Why did the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, not forbid Ka'b ibn Zuhayr from reciting amatory poetry in his ode, which begins: "Suʿād has departed, and my heart today is undone, / Enslaved in her wake, unredeemed and bound"?
This story is well-known and was narrated by Ibn Abi Asim, Al-Hakim, Al-Bayhaqi, and others. Some scholars, like Al-Hakim, authenticated it, while others, like Ibn Kathir and Al-Iraqi, deemed it weak. Some scholars have used this story to argue for the permissibility of writing amatory poetry about an unspecified woman and listening to it, provided its words contain no indecency, relying on the Prophet's (peace be upon him) approval of a matter and his not denouncing it as an indication of its permissibility.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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