An-Naml

Tā sīn: God knows best what He means by these [letters]. Those, namely, these signs, are the signs of the Qur’ān, signs from it, and a Manifest Book, manifesting [what is] truth from [what is] falsehood (wa-kitābin, ‘Book’, is a supplement [to al-qur’ān] with the addition of an adjective [mubīn, ‘manifest’]).

It is, a guidance, guiding from error, and good tidings for the believers, who believe in it, of Paradise;

those who observe prayer, performing it in the way that it should be [performed], and give alms and who are certain of the Hereafter, knowing it [to be true] through the [many] proofs thereof (hum, ‘they’, is repeated because a separation has taken place between it [the first hum] and the predicate [yūqinūna]).

Truly those who do not believe in the Hereafter, We have adorned their, vile, deeds for them, by making such [deeds] seem sensuous so that they then deem them wholesome, and so they are bewildered, confused about why We deem these [deeds] to be vile.

Those are they for whom there is an awful chastisement, the worst [chastisement] in this world: being killed or being taken captive; and in the Hereafter they will be the greatest losers, because they will end up in the Fire which has been made everlasting for them.

And truly you — this is an address to the Prophet (s) — are receiving the Qur’ān, it is being transmitted to you intensely, from One Wise, Knowing, in such [transmission].

Mention, when Moses said to his family, [to] his wife, during his journey from Midian [back] to Egypt: ‘Assuredly I notice, I see in the distance, a fire. I will bring you news from there, about the [journey’s] route — for he had lost his way — or bring you a firebrand (read as a genitive annexation [bi-shihābi qabasin] as an explication [of shihāb, ‘flame’]; or read without [annexation, bi-shihābin qabasin] meaning, a flame of fire at the end of a wick or a wooden stick) that perhaps you might warm yourselves’, (tastalūn: the tā’ replaces the tā’ of the [8th verbal form] ifta‘ala [sc. istalā]; it derives from salaya or saliya, ‘to be exposed to the blaze of fire’), [that perhaps] you might warm yourselves from the cold.

But when he reached it, he was called [with the following words]: ‘Blessed is he, that is to say, God bless him, who is in the fire, namely, Moses, and who is around it, namely, the angels — or vice-versa ([the verb] bāraka may be followed immediately by the direct object or by a preposition and then the direct object; [a noun such as] makān, ‘location’, is implied after fī, ‘in’, [sc. man fī makāni’l-nār, ‘who is in the area of the fire’]); and Glory be to God, the Lord of the Worlds — this is included in the call, and is meant to declare that God is above all evil [associations].

O Moses, lo!, in other words, the fact is that, it is I, God, the Mighty, the Wise.

Throw down your staff’, and he threw it down. And when he saw it wriggling, moving, like a serpent, a slender snake, he turned his back in flight and did not come back. God, exalted be He, says: ‘O Moses, do not fear, it. Surely in My presence, before Me, the messengers do not fear, any snake or otherwise,

except him who has wronged, his soul, but then changed [his wrong] for good — he [then] performs [good deeds] — after [having done] evil, in other words, [he has] repented, then truly I am Forgiving, Merciful, I will accept his repentance and forgive him.

And insert your hand into your bosom, into the collar of your shirt, and it will emerge, not in its usual skin colour, but, white without any blemish, any [vestige of] leprosy, with a glare that dazzles the eyes, as one sign, among nine signs, with which you shall be sent [as God’s messenger], to Pharaoh and his folk; indeed they are an immoral lot’ .

But when Our signs came to them plain to see, illuminating and clear, they said, ‘This is manifest sorcery’, clear and evident [sorcery].

And they denied them, they did not affirm them, though, in reality, their souls had been convinced, in other words, [though] they were certain that these [signs] were from God, wrongfully and arrogantly, in defiance of believing in what Moses had brought ([these two adverbs] refer back to [the cause of] their denial). So behold, O Muhammad (s), how was the sequel for the agents of corruption, [a sequel] which you know: they were destroyed.

