They used to say to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him: 'A poet.' It has been narrated that the one who said this was 'Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt. It was said, 'And what did we teach him poetry?' meaning: 'We did not teach him poetry by teaching him the Qur'an,' in the sense that the Qur'an is not poetry and is not related to poetry at all. And how is it comparable to poetry? Poetry is merely measured and rhymed speech that conveys a meaning. So where is the meter? Where is the rhyme? Where are the meanings that poets derive from its meanings? Where is the arrangement of their words compared to its arrangement and styles? Thus, there is no similarity between it and poetry when examined closely, except that its wording is Arabic, just as that is too. And it is not appropriate for him, nor does it suit him, nor can he seek it if he desired, meaning: 'We made him in such a way that if he wanted to compose poetry, it would not be possible for him and would not be easy for him,' just as we made him unlettered, unable to read or write, so that the proof would be more established and the doubt would be refuted. And according to Al-Khalil: Poetry was more beloved to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, than much of speech, but it was not possible for him. If you say: Then his saying: 'I am the Prophet, no lie... I am the son of Abd al-Muttalib,' is agreed upon from the narration of Al-Bara' ibn 'Azib in the hadith. And his saying: 'Are you not but a finger that has bled... and in the path of Allah, what have you encountered?' 'Are you not but a finger that has bled... and in the path of Allah, what have you encountered?' 'O soul, do not despair at my death... these are the watering places of death, I have prayed.' 'And what I wished for, I have encountered... if you do what they did, you will be guided.'

To Abdullah ibn Rawaha, when he carried the banner after the killing of Zayd ibn Harithah and Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, his finger was injured in the battle and it bled. Al-Bukhari narrated from Jundub that he said: While the Prophet ﷺ was walking, a stone struck him, and he stumbled, causing his finger to bleed. He said, "Are you not but a finger that bled, and in the way of Allah, what you encountered?" This indicates that he ﷺ was quoting the poetry of others, and the 'ta' is broken in accordance with the rhyme. Al-Karmani said: The 'ta' in the riddle is broken, and in the hadith, it is silent. Al-Iyad said that some people were negligent and narrated: 'bled' and 'encountered,' without elongation, contradicting the narration. Ahmad and Al-Tayalisi narrated that he ﷺ said this when he was going out to pray. 'Bled' is a description of the finger, and the meaning is: you did not suffer any harm except that you bled, and that was not in vain but was in the way of Allah and His pleasure alone. That is, what you encountered of harm in the way of Allah, so do not grieve. He placed her in the position of the rational and addressed her with this as consolation and reassurance for her, and in truth, it was for himself. Then he explicitly addressed his own soul, reassuring it with his words: if you do not die in battle, you must die, and these are its watering places, so do not flee from them, for falling into calamity is easier than waiting for it. He likened death to a flood in a metaphorical manner, affirming for him the watering places as an illusion, and he likened it to fire as well, affirming for him the burning, which is entering the fire. There is no objection to likening something to two differing matters while symbolizing each with what suits it. It is permissible to borrow the watering places for knowledge explicitly, and what you wished for from the battle leading to martyrdom, you have encountered it. If you act like Zayd and Ja'far, you will be guided to the path of goodness. I said: It is nothing but words of the same kind as his words that he would throw out naturally, without artifice or affectation, except that it happened without intention or attention to it, if it came in a measured form, as often occurs in many of people's compositions in their speeches, letters, and dialogues, where things in measured form appear that no one calls poetry, nor does it occur to the speaker or the listener that it is poetry. If you searched in every speech for something like that, you would find occurrences in the weights of the meters are not rare. Al-Khalil did not consider the broken riddle to be poetry. When he denied that the Qur'an is of the kind of poetry, he said: "It is nothing but a reminder and a clear Qur'an," meaning: it is nothing but a reminder from Allah, the Exalted, by which mankind and jinn are admonished, as he said: "It is nothing but a reminder for the worlds," and it is nothing but a Qur'an, a heavenly book, recited in the prayer niches, and recited in acts of worship, and by reciting it and acting upon what is in it, one attains success in both abodes. So how far is it from poetry, which is from the whispers of devils? To warn the Qur'an or the Messenger, and it was read: to warn, with the 'ta.' And to warn: from warning him if he knows it, who is alive, meaning rational and contemplative, for the heedless is like the dead. Or it is known from him that he believes and thus lives by faith, and the saying becomes due, and the word of punishment is obligatory upon the disbelievers who do not contemplate and do not expect faith from them.