whereas anything that falls short of those standards is not allowed, because most poetry does not escape indecency, falsehood, or the adornment of vanity. Even when it is free from such faults, at the very least it is idle chatter and frivolous talk, and the mosques are above that, for Allah says: “In houses which Allah has permitted to be exalted” (al-Nūr 24:36).
Nevertheless, it may be recited in the mosque if it resembles the verse:
“When the sky lets its rain fall upon a people’s land,
we pasture our herds there—even if they take offense.”
This type, though it contains neither praise nor laudation, is permissible because it is devoid of obscenity and deceit.
The same judgment is supported by the forthcoming ḥadith: “Mosques were only built for the purpose for which they were built.” This report is from Buraydah, recorded by Muslim and others, as will be cited shortly. Al-Nawawī commented: “Its import is that mosques exist for the remembrance of Allah, for prayer, for knowledge, for mutual consultation in goodness, and the like.” They were not constructed so that poetry could be rehearsed in them; hence it is prohibited. ⦗1⦘
- Announcing or searching for a stray animal, or inquiring about it loudly, is likewise forbidden on the strength of the same ḥadith: “and he forbade that a lost animal be announced in it.”