Is saj' (rhymed prose) absolutely condemned?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: How do you reconcile the statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) when he responded to Abu Sufyan by saying, "Allah is higher and greater," with his criticism of the saj' of Harb ibn al-Nabighah al-Hudhali?
Answer:
My brother, it is not absolutely condemned. If saj' is used to support the truth, there is nothing wrong with it. However, if it is used to support falsehood and the soothsayers, that is not permissible. The saj' of the soothsayers is for the sake of falsehood, but saj' that supports the truth is fine.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: How do you reconcile the statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) when he responded to Abu Sufyan by saying, "Allah is higher and greater," with his criticism of the saj' of Harb ibn al-Nabighah al-Hudhali?
Answer:
My brother, it is not absolutely condemned. If saj' is used to support the truth, there is nothing wrong with it. However, if it is used to support falsehood and the soothsayers, that is not permissible. The saj' of the soothsayers is for the sake of falsehood, but saj' that supports the truth is fine.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [3436/2430] هل السجع مذموم مطلقا؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.