(1) sharjaʿ (“long”) and ṣuwara (pl. of aṣwar), “those who incline their necks upward,” i.e. looking skyward. See Lisān al-ʿArab, under sharjaʿ and ṣuwara. Also cf. the verses of Umayya ibn Abī al-Ṣalt in al-Bidāya wa’l-Nihāya 2:229; Sharḥ al-Ṭaḥāwīya p. 249; Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh al-Islāmīya p. 218; and Ibn Qutayba’s al-Ikhtilāf fī’l-Lafẓ in ʿAqāʾid al-Salaf p. 240 (also in his Dīwān, p. 400). (2) Ibn Kathīr records this in al-Bidāya wa’l-Nihāya 2:228, remarking “I do not know [its chain].” In Sunan Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim (as authenticated by al-Albānī, no. 579, 1:256), via Ikrima from Ibn ʿAbbās, the Prophet ﷺ approved a poem by Umayya ibn Abī al-Ṣalt: “Rijlun wa-thawr tuḥibbu rajulan yamīnuhu... wa’l-nisru li’l-ukhrá wa-laythu mursid... wa’l-shamsu tatluʿu kulla ākhar layla... ṣaḥrāʾ tuṣbiḥu lawnuhā yatarward...” He said, “True.” Al-Albānī judged the chain weak due to ʿAnʿana ibn Isḥāq. The report also appears in Musnad Aḥmad (1:256) and in Ibn Khuzayma’s al-Tawḥīd (no. 90), both via Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim. The Prophet ﷺ further appreciated Umayya’s poetry for affirming tawḥīd (monotheism) and al-baʿth (resurrection). In Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (2255, 4:1768), ʿAmr ibn al-Sharīd relates that when the Prophet ﷺ asked to hear Umayya’s verses, he said “Heyh” in approval at each couplet until a hundred were recited. In Ṣaḥīḥayn (Bukhari, al-Adab no. 6147; Muslim 2256), Abu Hurayra reports the Prophet ﷺ praising Labīd’s verse “Ala kullu shay’in mā khala Allāhu bāṭilun” as “the truest words spoken by a poet”—an occasion when Umayya nearly embraced Islam. This demonstrates that listening to and reciting poetry is permissible if it is free of obscenity, not excessive, and does not distract from more important duties. Ibn Ḥajar (Fatḥ al-Bārī 10:539) notes the unanimous consensus that such poetry is allowed provided it avoids lampoons (hijāʾ), excessive or false praise, and illicit amorous themes. Al-Bukhārī also narrates from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Poetry is like speech: its good is as good as good speech, and its bad as bad speech” (Al-Adab al-Mufrad, p. 126).