Сад 38:32–37

The story of the return and resetting of the Sun

Some early interpreters have, while following the first Tafsir, also said that soon after having missed the Salah of al-` Asr, Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) prayed to Allah Ta’ ala, or requested the angels, that the Sun should be made to return. Accordingly, the Sun was returned and he was enabled to perform his appointed Salah. After that, the Sun set once again. These people take the pronoun in: رُ‌دُّوهَا (rudduha: Bring it back to me - 38:33) as reverting to the Sun.

But, investigative commentators, for instance, ` Allamah ` Alusi and others have rejected this fictional approach, and have said that the pronoun in: رُ‌دُّوهَا (rudduha: Bring them back to me) is reverting to 'horses' and not to the Sun - not because, refuge with Allah, making the Sun to return is not within the power and control of Allah Ta’ ala, but because this story does not stand proved from the Qur'an and Hadith. (Ruh-ul-Ma’ ani)

In the event one neglects the remembrance of Allah, some self-imposed penalty is in order as part of one's remorse

Anyway, this much does stand proved from the event that, should there come a time when one happens to have been neglectful of the remembrance of Allah, then, in order to punish one's aberrant self, depriving it of some lawful thing is permissible. This, in the terminology of the noble Sufis, is called: غیرت (ghayrah: sense of honor or shame). (Bayan-ul-Qur’ an)

Imposing such penalties on one's own self for the purpose of training it to do what is good is a prescription of self-reform - and this event seems to suggest its justification, in fact, recommendation. It has also been reported from the Holy Prophet ﷺ that, on a certain occasion, Sayyidna Abu Jahm ؓ presented to him the gift of a Syrian throw-over shawl having some sort of design embroidered or painted on it. He made his Salah covering himself with this shawl. Then, he came to Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ and said to her, "Return this shawl to Abu Jahm, because I happened to have cast a look at the design it had during the course of my Salah, and this design would have almost thrown me into some trial" (Ahkam-ul- Qur’ an with reference to al-Muwatta' of Imam Malik).

Similarly, there is an incident related to Sayyidna Abu Talhah ؓ . Once, while making Salah in his fruit-farm, he happened to have turned his attention to look at a bird, and as a result, his attention was diverted away from the Salah (a contravention of the essential etiquette of Salah being offered before Allah Ta’ ala). After that, he gave the whole farm as sadaqah (charity).

But one has to bear in mind that the penalty thought of for this purpose should be permissible by itself. Wasting away some property for no valid reason is not permissible. Therefore, no such action is correct as would result in the wastage of property. Among the Sufis, the famous Shibli (رح) had once burnt his clothes as part of this kind of self-imposed penalty. But, the more discerning among Sufis, such as Shaikh ` Abdul-Wahhab Sha` rani (رح) ، did not approve of that action of his as correct and sound. (Ruh-ul-Ma’ ani)

The ruler should personally keep watching over the functions of the state

The second line of conduct that emerges from this event is that the person responsible for the affairs of the state or its high officials (who share this responsibility with him) should personally keep watching over their subordinate departments in a way that they never sit relaxed after having passed on the trust to their deputies and assistants. This is the reason why Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) who had a host of subordinates at his command, inspected the horses in person. This concern (to be personally vigilant against any malfunction of the state system) stands proved also from the examples set by the rightly guided caliphs of Islam, particularly from the practice of Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ .

At the time of one act of ` ibadah (worship), engaging in another is an error

The second line of conduct that stands proved from this event is that the time of an ` ibadah that is already bound with a certain hour should not be spent in getting busy with some other act of ` ibadah. It is obvious that the inspection of horses prepared for Jihad amounted to a significant act of worship in its own right. But, as this was not the time for this kind of ` ibadah, rather, was the time of the prescribed ` ibadah of Salah, therefore, Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) counted this too as an error, for which he made amends. Hence, Muslim jurists say that the way it is not permissible to stay occupied with buying and selling activity after the اذان adhan (call for prayer) of Jumu'ah Salah, similarly, it is also not correct to stay occupied with some chore other than the preparation for the Jumu'ah Sarah, even if it happens to be the ` ibadah of reciting the Qur'an or making nafl salah.

Commentary

In this verse, Allah Ta’ ala has mentioned yet another test of Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) with a simple statement saying that, during this test, some body, or part of it, was put on the throne of Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) . As for what that body was and what its placement on the throne means and how it was a test, these details are not available in the noble Qur'an, nor are they proved from any Sahih Hadith. Therefore, some authentic commentators, for instance, Ibn Kathir seems to incline to the approach that anything the Qur'an has left ambiguous should be left as is, without having to dig into its details. One should simply believe this much that Allah Ta ala had put Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) to some test after which he turned to Allah more than before - and the real purpose of the Qur'an stands accomplished by saying that which has already been said.

Still, some commentators have tried to go after the details of this test, and have come up with several probabilities in this connection. Some of these probabilities happen to have been extracted exclusively from Judaic narrations. For example, the story that secret of the power of Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) was in his ring. On a certain day, the Satan got hold of his ring, and ended up sitting on the throne of Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) as the ruler looking like him. Forty days later, that ring of Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) was retrieved from the belly of a fish. After that, he regained his authority as the ruler once again. This narrative annexed with additional tales appears in several books of Tafsir. But, Hafiz Ibn Kathir, after identifying all such narratives as Judaic reports, writes in his Tafsir:

"There is a group among the people of the Book that does not believe in Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) as a prophet. Therefore, it is obvious, all these false tales have been forged by them" - Tafsir Ibn Kathir, p. 36, v. 4.

