Surah Sad 38:27-40 - Quran Translation Commentary

27. It was not in vain that We created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them.³⁷ That is the fancy of the disbelievers.³⁸ So woe to the disbelievers! (For them) is the Hellfire.

28. Shall We treat those who believe and perform good acts as those who spread corruption in the land; or shall We treat the pious as the wicked?³⁹

29. It is a Book that We have revealed to you (O Prophet!) full of blessing, so that they may ponder its revelations,⁴⁰ and that men of understanding may be reminded.⁴¹

30. ‘And We bestowed on Dawood Sulaiman,⁴² an excellent slave ⁴³ (of Allah) verily, ever turning to Allah! ⁴⁴

31. When one evening trained speedy horses ⁴⁵ were presented to him,⁴⁶

32. He said: “I love this property because of the remembrance of my Lord; ⁴⁷ till they disappeared from the sight.⁴⁸

33. (Then he commanded): “Bring them back to me.”⁴⁹ Then he began passing his hand over their legs and necks.⁵⁰

34. And verily We tried Sulaiman, and set upon his throne a (mere) body. Then he turned towards Allah.⁵¹

35. He said: “My Lord ! Forgive me, und bestow on me sovereignty such as shall not belong to any after me.⁵² Surely, you are the Bestower.”

36. So We made the wind subservient to him, blowing softly by his command wherever he intended.⁵³

37. And (We made subservient) satans,⁵⁴ every kind of builders ⁵⁵ and divers.⁵⁶

38. And others that were tied in chains.⁵⁷

39. All this is Our gift without reckoning,⁵⁸ so bestow (on them) or withhold.⁵⁹

40. And for him with Us is nearness and an excellent end.⁶⁰

Commentary

37. That is: There is a purpose and an objective for the creation of this world, and that is requital of man’s acts, and for that purpose occurrence of Allah’s court on the Day of Judgment is bound to take place.

38. Those who deny the signs of Allah which guide to the great purpose of the creation of this universe, they only think that there is no wise planning behind the creation, and that this universe has come into existence merely as an accident, or that it has been in existence for ever. Being deprived of the light of the Divine revelation they are unable to correctly explain the existence of this universe.

39. That is : Denial of the Hereafter and reward and punishment means that in Allah’s sight the believing righteous persons and the wicked disbelievers are alike, and there is no difference between living a life with fear of Allah in heart and righteously, and a life of luxury and sinful pleasures with regard to their fates. Allah neither helps the oppressed nor does He punish the oppressor: but does common sense and human nature accepts this? Not at all. Neither common sense considers a man of good character like a man of evil character, nor does the human nature puts the oppressor and the oppressed on the same level. And this is an undeniable proof of the fact that the intimation of the reward and punishment which the Divine revelation gives men is absolutely true.

40. The meaning of Quran being a Book of blessing is that it is a source of virtue and spring of good and a fountain of benevolence. Its benefits are everlasting. Whoever will ponder over its revelations with a free mind and open heart, he will never be deprived of its benefits. The more deeply one contemplates over its ayat, the more benefits will accrue to him.

Inspite of the clear instruction of the Quran to think, ponder and contemplate over its revelations, a very large number of Muslims think that merely reciting it is sufficient, and it does not consider it necessary to understand its meaning and sense and ponder over it. The result is that their relationship with this Book has grown weak and they have deprived themselves of its benefits. Allama Shaukani has, emphasising on the understanding of Quran, written in his commentary:

“There is a proof in this ayah that Allah has revealed the Quran in order that its meaning may be pondered. It has not been revealed for merely recitation without understanding its meaning.” - (Fathul Qadeer Vol.4 p.430).

41. Those who will use their intellect, they will get good counsel and remembrances from studying this Book, and the first objective of this Book is that people should get good advice from it. An ordinary person can also derive this benefit, provided he studies it with a clear mind.

