Explanation of the Hadith: “Indeed, some eloquence is sorcery”

Question:
Does the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) statement, “Indeed, some eloquence is sorcery,” imply a warning against exaggeration in speech styles, contorting words, and selecting specific terms?

Answer:
The Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) statement, “Indeed, some eloquence is sorcery” [narrated by Imam al-Bukhari in his Sahih from the hadith of Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both)], was understood by some scholars to be a condemnation of certain types of eloquence, while the majority of scholars held that it is a form of praise. Shaykh Sulayman ibn 'Abd Allah said in his explanation of the Book of Tawhid: “I say that the first opinion is more correct, and that it was expressed in the form of condemning some eloquence, not all of it. This refers to eloquence that validates falsehood and beautifies it until the listener suspects it to be truth, or contains excessive rhetoric beyond the limit, or strength in argumentation that captivates people with its eloquence, thereby causing them to abandon the truth, and the like. It was called sorcery because it sways hearts like sorcery does. For this reason, when two men from the East came and delivered sermons, and the people were amazed by their eloquence, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘Indeed, some eloquence is sorcery’ [narrated by Imam al-Bukhari in his Sahih from the hadith of Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both)], as also narrated by Malik, al-Bukhari, and others. As for the general category of eloquence, it is praiseworthy, unlike poetry, whose general category is condemned, except for what constitutes wisdom. However, eloquence is not praised if it reaches the limit of verbosity and prolixity, or if it depicts falsehood in the form of truth. If it reaches this limit, it is condemned. The hadiths indicate this, such as the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) statement, ‘Indeed, Allah hates the eloquent man among men who interlaces his tongue as a cow interlaces its tongue’ [narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad from the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr (may Allah be pleased with them both)]. Accordingly, it is recommended for the Muslim to speak with moderate, customary speech that the listener understands and which achieves the intended purpose. It is disliked to contort speech. In the hadith narrated by Muslim, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘Perished are the exaggerators’ [narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih from the hadith of 'Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him)]. He said this three times. Abu al-Sa'adat said, “They are those who delve deep into speech, speaking from the back of their throats.” And al-Nawawi said, “It contains the dislike of contorting speech through affected pronunciation, forced eloquence, and using harsh language and subtle grammatical points when addressing the common people.”