Qur'an Study: Sulayman & Bilqis

Part One

Solomon succeeded David. He said, ‘People, we have been taught the speech of birds, and we have been given a share of everything: this is a clearly a great favour.’ (27:16)

Prophet Sulayman, may Allah be pleased with him, describes himself as the recipient of “a share of everything” from Allah. Later, the hoopoe, the feathered member of Sulayman’s coterie, returns from beholding Queen Bilqis’ court and observes that she, too, has “a share of everything.” The Arabic phrase “a share of everything” is the same phrase applied to Sulayman and Bilqis in this chapter. Commentators mention that this descriptor could mean that each towering figure had whatever they needed to rule their kingdoms and carry out their affairs with dignity and confidence. In my estimation, everything would seem to mean not just a share of material wealth but also a wealth of wisdom and subtle knowledge central to Sulayman’s character and the gifts Allah chooses to highlight in Surah Al-Naml and elsewhere. Sulayman understands the speech of animals, from the birds that make their homes in the trees to the ants who burrow their homes beneath our feet.

and when they came to the Valley of the Ants, one ant said, ‘Ants! Go into your homes, in case Solomon and his hosts unwittingly crush you.’ Solomon smiled broadly at her words and said, ‘Lord, inspire me to be thankful for the blessings You have granted me and my parents, and to do good deeds that please You; admit me by Your grace into the ranks of Your righteous servants.’ 18-19

While knowing the language of the ants seems to serve him no worldly purpose in this chapter, Sulayman is nevertheless profoundly moved by the gift of perception. He basks in gratitude–his predominant trait in Surah Al-Naml. He utters a gorgeous and sweeping praise and supplication. As an aside, most ants humans see are female worker ants. So it is stunning proof of the Qur’an’s divine origins that the commander of the ants is female. This foreshadows the other female commander in this narrative, Bilqis, who rightly guides her people, assumes good intentions from Sulayman, and acts as the impetus for Sulayman’s further fortification as a grateful servant of Allah.

I found a woman ruling over the people, who has been given a share of everything- she has a magnificent throne [but] I found that she and her people worshipped the sun instead of God. Satan has made their deeds seem alluring to them, and diverted them from the right path: they cannot find the right path. Should they not worship God, who brings forth what is hidden in the heavens and earth and knows both what you people conceal and what you declare? (25)

It would be strange for Sulayman’s hoopoe, a firsthand observer of Sulayman’s wealth, to find the wealth of another worth an extended mention. The hoopoe has seen Sulayman’s outsized wealth and is a living witness to and participant in his profound intellectual and spiritual openings. That is why I believe the hoopoe was affected by Bilqis’ intellectual and perceptive faculties and why he was dismayed to find that someone with her gifts would not be a believer in Allah. Her people worship the sun, the highest celestial body. In the Qur’an, when Prophet Ibrahim tried to guide his people to Allah, he progressed from the stars to the moon and finally, the sun in ascending order. It was an exercise in going from the least dazzling to the most dazzling, yet still showing their created nature. Bilqis’ worship of the sun and not lesser celestial bodies or stone idols is an allusion to the reality that an elevated human consciousness can see the qualitative superiority of the sun over other creations. The sun gives life; thus, many are deluded into believing it is beyond this world. The hoopoe recognizes that shaytan plays a role in this deception. When he sees the draping of Allah’s blessings on Bilqis in the form of dominion and inner gifts, he concludes that her inferior faith is not simply the result of simple moral failing.