(221–227) “Shall I tell you upon whom the devils descend? They descend upon every sinful liar. They pass on what they overhear, and most of them are liars. As for the poets, those who stray follow them. Do you not see that they wander through every valley and say what they do not do? Except those who believe, do righteous deeds, remember Allah often, and defend themselves after having been wronged. Those who do wrong will soon know what end they will meet.”
This is a response to those who denied the Messenger and said, “A devil descends upon Muhammad,” and to those who said that he was a poet. Allah said, “Shall I tell you”—that is, shall I give you the true account, in which there is neither doubt nor uncertainty—“upon whom the devils descend?” That is, shall I describe the people upon whom the devils descend?
“They descend upon every liar”—that is, one who lies habitually and frequently utters falsehood and fabricates lies—“sinful” in his conduct and given to committing many sins. Such is the person upon whom the devils descend, and his condition accords with theirs.
“They pass on to him what they overhear” from heaven, “and most of them are liars.” That is, most of what they convey to him is lies (1). He speaks the truth once but couples it with a hundred lies, so truth and falsehood become intermingled, and the truth disappears because it is so scarce and cannot be discerned. This (2), then, describes the people upon whom the devils descend, and it also describes what the devils reveal to them.
Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—is as different from such people as can possibly be. He is truthful and trustworthy, righteous and rightly guided, combining righteousness of heart, truthfulness of speech, and conduct kept free ⦗600⦘ of all that is forbidden.
The revelation that descends upon him from Allah comes guarded and protected, containing momentous truth in which there is neither doubt nor uncertainty. Are he and those people equal, O people of understanding? Could the two possibly be confused by anyone but a madman who can neither distinguish nor differentiate between things?
Having declared him free of devils descending upon him, Allah likewise cleared him of the charge of being a poet, saying, “As for the poets”—that is, shall I also tell you about the condition of poets and their established characteristics? “Those who stray follow them”: those who have strayed from the path of guidance and turned toward the path of error and ruin. They are themselves astray, and you will find every one of their followers to be wayward, misguided, and corrupt.
“Do you not see” their waywardness and the severity of their misguidance, “that they wander through every valley” of poetry? At one time they praise and at another they censure; at one time they speak truth and at another they lie; sometimes they compose love poetry and sometimes they mock; now they rejoice and then they grieve. They never follow a settled course or remain constant in any state.
“And they say what they do not do.” That is the poets’ characteristic: their words conflict with their deeds. When you hear a poet composing tender love poetry, you think that he is the most passionately enamored of all people, while his heart is empty of any such feeling. When you hear him praising or censuring someone, you think, “This is true,” when it is false. At times he boasts of deeds he never performed, abstentions he never practiced, generosity whose precincts he never approached, and courage by which he claims to surpass the horsemen—yet you find him more cowardly than every coward. Such is their description.
Consider, then: does this correspond to the condition of the Messenger Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—the righteous and rightly guided man whom every upright and rightly guided person follows, who remained steadfast upon guidance and shunned ruin, whose actions were never contradictory and whose words never conflicted with his deeds? He commands only what is good and forbids only what is evil. Whenever he reports something, he speaks the truth; whenever he commands something, he is the first to do it; and whenever he forbids something, he is the first to refrain from it.
Does his condition bear any resemblance to that of the poets, or does he come anywhere near them? Rather, he differs from them in every respect. May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon this most perfect Messenger and foremost man of noble resolve, for all eternity and throughout all ages. He is neither a poet, a sorcerer, nor a madman; nothing but every perfection befits him.
After describing the poets in this manner, Allah exempted from among them those who believed in Allah and His Messenger, performed righteous deeds, remembered Allah often, and defended themselves against their polytheist enemies after having been wronged by them.
Their poetry thus became part of their righteous deeds and one of the fruits of their faith, for it praised the believers, championed them against the people of polytheism and disbelief, defended Allah’s religion, explained beneficial knowledge, and encouraged noble character. Allah therefore said, “Except those who believe, do righteous deeds, remember Allah often, and defend themselves after having been wronged. Those who do wrong will soon know what end they will meet.” They will return to a standing and reckoning that leaves no minor or major deed uncounted and exacts every right in full. Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds.