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

(27:16) Sulayman inherited Da’ud¹⁹ and said, ‘O people. We²⁰ have been taught the language of birds and we have been given of everything.²¹ This indeed, is the clear bounty.’²²

(27:17) And marshalled before Sulayman were his forces of Jinn, men, and birds, duly distributed (in order and ranks).²³

(27:18) At length, when they came upon the valley of ants, an ant said,²⁴ ‘O ants. Get into your homes, lest Sulayman and his forces crush you, being unaware.’²⁵

(27:19) He smiled, laughingly²⁶ at her words and said, ‘My Lord! Dispose me that I may be grateful to You for the blessings wherewith You have blessed me and my parents, and that I may do good deeds (that are) pleasing to You. And admit me by Your grace amongst Your righteous slaves.’²⁷

(27:20) And he reviewed the birds and said,²⁸ ‘How is it with me that I do not see the hoopoe?²⁹ Or is he among the absent?³⁰

(27:21) Assuredly, I will chastise him with a painful chastisement or I will slaughter him,³¹ unless he brings me a clear authority.’³²

(27:22) But he (hoopoe) tarried not too long when he said, ‘I have encompassed that which you did not encompass.³³ I have come to you from Saba’³⁴ with true tiding.³⁵

(27:23) I found a woman ruling over them;³⁶ and she has been given of everything.³⁷ And she has a mighty throne.³⁸

(27:24) I found a woman ruling over them; and she has been given of everything. And she has a mighty throne.³⁹

(27:25) (And) so they do not prostrate themselves to Allah who brings forth the hidden in the heavens and earth?⁴⁰ and knows what you conceal and what you reveal.

(27:26) Allah, there is no deity save He – Lord of the Magnificent `Arsh.’⁴¹

(27:27) He said, ‘We shall presently see whether you told the truth or you are of the liars.⁴²

(27:28) Carry this my letter and drop it before them;⁴³ then draw back and see what shall they respond.’

(27:29) She (the queen) said, ‘You chiefs, a letter worthy of respect has been delivered to me.⁴⁴

(27:30) Verily, it is from Sulayman and verily it is, “In the name of Allah, the Kind, the Compassionate.⁴⁵

(27:31) (Saying) Rise up not against me, but come to me in submission.”’⁴⁶

Commentary

18. The nakirah form of `ilm suggests a special knowledge, not given to others (Au.). Ibn Jarir writes: The allusion is to such knowledge as was given to Sulayman, e.g., language of birds and animals (Ibn Jarir), to Da’ud that of how to handle the metals (Qurtubi and Alusi).

Mawdudi adds: “The Bible does not mention that Sulayman was given the knowledge of the speech of birds and animals though Israeli traditions do specifically refer to it. (See Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. xi, p. 439).”

Yusuf Ali comments: “`Knowledge’ means such knowledge as leads up to the higher things in life, the Wisdom that was shown in their decisions and judgments, and the understanding that enabled them to fulfill their mission in life. They were both just men and prophets of Allah (swt). The Bible, as we have it, is inconsistent: on the one hand it calls David ‘a man after God’s own heart’ (I Samuel, xiii. 14, and Acts xiii. 22); and the Christians acclaim Christ as a son of David; but on the other hand, horrible crimes are ascribed to him, which, if he had committed them, would make him a monster of cruelty and injustice. About Solomon, too, while he is described as a glorious king, there are stories of his lapses into sin and idolatry. The Muslim teaching considers them both to be men of piety and wisdom, and high in spiritual knowledge.”

19. That is, Sulayman inherited knowledge and sovereignty over the land from Da’ud (Ibn Jarir). He could not have meant any worldly possession since he had nineteen sons and the kingdom left by Da’ud should have been divided equally between them. (Of all the sons) Sulayman was specifically mentioned because of the knowledge and Prophethood that he inherited from Da’ud. Our Prophet has said,

إنا معشر الأنبياء لاَ نُورَثُ مَا تَرَكْنَا فَهُوَ صَدَقَةٌ

“We the family of Prophets do not leave wealth behind us. Whatever we leave behind is charity” (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

The report is also in Sahih of Ibn Hibban (Au.).

Another report in Abu Da’ud and Tirmidhi has Abu Darda’ narrating from the Prophet,

إِنَّ الْعُلَمَاءَ وَرَثَةُ الأَنْبِيَاءِ إِنَّ الأَنْبِيَاءَ لَمْ يُوَرِّثُوا دِينَارًا وَلاَ دِرْهَمًا إِنَّمَا وَرَّثُوا الْعِلْمَ فَمَنْ أَخَذَ بِهِ أَخَذَ بِحَظٍّ وَافِرٍ

“Scholars (of Islam) are inheritors of the Prophets, and Prophets do not leave behind Dinar or Dirham, but rather, they leave behind knowledge. So whoever obtained it, obtained a great blessing.”

These reports should be enough to refute the Shi`ah opinion, as reported by Tabrasi that it was wealth that Sulayman inherited (Alusi, Shafi`).

The Shi`ah are desperate for such opinions because their disapproval of the Companions in general, and Abu Bakr and `Umar in particular, rests on one of the two principal points of grief: one, `Ali did not become a Khalifah immediately after the Prophet, and two, Fatimah, the Prophet’s daughter, was denied Fadak orchard, the inheritance supposedly due from her father (Au.).

The verse demonstrates, write the commentators, the importance of knowledge and the superior position held by the scholars. But, they should be modest about it and never imagine a higher position for themselves over others. We should not forget how (when an old woman objected to `Umar’s intention to limit the mahar [marriage gifts] in an open assembly, saying it went against the Qur’an: Alusi), `Umar admitted that he had erred and quipped, “Everyone seems to know more than `Umar.” Nevertheless, Alusi adds, there is no harm in acknowledging oneself as a scholar as an expression of gratitude and humility to Allah. He might even say, ‘I am a scholar.’ This is reported of `Ali, Ibn `Abbas and some others of the Companions. As for what has become famous as a hadith viz., “He who said I am a scholar is an ignorant man,” it is not an authentic statement of the Prophet.

20. The ‘we,’ says Majid, “is a plural of majesty and does not imply that there were others besides Solomon who knew the language of birds.”

21. That is, ‘We have been given every imaginable good thing’ (Ibn Jarir), that is necessary for establishing a kingdom (Shafi`), but the allusion is to prophethood, wisdom, judgment, and blessings of the like (Razi).

22. Mawdudi points out that the scholars of old seem to have exaggerated the extent of Sulayman’s kingdom.

Majid leads us to the sources of influence: “His realm is described by the Rabbis as having extended … over the upper world inhabited by the angels and over the whole of the terrestrial globe with all its inhabitants, including all the beasts, fowls, and reptiles as well as the demons and spirits.’ (JE. XI, pp. 439-440). ‘Solomon was rewarded with riches and an unprecedented glorious reign.’ (JE. XI, p. 439). ‘He developed commerce, and the products of other countries, Egypt, Arabia and lands beyond, passed through Israel and brought the Hebrews increased wealth … He sent a fleet to Ophir, in the south, which brought back gold and other rare and precious products. Solomon also cultivated the arts, particularly literature, architecture …’ (VJE., p.610). ‘Even allowing for the exaggeration of a later age, … he was clearly a ruler over a larger territory than any other Israelite monarch. His court was splendid and he was allied by marriage to the Egyptian royal house. Trade was fostered and was made possible by the comparative peace of his reign. The country was thoroughly organized and a large civil service administered the affairs of the land.’ (UHW, II, p. 816). ‘Solomon … sought not imperial expansion but material wealth; and wealth accumulated under his long rule has become proverbial.’ (I, p. 677). ‘The king’s annual revenue is stated as 666 talents of gold, which would perhaps be 5,000,000 Pounds of our money. This did not include the profits of his commerce, whether derived from “merchantmen” … or from the tribute of the subject people; or from all the kings of the mingled people, or the government of the provinces.’ (Farros, Solomon, His Life and Times, pp. 127-128).”

23. Sayyid comments: “So that was the retinue of Sulayman, comprising of the Jinn, men and birds. We know about mankind. As for the Jinn, we do not know anything about them except for what the Qur’an has taught us, viz., they are created from the flames of fire, that they see the humankind but humankind do not see them, (“he sees you, he and his tribe, while you see them not” - 7: 27); and that they are capable of inciting humans to evil and inspire sins in them, although we do not know how; and that a group of them had believed in the Prophet … and that a group of them were made submissive to Sulayman who built for him niches, statues, and huge pots for cooking, who dived into the sea for him – following his command, doing Allah’s will.

“Allah had subjugated for Sulayman a group of the Jinn and birds, just as He subjugated a group of men for him. And, just as not all the people of the world constituted the forces of Sulayman, since his kingdom did not go beyond the areas known as Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq up to the banks of river Euphrates, in similar manner all of the Jinn or birds would not have been subjugated to him. It was only a group of them that was subjugated to him.”

24. It is said that when Qatadah came to Kufa, people flocked around him eager to learn. He said, “Ask what you will.” Abu Hanifah was also present. He was a teenager then. He suggested to them to ask Qatadah about Sulayman’s ant. Was it male or female? (Since adds Razi, “namlah” - like “shatah” or “hamamah” - is the name of a species which can either be male or female: Au.). Qatadah was quiet. Abu Hanifah said it was female. They asked him how he knew it. He said because Allah had said, “qaalat” (Zamakhshari, Razi, Alusi).

Qurtubi must have had an eye. He reports, a finding presented in modern biology works, that ants are so clever that they slice a seed into two so that it doesn’t sprout and, since slicing a coriander seed does not prevent it from sprouting, the ants slice them into four! Alusi adds that the ants slice a lentil seed also into four.

“The anthropoid apes no doubt approach nearer to man in bodily structure than do other animals, but when we consider the habits of ants, their social organization, their large communities and elaborate habitations, their roadways, their possession of domestic animals, and even, in some cases, of slaves, it must be admitted that they have a fair claim to rank next to man in intelligence.’ (DB. I. 103).” – Majid.

25. Alusi presents various opinions about the ant’s ability to speak and Sulayman’s ability to hear. One is the obvious opinion that he could hear the animals’ speech just as our Prophet (saws) heard a few animals' speech to him. Another is that Sulayman heard her from a distance of three miles. Alusi does not rule out that the winds could have carried the ant’s voice to Sulayman’s ear from that distance, but adds another opinion that he did not hear the voice of the ant, but rather, her speech was relayed to him by Allah through revelation. But, he also adds, one can not see why we need to deny that the animals have power of speech. We have the example of a dabb (lizard like desert animal, but large in size) speaking to the Prophet (saws).

Alusi’s allusion is to the hadith in Tabarani’s Al-Saghir as well as his Awsat, which, in the judgment of Haythami, has – but for one narrator - a chain accepted by the Sihah compilers as trustworthy.

In sum, writes Shafi`, Qur’anic deliberations lead us to understand that animals possess the power to reason, in some measure or the other, perhaps of the kind that is enough for organizing their simple lives, although not enough for them to be charged with observation of revealed Law.

Ibn al-Qayyim adds the following story: “Hisham b. Hassan narrates that Ahnaf b. Qays’s clan was greatly inconvenienced by ants. Ahnaf b. Qays ordered a chair placed between two of their nests. He sat down in it, recited praises to Allah and then said, “If you will not desist, we will set you on fire.” It is said that they vacated the area (Bada’i`).

Jewish sources also accept the Qur’anic version. Majid quotes, “While sailing over a valley where there were many swarms of ants, Solomon heard one ant say to the others, ‘Enter your houses; otherwise Solomon’s legion will destroy you’ (JE. XI. P. 440).”

However, Jewish sources also leave a dark patch on Solomon’s character. Mawdudi explains and quotes, “The event in question is mentioned in Israelite traditions but the last part of their account is contrary to its Qur’anic version… to quote from the Israelite tradition, ‘The king greatly angered (at the speech of the ant), threw her down, saying, Dost thou know who I am? I am Solomon, the son of David! She (the ant answered), I know that thou art created of a corrupted drop; therefore, thou oughtest not to be proud’ (The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. XI, p. 440).

“Amazingly (Mawdudi continues), these are the traditions, according to Orientalists’ claims, from which the Qur’an has drawn its content.”

We might close the topic by pointing out that advances in audio technology have enabled scientists to discover that the ants routinely talk to each other in their nests. The ants rub segments of their abdomen to produce a sound that is understood by others. They change the rhythm to produce different kinds of communications. Insertion of miniaturized microphones and speakers into the ant nests has resulted in recording instructions by the queen. When the recorded queen’s instructions were replayed within the nest colony, the worker ants responded by standing motionless in rapt attention. The noise they produce sounds like clattering of the teeth or croaking of the frogs, but without the chorus (Au.).

26. That is, it was a show of happiness between a smile and laughter (Zamakhshari, Razi, Qurtubi). Qurtubi suggests that dahikan could be interpreted as “bemused” since, not every smile is a result of happiness.

27. This refutes the Jewish and Christian charge that, writes Majid, “(Solomon) had become ungodly in the later part of his life.”

A Prophet’s rank is above that of the awliya’ and salihin. Why then, do they supplicate that they be placed amongst the salihin? It is because a kamil salih (perfectly righteous) is someone who never disobeys Allah in the slightest. Even the thought of sin does not occur to him. Accordingly, we find the Qur’an narrating to us the prayer-words of several Prophets and Messengers to the effect that they be joined with, or placed amongst the salihin (Razi).

Ashraf Ali Thanwi demonstrates that “Salih” is a status of which there are several levels, the highest belongs to Prophets and Messengers, and the lowest to ordinary believers in Paradise (Au. from Ashraf al-Tafasir, vol.1).

In this context Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir report from Muslim who has a report on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (saws) said,

أَنَّ نَمْلَةً قَرَصَتْ نَبِيًّا مِنَ الأَنْبِيَاءِ فَأَمَرَ بِقَرْيَةِ النَّمْلِ فَأُحْرِقَتْ فَأَوْحَى اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ أَفِى أَنْ قَرَصَتْكَ نَمْلَةٌ أَهْلَكْتَ أُمَّةً مِنَ الأُمَمِ تُسَبِّحُ

“One of the Prophets was bitten by an ant. He ordered that the anthill be burnt down. It was done. Allah revealed to him, ‘Is it for a single ant’s bite that you destroyed a nation (of ants) that used to chant Glory? Why not a single ant?’” That is, why did you not kill a single ant?

It is also reported in the hadith literature, such as in Ibn Abi Hatim that,

خرج النَّبِي سُلَيْمَان عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام يَسْتَسْقِي ، فَمر بنملة مستلقية رَافِعَة قَوَائِمهَا إِلَى السَّمَاء تَقول : اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا خلق من خلقك لَيْسَ لنا غنى عَن سقياك ورزقك ، فإمَّا أَن تسقنا وترزقنا ، وَإِمَّا أَن تُهْلِكنَا . فَقَالَ : ارْجعُوا فقد سقيتم بدعوة غَيْركُمْ

Sulayman (asws) went out with his followers to supplicate for rain. He found an ant fallen on its back, with its forearms raised toward the heaven saying, “O Allah, we are a creation of the many of Your creations. We cannot do without Your water and food. So, either You send down rain and feed us, or destroy us.” He said, “Return. You will be sent the rains by the supplication of (someone) other than you” (Ibn Kathir).

The hadith is also in Ahmad, Daylami and Hakim, the last of whom declared it trustworthy, and Dhahabi gave his approval. See Jami` Saghir, h. no. 3906 (Au.).

