Surah 26. Ash-Shuara, Ayah 224

An allusion to the fact that some of the pagan Arabs regarded the Qur'an as a product of Muhammad's supposedly poetic mind. (See also 36:69 and the corresponding notes [38] and [39].)

The Poets: to be read along with the exceptions mentioned in verse 227 below. Poetry and other arts are not in themselves evil, but may on the contrary be used in the service of religion and righteousness. But there is a danger that they may be prostituted for base purposes. If they are insincere ("they say what they do not") or are divorced from actual life or its goodness or its serious purpose, they may become instruments of evil or futility. They then wander about without any set purpose, and seek the depths (valleys) of human folly rather than the heights of divine light.