15. PROPHETS’ DU‘Ā (PRAYER) IN THE QUR’ĀN (9) 11. Sulaymān (Solomon) a.s.

15.  PROPHETS’ DU‘Ā (PRAYER) IN THE QUR’ĀN (9)

11. Sulaymān (Solomon) a.s.

          Sulaymān (Solomon) a.s.  is mentioned 17 times in the Qur’an (Q. 2:102 –twice; 4:163; 6:84; 21: 78, 79, 81; 27:15, 16, 17, 18, 30, 36, 44; 34:12; 38:30, 34). He was the son of Dāwūd (David) a.s., a prophet who was a son of a prophet according to the Qur’an, whereas according to the Bible he was a king and a son of a king. However, there is indication that both Dāwūd and Sulaymān were also kings. Allah said, “We made his [Dāwūd’s] kingdom strong and gave him wisdom (prophethood) and sound judgment in speech and decision.” (Q. 38:20);  “O Dāwūd (David)!, Verily, We have placed you as a successor on the earth …(Q. 38:26),  “… and Allah gave him (Dāwūd) the kingdom and wisdom (i.e., prophethood)…(Q. 2:251). Sulaymān inherited the knowledge of his father and gathered before him his hosts of jinn, mankind and birds, all were set in battle order

(Q. 27:16, 17).[1]

 Sulaymān was born and died in Jerusalem. He was said to start his rule in ca. 970 BC and died in 931 BC after forty years as ruler of Israel. He was buried in the City of David. His son Rehoboam succeeded him, and his empire became divided into two; (1) Sāmirah (Samaria) in the north whose capital was Sabsatiyyah (Sebastia), destroyed by the Assyrian under Surjun II (Sargon II) in 722 BC, and is inhabitants were deported to Assyria; (2) Yahūdhā (Judah) in the south whose capital was Jerusalem, destroyed by the Chaldeans under Bukhtunaṣṣar (Nebuchadnezzar) in 586 BC and took its people as slaves. Eventually, the empire of Solomon became lost.

  As a king Allah tested Sulaymān with a (lifeless) body (jasad) put on his throne, and he returned back to Him (Q. 38:34). Rejecting commentaries based on Talmud sources, the classical Qur’an commentator Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210) suggests that the “lifeless” body in Sulaymān’s throne was metonymically he himself and his kingly power, for lacking moral values. He realized it, and he returned to Him, asking Him forgiveness. He prayed:

قَالَ رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَهَبْ لِي مُلْكًا لَا يَنْبَغِي لِأَحَدٍ

مِنْ بَعْدِي إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْوَهَّابُ (ص:35)

He said: “My Lord! Forgive me, and bestow upon me a

kingdom such as shall not belong to any other after me:

 Verily, You are the Bestower.” (Q. 38:35)

He asked Allah’s forgiveness for his attachment to the worldly kingdom, and prayed for a spiritual kingdom which could not be inherited by anyone. So, Allah accepted his prayer by subjecting the wind which blew gently by his order wherever he willed, the jinn who worked for him as builders, especially in doing difficult tasks which humans were unable to do; some of them dived into the sea collecting pearls and jewels and other precious things, while others who rebelled and refused to work were tied up in chains. Then Allah said to him, “This is Our Gift, so spend you or withhold, no account will be asked of you” (Q. 38:36-39). Moreover, Allah guaranteed that these jinn would not be able to harm him (Q. 21:82).[2]

          Allah gave great blessings and favour to Dāwūd and his son   Sulaymān, the position of being prophets and power and authority they enjoyed in this world. He said,

وَلَقَدْ آَتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ عِلْمًا وَقَالَا الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي فَضَّلَنَا

عَلَى كَثِيرٍ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (النمل:15)

And indeed We gave knowledge to Dāwūd and

 Sulaymān, and they both said: “All the praises and thanks

to Allah, Who has preferred us above many of His

believing servants.”(Q. 27:15)

          After the death of Dāwūd his son Sulaymān inherited from him (Q. 27:16) the inheritance of kingship and prophethood, rather than wealth, as prophets’ wealth cannot be inherited. Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said :

نَحْنُ مَعَاشِرَ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ لَا نُورَثُ مَا تَرَكْنَاهُ فَهُوَ صَدَقَةً

”We Prophets cannot be inherited from; whatever

we leave behind is charity.

