Tafseer of The Poets · Ash-Shu'araa · 26:224
And the poets - [only] the deviators follow them;
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah, exalted be His praise, says: And the poets — the erring ones follow them, not the rightly guided and those who guide.
The people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning who is meant by the erring ones in this place. Some of them said: the transmitters of poetry.
* Mention of who said this:
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yazīd al-Ṭaḥḥān related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr related to us, saying: Qays related to us, on the authority of Yaʿlā, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās; and Abū Kurayb related to me, saying: Ṭalq ibn Ghannām related to us, on the authority of Qays; and Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAṭiyya related to us, on the authority of Qays, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn al-Nuʿmān, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN — he said: the transmitters.
Others said: they are the devils.
* Mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the words وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN: the devils.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, likewise.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the words يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN: he said: the devils follow them.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, they said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning the words وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN: he said: the rebellious jinn.
Others said: they are the foolish ones; and they said: this was revealed concerning two men who reviled one another in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
* Mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the words وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN... to the end of the verse: he said: There were in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ two men: one of the Anṣār and one of another tribe. They reviled one another in poetry, and with each of them were foolish ones from his tribe — these were the foolish ones. Thus Allah said: وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَ * أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّهُمْ فِي كُلِّ وَادٍ يَهِيمُونَN.
It was related to me through al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning the words وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN: there were two men in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: one of the Anṣār and one of another tribe; they reviled one another, with each of them were foolish ones from his tribe — these were the foolish ones.
Others said: they are the erring ones of the jinn and mankind.
* Mention of who said this:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN — he said: they are the disbelievers — the erring ones of the jinn and mankind follow them.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the words of Allah وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN: he said: the erring ones are the polytheists (mushrikīn).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct view concerning this is to say what Allah, exalted be His praise, has said: that the poets of the polytheists are followed by the erring ones among mankind, the rebellious among the devils, and the disobedient among the jinn. This is so because Allah said وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN without specifying therein a particular category of erring ones to the exclusion of others, so that this applies to all kinds of erring ones falling under the general character of the verse.
His words: أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّهُمْ فِي كُلِّ وَادٍ يَهِيمُونَN — Allah, exalted be His praise, says: Do you not see, O Muḥammad, that they — that is: the poets — wander astray in every imaginary valley, like one who roams about on his own authority without any aim, deviating from the truth, the path of right guidance, and the straight way?
This is only a similitude that Allah draws for them in their excesses in the directions in which they went to excess without right: they praise people wrongfully and revile others likewise with lies and falsehood.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said this:
