Urdu Poetry Forum

Q.) What does Islam say about poets and any type of poetry? Please give me a detailed answer about the poetry and poets.

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A.) Ubayy Ibn Ka'ab, Radi-Allahu anhu, reports Rasulullah (s.a.w) as having said; "Poetry contains (much) wisdom." (Mishkaat with Mirqaat Vol. 9 Pg. 122 Ashrafiyyah).

Mullah Ali Qari (r.a), a renowned Muhaddith explains that poetry containing truth, wise words, advices, useful parables, etc. that are of benefit to mankind, as well as those containing praises of Allah and Nabi , promoting abstinence from worldly luxuries, exhortation towards the Aakhirah and other aspects of Deen are indeed praiseworthy. Poetry devoid of these things is malignant and disliked. (e.g. songs containing lewdness or depictive of sins etc.) The words of the Qur'an (viz. "(As for) the Poets, only the misguided follow them. Can you not see their (aimless) wandering in the valleys, their statements devoid of action?" As-Shu'araa: 224-226) and the Ahadith maligning poetry refer to these kinds of poetry.

Thereafter he mentions that poetry is a form of speech and must be judged by the same standard. i.e beneficial poetry is like beneficial speech and useless and evil poetry like useless and evil speech) (Mirqaat VOl.9 Pg. 122 Ashrafiyyah).

From this principle we can deduce that recital or composition of romantic poetry is permissible (and even rewarding) only if it is for one's spouse with the intention of promoting love and tenderness and providing it is free of lewdness or obscenity, much the same as a loving or kind word. When not for one's spouse, it is not permissible.

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Islam is the religion of creativity. It urges its followers to be active, creative and imaginative. While being imaginative, Muslims should never forget that they are living on the surface of the earth and that their vocation and noble mission to stand up for truth and support right. It is not suitable for any Muslim to talk about the sweet dreams and the funny ideas while the aches of Muslims could be heard everywhere; rather, our literature should be the voice of our reality, the image of our selves, the depiction of our maladies. It should stand as a prescription of medication and a recipe of remedies.


Islam calls upon Muslims to make use of every branch of knowledge to enhance their link to their Ummah and their sense of belonging. It cries for poets and men of letters and stresses that their works should be dedicated for the benefit of the total tapestry of the Muslim nation and serve its causes. In this context, it is notable that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, supported Hassan ibn Thabit, the well-known Muslim poet who defended Islam and used (the Prophet) to say: “Say! And Gabriel supports you!”


This shows how high esteem does Islam gives to poets and men of letters who use these talents to serve their nation and bring benefit to people not those supporters of nakedness who use the Divinely-gifted talents in attacking decency and demolishing morality and spreading vice in the Muslim society.


Here is the fatwa issued Sheikh `Atiyyah Saqr, former Head of Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee. The fatwa reads:


“There is no harm in writing fiction, be it stories or poems, as long as it is written for a good purpose or for brushing aside evil, like stories where animals speak as if they are humans or take on allegorical roles. The criterion here is that authenticated matters of the religion should be kept intact. Also, this writing should not be taken as a means to an evil end, and no evil consequence should result from this writing. In Islam, “harm should neither be inflicted nor tolerated” as is stated in the Hadith.


Some scholars, however, maintain that it is not allowed to write fiction. Their argument may be that such stories may contain falsified statements and thus are considered a waste of time. To them, these falsified statements lead to evil and should be avoided. They say that one should instead follow the manner of story telling used in the Qur’an.”


And Allah Ta'ala Knows Best.

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