Qurtubi further reports that one of the Prophets harbored some doubt about the destruction of a town inhabited by unbelieving transgressors but which also had a few righteous people. The same Prophet was once sleeping under a tree when he was woken up by an ant’s bite. He ordered the nest burnt down. Allah reminded him of his doubt over the destruction of a town the majority of whose dwellers were transgressors. (This is not a hadith: Au.). Nevertheless, Qurtubi concludes, punishment through burning must have been permissible in the Shari`ah of that Prophet. In our Shari`ah it is disallowed. The Prophet has specifically prohibited it.

28. It is said that not every bird, but one of every kind used to be present when asked to assemble (Alusi).

29. Shabbir and Mawdudi refute the misinterpretation by some so-called contemporary rationalist writers that Naml and Hudhud were names of individuals. To this author, these modern-day rationalists are not worthy of any attention. Library shelves refuse to yield any worthwhile work that this class of Muslims have produced (Au.).

According to a report in Ahmad, Abu Da’ud and Ibn Majah, through Abu Hurayrah, the Prophet (saws) prohibited the killing of four animals: ants, bees, hoopoe and sparrow-hawk. The hadith is in Abu Da’ud and is trustworthy (Qurtubi).

According to very reliable reports, writes Shabbir, hoopoe is known for its ability to spot a worm under the surface of the earth. Sometimes it digs half a foot deep to pull out a worm.

Sayyid comments on an important aspect, “From the fact that Sulayman felt the absence of hoopoe, we can surmise that it must have been a few birds that were subjugated to him. Had it been all the hoopoes in the world, millions of them, he wouldn’t have been able to spot the absence of a particular one. It is possible that of the species of hoopoe this particular one was required to be there as a representative of the lot. This is strengthened by the fact that the hoopoe in question was a particularly intelligent one.”

30. Since we do not have a trustworthy report explaining why Sulayman missed the hoopoe, we can only say that for some reason he looked for it but did not find it (Ibn Jarir).

Shafi` points out that the “am” at the start of the verse is in the sense of “bal” meaning, “but rather.” That is, Sulayman said to himself that his eyes had not erred in not finding the hoopoe, but rather, he was surely absent.

Ibn `Abbas is reported to have said that the hoopoe was responsible for searching for water whenever Sulayman went out on a campaign. This particular one was capable of scanning the surface of the earth, locate water below the surface, and then point to the spot where the Jinn could dig. Once they ran short of water but when Sulayman looked for the hoopoe he could not find him.

Once when Ibn `Abbas was narrating this, when Nafi` b. Azraq – one of the Khawarij who denied Qada’ and Qadr – protested. He said, “Look! Even a little boy is able to trap a hoopoe into a net. And here you are speaking of its ability to locate water!?” Ibn `Abbas replied, “When destiny descends, eyes turn blind, and all precautions vanish into thin air.” The Khariji promised that he wouldn’t dispute with him ever thereafter, over the Qur’an (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir). The report is in Ibn Abi Shaybah, `Abd b. Humayd, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim and Hakim. And Hakim declared it trustworthy (Shawkani).

Ibn `Abbas is also reported to have remarked, “Consider, O clever man, how hoopoe can see below the surface of the earth, but fails to notice the net when it falls into it” (Qurtubi, Shafi`).

That animals are endowed with some incredible qualities is very well known by the biologists. Instances can be seen in most biological works of general nature. Our Prophet has informed us that some of them can see angels and devils. A hadith of Bukhari says,

إِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ صِيَاحَ الدِّيَكَةِ فَاسْأَلُوا اللَّهَ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ ، فَإِنَّهَا رَأَتْ مَلَكًا ، وَإِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ نَهِيقَ الْحِمَارِ فَتَعَوَّذُوا بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ ، فَإِنَّهُ رَأَى شَيْطَانًا

“When you hear a rooster’s crowing, ask for Allah’s bounty, for it has seen an angel. And when you hear a donkey braying, seek Allah’s refuge for it has seen a devil” (Au.).

In connection with the ability of Sulayman’s hoopoe to see below the surface of the earth, Ibn Kathir has a strange story to narrate. It is in Ibn `Asakir’s work (Tarikh) who mentioned it under the biography of Abu `Abdullah al-Barazi. He was from Barzah, (a village) in Ghota, Dimashq. He was a pious man who would fast every Monday and Thursday. He was some eighty years old and was one-eyed. Ibn `Asakir reported through Sulayman b. Zayd that he asked him the reason for being one-eyed. But he wouldn’t explain. But he persisted for several months and so, finally he agreed to open up. He said two men had come from Khurasan and he received them in his house in Barzah on a Friday. They asked him to lead them to a nearby valley, and he complied. There –at the valley - they brought out their incense pots and threw in so much incense that the whole valley was filled with smoke. All kinds of snakes began to gather around them. But they paid no attention to any one of them until a snake – a meter long – came up. Her eyes were shining like a Dinar coin. They were very glad to see her. They said, “By Allah’s grace, we did not waste a year’s journey.” Then they broke down the braziers and caught the snake. They thrust a kohl-needle into her eyes and applied it, kohl-like, to their own eyes. "I asked them to apply the kohl to me also but they refused. I insisted and promised to give them (a piece of land). So they applied the kohl to my right eye; and I began to see below the surface of the earth as you can see through glass. Then they said to me, walk awhile with us. I began to walk with them, while they kept talking between themselves until we were quite a distance away from the village. Then they pounded upon me and bound me up. Then one of them thrust his finger into my eye, removed the eye-ball and threw it away. Thereafter, they walked away. I lay there until a passerby untied me."