        Among the blessings of Allah bestowed on Sulaymān was his ability to understand the language of the birds and animals in addition to his complete authority and power whereby human beings, jinn, and birds were subjugated to him (Q. 27:16). When he and his army reached the valley of the ants (in the present town of Ascalon) one of the ants said: “O ants! Enter your dwellings, lest Sulaymān and his army should crush you, while they perceive not.” (Q. 27:17-18).[3] Sulaymān smiled and amused with her speech, then said:

رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَى وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ

صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ وَأَدْخِلْنِي بِرَحْمَتِكَ فِي عِبَادِكَ الصَّالِحِينَ (النمل:19)

“My Lord! Grant me the power and ability that I may be

 grateful for Your Favors which You have  bestowed on me

 and on my parents, and that I may do righteous good

deeds that will please You, and admit me by Your

 Mercy among Your righteous slaves.” (Q. 27:19)

          The Qur’an commentator Ibn Khathīr commented on this verses saying that what Sulaymān meant was,

“Inspire me to give thanks for the blessings You have

bestowed upon me by teaching me to understand what

the birds and animals say, and the blessings that You

have bestowed upon my parents by making

them Muslims who believe in You.’

 When Sulaymān inspected the birds he found that the hoopoe was absent, and he would punish or slaughter him unless he gave clear reason. He was absent “for a short time only”, but he brought new information. He just came from Saba’ (Sheba) where it was ruled by a powerful and rich queen (Bilqis bint Sharāhīl). She had a great throne. She and her people worshiped the sun. Sulaymān asked him to bring his letter to her, then drew back. It contained, “It is from Sulaymān, and it (reads):  In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Be you not exalted against me, but come to me submitting (as Muslims)! In other words, “do not refuse or be too arrogant to come to me….”  (Q. 27:20-31).

            After consulting her chiefs Queen Bilqis decided to send Sulaymān a gift to see his response. He did not pay attention to it, and said not to flatter him with wealth so that he would leave them alone with their idolatry and their kingdom. He told the messengers to come back to her with her undelivered gift, and he would come with  armies they could not resist, and they would be humiliated and driven out with disgrace from their land (Q. 27:32-37). 

          The distance between Sheba and Jerusalem is about 3000 km which could take three months on camel’s back, and Queen Bilqis decided to come with the leaders of her people to Jerusalem to meet

 Sulaymān.[4] Before she arrived Sulaymān had asked his chiefs if any of them would be able to bring her throne. An ‘Ifrit among the jinn (demons), a giant one, could bring it before Sulaymān rose from his place. His scribe, called Āṣif bin Barkhiyā, a truthful believer who knew the Great Name of Allah, said he would bring it within the twinkling of an eye. When they saw it before them, Sulaymān said, “This is by the grace of my Lord to test whether I am grateful or ungrateful. And whoever is grateful, truly, his gratitude is for himself; and whoever is ungrateful, certainly my Lord is rich, Bountiful.” (Q. 27:38-40) 

            Sulaymān ordered to alter some of the features of her throne to see whether she would still recognize it or not. When it was shown to her, she said that it looked like it. He ordered his jinn to build for her a palace of glass beneath which water was flowing. When she entered the palace she thought it was a pool, and she tucked up her clothes, uncovering her legs.[5] When Sulaymān told her it was a glass surface with water underneath it, she realized the greatness of his authority and power, and acknowledged that he was a noble prophet. (Q. 27:41-44).[6] She said,

رَبِّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَانَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ (النمل:44)

“My Lord! Verily, I have wronged myself [for worshipping

 the sun], and I submit, together with Sulaymān to Allah,

 the Lord of that exists.”  (Q. 27:44)