Hence, labeling narratives of this nature as being the Tafsir of this Qur'anic verse is not correct by any standard.

There is another event relating to Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) that finds mention in the Sahih of al-Bukhari and elsewhere too. Finding some parts of this event resembling the text of this verse, some commentators have declared it to be the Tafsir of this verse. The gist of the event is that once Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) confided as to when he would go to his wives, each of them would give birth to a boy who will carry out Jihad in the way of Allah. But, while verbalizing his thought, he forgot to say: Insha'Allah (If Allah wills) Allah Ta’ ala did not like this slip coming from his great prophet, and He proved this claim of his as false as only one out of all his wives gave birth to a still child that had one side missing.

Some commentators have applied the anatomy of this event on this verse, and have said that the expression: 'threw or put the body or its part on the throne' means that some attendant of Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) brought this body of the baby, and put it on the throne. Thereupon, Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) got alerted, and he realized that it was the consequence of not saying: Insha'Allah on his part. Accordingly, he turned to Allah and sought forgiveness for this slip.

Discerning commentators like Qadi Abu-s-Sa` ad, ` Allamah 'Alusi and others have followed this Tafsir. Maulana Ashraf Thanavi (رح) has also gone by it in his Tafsir Bayan-ul-Qur'an. But, the reality is that even this event cannot be called the Tafsir of this verse in a certain manner for the reason that no Hadith narration that mentions this event has any indication that the Holy Prophet ﷺ has ever mentioned it as part of his explanation of the verse under study. Even Imam Bukhari (رح) has reported this Hadith in his Kitab-ul-Jihad, Kitab-ul-Anbiya', Kitab-ul-Ayman wa-n-Nudhar and elsewhere with various versions, but he has not mentioned it under the head of the Tafsir of Surah Sad anywhere in his Kitabu-t-Tafsir. In fact, he has reported another narration under the verse: وَهَبْ لِي مُلْكًا (bless me with a kingdom - 38:35) (which follows immediately next to the verse under discussion here) and has not made any mention of this Hadith. This shows that, even in the sight of Imam Bukhari وَهَبْ لِي مُلْكًا ، this particular event is not a Tafsir of the verse under study. Instead, this too, like the several other events relating to the noble prophets described by the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، is a separate event that does not necessarily have to be the Tafsir of one or the other verse.

A third Tafsir is credited to Imam Razi and some others. According to this Tafsir, once Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) became very sick. He grew so weak because of it that, at the time he was brought in to sit on the throne, he gave the impression of a body without the soul. Later, Allah Ta’ ala enabled him to get well. At that time, he turned to Allah, expressed his gratitude before Him, sought His forgiveness - and along with all that, also prayed for an unmatched kingdom for himself in the future.

But, this Tafsir too is simply conjectural. It also does not carry much congruence with the words of the noble Qur'an, and there is no proof for it from any Hadith narration as well.

The reality is that there is no source with us to find out the certain details of the event alluded to in the verse under study - nor are we duty-bound to go about finding it. Therefore, we have zero in our faith on this much that Allah Ta’ ala had put Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) to a certain test after which his passion to return to Allah came out stronger than ever before - and that the real purpose of the Qur'an in mentioning this event is to invite all human beings to turn to Allah like Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) as and when they face any distress or trial. As for the details of the test and trial of Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) ، let these be entrusted with Allah. Allah knows best.

Commentary

It was said in verse 35: هَبْ لِي مُلْكًا لَّا يَنبَغِي لِأَحَدٍ مِّن بَعْدِي (bless me with a kingdom that will not be available to anyone after me.). Some commentators explain the sense of this prayer as 'let not a great kingdom like mine belong to anyone else during my time.' In other words, they take "min ba` di": or 'after me' in the sense of 'other than me.' Maulana Ashraf Thanavi (رح) has done his translation accordingly. But, with most commentators, the sense of the prayer is: 'Even after me, let no one have a kingdom as great as this.' Accordingly, so it happened. The kingdom that Allah Ta ala gave to Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) was a kingdom the like of which never became the lot of anyone else. The reason was simple. The subjugation of the wind and the command over the genre of the Jinn were exclusive traits of his kingdom, and no kingdom that followed him had these characteristics. There are some people who carry out mysterious exercises (amaliyyat) through which they are known to subjugate Jinns, a phenomenon that does not fall contrary to this, because it cannot be compared, in the least, to the subjugation of the jinn Allah had allowed for Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) . Moreover, these experts in amaliyyat are able to make just about one or a few Jinns become obedient to them, but the kind of wide spread kingdom that Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) had was not acquired by anyone.

Praying for office and power

At this place, it should be borne in mind that no prayer made by the noble prophets is made without the will and permission of Allah Ta’ ala. Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) had made this prayer too by the will and permission of Allah Ta’ ala. And since some bland seeking of power was not his aim, rather the driving desire to implement Divine laws and the passion to make truth triumph was behind it - and Allah Ta’ ala knew that once Sayyidna Sulayman (علیہ السلام) had the power, he would work for these very high objectives, and would never entertain negative feelings of office, power and recognition - therefore, he was given the permission to make this prayer, and it was accepted as well. But, common people have been prohibited in Hadith from seeking power following their own initiative. The reason is that such an initiative usually gets to be tainted with the desire for power, influence, money and property. Accordingly, where one has the certitude of being free of such selfish desires and one really would love to see the banner of truth fly high without the least hunger for power hidden anywhere in the recesses of his heart - then, for such a person, praying for power and authority of government is permissible. (Ruh-ul-Ma’ ani etc.)