al-Shi'r fi Daw' al-Sharia al-Islamiyya
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- al-Jāmi‘ah al-Islāmīyah
al-Shi'r fi Daw' al-Shari'a al-Islamiyya (Poetry in the Light of Islamic Law) is a legal and thematic study authored by Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Shumayla al-Ahdal during his postgraduate studies in the Department of Sunnah at the Islamic University of Madinah . The treatise investigates the status of poetry in Islamic scripture and jurisprudence, aiming to clarify textual evidence regarding its permissibility and boundaries .
Background and Purpose
The author was prompted to write the treatise after observing individuals routinely citing the Quranic passage from Surah al-Shu'ara: وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَ ("And as for the poets, the deviants follow them" [26:224]) to argue that Islam categorically censures poetry . He noted that such generalizations overlooked the explicit Quranic exception for righteous believers ( إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ ) in subsequent verses . Consequently, the study was designed to compile relevant prophetic narrations, cross-reference their sources, and interpret them through classical scholarly commentary .
Structure and Core Topics
The work comprises ten principal chapters :
- Definition of Poetry (Ta'rif al-Shi'r): Addresses the linguistic and terminological definitions of poetry, drawing on classical figures like al-Raghib al-Isfahani and Ibn Khaldun, while contrasting metric poetry with prose and noting the ancient origins of Arabic verse .
- Status of Arabic Poetry (Makanat al-Shi'r al-Arabi): Discusses the role of pre-Islamic and early poetry as lexical evidence for Quranic exegesis, grammatical systematization, and the codification of religious disciplines in instructional verses (manzumat) .
- Exegesis of Surah al-Shu'ara (Ma Warada fi Tafsir Ayat al-Shu'ara): Analyzes the textual variants (qira'at), vocabulary, reasons for revelation (asbab al-nuzul), and exegetical analyses by scholars such as al-Shawkani and al-Zamakhshari concerning both the censured poets and the excepted believers .
- Insights and Benefits from the Verses (Adwa' 'ala al-Ayat wa Fawa'id): Examines jurisprudential implications, notably whether a poetic admission of a penal crime (hadd) legally warrants punishment or is dismissed due to poetic license and customary exaggeration, citing rulings by Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti alongside historical precedents from Umar ibn al-Khattab and Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik .
- The Quran and Inimitability (al-Qur'an al-Karim wa Sirr I'jazih): Outlines why the Quran challenged the linguistic masters of Arabia and fundamentally distinguished itself from poetry and rhymed prose .
- Prophetic Hadiths on Poetry: Studies narrations affirming that «إن من البيان سحرا وإن من الشعر حكمة» ("Verily, some eloquence is magic, and some poetry is wisdom") and analyzes the Prophet's instructions to Muslim poets to satirize the polytheists in defense of Islam .
- Poetry of Hassan ibn Thabit: Examines representative poems of the Prophet's poet, Hassan ibn Thabit, and his role in countering tribal polemics .
- Listening and Reciting Poetry: Documents instances of the Prophet listening to poets like Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt and quoting verse lines such as those of Labid, elaborating on the legal maxim reported from A'isha and the Prophet that poetry is equivalent to ordinary speech—its good is good and its bad is bad .
- Disapproval of Excessive Preoccupation (Karahat al-Shi'r li-Man Ghalaba 'Alayh): Explains the hadith «لأن يمتلئ جوف أحدكم قيحا خير له من أن يمتلئ شعرا» ("It is better for the inside of a man to be filled with pus than with poetry"), clarifying via al-Tahawi and al-Nawawi that this censure applies specifically when verse occupies a person so entirely that it displaces the Quran, the Sunnah, and the remembrance of Allah .
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