As regards hoopoe’s ability to locate water, we have nothing to comment since modern biologists do not study phenomena of this sort, despite the fact that it has been often reported that the animals get restive before earthquakes; dogs start to bark, and so on. Are they seismic-sensitive? We do not know. But we do know that there are people who can locate water up to a depth of 100 feet. In India, they are commonly hired to indicate the most promising spot before drilling is commenced. During severe droughts even the government hires them to help locate promising water-spots. At our own farmlands we have used them with success. One needs them when several attempts fail, in and around your land. When asked, they are reported to say that they go by the vibrations under their feet, which, according to them, anyone could learn with some patience (Au.).

31. The jurist in Qurtubi speaks out when he says that this verse gives us the rule that punishment has to be in accordance with the size of the crime and not according to the size of the criminal, (meaning, his age, social position and financial status, which should not affect the judgment: Au.).

32. That is, unless he can offer a good reason for his absence (Ibn Jarir).

This ayah implies that it is allowable to punish animals within moderate limits for their misdoings (Shafi`).

Before any misanthrope animal rightist has tears in his eyes over punishment to mute animals, we may point out that they do seem to have some sense, although crude, of right and wrong. There is a marked change in their behavior, such as of cats and dogs, after they have committed what is generally considered as wrong. For instance, when a cat is fed by it master, it shows its fangs when somebody tries to take its food away from it. But, when it is surprised by its master eating from a dish, it runs away. It does not show up for quite some time thereafter. This also refutes the biological theory that animals are sort of pre-planned (by whom?), and act entirely by instinct (Au.).

Imam Razi conjectures that perhaps hoopoes of Sulayman’s time were given intellectual power, which has been withdrawn from them since that time. Alusi does not agree with him and believes all animals have been given enough intelligence for the limited activities of their lives. Some of their activities leave us spell bound, which speak strongly of their intelligence. In fact, their abilities have led some people to the extent of believing that the animals are also required to follow a Shari`ah of their own. However, such people might have their arguments, but the majority opinion is that messengers of their own species or kinds have not been sent to them.

33. This demonstrates in a definite manner that Prophets did not possess knowledge of the unseen (Shafi`).

34. Saba’ was also known as Ma`arib in Yemen, three nights' journey away from San`a’ (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and others).

Majid supplies historical details: “Sheba of the Bible. The Sabaens were ‘the ancient dwellers in South-west Arabia, in the part now called Yemen, Hadramaut, and Asir … The land produced spices and incense and was a stage on the trade road from India, Malay archipelago and Africa… Marib, 100km. east of San`a, was its capital.’ (EBr. XIX, pp. 784, 785). Recent researches ‘which have disclosed elaborate architectural remains, and brought to Europe hundreds of inscriptions, the work of Sabaens more than confirms the ancient fame of Sheba, and vindicates its claim, not only to wide commerce and a productive soil, but to an influential empire as well.’ (DB. V. p. 85).”

Mawdudi adds: “Their (Sabaens) capital city was Ma’arib, located 55 miles north-east of San`a, the present capital of Yemen. The Sabaens rose to power after the decline of the Minaean kingdom around 1100 B.C. and for about one thousand years they remained predominant in Arabia. Then, around 115 B.C. they were replaced by the Himyarites, another renowned people of southern Arabia who ruled Yemen and Hadramawt in Arabia and Abyssinia in Africa.

“The Sabaens controlled the trade between East Africa, India, the Far East and Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome, a fact which explains their affluence. Greek historians have called them the richest nation of the world. In addition to their trading skills, another reason accounting for their prosperity was their excellent irrigation system which dotted the length and breadth of the country with dams. Their land was unusually fertile and lush. This is also mentioned by Greek historians and the Qur’an alludes to it too in Surah Saba’ 34: 15.”

35. If it is asked, how come a knowledgeable person and a Prophet like Sulayman did not know the existence of Bilqis and her kingdom? Zamakhshari answers that perhaps Allah (swt) kept the knowledge secret from him for reasons of His own, just as He did not inform Ya`qub about Yusuf’s whereabouts.

A minority opinion is that these are the words of Sulayman who tarried for a while, to visit Saba’ and then was quickly back.

36. It is attributed to the Prophet that he said that one of the parents of Bilqis was a Jinn. But the attribution is incorrect.

Once the people of Yemen wrote to Malik that there was a man who claimed to have a Jinn as his wife! Imam Malik wrote back that he did not see why a human could not marry a Jinn, but he would not approve of it because of the fear that a woman carrying a child (out of adultery) could claim that she was made pregnant by a Jinn. This story is in Al-Ashbah wa al-Nada’ir of Ibn Najim. However, when the subject came up before Hasan (al-Busri), as in Ibn `Asakir, he remarked that intermarriage between the two, Jinn and human, proves sterile. They cannot produce progeny.

Hasan (al-Busri) must have known good amount of modern biology which tells us that interbred progenies of two species is always sterile (Au).

37. That is, she was given all kinds of worldly things (Ibn Jarir, Razi), or, we might say, writes Qurtubi, all that was required to successfully administer her kingdom.

