Surah An-Naml 27:15-31 - Quran Translation Commentary

15. And verily We bestowed knowledge¹⁸ on Dawood and Sulaiman, and they said: “Praise¹⁹ be to Allah, who has exalted us above many of His believing slaves.”²⁰

16. And Sulaiman became Dawood’s heir.²¹ And he said: O people ! Verily, we have been taught the speech of birds,²² and have been given everything.²³ This surely is evident favour.²⁴

17. And to Sulaiman were marshalled his forces of jinn and men and birds, ²⁵ and set in battle array;²⁶

18. Till, when they reached the Valley of the Ants,²⁷ an ant called out: “O Ants! Enter your dwellings lest Sulaiman and his armies crush you unperceiving.”²⁸

19. So he smiled,²⁹ laughing at her speech, and said: “My Lord! Grant me guidance to be thankful for your favour by which you have blessed me and my parents, and to do good that shall be pleasing to you,³⁰ and include me by your mercy among your righteous slaves.”³¹

20. And he inspected the bird and said: “Why is it that I do not see the Hoopoe? Or is he one of the absentees?³²

21. ”I will surely give him stern punishment,³³ or will surely slay him, if he does not come to me with a clear of reason.”³⁴

22. Then he was not long in coming, and he said: “I have found out a thing which you encompassed not and I come to you from (Saba) with sure tidings.³⁵

23. ”Verily, I found a woman ruling over them,³⁶ and she has been given everything,³⁷ and she has a magnificent throne.³⁸

24.”I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of Allah;³⁹ and Satan has made their acts seem attractive to them, and has debarred them from the right path, therefore, they are not rightly guided.”⁴⁰

25.Why do not they prostrate themselves before Allah,⁴¹ who brings forth the hidden in the heavens and the earth,⁴² and knows what you hide and you proclaim!⁴³

26.Allah ; there is no God but He, the Lord of the Grand Throne.⁴⁴

27. (Sulaiman) said: “We shall soon see whether you speak truth or you are of the liars.⁴⁵

28.”Go with this letter of mine and cast it down to them;⁴⁶ then turn away and see what is their reaction.”⁴⁷

29. She (the Queen of Sheba) said: O nobles! A gracious letter has been thrown to me,

30. ”Verily, it is from Sulaiman, and it is: ‘In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful;⁴⁸

31. ”Do not exalt yourselves above me, and come to me in all submission.”⁴⁹

Commentary

18. Means a particular kind of knowledge which was necessary to run a magnificent and matchless kingdom according to law and justice and Islamic ideology. In the Bible it is stated:

“And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and largeness of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. -(1 King 4: 29, 30)

19. In the foregoing the example of Firaun has been given which shows that when he got power he became proud and set to tyrannize people. On the other side there are the examples of Prophet Dawood and Prophet Sulaiman, who receiving power took it to be Allah’s favour and used it rightly and for the right purpose and lived as grateful slaves of Allah.

20. Exaltation from this standpoint that He made them His prophets, and because he blessed them with knowledge and wisdom, and on account of His granting them kingdom and His khilafat, and also granted them from His special favours such splendid powers that becomes their distinguishing features.

21. Here heir does not mean inheritor of the material wealth, but that of the knowledge of prophethood and the sacred office of the caliphate of Allah. If the heirship of the material wealth were meant, then the mention of only Prophet Sulaiman would not have been made, because Prophet Dawood had other children too. Besides, it is mentioned in a hadith that the property of a prophet is not inherited (see Surah Maryam Note No.8). And this context is also in support of our contention. In the Bible it is stated:-

“So Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom firmly established.”

22. So far as this point is concerned that the birds are sufficiently intelligent to express their dire needs in different notes of their sounds it is commonly observed, and we also know by experience that we can teach parrots to copy human voices and utter certain words of human speech. Similarly the birds of prey are trained to do the bidding of the hunter. Then the songs of the birds are definitely not without meaning. Yet to understand their speech is as difficult for us as it is difficult to understand the telegraphic message by any one who does not know the morse signals, by merely hearing the khut khut or tick tick of the machine. But Prophet Sulaiman was given by Allah the knowledge of the speech of the birds, which was in the nature of a miracle, which he used to utilise in his administration.