42. That is: He gave Dawood a son like Sulaiman (Solomon). For further explanation, please see Surah Anbia Note No. 104, and Surah Naml Note No.21.

43. From this the wrong statements of Bible are automatically repudiated which presented Prophet Sulaiman in a bad light and which tarnished his character. When Allah has called him an excellent slave, then how can the things ascribed to him be right which are morally and practically below standard ?

44. That is: The attribute of turning towards Allah was present in his character to the highest degree. Please see the explanation in Note No.17 above.

45. The word used in the text is ‘Saafinat’, which is used for those horses which stand in such a way that their first leg is always raised and a little turned or twisted, that is, only one edge of its hoof is on the ground. Standing of the horses in this way signifies that they are ready to start running on the slightest hint. Since these horses were meant to be used in jihad, they were given this training. On this basis we have translated the word ‘Saafinat’ as trained horses.

46. The mention of evening suggests that these horses were about to go for jihad, since in the desert traveling used to be undertaken during the night time mostly, and the assault used to be launched in the early morning.( Fal Mugheerati Subhan - By (the horses) that raid at dawn – Surah A’diyat.3)

The ayah means that Prophet Sulaiman had very speedy, light-footed, trained horses, and at the evening when they were about to be sent for jihad they were presented before him.

This event is not mentioned in the Bible, but there is a mention of Prophet Sulaiman’s horses in the Bible.

“And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. And Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Ku’e at a price.”(1- King10:26,28)

47. Prophet Sulaiman was very much pleased to see his horses which were war horses and were all trained. But he did not feel proud for owning them, instead he remembered Allah and said that my love of this property is not on account of its worldly grandeur, but it is for the remembrance of Allah that this power has been granted to me for carrying on jihad for His sake. That is, Prophet Sulaiman had his eyes on raising the word of Allah or spreading Allah’s message and not on the external majesticity of his kingdom. This is the ideal character of Prophet Sulaiman which is a proof of his turning towards Allah and keeping away from evil. It means that after getting wealth and power, people indulge in vanity and pride, but Prophet Sulaiman who adopted an attitude that a sincere and devoted slave of Allah should adopt: it is turning towards Allah and always remembering Him.

Some commentators have taken the meaning of the phrase “ An zikri Rabbi” as ‘Made me neglect remembering my Lord’, and in explaining this ayah have stated things which are not relevant to the sense of this ayah, nor with the grand aspect of his prophethood. Their explanation does not even reflect the purpose which is concealed in this event and which is related to the above statement. Allama Razi in his commentary has totally repudiated this explanation, and Maulana Maududi also has, in his Tafheemul Quran, refuted with strong arguments all the statements based on this interpretation.

The difference of opinion among the commentators is on account of fixing the meaning of the word ‘An’ (preposition). This word also means ‘for this reason’, as mentioned in the Arabic Dictionary, Lisanul Arab (Vol. 13, page 296). Besides, in the Quran, Surah Tauba, Ayah No.114, the word ‘An’ is used to mean ‘for the reason’:

“The prayer of Ibrahim for the forgiveness of his father was only because of a promise he had made to him.”

Similarly in Surah Hood, ayah No.53. For these reasons we have translated this ayah as: ‘I love this property because of the remembrance of my Lord.’

48. That is: Prophet Sulaiman looked at the horses lovingly till the running started and they disappeared from his sight. “Hijab” means cover or veil. It is possible that the horses might have gone behind some mountains and therefore went out of sight.

49. When the horses disappeared from sight, he commanded them to be brought back so that he might caress them by touching them. This thing might have come to his mind later on.

50. When the horses were brought back, Prophet Sulaiman patted them and passed his hand over their necks and legs lovingly. Since these were war horses and were about to be used for jihad, Prophet Sulaiman lovingly passed his hand over their necks and legs, the parts which are generally targeted by the enemy in battles. This act of his signified that he gave them in God’s refuge.