38. “Here is a Jewish version of the story. ‘One day, the king, observing that the mountain-cock or hoopoe was absent, ordered that the bird be summoned forthwith. When it arrived it declared that it had for three months been flying hither and thither seeking to discover some country not yet subjected to Solomon, and had at length found a land in the East, exceedingly rich in gold, silver, and plants, whose capital was called Kitor, and whose ruler was a woman, known as the Queen of Sheba.’ (JE. XI. p. 443).”

Zamakhshari and Razi (reworded) issue the warning that while dealing with the exaggerated and excited descriptions of the hoopoe, one might not forget that after all it was a bird.

39. “Ancient Arabian traditions also say the same thing. Ibn Is-haq quotes genealogists while stating that the people of Saba’ were descendants of `Abd Shams (‘the Servants of the Sun’)” – Mawdudi.

40. "The hidden": such as the rain in the heaven and the seed in the earth (Ibn Jarir).

Shabbir quotes Shah `Abdul Qadir (Muwadhdhih al-Qur’an) that hoopoe does not feed on grains, seeds or fruits. It feeds on worms, hidden beneath the surface of the earth, their natural habitation. Is there a connection then, he asked, between its strange ability to pull out hidden worms, and his description of Allah’s power, “who brings out the hidden?”

41. According to Ibn Zayd, hoopoe’s words end at this point (Ibn Jarir).

42. Do animals lie that Sulayman should have said, “We shall presently see whether you told the truth or you are of the liars?” The answer is that we do not know the language of the birds to be able to say yes or no. But biologists, bird-watchers and ornithologists report quite incredible things about birds. Their finding is that the birds do deceive each other, in fact, they even commit theft (Au.).

Ibn al-Qayyim reports that someone narrated the following story: “It so happened that an ant came out of its nest and encountered a locust carcass. She tried to carry it to the nest but could not. So she retreated and brought back a group of ants to carry it. But, as I saw them coming, I lifted the carcass off the ground. They came, encircled the ground and, not finding anything, retreated. I replaced the locust. She came back and tried to carry it but could not. So she went back and once again brought back a group of ants to help her. But I lifted it off the ground once again. Once again, not finding anything they retreated. I replaced the locust and back she was after a while trying to drag it to the nest. But failing, once again, she went back to the nest, and I did my trick. I did this several times. Finally, when she brought her mates and they did not find anything, they surrounded her and cut her up to pieces” (Bada’i` al-Tafsir). When this was mentioned to the Sheikh (Ibn Qayyim perhaps means Ibn Taymiyyah) he remarked that by nature ants abhor lies.

Ants

Significantly, the Qur’an has made mention of such animals which have evoked human interest to this day. In our times, the ant is studied as a subject by hundreds of scientists and amateur researchers over the world. There are scientists who have obtained doctorate degrees in ant related subjects, while others study their genetics to determine their behavior.

An ant has three parts to its body, six legs and a pair of antennae which are also used for sense of smell. It can run very fast. If a man were to run as fast as an ant runs for its body-size, he would have to run as fast as a race horse. It has two stomachs, one for digesting its own food, and the other for food to be shared with other ants, e.g., nest workers and the larvae. It has no lungs. Touching of antennae seems to be one of the ways of communicating with each other. It has the largest brain size among all animals in terms of body size, (altogether some 250,000 brain cells). It has strong limbs and is ordinarily capable of lifting a weight 20 times its own weight. (No other animal can lift the weight that ants can lift. Humans can ordinarily lift half their body weight). The likeness of a leaf cutter ant’s weight carrying capacity is to a man carrying 250 kg for a distance of one km in 2.5 minutes. An ant has been photographed tenaciously holding on to a lizard thousands of times its own weight, clinging to the bottom of a thick branch while the lizard hung. It held on for several hours waiting for help before dropping it down. The Arabs knew of the strength of ant’s joints. A proverb was struck:

مَعَ أَنّ النّمْلَةَ يُضْرَبُ بِهَا الْمَثَلُ فِي الْقُوّةِ فَيُقَالُ أَقْوَى مِنْ النّمْلَةِ لِأَنّهَا تَحْمِلُ مَا هُوَ أَكْبَرُ مِنْ جِرْمِهَا بِأَضْعَافٍ

A proverb is struck by the ant and said, ‘He is stronger than an ant,’ because she can carry weights several times larger than her own weight.

Ants live in colonies comprising of thousands to millions of individuals. A colony starts when a female ant flies off followed by male ants. (Although most nests have a single queen, among some species, such as fire ants, a single ant colony can have as many as 500 queens. Ants in such colonies seem to work cooperatively for the interest of the entire group). After mating the ant settles in some place, making a little hole where she starts to lay eggs. As they hatch, the colony grows. The queen keeps laying eggs, until its death some 10-14 years later.

There are tens of thousands of ant species. But members of one species are not accepted by another. If they try to enter, the soldier ants tear them apart. However, if eggs are placed in their nests, they bestow equal care on them and accept them as their own when the larvae hatch out. Some species raid nests of other ants and steal their pupae. When these foreign pupae hatch, they are employed as slaves within the colony. Some species are migratory. They are known as Army Ants or Driver Ants. They number up to 700,000 and are always on the move just like nomads, carrying their eggs and pupae with them – always moving in a column.

