What is the ruling of Sharia on the one who recites explicit amatory poetry that describes a woman's charms and sexual acts, and on its publisher, its reader, and its defender? Is it permissible or forbidden?
Poetry is the Arabs' register and the repository of their language. Some of it is permissible, and some is forbidden, such as poetry describing a foreign woman and publicizing it, due to the violation of honor and arousal of lust it entails. As for narrating what has been mentioned in pre-Islamic poetry, there is no objection to it. The predecessors preserved the Arabs' poetry collections, including the love poetry within them. Ka'b ibn Zuhayr, may Allah be pleased with him, recited his poem "Banat Su'ad" in the mosque after the dawn prayer, and Su'ad was his wife.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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