The Poets’ Address to Inanimate Objects, Such as the Sea and the Night
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner asks: What is the ruling on addressing inanimate objects, as some poets do by addressing the sea and the night? For example, asking the sea to be merciful to the one in it and not to drown him. Is this considered shirk (associating partners with Allah) in seeking aid?
Answer:
You know that poets in their poems go beyond the bounds in their poetry, and they do not intend by it what the polytheists believe; rather, it is for the embellishment and adornment of the poetry.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner asks: What is the ruling on addressing inanimate objects, as some poets do by addressing the sea and the night? For example, asking the sea to be merciful to the one in it and not to drown him. Is this considered shirk (associating partners with Allah) in seeking aid?
Answer:
You know that poets in their poems go beyond the bounds in their poetry, and they do not intend by it what the polytheists believe; rather, it is for the embellishment and adornment of the poetry.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، تابع فصل ثم إن في اتخاذ القبور أعيادًا من المفاسد العظيمة ... - 2 — islamhouse.com (1:09:52)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.