And verily We gave David and Solomon, his son, knowledge, of rendering [decisive] judgement between people, and [knowledge] of the speech of birds and of other things, and they said, giving thanks to God, ‘Praise be to God Who has favoured us, with prophethood and the disposal of jinn, humans and devils [to our service], over many of His believing servants’.

And Solomon inherited from David, prophethood and knowledge exclusively from among all his other children; and he said, ‘O people, we have been taught the speech of the birds, that is, the ability to understand their sounds, and we have been given of all things, given to prophets and kings. Indeed this, gift, is the manifest, the evident, favour’.

And, on one journey, Solomon’s hosts of jinn and humans and birds stood assembled for him as they were being arrayed, brought together [in groups] and marshalled.

When they came to the Valley of the Ants — which is [located] either in Tā’if or in Syria, and whose ants are either small or large — an ant, the queen ant, who had seen Solomon’s hosts, said, ‘O ants, enter your dwellings, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you while they are unaware!’ — the ants are likened to rational beings in their use of the latter’s speech.

Whereat he, Solomon, smiled (fa-tabassama, the beginning [of the sentence]) amused (dāhikan, the end [of the sentence]) at its words, which he had heard from three miles away and which was carried to him by the winds. When he was on the verge of [entering] their valley, he [Solomon] made his hosts halt until they [the ants] had entered their dwellings — on this journey his hosts consisted of cavalry and infantry. And he said, ‘My Lord, inspire me to be thankful for Your grace with which You have favoured me and my parents, and to do good that will please You, and include me, by Your mercy, among Your righteous servants’, the prophets and saints.

And he reviewed the birds, to see the hoopoe — which would locate water beneath the ground and indicate its location by pecking at it, whereupon the devils would extract it, for Solomon required it for when he prayed; but he could not see him — then he said, ‘Why is it that I do not see the hoopoe?, in other words, is there something preventing me from seeing him? Or is he among the absent?, and so I cannot see him because he is absent?’ And when he became certain [of the hoopoe’s absence],

He said, ‘Assuredly I will chastise him with a severe chastisement, by having [all] his feathers as well as his tail plucked and leaving him out in the sun, where he would not be able to escape from reptiles, or I will slaughter him, by slitting his throat, unless he brings me (read la-ya’tiyannī or la-ya’tinannī) a clear warrant’, plain manifest proof for his [having a valid] excuse.

But he did not remain (read fa-makutha or fa-makatha) long [in absence], in other words, [he was away only] for a short while, and came to Solomon humbly, with his head up and his wings and tail lowered. Solomon pardoned him and asked him about what he had encountered during his absence: and he said, ‘I have discovered something of which you have no knowledge, and I have brought you from Sheba (this may be read in declined form [min Saba’in] or left as indeclinable [min Saba’a]) — a tribe in Yemen, whose name is taken from the name of one of their ancestors (which is also the reason why it may be declined) — a verified report.

I found a woman ruling over them, in other words, she was their queen, her name Bilqīs; and she has been given [an abundance] of all things, that kings might require, in the way of machines and instruments, and she possesses a great throne — its length was 80 cubits, its width 40 cubits, its height 30 cubits, and was made of gold and silver, encrusted with pearls, rubies, chrysolite, and emeralds, with its legs made of rubies, chrysolite and emeralds, containing seven [inner] doors, the door of each chamber shut.

I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of God, and Satan has adorned for them their deeds and he has barred them from the Way, from the path of truth, so that they are not guided

to prostrate themselves to God (allā yasjudū should be read as an yasjudū: the lā is extra and with it has been assimilated the nūn of an, similar to [the construction] where God says, li-allā ya‘lama ahlu’l-kitābi, so that the People of the Scripture may know [Q. 57:29]; the sentence functions as the direct object of yahtadūna, ‘guided’, whose ilā, ‘to’, has been omitted); [He] Who brings forth the hidden (al-khab’ is a verbal noun, with the same meaning as al-makhbū’, ‘that which is hidden’) of rain and plants, in the heavens and the earth, and He knows what they conceal, within their hearts, and what they proclaim, with their tongues.

