The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

238
The Quran 26: 216
follow you. 216 If they disobey you, say, ‘I bear no responsibility for
your actions.’ 217 Put your trust in the Almighty, the Merciful, 218 who
sees you when you stand up [for prayer] 219 and sees your movements
among the worshippers: 220 He is the All Hearing, the All Knowing.
221 Shall I tell you who the jinn come down to? 222 They come down to
every lying sinner 223 who readily lends an ear to them, and most of
them are liars: 224 only those who are lost in error follow the poets. a
225 Do you not see how they rove aimlessly in every valley; 226 how
they say what they do not do? b 227 Not so those [poets] who believe, do
good deeds, remember God often, and defend themselves after
they have been wronged. The evildoers will find out what they will
return to.
a The Meccans dismissed the Quran as poetry. After the Prophet moved to Medina,
the Meccans commissioned poets to satirize the Muslims, and some Muslim poets
counter-attacked.
b Poets used to boast and exaggerate in their praise-poems and satires.