The article is based on an interview with poet Ahmad ‘Abd al-Mu‘ṭī Ḥijāzī, editor-in-chief of literary Ibdā‘ magazine, on the verdict handed down that punished him for publishing a Ḥilmī Sālim poem ‘Shurfat Laylá Murād’ [The Balcony of Laylá Murād]. The Islamic preacher Shaykh Yūsuf al-Badrī had earlier sued Ḥijāzī for publishing the poem that al-Badrī believes bears offensive language against God.