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Learn › Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī Qurʾānic Rulings and Law › Lesson 26

Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī Qurʾānic Rulings and Law · Al-Miʾūn The Hundreds
Lesson 26

Sūrah Ash-Shuʿarāʾ The Poets

سورة الشعراء

Al-Qurṭubī uses Ash-Shuʿarāʾ to examine the fiqh of poetry extracting from 26:224–227 the conditions under which poetry is permitted, disapproved, or prohibited, and mapping the four-school positions on satirical poetry, praise poetry, and poetry that involves lying or immorality.

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance
SurahالشعراءMakkī 227 versesProphets Mūsā, Ibrāhīm, Nūḥ, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Lūṭ, Shuʿayb a condensed chain of missions; the critique of the astray poets and the exception for righteous believing poets
Key Fiqh IssueDoes 26:224 ("and the poets those who have gone astray follow them") prohibit poetry entirely, or only specific types of blameworthy poetry?Fiqh of poetryAl-Qurṭubī: poetry itself is not prohibited 26:227's exception ("except those who believe and do righteous deeds") establishes that righteous poetry is permitted; the condemned type is poetry that promotes immorality, falsehood, or insults without justice
School ComparisonSatirical poetry (hijāʾ): Mālikī: permitted against disbelievers who attack Islam; prohibited against Muslims without justified criticism; Shāfiʿī: same with more caution; Ḥanafī: same; Ḥanbalī: cautious, prefers avoiding all satirical poetry as a ruleSatirical poetry rulingAl-Qurṭubī documents inter-school nuance on satire permitted against hostile critics of Islam, restricted against Muslims
Uṣūl Principle"Al-ashyāʾ ʿalā l-ibāḥah ḥattā yarid dalīl al-taḥrīm" things are originally permitted until a prohibition is established applied to poetry: poetry is originally halāl; only specific types with specific harms are prohibitedDefault permissibilityAl-Qurṭubī applies the default permissibility principle to poetry, making the Quranic critique of "astray poets" a specific condemnation, not a general prohibition

Key Themes from Al-Qurṭubī

Al-Qurṭubī opens Ash-Shuʿarāʾ with the seven-prophet narrative structure, noting that the surah presents the prophetic missions in a condensed format with a common refrain (26:8 "in this is surely a sign, yet most of them are not believers") appearing between each narrative. He extracts from this repetitive structure the fiqh principle of continuity: each prophetic mission was a complete moral-legal system; their common refrain of human rejection is a warning to the Quran's audience not to repeat the historical pattern.

On the poets' verse (26:224–227), al-Qurṭubī gives one of his most comprehensive treatments of a topic in his Tafsīr. He extracts the conditions for permitted poetry: (1) it must not contain lies; (2) it must not insult believers without justification; (3) it must not promote immorality (zinā, alcohol, etc.); (4) it must not be used in excessive time-wasting that causes neglect of obligations. He then extracts the categories of recommended poetry: poetry praising Allah, the Prophet, and Islamic values is mustaḥabb; poetry defending Islam against attack is sometimes obligatory; poetry of general wisdom and moral content is permitted.

وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَ ۝ أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّهُمْ فِي كُلِّ وَادٍ يَهِيمُونَ Wa sh-shuʿarāʾu yattabiʿuhumu l-ghāwūn a-lam tara annahum fī kulli wādin yahīmūn And the poets the astray follow them. Have you not seen that they wander in every valley? Al-Qurṭubī: "al-ghāwūn" (those who have gone astray) who follow the poets indicates that the condemned poets produce content that leads their audience astray. "Fī kulli wādin yahīmūn" (they wander in every valley) means they have no principled stance they praise and condemn at will for payment, with no commitment to truth.
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَانتَصَرُوا مِن بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُوا Illā lladhīna āmanū wa ʿamilū ṣ-ṣāliḥāti wa dhakarū llāha kathīran wa ntaṣarū min baʿdi mā ẓulimū Except those who believe and do righteous deeds, and remember Allah much, and defend themselves after being wronged. Al-Qurṭubī: the four exception conditions for righteous poets: faith + righteous deeds + abundant dhikr of Allah + defensive response to injustice. Poetry that meets these conditions is not only permitted but praised. Al-Qurṭubī notes that the Prophet's Companions Ḥassān ibn Thābit and Kaʿb ibn Mālik were poets who composed within these conditions.
  • Poetry fiqh categories: Al-Qurṭubī maps poetry into: obligatory (defending Islam), recommended (praising Allah/Prophet), permitted (moral content), disapproved (wasteful), prohibited (immoral/lying/unjust insult).
  • Four exception conditions: The righteous poet exception (26:227) provides four conditions faith, righteous deeds, dhikr of Allah, defensive response to injustice all of which must be met for the exception to apply.
  • Satire school nuance: Al-Qurṭubī documents the inter-school nuance on satire the Companions used it against Islam's enemies; it is more restricted against Muslims, requiring justified criticism.
  • Default poetry permissibility: Applying the default-permissibility principle, al-Qurṭubī establishes that the Quranic critique is specific to "astray poets," not a general prohibition of the art form.
  • Prophet's poet Companions: Al-Qurṭubī records that Ḥassān ibn Thābit and Kaʿb ibn Mālik composed poetry at the Prophet's direction establishing a prophetic sunnah of permitted righteous poetry.

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