God — there is no god except Him, the Lord of the Mighty Throne’ (this clause constitutes an [independent] new sentence, which is a eulogy comprising [praise of] the Throne of the Compassionate One to counter the [description of the] throne of Bilqīs: between the two, however, is an unfathomable difference).

He, Solomon, said, to the hoopoe: ‘We shall see whether you have spoken the truth, in what you have informed us, or whether you are of the liars, that is, of their ilk — for [to say] that is rhetorically more powerful than [simply] saying ‘or whether you have lied’. He [the hoopoe] indicated to them the place of the water and it was extracted. They thus drank, performed their ablutions and prayed. Solomon then composed a letter in the following form: ‘From the servant of God, Solomon son of David, to Bilqīs, Queen of Sheba. In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful: Peace be upon those who follow Guidance. To wit: do not rise up against me [in defiance], but come to me in submission’. He then stamped it with musk and sealed it with his ring, and said to the hoopoe:

Take this letter of mine and deliver it to them, that is, to Bilqīs and her people, then turn away, withdraw, from them, but remain close by them, and see what [response] they shall return’, [and see] what kind of response they shall give. Thus, he took it and approached her [Bilqīs]. But as her soldiers were all around her, he cast it into her private chamber. When she saw it, she shuddered and was consumed by fear. She read what it said.

Then, she said, to the noblemen of her people: ‘O [members of the] council, lo! (read yā ayyuhā’l-mala’u innī, pronouncing [in the last two words] both hamzas; or by not pronouncing the second one and changing it into a wāw with kasra vowelling) a noble, a sealed, letter has been delivered to me.

It is from Solomon and lo! it is, in other words, its text says: “In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Do not rise up against me [in defiance], but come to me in submission”’.

She said, ‘O [members of the] council, give me an opinion (read yā ayyuhā’l-mala’u aftūnī, pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second and changing it into a wāw), in other words, guide me, in this matter of mine. I never decide on a matter, I never conclude it, until you are present’.

They said, ‘We possess force and we possess great might, in other words, we are hardy in war. The matter is for you [to decide]. So see what you will command’, us, and we will obey you.

She said, ‘Indeed kings, when they enter a town, ruin it, with destruction, and reduce the mightiest of its inhabitants to the most abased. That is what they too will do, namely, the senders of this letter.

Now I will send them a gift and wait to see with what [response] the envoys return’, in the way of accepting the gift or rejecting it. If it be a king [to whom we have sent it], he will accept it; but if it be a prophet, he will reject it. Thus, she sent male and female servants, one thousand in total, together with five hundred bricks of gold, a crown studded with jewels, and musk, ambergris and other things with an envoy carrying a letter. The hoopoe thus hurried back to bring the news to Solomon, who ordered bricks of gold and silver to be made and laid out across a [vast] square the distance of nine parasangs from his seat and for a towering wall of gold and silver to be constructed around it, and for the most splendid creatures of the land and the sea, together with the children of the jinn, to be brought to line the right and left sides of the square.

But when he, the envoy, came to Solomon, with the gift and the servants, he said, ‘Are you supplying me with wealth? What God has given me, of prophethood and kingship, is better than what He has given you, of [the things of] this world. Nay, but it is you [and not I] who exult in your gift, for you pride yourselves upon [the possession of] the ornaments of this world!

Go back to them, with the gifts that you have brought, for We shall assuredly come to them with hosts which they will not be able to face and we shall expel them from there, from the land of Sheba (Saba’) — named [thus] after their tribal ancestor — humiliated, and they shall be utterly abased’, unless they come to me in submission. When the envoy returned to her with the gift, she had her throne placed inside seven doors inside her palace, with her palace inside seven palaces, and had all the doors locked with guards at them. She then prepared to make the journey to Solomon to see what he would command her. She departed with twelve thousand chieftains (qayl), each accompanied by thousands [of men] until when she came to within a parasang of him, he sensed her [arrival].