It may be noted that the speech of the birds was taught to Prophet Sulaiman, but his saying that We have been taught this speech is only a way of royal speech where the speaker (king) uses the plural number for himself.

23. That is: All the necessary equipment and paraphernalia in required for running a strong government.

24. That is: This unrivalled kingdom is such a favour of Allah as no one can fail to realise. Therefore, we must acknowledge it freely. It shows what a noble character Prophet Sulaiman had.

But see the trickery of the Jews that they alleged that he had attained this kingdom by the force of his magic, and he had committed an act of disbelief. See Surah Baqarah Verse No.102 and Note No.120.

25. The kingdom of Prophet Sulaiman was of a distinctive character. For him the armies of jinns and birds were also provided along with the army of men. The service he used to take from the jinns and the birds is narrated further, and something in this connection has been mentioned in Surah Anbiya (‘See Surah Anbiya, Note No.110).

Every Prophet has a distinctive grandeur, Allah had, made Prophet Sulaiman a prophet of majestic magnificence and royal splendour, so that the people of the world may know that when a prophet, with sublime grandeur, sits on a throne, he remembers Allah and when he stays in a palace, he spends his life in righteousness, therefore, those people who get power and wealth, they should not be intoxicated by the drugging effects of the material wealth, but should prove themselves to be worthy of their trust and responsibility.

26. That is: Those armies were kept ready with military discipline and order. They used to be arranged in battle array and according to their ranks, so that whatever task was required to be given to them could be done conveniently, e.g. the birds were used for communication, etc.

27. That is: When the armies of Prophet Sulaiman reached a valley where ants were in abundance.

28. Ants live in a collective way and in orderly manner. Long lines of ants and their working together are the open examples of their collective living. By their movements it is also learnt that one ant calls another ant and probably they talk among themselves. It is another matter that we are unable to hear their voices. But we should not consider animals on the same basis as humans; its clear example is a dog’s faculty of smelling, which is so strong that by just smelling the clothes of a person, it is able to recognise him.

Therefore, when the police brings the police dog to the spot where the crime was committed, it smells the criminals, things left behind him and by its smell reaches the criminal and helps in nabbing him. So if the ants talk among themselves in such low tones that we cannot hear them -there is nothing strange about it. Today we are able to see the tiniest imaginable things with the help of the microscope, things about whose existence we had not known earlier. If today such an instrument has not yet been invented by the help of which we are unable to hear the tiniest sounds, it is not reasonable for us to deny that sounds with such low tones exist, when the word of Allah informs us about it. In fact it is an argument in support of Qur’an being the word of Allah that it informs us about such mysteries as we were not able to know by other means. This is a great addition to human knowledge, therefore, there is no reason that by interpreting them unreasonably we should close for ourselves those gates of knowledge which are being thrown open for our benefit, and become guilty of changing the Qur’an. On reading such ayat, our prayer should be: “My Lord! Increase my knowledge.” (Taha-114).

As for the question: how the ants knew that this was Prophet Sulaiman’s army, passing through this valley, it is an inspirational matter. It is no wonder that Allah had put such an idea in the ant. The flocks of the birds which attacked the elephants of Abraha were inspired by Allah to do so in a similar fashion. (See Surah Al- Feel).

29. Prophet Sulaiman could hear and understand the conversation of the ant through the knowledge of the animal speech bestowed on him by God as a miracle for him. He might have been pleased on hearing that the reputation of his armies had reached even the ants. However its speech sounded so strange that he could not help laughing.

30. Even Prophet Sulaiman’s laughter was mixed with seriousness, therefore, feelings of gratefulness also stirred in his heart with the emotions of happiness. He prayed to God to make him grateful and righteous, i.e. I have been benefited from what favours You have bestowed on me, and I have received a part of favours that You had bestowed on my parents; now You grant me guidance to fulfill my responsibilities concerning these favours.

