Abdullah bin Umar said: When two men who came from the east made a speech and the people were charmed with their eloquence, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: In some eloquent speech there is magic.

Abu Hurairah reported the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as saying: it is better for a man’s belly to be full of pus than to be full of poetry. Abu Ali said: I have been told that Abu Ubaid said: It means that his heart is full of poetry so much so that it makes him neglectful of the Quran and remembrance of Allah. If the Quran and the knowledge (of religion) are dominant, the belly will not be full of poetry in our opinion. Some eloquent speech is magic. It means that a man expresses his eloquence by praising another man, and he speaks the truth about him so much so that he attracts the hearts to his speech. He then condemns him and speaks the truth about him so much so that he attracts the hearts to another of his speech, as if he spelled the audience by it.

Ubayy bin Kaab reported the Prophet ﷺ as saying: In poetry there is wisdom.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: A desert Arab came to the Prophet ﷺ and began to speak. Thereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: In eloquence there is magic and in poetry there is wisdom.

Narrated Buraydah ibn al-Hasib: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: In eloquence there is magic, in knowledge ignorance, in poetry wisdom, and in speech heaviness. Sa'sa'ah ibn Suhan said: The Prophet of Allah ﷺ spoke the truth. His statement "In eloquence there is magic" means: (For example), there is a right due from a man who is more eloquent in reasoning than the man who is demanding his right. He (the defendant) charms the people by his speech and takes away his right. His statement "In knowledge there is ignorance" means: A scholar brings to his knowledge what he does not know, and thus he becomes ignorant of that. His statement "In poetry there is wisdom" means: These are the sermons and examples by which people receive admonition. His statement "In speech there is heaviness" means: That you present your speech and your talk to a man who is not capable of understanding it, and who does not want it.