He said, ‘O [members of the] council, which of you (regarding the two hamzas read them in the way mentioned above [verse 32]) will bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?’, compliant and obedient? For I may only [rightfully] seize it before this [submission] and not afterwards.

An afreet from among the jinn — a [jinn who is] powerful and stalwart — said, ‘I will bring it to you before you rise from your place, the one in which you sit when adjudicating — the period from morning to midday. Indeed I have the strength for it, that is, for carrying it, and I am trustworthy’, over what it may contain of jewels and other [precious] things. Solomon said, ‘I want something faster than that!’

The one who had knowledge of the, revealed, Scripture — and this was [one] Āsif b. Barkhiyā, a righteous individual with knowledge of God’s Greatest Name, which when invoked [in supplication] for something it is [immediately] granted — said: ‘I will bring it to you before your glance returns to you, after you look at something. So he [the afreet] said to him, ‘Look up towards the heaven’, which he did, and when his glance returned [in front of him] he found it [Bilqīs’ throne] placed before him — for in the instance in which Solomon looked up to the heaven, Āsif supplicated by invoking the Greatest Name that God bring it [thereto]; and this was done by having it travel under the earth until it sprung up below Solomon’s seat (kursī). Then, when he saw it standing, still, before him, he said, ‘This, bringing it to me, is of my Lord’s bounty, that He may try me, test me, whether I give thanks (read a-ashkur, pronouncing both hamzas; or by replacing the second one with an alif; or by not pronouncing the second one, but inserting an alif between the one not pronounced and the other one or without [the insertion]) or am ungrateful, for the favour. And whoever gives thanks, gives thanks only for his own sake, because the reward for his thanks shall be his, and whoever is ungrateful, for the favour, [should know] then my Lord is surely Independent, with no need of his thanks, Generous’, by being bounteous to those who are ungrateful for it.

He said, ‘Disguise her throne for her — in other words, transform it such that when she sees it, it will be in an unrecognisable form — that we may see whether she will be guided, to recognising it, or be of those who cannot be guided’, to recognise when things are transformed around them. He [Solomon] sought thereby to test her mind, for it was said to have something wrong with it. Thus they transformed it by adding or taking away [certain things] and in other ways.

So when she came, it was said, to her: ‘Is your throne like this?’ She said, ‘It as though it is the one’. She had, in fact, recognised it; but she made a pretence to them just as they made a pretence to her, given that [when she was asked about the throne] it was not said, ‘Is this your throne?’, for had it been so, she would have replied, ‘Yes, it is’. When Solomon realised that she was perceptive and knowledgeable, he said: ‘And we were given the knowledge before her and we had submitted [to God].

And what she worshipped besides God, that is, other than Him, barred her, from the worship of God, for she belonged to disbelieving folk’.

It was, also, said to her, ‘Enter the palace [hallway]’ — this was a transparent white glass floor underneath which flowed sweet water that contained fish. Solomon had it made when he was told that her legs and feet resembled the shanks of a mule. And when she saw it, she supposed it to be a pool, of water, and so she bared her legs, to wade through it. Meanwhile Solomon was seated on his throne at the front part of the palace [hallway], and he saw that her legs and feet were [in fact] fair. He said, to her: ‘It is a hallway paved [smooth] with crystal’, and thereafter he called her to submit [to God]. She said, ‘My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, by worshipping other than You, and I submit with Solomon to God, the Lord of the Worlds’. He wanted to marry her but disliked the hair on her legs. So the devils made a [depilatory] lime mixture (nūra) and she removed it therewith. He married her and had [great] love for her. And he let her remain as ruler of her kingdom and would visit her once a month, staying for three days [every time]. Her reign came to an end at the same time as that of Solomon. It is reported that he became king at the age of 13 and died at the age of 53 — Glory be to the One whose enduring sovereignty will never end!

