What Did the Hoopoe Discover While It Was Absent from Sulaiman?

ماذا اكتشف الهدهد خلال غيابه عن سليمان؟

The hoopoe found a great kingdom ruled by a woman rather than a man, which the answer notes was unusual for that era, and discovered its people worshipped the sun instead of Allah.

وجد الهدهد مملكةً عظيمة تحكمها امرأةٌ لا رجل، وهو، كما يذكر الجواب، أمرٌ غير معتاد في ذلك الزمن، واكتشف أن أهلها يعبدون الشمس من دون الله.

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 مملكة عظيمة ولكنه استغرب من شيئين: 1- تحكمهم امرأة وليس رجلًا، ولم يكن هذا من عادة الممالك في ذلك الزمن. 2- وجدهم يعبدون الشمس من دون الله.

1. What the Hoopoe Reported | ما نقله الهدهد

In the Quran's account the hoopoe reports both facts, "Indeed, I found a woman ruling over them, who has been given everything ˹she needs˺, and who has a magnificent throne" (27:23), and the sin it names is their worship: "I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allah" (27:24). How often the hoopoe appears in the Quran is covered in how many times the hoopoe is mentioned in the Quran, and whether the queen later submitted to Allah in did the Queen of Sheba submit to Allah, and what convinced her.

ينقل الهدهد في القرآن الأمرين معًا: "إني وجدت امرأة تملكهم وأوتيت من كل شيء ولها عرش عظيم" (النمل 27: 23)، وما يسميه من المعصية هو عبادتهم: "وجدتها وقومها يسجدون للشمس من دون الله" (النمل 27: 24).

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 (peace be upon him), 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: The hoopoe did not stop at the sun worship. It went on: "so they do not prostrate to Allah, Who brings forth what is hidden in the heavens and the earth" (27:25). Ibn Kathir cites Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) on these words: "He knows every hidden thing in the heaven and the earth," and Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib: "The hidden thing is water." Ibn Kathir adds: "This suits the words of the hoopoe, in which Allah placed the special gift that Ibn Abbas and others mentioned: it sees water running in the depths of the earth." What Sulaiman did with the report is told in how Sulaiman invited the queen to Tawheed. Read the fuller context in the tafsir of Surah An-Naml.

Frequently Asked Questions | الأسئلة الشائعة

What two things surprised the hoopoe?

According to the answer, that the kingdom was ruled by a woman, and that its people worshipped the sun.

Which of these did the hoopoe name as a sin?

Their worship: he found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allah (27:24).

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 →

Chapter 5.11 - Sulaiman Pbuh

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