31. The ranks of the prophets are very high, and righteous conduct is like a foundation for the height of these ranks. Therefore prophets always pray for grant of guidance to be righteous, and since righteous people only are worthy of Paradise, they pray to be included among the righteous people.

On the one side is this prayer of Prophet Sulaiman, which is a reflection of his pure feelings and desires and a mirror of his piety and on the other side are those vulgar and senseless false stories which have been ascribed to him in the Bible.

32. When Prophet Sulaiman inspected his armies, he found Hoopoe missing. It is a bird like pigeon, and it is used in sending messages like the pigeon. It has a crest on its head, and is, therefore, called ‘Royal Bird’. But the Hoopoe about which Prophet Sulaiman was talking was a special bird which had special God-given gift and was very talented. The extraordinary service that he rendered distinguishes him from ordinary types of birds. Some people have interpreted that Hoopoe was the name of a person, but the actual text of the Qur’an denies it. Earlier it has been stated that for Prophet Sulaiman armies of men, jinns and birds were provided, and in this ayah his inspecting the army of the birds has been mentioned, and further on it is mentioned that if Hoopoe did not give a good excuse for his absence, he would be slaughtered.

All these things prove that Hoopoe was a bird, and therefore to interpret that it was a man is totally false and meaningless.

33. Stern punishment might be the punishment of cutting its wings, so that it may not be able to fly again.

34. The literal meaning of the words ‘open argument’ used in the Qur’an means reasonable or good excuse.

35. ‘Saba’ or Sheba is the name of a community which lived in Yemen, near San’a, and whose capital was Maarib. The hoopoe found out some details about this community and gave its report to Prophet Sulaiman. It automatically proved that he was busy collecting important information for the state, and that is why it could not be present on time, before Prophet Sulaiman.

Prophet Sulaiman might not have been totally unaware of the community of Sheba, but it is likely that he would not have been aware of many details, as is clear from the statement of the Hoopoe. The bird reported what it actually saw there.

36. The Hoopoe was also amazed on finding a woman ruling over that community, but in modern times the standard bearers of democracy would be very much pleased that in those ancient days too a woman ruled over men.

37. That is : abundant equipment and provision.

38. It seems that the throne of the Queen of Sheba was made of gold and precious jewels, that is why the Hoopoe called it a magnificent throne.

39. The queen of Sheba and her people were sun-worshippers, and worshipping someone other than Allah was a nonsensical act even in the eyes of a bird. It has become clear that when Allah grants speech to a bird, it does not fail to condemn polytheism, yet man does not give up polytheism !

40. Here the statement of the Hoopoe came to an end. On this occasion it should be understood that the Hoopoe was not an ordinary bird, but it was a special bird, well trained by Prophet Sulaiman and Allah had bestowed on it human understanding as a miracle. That is why it was possible for it to survey the conditions of the country of Sheba and report about its condition to Prophet Sulaiman. It was a fantastic manifestation of Allah’s might, which shows that a hoopoe, with the understanding of a human, distinguishes between right-guidance and misguidance, and terms polytheism as a deceit of Satan and false, but man, inspite of having understanding and intelligence, acts like an unintelligent and brainless being.

41. These are Allah’s words on the statement of the hoopoe, as is clear from the context. Such an assumption is supported by the fact that here Muslims are commanded to prostrate themselves which corresponds to Allah’s command. The purpose is to draw the attention of those who follow the footsteps of the people of Sheba, as to why they do not make Allah their deity whose attributes are such and such.

It may be noted that in the text the word ‘Alla’ is used, which also means ‘why not’ as is mentioned in the Lissanul Arab, Vol.XV, page 434. We have taken this meaning from our translation.

42. The hidden things of the heavens can be rain, which is concealed in the clouds. Other similar examples are electricity and the light of the day. And science has discovered a lot of hidden things of the sky, e.g., heavenly bodies like Andromeda galaxy which is about 1,700,000 light years from earth. ( 1 light year = 9.46 trillion km.) at a distance of umpteen light years, Cosmic rays, etc.