And verily We sent to Thamūd their brother, in terms of [his belonging to the same] tribe, Sālih, with the following [decree]: ‘Worship God!’, affirm His Oneness. And lo! they [then] became two parties quarrelling with one another, over religion, one party having become believers upon his arrival as messenger to them and the other party disbelievers.

He said, to the deniers: ‘O my people, why do you [seek to] hasten on evil before [seeking] good?, in other words, [why do you seek to hasten on] chastisement instead of mercy, when you say, ‘If what you bring us is true, then bring us the chastisement!’ Why do you not ask God to forgive you, [your] idolatry, so that you might be shown mercy?’, and not be chastised.

They said, ‘We augur evil (ittayyarnā is actually tatayyarnā, but the tā’ has been assimilated with the tā’, and a conjunctive hamza added) of you and of those who are with you’, namely, the believers — when they [the tribe of Thamūd] were deprived of rain and suffered hunger. He said, ‘Your evil augury is with God — He has given it to you; nay, but you are a people being tried’, being tested with good and evil [turns of fortune].

And there were in the city, the city of Thamūd, a band of nine men, that is, [nine] men, who were causing corruption in the land, with acts of disobedience, which included their corroding of dinar and dirham coins [rendering them worthless], and did not reform [their ways], through obedience [to God].

They said, that is, some said to others, ‘Swear to one another by God that we will attack him by night (la-nubayyitannahu; or [read] la-tubayyitunnahu, ‘that you will attack him by night’) together with his folk, that is, those who believed in him, in other words, [swear] that we will kill them at night; then we will surely say (la-naqūlanna; or [read] la-taqūlunna, ‘you surely will say’) to his heir, the avenger of his blood, that we did not witness, we were not present at, the destruction of his folk (read muhlika or mahlika, meaning ‘the destroying of them’ or ‘their death’ [respectively]), and so we do not know who killed them, and [that] indeed we are being truthful’.

So they plotted, thereby, a plot, but We [also] plotted a plot, in other words, We requited them by hastening on their punishment, while they were not aware.

So behold how was the consequence of their plot! For lo! We destroyed them and all their people, with Gabriel’s cry, or by the angels’ pelting them with stones, which they could see even though they could not see them [the angels].

So those then are their houses [lying] deserted (khāwiyatan is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier, the operator of which is the import of the demonstrative pronoun [tilka, ‘those’]) because of the evil which they did, that is, their disbelief. Surely in that there is a sign, a lesson, for a people who have knowledge, of Our power and are thus admonished.

And We delivered those who believed, in Sālih — and they numbered 4,000 — and were fearful, of idolatry.

And Lot (Lūtan is in the accusative because of an implied udhkur, ‘mention’, before it, and it [Lūtan] is substituted by [the following, idh qāla …]), when he said to his people, ‘What! Do you commit [such] abomination, namely, homosexual intercourse, while you watch?, that is to say, while you watch one another, [so] engrossed [are you] in the sinful act?

What! Do you (read a-innakum, pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second and inserting an alif between the two in both cases) come unto men in lust instead of women? Nay, but you are truly a people in ignorance’, of the consequence of your action.

But the only response of his people was that they said, ‘Expel Lot’s family from your town. They are indeed a folk who [prefer to] remain pure!’, from [coming unto] the rears of men.

So We delivered him and his family, except his wife — We decreed [for] her, We made her by Our decree, to be of those who remained behind, in the chastisement.

Then We rained on them a rain — these were the stones of baked mud [cf. Q. 15:74] — which destroyed them. And evil indeed was, their rain, the rain of those who were warned, against chastisement.