A biologist writes his personal account: “As an adult in Panama I have stepped aside and contemplated the New World equivalent of the driver ants that I had feared as a child in Africa, flowing by me like a crackling river, and I can testify to the strangeness and wonder. Hour after hour the legions marched past, walking as much over each others’ bodies as over the ground, while I waited for the queen. Finally she came, and hers was an awesome presence. It was impossible to see her body. She appeared only as a moving wave of worker frenzy, a boiling peristaltic ball of ants with linked arms. She was somewhere in the middle of the seething ball of workers, while all around it the massed rank of soldiers faced threateningly outwards with jaws agape, everyone ready to kill and to die in defence of the queen. Forgive my curiosity to see her: I prodded the ball of workers with a long stick, in a vain attempt to flush out the queen. Instantly, 20 soldiers buried their massively muscled pincers in my stick, possibly never to let go, while dozens more swarmed up the stick causing me to let go with alacrity.” (Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, p. 108, 1996, W.W. Norton and Company).

Not all ants bite, but some bites can be dangerous, even fatal. The ubiquitous black large ant in the Gulf can be fatal to some. A man bitten by one of them can have bobs all over his body in ten minutes, within which time his body throws out the entire store of the sperm. A girl had to be hospitalized after being bitten by a black ant of this class. The doctors warned her that she might not survive another bite. Sadly, they proved correct. In India a female farmer coming back to her shack found her little one killed by thousands of ants tenaciously clinging to the child’s body.

The nest grows in size as the population increases. Its size is limited by the number of eggs laid by the queen, and by the water level of the land. Some nests go as deep as 7-8 meters and are equally as wide. A nest contains a labyrinth of tunnels, neatly cut through, with myriad of branches, resembling brain nerves. Amazingly, they start boring tunnels from opposite sides advancing towards each other from two ends to arrive perfectly face to face with each other when the two holes open into each other.

Adjacent to the tunnels there are chambers with beautiful curved ceilings, breeding houses of special shapes, stockyards, large work stations, processing plants, and, in case of leaf-cutter ants, plantation fields, harvesting areas, and pits for decomposing waste. The nest and its pathways are efficiently designed for the heat rising from chemical processes to find its way out into the atmosphere and to be replaced by cool oxygen-rich air allowed in through side tunnels. Maintenance of a constant temperature is an important factor in the development of the pupae. The entrances can be successfully sealed off in case of rains, severe cold, or attacks.

At the social level, there are various castes among the ants, but always headed by a queen. In actual fact the queen is no queen. Much larger in size than others, it is merely an egg-laying apparatus. No one lays eggs except the queen. She coats her eggs with a pheromone – a hydrocarbon blend – that helps their identification as queen-laid eggs. In experiments, when the queen-laid eggs were removed, the worker ants began to lay their own eggs. But more surprisingly, when queen-laid eggs were brought back, the ants destroyed the worker-laid eggs. The eggs hatch into varieties of ants: soldier ants, worker ants, male, female, etc. Somehow the ratio is maintained. In experiments, when soldier ants of a colony were destroyed, the eggs that had already been laid hatched more soldier ants. And when worker ants were destroyed, the eggs that had already been laid, produced more of the worker ants. The eggs somehow knew what was happening outside.

The nest usually consists of patrol ants, maintenance ants, worker ants, (of several varieties, normally determined by size and age), soldier ants, a few males, and of course, at least one queen. But the basic mystery about these ant colonies is that neither is there any hierarchy, nor management, nor a central control. Yet everyone seems to know its function, and does it pretty efficiently, in the quickest time possible, without receiving orders, and without reporting work performance. Duties can change from hour to hour, day to day, and from situation to situation. The worker ants for example, perform a myriad of activities: food gathering, processing, stockpiling, nest cleaning, larvae-care, and several others, such as, in case of leaf-cutter ants, de-fungi-ing the leaves, cultivation, harvesting, storage, and waste disposal. But, although no command is ever issued to anyone of the tens of thousands, sometimes even millions of ants, yet, as a whole the nest functions like a perfectly organized kingdom.

Ibn al-Qayyim seems to have known about the absence of central command. He writes what modern biologists have learnt after decades of painstaking research: “Ants do not have any leader or commander assigning them tasks as is the case with the leaders among bees to whom the message of food is first passed on, and who in turn send a host of bees in the direction of food. In case of ants, every one of them seems to be working for the benefit of the colony, without any regard for their own likes and dislikes” (Bada’i`).

Ant activity begins with the patroller ants popping their queer heads out of the nest entrance early in the morning. For some time they eye the area around the nest. With “all’s well” message passed on, the patroller ants come out in good numbers and head in different directions in search of food. The directions differ from day to day. The patrollers are very sensitive to predators. Writes a researcher, “Collecting patrollers (for laboratory research: Au.) was completely different. Even the most careful of aspirating of only a few patrollers, well apart from each other, could cause the whole colony to shut down. The nest maintenance workers and other patrollers would go back into the nest, and later the foragers (food collectors: Au.), would not come out at all .. What puzzled me most about this observation was the rapidity of the patrollers’ reaction. When some patrollers outside the nest disappeared, the rest of the patrollers sometimes headed back into the nest immediately, within seconds – long before there was time for anyone to go back into the nest and assess the rate at which the patrollers were returning” (Ants at Work, Deborah Gordon, p. 152, The Free Press, 1999).

