What Did the Hoopoe Discover While It Was Absent from Sulaiman?
ماذا اكتشف الهدهد خلال غيابه عن سليمان؟
The hoopoe saw a great kingdom and was surprised by two facts: first, that they were ruled by a woman instead of a man, which was very unusual for that period; second, that they worshipped the sun.
رأى مملكةً عظيمة ولكنه استغرب من شيئين: الأول، أن تحكمهم امرأةٌ وليس رجلًا، ولم يكن هذا من عادة الممالك في ذلك الزمن. الثاني، وجدهم يعبدون الشمس من دون الله.
1. A Detail Worth Reporting, Not Condemning | تفصيلٌ يستحق التبليغ لا الإدانة
The hoopoe notes the queen's rule as unusual for its time, not as a fault in itself, the actual concern raised in his report is theological, not political. This distinction matters: nothing in the account frames female leadership as the problem needing correction, only the kingdom's sun worship does.
يذكر الهدهد حكم الملكة بوصفه أمرًا غير معتادٍ لزمانه، لا عيبًا بحد ذاته؛ فالمشكلة الحقيقية المذكورة في تقريره لاهوتية لا سياسية. وهذا تمييزٌ مهم: لا شيء في الرواية يجعل من قيادة المرأة مشكلةً تستدعي الإصلاح، بل عبادة الشمس هي وحدها موضع الاعتراض.
2. The Fuller Report, and What Sulaiman Did With It | التقرير الكامل وما فعله سليمان به
These two observations are the short version of a longer report the hoopoe gave Sulaiman, given after Sulaiman had threatened to punish him for his absence, and also describing how Satan had made the people's deeds appealing to them, covered in full in how Sulaiman found out about Balqees, the Queen of Sheba, which also covers Sulaiman's response to what he learned.
هاتان الملاحظتان هما النسخة المختصرة من تقريرٍ أطول قدمه الهدهد لسليمان، قدّمه بعد أن توعده سليمان بالعقاب على غيابه، وتضمن وصف تزيين الشيطان أعمالهم لهم، مشروحٍ بالكامل في صفحة كيفية معرفة سليمان بأمر بلقيس ملكة سبأ.
Scholarly Insight: An-Naml 27:20-24 records the hoopoe's full report to Sulaiman about the Queen of Sheba's kingdom. Read the fuller context in the tafsir of Surah An-Naml.
Frequently Asked Questions | الأسئلة الشائعة
What two things surprised the hoopoe?
That the kingdom was ruled by a woman, and that its people worshipped the sun.
Which of these two facts was treated as the real problem?
The sun worship, not the queen's rule itself.
Prepared by Eng. Ghada Homad, founder of IslamFAQ, researched and written in consultation with qualified scholars, reviewed by Professor Khaled Jassem Al-Houli, Associate Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence and Islamic Politics, Faculty of Sharia and Islamic Studies, University of Kuwait. Read more about the authors and this project →