Whereas the fundamental subject of Allah’s word is only one: to show mankind the path of guidance in a wise and admonishing manner. Furthermore, there is a clear contradiction between the words and actions of a poet, whereas a prophet first acts upon whatever he says himself, and then invites others.

The Difference Between a Madman and a Prophet:

Disbelievers, and especially those who deny the Hereafter and the concept of reward and punishment, call the prophets mad in the sense that, in their view, resurrection after death, being presented in the court of Allah, the terrifying scenes of the Day of Judgment, and Paradise and Hell are all magical and mythical things. Therefore, they think that the prophets have lost their senses. However, a prophet is compassionate to everyone, faithful to his promises, and possesses a pure character and conduct. Whereas madmen have neither morals nor character, and all their speech is incoherent. People are afraid of their mad actions and try to avoid them. The injustice of the disbelievers is that, according to their own assumption, merely on the basis of one similarity, they call the prophets poets and madmen, whereas in countless aspects they are different from poets and madmen. And their hearts also testify to all these things. But merely due to their opposition to the prophets, they bestow such inappropriate titles upon them and say to one another: “How can we abandon our gods at the word of such poets and madmen?”