With the patrollers’ return to the nest, foragers or food collectors pour out. They head straight in the directions the patrollers took. They go back and forth the nest several times carrying food, collecting only that which the patrollers had encountered in the morning. What the patrollers ignored, the collectors also ignore. If the food is too heavy, an ant goes back to fetch others. When she re-emerges, she has an army behind her, which moves in a column and never as a crowd.

Leaf cutter ants first cut leaves of manageable transport size. They drop them at the first level chambers in the anthill. There other ants (smaller than the ants that went out) spray the leaves with a sort of antibiotic. That assures that no bacteria will escape death. After that other ants, (normally smaller than the ones that did their work at the upper chamber), cut the leaves to smaller pieces and lay them in another area. Within 48 hours the leaves turn into fungus. At the fourth level of activity, harvesting is done. Then come in other ants, the smallest, to collect the leftovers and prepare the field for the next harvest. During plantation they use caterpillar faeces as manure.

Some ants take care of the larvae of aphids or other insects. The reason is that these insects release a sweet sap, and the ants seem to be raising them to obtain a supply of the sap rather than eating them. As long as these insects are being cared for by ants, they are protected from other enemies and the ants collect their honey.

When the sun is in the middle of the sky, the forager ants retreat and attend to tasks within the nest. Inside, they care for the larvae and pupae, attend to cleaning, dig the nest deeper in response to the queen laying more eggs, carry back sand to the top, thus creating the mount or the anthill, and perform several other tasks. Sometimes by evening, if the weather is not good, the mouth to the nest is closed with sand. With compound eyes, they seem to have infrared capabilities, which explains how they can work in the dark tunnels. Ants have also been seen collecting food at night, but that seems to be related to good quality food. For instance, a cockroach which has recently been dead, draws them out in the dark. However, within the nest, the ants work at night also. They move the eggs and larvae deep into the nest to protect them from the cold. During daytime, they move the eggs and larvae of the colony to the top of the nest so that they can be warmer.

Nothing seems to ever go wrong in a nest for the decade and a half of its life-cycle, although individual ants live for anything between a month and a half, which is normal, to a year, which is the case for some species. But the queen lives for, averagely, 15-20 years, although in some rare species, up to 50 years. And, as soon as the egg-laying machine dies, it is the end of the others also. Instead of adopting a new queen, they give up their ghosts, no one knows why, and the nest is turned into a vast graveyard. A close parallel of this is the cells of the human body. Each cell functions, apparently without any central command, producing the kind of proteins required, hour to hour, without ever failing in its specific functions: depending on where the cell is - liver, intestine, nails or knee cap. Each cell somehow knows what it has to do. Like an ant colony members, individual cells do not live out the whole life that the body does. Cells come and go, like ants in a nest, but the body goes on, for sixty-seventy years. Then the queen dies and that is the end of the individual ants. Similarly, the human body dies, and that is the end of the hundred trillion cells. Scientists are unable to explain how the cells know that it is time for them to die, altogether, at one time. Interestingly, a 400,000 ant colony of ants collectively has the same sized brain as humans.

It is ants and their sister species termites who bring down what man builds. From the very first day that man completes his proud construction, these littlest of Allah’s creatures begin their work of removing the foundation, grain by grain, to one day bringing down the entire structure! In the Arabian Gulf region, it has been found that the effects of deterioration caused by the ants on concrete buildings are visible within one week of the finish of construction (Au).

43. “The use of birds as letter-carriers need not surprise the modern mind. ‘The use of homing pigeons to carry messages is as old as Solomon and the ancient Greeks, to whom the art of training the birds came probably from the Persians, (they) conveyed the names of Olympic victors to their various cities by this means. Before the electric telegraph this mode of communication had considerable vogue amongst stockbrokers and financiers.’ (EBr. XVII. p. 921).” – Majid.

44. “The letter was important to Queen Sheba for several reasons: (i) It had arrived in an unusual fashion; delivered and dropped in front of her by a bird. (ii) It was from Solomon the magnificent, the ruler of Palestine and Syria. (iii) It commenced with the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful, even though this formula was not used anywhere in the world for diplomatic state correspondence. (iv) To write a letter in the name of Almighty God in disregard of all deities was something uncommon for them. (v) The letter contained a clear message to Queen Sheba to give up defiance, to commit her allegiance to Solomon and to go to him in the state of submission ‘as a Muslim.’

“To come as ‘Muslim’ can have two meanings: (i) to come in the state of submission, or (ii) to accept Islam and come to him in that capacity” (Mawdudi)

45. Following this Qur’anic lead, it is desirable to commence any piece of writing with the basmalah. However, if one fears that one’s writing might be discarded, and Allah’s name desecrated, then it is better to merely pronounce the basmalah at the start of the writing, and not write the words (Shafi`).

46. Alluding to the briefness of the letter, Qatadah has pointed out that this is how Prophets wrote letters: no loose talk, no verbiage, just plain truth. (Our own Prophet’s letters were as brief: Au.). And, the invitation was to submit to the Lord One God (Ibn Jarir). In Shabbir’s words, “Rarely such a brief, terse, and to the point letter was ever written.”

It was from Sulayman, full stop. Was there any need for any further introduction? It started in the name of the Kind and the Compassionate. Sulayman was His envoy and had His power and authority behind him. Therefore, there was no point in rising up against him. Hence, ‘submit yourself to the Lord God of the world without much ado' (Au.).