Was Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt in competition with the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him? Is it true that the Prophet copied his poetry in the Quran? And to what extent is it true that some of his poetry matches Quranic verses, such as his discourse on Heaven and Hell and the stoning of devils with stars, despite the fact that Quraysh did not believe in that?

Umayyah ibn Abi al-Salt was a pre-Islamic poet from Ta'if. He had connections with the People of the Book and was influenced by them. He renounced idol worship and anticipated the coming of a prophet. However, he disbelieved in the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) out of envy after his prophethood and died as a disbeliever in the ninth year of the Hijra.

The suspicion that the Prophet plagiarized Umayyah's poetry in the Qur'an is absurd and false for the following reasons: 1. Weak attribution of the poetry: Much of the poetry attributed to Umayyah is of questionable authenticity, and it is more likely that it was composed in later Islamic eras, unlike the preserved and established Holy Qur'an. 2. Silence of the opponents: If the Prophet had taken from Umayyah's poetry, Umayyah himself and his opponents from Quraish would have used it as a strong argument against him. This did not happen; rather, the Prophet asked to hear some of Umayyah's poetry after his death. 3. Fundamental difference: The Holy Qur'an is a comprehensive book, interconnected in its بیان (exposition) and wisdom. As for Umayyah's poetry—even if its attribution is authentic—it is limited to some stories and matters of the unseen, and its style is disjointed.

It is more probable that Umayyah, or the composer of his poetry, took from the Qur'an and not the other way around, which proves the fallacy of this suspicion.