As for the hidden things of earth, the obvious examples are the metals and the minerals. And in the modern times the earth has thrown out the black gold, gasoline, mineral oils and precious metals like platinum and uranium, etc.

43. That is: The God that knows and brings out the hidden things of the earth and the heavens, also knows the inside and outside of his creatures, the humans. Is not the god who has the knowledge of the unseen and having worthy of your worship and your prostrating yourselves before Him. Or are the sun and the idols of stone, who neither know anything nor can do any thing worthy of worship?

44. This is an ayat-i-sajda. The reciter and the hearer of this ayah should immediately offer a sajda, which is in reality an expression of the fact that they have made the Lord of the Grand Arsh as their deity and worthy of their worship.

On this occasion a sajda is quite appropriate, because in the chronicle of Prophet Sulaiman many such events have been narrated that if the control of the faith over the intellect is not firm, it would involve itself in the discussion of its possibility or otherwise. The Qur’an has tried to test the human intellect at certain places. Those Muslims who are truly faithful, their hearts go into a sajda before their Lord, and this attribute distinguishes them from the group of blind followers of intellectualism.

45.This reply of Prophet Sulaiman to the Hoopoe signifies that this bird had the ability to distinguish between the truth and the falsehood. And this was a manifestation of a miracle from Allah in favour of Prophet Sulaiman.

46. This shows that this hoopoe used to work as a carrier of messages for Prophet Sulaiman.

47. That is: After throwing down the letter, do not return immediately, wait for some time and watch for what is their reaction to the contents of the letter.

48. The Queen of Sheba considered that the letter deserved to be given due respect, the reason for that might have been that she received it, without the agency of an envoy, through a bird, and secondly it was from the famous and grand emperor, Prophet Sulaiman, of the magnificent kingdom of Syria and Palestine. And the biggest reason was the contents of the letter which proved that it was something out of the ordinary. Accordingly the letter began with the words, Bismillah... which are such auspicious words that with the help of this very key the gates of divine recognition open. And it was through the auspiciousness of this very kalimah that the path of truth was thrown open for the Queen of Sheba, as will be seen further on.

This Kalimah, emanating from the pen of Prophet Sulaiman is in fact the divine inspiration, which Qur’an has preserved in such a way that the Quran’s beginning starts with these words: Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Then for every surah it is a compulsory crown, except for the Surah Taubah, which is a king without the crown, a sword without the scabbard.

A guidance is also received from the letter of Prophet Sulaiman that all dawah and missionary letters should begin with these auspicious words.

49. On the one hand Prophet Moosa was directed to go to Firaun and to talk to him softly, and on the other hand the example of Prophet Sulaiman shows us that when he wrote to the Queen of Sheba he adopted a style of challenge in his dawah letter that she should not try to exalt herself above him and that she should present herself before him as a Muslim i.e. in submission. The reason for such a difference in the style of presentation is that Prophet Sulaiman was presenting his dawah as a king while Prophet Moosa had no political power.

It is thus learnt that a powerful Islamic state can present its dawah to another polytheist state in a challenging style. The countries that were conquered during the time of the righteous Caliphs were presented dawah as a challenge, that is either accept Islam, or pay Jaziyah and accept the subjugation of the Islamic state or let the sword decide the issue between the two states.

‘Come to me in all submission’ was a blunt message for embracing Islam, which is a proof of the fact that the goal of Prophet Sulaiman was neither grabbing land nor wanton exhibition of grandeur, but it was a great objective and that was the spread of Islam and its establishment and firmness on the state level.

It provides a guidance that an Islamic state should keep this objective before it and should use its resources for achieving this objective. Islam’s unalloyed theory is that in no country polytheism should be in ascendancy, for when the machinery of the government indulges in spreading polytheism, then the general public are misled easily and abundantly. For their good, to free them from the subjugation of polytheism or at least to bring them under the influence of the Islamic state is very necessary. For further explanation, please see Surah Taubah, Note No.57