Sayyiduna Shuraid (may Allah be pleased with him) says: One day I was riding behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said: Do you remember any verses of Umayyah bin Abi Salt? I said: Yes. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Recite. I recited one verse. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Recite more. I recited another, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Recite more, until I had recited one hundred verses.

Narrated Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him): The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: The truest statement uttered by a poet is the saying of Labid: "Beware! Everything besides Allah is vain." And Umayyah, the son of Abu Salt, was close to Islam (because his beliefs were good, although he was deprived of Islam).

Sayyiduna Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he (peace be upon him) said: If a man's stomach is filled with pus until it reaches his lungs, this is better for him than filling his stomach with poetry. (That is, becoming so engrossed in poetry that he becomes heedless of the Qur'an, Hadith, and religious knowledge.)

It is narrated from Hammam bin Harith that a person began to praise Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Miqdad (may Allah be pleased with him) sat on his knees, and he was a stout man, and he began to put pebbles into the mouth of the one who was praising. Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "O Miqdad! What is the matter with you?" He replied, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: When you see those who praise (others), throw dust into their mouths."

Sayyiduna Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that a man was mentioned in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), so a person said, "O Messenger of Allah! After the Messenger of Allah, there is no one better than this person in such and such matters." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Alas! You have cut your companion's neck," and he said this several times. Then he said, "If any of you finds it necessary to praise his brother (if he truly is so), then he should say, 'I think he is such,' but even then I do not declare anyone good before Allah (meaning, I do not know what he is in the sight of Allah, because this knowledge is with Allah alone or with whom Allah informs)."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Buraidah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Whoever plays chess, it is as if he has stained his hands with the flesh and blood of a pig.