The Prophet (s), the Ahl al-Bayt (a), and Their Reciting of Poetry

Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings

The well-known opinion is that among the special characteristics of the Greatest Messenger (s) is that reciting poetry was forbidden to him. That is so that people would not confuse the poetry the Messenger (s) says with the verses of the Holy Qurʾan, considering that harmony and meter are present in poetry, while the Holy Qurʾan is not poetry; rather, it is verses from heaven that have their own special composition. Also, the verses came with the truth from Allah the Exalted, whereas poetry among the Arabs expressed the feelings of the poet himself, or conveyed the existing reality.

Hence revelation was distinguished as being a manifest Qurʾan, and by its own unique style, which rendered everyone incapable of producing the like of it.

The Exalted has said about the Prophet (s) and poetry: “We did not teach him poetry, nor does it behoove him. This is just a reminder and a manifest Quran” (Qurʾan 36:69)

The Messenger's (s) refraining from reciting poetry was not due to ignorance or to a lack of interest in poetry; rather, the Messenger (s) took an interest in poetry and encouraged it during his life.

As for the rest of the Infallibles (a), I have not found anyone who holds that poetry was forbidden to them; the purpose of forbidding it to the Prophet (s) does not apply in the case of the Imams. Many verses of poetry attributed to the Infallibles (a) have been reported..

For example, it is narrated that Imam ʿAli (a) said, when al-Zahraʾ (a) was martyred:

I see the ailments of this world upon me are many, and its companion is ailing until death.

Every gathering of two close friends ends in parting, and all that falls short of parting is little.

And my losing Fatimah after Ahmad is proof that no close friend endures.

Many verses have been reported from al-Zahraʾ (a), many of them in elegy for her father (s), among them:

Tears have left their traces upon my cheek in grief for you, and in my heart are wounds.

Patience is fitting in every situation, except over you, for it is nonexistent.

There is no blame for my grief over you, even if weeping were to last forever in my eye.

And of poetry, there has been reported from Imam al-Hasan (a):

A crust of coarse bread satisfies me, and a drink of pure water suffices me,

And a strip of fine cloth covers me while alive, and if I die, it suffices me as my shroud.

Many verses of poetry have been reported from Imam al-Husayn (a), in Karbala and elsewhere, among them:

I have outstripped all people toward the heights, with goodness of character and loftiness of resolve,

And through my wisdom the light of guidance shone forth, in nights pitch-dark with misguidance.

The deniers want to extinguish it, but Allah refuses except that He complete it.

Likewise, many verses of poetry have been narrated from the rest of the Infallibles (a), which leaves no room for saying that they refrained from composing poetry. However, the mission of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) was clarifying the truths through their narrations, full of knowledge and wisdom and marked by eloquence—for they are (the princes of speech), as has been reported from them (a)—so their focus was on admonitions, explaining rulings, and bringing forth the sciences through sermons, maxims and narrations, and answering various questions.

And Allah knows best, and He is the Grantor of success

Mahmoud Al-Mosawi