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Is it permissible for someone who loves Arabic poetry to say: "As for the poets, the erring follow them... and I am one of them"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"Al-Ghawoun" (the misguided ones) in the noble verse: (And as for the poets, those who go astray follow them), are the disbelievers, or the polytheists, or the people of misguidance, idleness, and wickedness. And "Al-Ghawi" (the misguided one) is characterized by error and misguidance, which is extreme deviation. It is not permissible for a Muslim to describe himself as one of "Al-Ghawoun," due to the dispraise involved, which necessitates dispraising those who are followed.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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