How can Arabic poetry be trusted to interpret the Qur’an, when it has not been transmitted with the same continuous unbroken chain of narration (tawatur) as the Hadith, and is susceptible to distortion, textual corruption, and fabrication, as mentioned by Al-Maimanī?

The Salaf used to cite poetry as evidence in their interpretations of the Holy Quran, and none of them were reported to have denied this practice. Books of tafsir (exegesis) are full of poetic evidences, which indicates its permissibility. Ibn Hazm and Al-Razi marveled at the linguists' attention to poetry while neglecting the Quran and Hadith. However, this was not the methodology of the exegetes, who considered the Quran the primary source and poetry secondary. Al-Maimani did not reject citing poetry; rather, he criticized those who denied citing Hadith using the same arguments. Scholars of language and exegetes established criteria for accepting poetic evidence, including temporal, spatial, and tribal criteria, and conditions such as the poet being someone whose poetry is considered authoritative, the evidence being well-known and its narrators trustworthy, and the evidence not being open to multiple interpretations.