What is important here is the moral lessons we learn from the story of Prophet Sulaymān a.s. in the Qur’an rather than stories and legends in Christian and Jewish traditions. The Qur’ān explicitly cleared his name as a pious prophet against the allegation of idolatry and disobeying Allah.                                 (CIVIC, 10 October, 2014)

   المراجع: 

المكتبة الشاملة

تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ (

تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ(

تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774 هـ(

Abu Khalil, Dr. Shauqi . Atlas of the Qur’an. Riyadh, Darussalam, 2003

Hatta, Ahmad, etal. The Great Story of Muhammad s.a.w. Jakarta: Maghfirah Pustaka, 2013

Ali, A.Yusuf.  The Meanings of the Holy Qur’an

Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’an.

Holy Bible: New International Version, 1973

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/539342/Queen-of-sheba

http://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/gmd1999/sheba.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Solomon.html

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[1] As a righteous king, Sulaymān was not an idolater, as claimed by the Old Testament. According to Islam, all prophets sent down to man by Allah (God) from Adam to Muhammad s.a.w.  belonged to the same true religion, Islam (lit. , “submission to the will of God”).  Idolatry, worshipping idols, or anything other than God is the gravest sin (Q. 4:48). But according to the Old Testament, Sulaymān disobeyed God by marrying foreign women which turned his heart after their gods. He had seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines, and this number was considered by some scholars as an exaggeration. So, God appeared to him twice, became angry with him and would tear his kingdom, not in his lifetime, for the sake of his father David, but after his death. Solomon strengthened his kingdom through marital alliances, but at the expense of his obedience to his Lord. For full details, see 1 Kings, 11:1-13. Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. also married 13 wives, all of them were widows except Ā’ishah bint Abu Bakr, not at the expense of his mission, but rather to strengthen his relations and alliance with people of various tribes and clans in delivering his mission and propagating Islam.

[2] It is mentioned in the Old Testament that God asked Solomon whatever he wanted. He asked wisdom and knowledge, rather than wealth, riches, honour, or long life. So, God gave him wisdom and knowledge, in addition to wealth, riches and honour, no king before him had ever had, and no king after him would ever have. He owned 12,000 horses with horsemen and 1,400 chariots (2 Chronicles 1-12, 14).

[3] There is a story of a woman carrying her baby was walking by a creek. Suddenly, her baby fell into the water. A monkey came to rescue the baby, gave it to its mother, and talked to her in monkey language to be more careful in future.

[4] This is the Qur’anic version. According to the Old Testament the motive of Bilqis’s visit was to test him with hard questions, as he was very famous for his knowledge and wisdom. Both 1 Kings 10:1-25 and 2 Chronicles 9:1-24 under the title The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon mentioned about this visit with exact wordings. The only difference is that verse 1 and 2 which contains 2 sentences in 1 Kings are combined into one verse in 2 Chronicles, so that verse 3 in the former is still verse 2 in the latter, and therefore, verse 25 in the former is verse 24 in the latter. As the location of Kings in the Bible is followed by Chronicles, they are separated less than 100 pages from each other. Some examples Queen Bilqis might have asked Solomon are as follows:  Bilkis: "What is the most powerful organ of the body?" Solomon: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." Bilqis: “What is the ugliest thing in the world, and what is the most beautiful? What is the most certain, and what is the most uncertain?" Solomon: "The ugliest thing in the world is the faithful turning unfaithful; the most beautiful is the repentant sinner. The most certain is death; the most uncertain, one’s share in the World to Come."

[5] Tradition said that Solomon’s jinn feared that he might be tempted to marry Queen Bilqis.  They whispered to him that she had hairy legs and the hooves of an ass. So he built a glass floor before his throne, and when Queen Bilqis crossed it she would lift her skirt and would reveal her legs. As her legs were truly hairy, he then ordered his jnn to create depilatory to remove superfluous hair from her legs.

[6] Solomon was said to have been very generous to Queen Sheba. “King Solomon gave Queen Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country” (1 Kings 10:13).