Say, O Muhammad (s): ‘Praise be to God, for the destruction of the disbelievers of past communities, and peace be on His servants whom He has chosen’. Is God (read a-Allāhu, pronouncing both hamzas; or by substituting an alif for the second one; or by not pronouncing the second one but inserting an alif between the one not pronounced and the other one or without [such an insertion]) better, for those who worship Him, or the partners which they ascribe? (read [either] tushrikūna, ‘you ascribe’, or yushrikūna, ‘they ascribe’), [they being] the people of Mecca, [the partners they ascribe] to Him, in other words, are such gods better for those who worship them?

Or He Who created the heavens and the earth, and sends down for you water from the heaven, whereby We cause to grow (there is a shift here from third person to that of the first person [plural]) splendid gardens (hadā’iq is the plural of hadīqa, which is an enclosed garden) whose trees you could never cause to grow?, because of you do not have the ability for it. Is there a god (a-ilāhun, here and in the seven instances in which it occurs, read by pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second, inserting an alif between the two in both cases) with God?, who has helped Him in [all of] this? In other words, there is no god with Him. Nay, but they are a people who ascribe equals [to Him], who associate with God others.

Or He Who made the earth an abode [of stability], that does not [constantly] shake beneath [the feet of] its inhabitants, and made rivers [to flow] throughout it and set firm mountains for it, with which He fixed the earth [in place], and set an isthmus between the two seas, between the sweet one and the salty one, the one not mixing with the other. Is there a god with God? Nay, but most of them have no knowledge, of His Oneness.

Or He Who answers the desperate one, the anguished person suffering harm, when he calls to Him and Who removes [his] distress, from him and from others, and makes you successors in the earth (the annexation [khulafā’a l-ardi, ‘successors of the earth’] has the same meaning as fī, ‘in’ [khulafā’a fī’l-ardi, ‘successors in the earth’]), in other words, each generation succeeding the one before it. Is there a god with God? Little do you remember, [little] are you admonished ([read] mā tadhakkarūna, ‘do you remember’; or [read] yadhdhakkarūna, ‘do they remember’, where [in both cases] the tā’ has been assimilated with the dhāl; the mā is extra, [used] to make less what is already ‘little’).

Or He Who guides you, shows you the way to your destinations, in the darkness of the land and the sea, by the stars at night, and by [the various] landmarks during the day, and Who sends forth the winds as harbingers of His mercy, ahead of the rain. Is there a god with God? Exalted be God [high] above what, others, they associate, with Him!

Or He Who originates creation, in the wombs, from a sperm-drop, then brings it back again, after death, as established by the proofs for this [resurrection], even if you do not acknowledge it; and Who provides for you from the heaven, rain, and [from] the earth, vegetation. Is there a god with God? In other words, none of the things mentioned is done by anyone other than God, and there is no god with Him. Say, O Muhammad (s): ‘Produce your proof, your definitive argument, if you are truthful’, about their being a god with Me who has done any of the things mentioned.

They [the disbelievers] also asked him when the Hour will come to pass, and the following was revealed: Say: ‘No one in the heavens or the earth knows, be it angels or human beings, the Unseen, namely, what is hidden from them, except God, He knows it, and they are not aware, the disbelievers of Mecca, like others, when, is the time in which, they will be resurrected.

Nay, has their knowledge come to comprise (read adraka, similar to the [4th verbal] form akrama, ‘he was kind to’; a variant reading has iddāraka, which is actually tadāraka, with the tā’ changed into a dāl and assimilated with the [other] dāl, and a conjunctive hamza added, meaning, ‘attained’ or ‘caught up with’) the Hereafter?, such that they [have reason to] ask about the time of its coming — not so: Nay, for they are in doubt of it. Rather they are blind to it (‘amūna, ‘blind’, as in blindness of the heart; this [statement] is rhetorically more powerful than the preceding one; the origin [of the term] is ‘amiyūn, but the damma vowel is deemed too heavy for the yā’ and has been moved to the mīm, after dropping its kasra vowel).