51. Allah caused his prophets to pass through various trials so that they might avoid evil more and turn to Allah with greater devotion and may rise to still higher exalted positions. Allah subjected Prophet Sulaiman to pass through some special trial which is not specified but a hint is considered sufficient, for the purpose in view it is quite sufficient.

The apparent meaning of the ayah is that Allah had caused a body to be placed on Sulaiman’s throne in an extraordinary way. This might have been a body of a person. When Prophet Sulaiman saw it, he might have been non plussed as to who this person was, sitting on his throne. But when he might have seen it from near, he would have been surprised to find it lifeless and might have wondered how it happened to be there. But since he was a man of awakened conscience he might have realised that it was his trial from Allah. And it is likely that this trial was taken because there might have been some lapse on his part in connection with his duties as a ruler, and that Allah wanted him to be warned for that. Therefore, he turned to Allah and prayed for his pardon. The purpose is to present this aspect of his high moral character. Inspite of being the ruler of a great kingdom, the condition of his humility was such that he used to pray for Allah’s pardon for his lapses and used to turn to Allah with all sincerity of his heart.

We fail to understand the necessity of seeking other interpretation than this apparent sense of the ayah. But some commentators have narrated such absurd stories in its interpretation as are totally profane and vulgar and to ascribe them to Prophet Sulaiman shows their foolishness. It gives an idea as to how lowly the standard of a commentator like Tabari was in accepting such stories and narratives as reliable. Allama Ibn Katheer has termed them. ‘Israilism’ and said:

“In this connection, Ibn Jarir and Ibn Abi Hatim, etc. commentators have quoted lavishly from the past narrators, among which many, nay but all are extracted from Israili narratives, and in most of them improper quotations are found.”

-(Al-badayah wan Nihayah, Vol.2, page 26).

And some commentators have considered the hadith quoted in Bukha ri as the explanation of this ayah: in this Prophet Sulaiman is said to have forgotten to say Insha- Allah and a defective child was born to his wife, this hadith being full of improper things, and if, for the sake of argument, it is taken to be authentic, even then it cannot be said to be the explanation of this ayah, because there is no hint in it of the event referred to in this ayah. Abdul Wahab Najjar has declared this hadith unacceptable for valid reasons. -(Qasasul Quran, pages 329,331).

52. That is: Such a kingdom, which on account of its nature, should be peerless.

Prophet Sulaiman’s prayer was answered and wind and the jinns were made subservient to him, as mentioned in the following ayat. And it is a fact that in the world great kingdoms were established, but the characteristics and the distinctive features of Prophet Sulaiman’s kingdom were his own, no other kingdom could boast of them. Prophet Sulaiman had not asked for this kingdom for his own selfish ends, but he had prayed for it with the purest of his desires and feelings for raising the word of God and for showing the superiority of the Islamic state over all other non-Islamic states, and also for the reason that the greatness and the truth of Allah’s messenger may be manifest to the whole world.

53. For explanation, please see Surah Anbia Note No.109 and Surah Saba Note No.23.

54. Refers to rebel jinns. For further explanation, please see Surah Anbia Note No.110, and Surah Naml Note No.25.

55. For explanation, please see Surah Saba Note No.27.

56. Such jinns that used to be in the prison of Prophet Sulaiman. Jinns are invisible creatures, and the chains to bind them must also be of a special kind.

57. ---

58. Gift without reckoning does not mean that no account is to be rendered to Allah about it. The responsibilities which devolve on a prophet in connection with his rule has been mentioned in the ayah No.16, therefore, there is no room for giving such a meaning to this ayah. It only means that this favour is limitless. At another place in Quran it is stated that Allah gives sustenance to whomsoever He likes without reckoning. (Surah Baqarah ayah No.212). In this ayah also without reckoning means plentiful, which is more than expected and estimated, and not a provision and sustenance about, which no reckoning will be taken in the Hereafter.

59. That is : Those of the jinns that have been given to you some of them may be freed as a favour on them or some may be detained for service.

60. Means Paradise.