The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked about poetry, and he said, "It is speech. What is good of it is good, and what is bad of it is bad."
سئل رسول الله ﷺ عن الشعر، فقال: هو كلام، فحسنه حسن، وقبيحه قبيح.
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Abu Yaala (4760) narrated it from Abbad bin Musa Khatli, who said, Abdul-Rahman bin Thabit told us, from Hisham, from his father, from Ayesha, who said, and then she mentioned it. Its chain is hasan because of Abdul-Rahman bin Thabit bin Thawban, for he is hasan al-hadith. Haythami said in Majma (1228), "Abu Yaala narrated it, and it contains Abdul-Rahman bin Thabit bin Thawban. Duhaym and a group of others deemed him trustworthy, while Ibn Main and others deemed him weak, and the rest of its narrators are narrators of the Sahih."Bukhari narrated it in Adab al-Mufrad (866) through another route from Ayesha, that she used to say, "Some poetry is good and some is bad. Take the good and leave the bad." This is an explanation of the marfu hadith, and it strengthens it rather than weakening it.However, Shafii narrated it in his Musnad (1687) from Ibrahim, from Hisham bin Urwa, from his father Urwa, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, and then he mentioned the hadith. This is how Shafii narrated it as mursal from Urwa, and it appears that he heard it from Ayesha, for this kind of thing is common in Urwa's speech, being taken to mean that he heard it from his maternal aunt Ayesha, as was mentioned earlier in the first chain. Moreover, an addition from a trustworthy narrator is accepted among the scholars of hadith when it contains nothing objectionable or anomalous.On this subject, it was also narrated from Abu Hurairah, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Good poetry is like good speech, and bad poetry is like bad speech." Daraqutni narrated it in his Sunan (4039) through the route of Ismail bin Ayyash, from Abdullah bin Awn, from Muhammad bin Sirin, from Abu Hurairah. Ismail bin Ayyash Himsi is truthful when narrating from the people of his own region, but confused when narrating from others, and this is one of those cases, since Abdullah bin Awn was from Basra.