Tafseer of The Poets · Ash-Shu'araa · 26:227
Except those [poets] who believe and do righteous deeds and remember Allah often and defend [the Muslims] after they were wronged. And those who have wronged are going to know to what [kind of] return they will be returned.
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.
His statement: إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِN — this is an exception to His statement وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِN. It is mentioned that this exception was revealed concerning the poets of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, such as Ḥassān ibn Thābit and Kaʿb ibn Mālik. Thereafter it applies to everyone who possesses the quality that Allah described.
The narrations have come in accordance with what we have said about this.
* Mention of who said this:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama, ʿAlī ibn Mujāhid, and Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mukhtār related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qusayṭ, on the authority of Abū al-Ḥasan Sālim al-Barrād, the freedman of Tamīm al-Dārī, who said: When there was revealed وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN, Ḥassān ibn Thābit, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥa, and Kaʿb ibn Mālik came weeping to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They said: "Allah knows — when He revealed this verse — that we are poets." Then the Prophet ﷺ recited: إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَانْتَصَرُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُوا وَسَيَعْلَمُ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا أَيَّ مُنْقَلَبٍ يَنْقَلِبُونَN.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of some of his companions, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, who said: وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN was revealed up to the end of the sūra, concerning Ḥassān ibn Thābit, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥa, and Kaʿb ibn Mālik.
He said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of ʿIkrima and Ṭāwūs, both of whom said: وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَ * أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّهُمْ فِي كُلِّ وَادٍ يَهِيمُونَ * وَأَنَّهُمْ يَقُولُونَ مَا لَا يَفْعَلُونَN — a portion of it was lifted out and excepted. He said: إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِN... the verse.
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: then He made an exception for the believers among them — that is, the poets — and said: إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِN.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās — then he mentioned the like of it.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَانْتَصَرُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُواN — he said: they are the Anṣār who undertook the emigration together with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qusayṭ, on the authority of Abū al-Ḥasan al-Barrād, who said: When there was revealed وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN — then he mentioned something similar to the narration of Ibn Ḥumayd via Salama.
His statement: وَذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ كَثِيرًاN — the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning the manner of the remembrance which Allah here attributes to the excepted ones among the poets. Some of them said: it refers to the manner of their speech and their dealings with the people. They said: the meaning of the discourse is: and they remembered Allah abundantly in their speech.
* 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: إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ كَثِيرًاN — in their speech.
Others said: it refers to their poetry.
* Mention of who said this:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the statement وَذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ كَثِيرًاN: they remembered Allah in their poetry.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct position on this is to say that Allah described these excepted ones among the believing poets with the abundant remembrance of Allah, without restricting the remembrance — in His Book or upon the tongue of His Messenger — to a particular state to the exclusion of another. Therefore their quality is that they remember Allah in all circumstances.
His statement: وَانْتَصَرُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُواN — He says: and they took revenge upon those who lampooned them among the poets of the polytheists (mushrikīn) — wrongfully, with their poetry and their lampooning of them — by answering back their lampooning.
The people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke to corresponding effect concerning what we have said about this.
* Mention of who said this:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَانْتَصَرُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُواN — he said: they answer back the unbelievers who lampooned the believers.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the statement: and they took revenge upon the polytheists (mushrikīn) مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُواN.
It is said: all these words concern the group that I mentioned.
* Mention of who said this:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Mujāhid and Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mukhtār related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qusayṭ, on the authority of Abū al-Ḥasan Sālim al-Barrād, the freedman of Tamīm al-Dārī, who said: When there was revealed وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN, Ḥassān ibn Thābit, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥa, and Kaʿb ibn Mālik came weeping to the Prophet ﷺ. They said: "Allah knows — when He revealed this verse — that we are poets." Then the Prophet ﷺ recited: إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَانْتَصَرُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُواN.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qusayṭ, on the authority of Abū al-Ḥasan al-Barrād: When there was revealed وَالشُّعَرَاءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَN — then he mentioned something similar.
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 statement وَانْتَصَرُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُواN: he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥa and his companions.
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: وَانْتَصَرُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُواN — he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥa.
His statement: وَسَيَعْلَمُ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواN — Allah, exalted is His praise, says: And those who wronged themselves through their shirk against Allah — the people of Mecca — أَيَّ مُنْقَلَبٍ يَنْقَلِبُونَN — that is: to what place of return they will return and to what destination they will come back after their death. For they shall descend into a Fire whose blazing flame is not extinguished and whose flame does not subside.
The people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke to corresponding effect concerning what we have said about this.
* Mention of who said this:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama, ʿAlī ibn Mujāhid, and Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mukhtār related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qusayṭ, on the authority of Abū al-Ḥasan Sālim al-Barrād, the freedman of Tamīm al-Dārī: وَسَيَعْلَمُ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا أَيَّ مُنْقَلَبٍ يَنْقَلِبُونَN — he means: the people of Mecca.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the statement وَسَيَعْلَمُ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا أَيَّ مُنْقَلَبٍ يَنْقَلِبُونَN: he said: and those who committed wrong among the polytheists (mushrikīn) will know to what place of return they will return.
End of the tafsīr of Sūrat al-Shuʿarāʾ.
