An-Naml

Ta Sin. These are the verses of the Qur’ān and a clear book. The discussion on similar letters has passed in the beginning of Sūrah Al-Baqarah. These verses which are revealed to you are verses of the Qur’ān and a clear book in which there is no confusion. Whoever ponders upon it will know that it is from Allah.

These verses guide to the truth and direct towards it, and give glad-tidings to those who bring faith in Allah and His Messengers.

Those who perform prayer in the most complete manner and give Zakat of their wealth by spending it on its recipients, and they are convinced of the reward and punishment in the afterlife.

The disbelievers who do not bring faith in the afterlife and the reward and punishment therein - I adorned their bad deeds for them so they continued in doing them, thus they are confused without finding their way towards what is right or guidance.

Such people will suffer in the worldly life through trials and humiliation and in the Hereafter they suffer the greatest loss, losing themselves and their families on the Day of Judgement and entering Hell forever.

O Messenger, you are receiving this Qur’ān which is being revealed to you from one who is Wise in His creating, managing and legislating, and Knowing, with nothing of the interests of His servants being hidden from Him.

Remember, O Messenger, when Moses said to his family: “I have seen a fire. I shall bring some news from it, from the person who lit it to guide us towards the path, or I shall I bring you a flame of fire taken from it, in the hope that you will light a fire from it to warm yourselves from the cold”.

Then when he reached the place of the fire that he saw, Allah called unto him that the one in the fire and the angels surrounding it are blessed.

Allah said to him: “O Moses, it is I, Allah, the Mighty whom nobody can overpower, Wise in My creating, managing and legislating.

And throw down your staff”. Moses obeyed. Then when Moses saw it moving and shaking like a snake, he fled turning his back to it and did not return. So Allah said to him: “Do not be scared of it. The Messengers do not fear snakes or anything else in my presence.

However, whoever wrongs himself by committing a sin, then repents after that, I am Forgiving to him, Merciful to him.

And put your hand in the opening of your shirt; it will come out after entering it white like snow without being due to leprosy, as part of nine signs which testify to your truthfulness. Along with the hand, they are: the staff, famine, loss of fruits, floods, locusts, lice, frogs, and blood, towards Pharaoh and his people. They were a people left the obedience of Allah by disbelieving in him.

So when these clear and apparent signs of Mine with which I aided Moses came to them, they said: “These signs which Moses has brought are clear magic”.

They disbelieved in these miracles and did not accept them, despite being convinced they are from Allah, due to their wrongdoing and their arrogance from the truth. So contemplate, O Messenger, how was the outcome of those who cause corruption on earth, due to their disbelief and disobedience; I destroyed them and eradicated all of them.

I granted David and his son Solomon knowledge, part of which was the language of birds. David and Solomon said, in gratitude to Allah: “All praise is for Allah who has given us virtue over many of his believing servants, through prophethood and subjugating the jinns”.

And Solomon inherited from his father in prophethood, knowledge and kingdom, and he said, relating Allah’s favour on him and his father: “O people, Allah has taught us the language of birds and given us of everything He gave to the prophets and kings. This which He has given us is the clear, apparent grace”.

And for Solomon his armies of men, jinns and birds were gathered, and they were being led orderly.

They were being led until when they came to the valley of ants (a place in the Levant), one of the ants said: “O ants, enter your homes so that Solomon and his armies do not destroy you whilst they do not know of you, because if they know of you they will not trample you”.

When Solomon heard it saying this, he smiled due to this statement of his and he said, calling unto his Lord: “O Lord, enable me and inspire me to be grateful for Your favour which You gave to me and My parents, and enable me to do good actions which please you, and enter me amongst Your righteous servants”.

And Solomon took attendance of the birds but did not see the hoopoe, so he said: “What is with me that I do not see the hoopoe? Has something stopped me seeing it or is it from the absentees?”

He said when its absence became clear to him: “I shall punish it severely, or I shall slaughter it as a punishment for being absent, unless it brings a clear proof to prove its excuse for absence”.

The hoopoe remained absent for a short while. Then when it came, it said to Solomon (peace be upon him): “I discovered what you did not discover, and I have brought to you from Sheba true news in which there is no doubt.

Indeed, I found [there] a woman ruling them, and she has been given of all things, and she has a great throne. I found a woman who rules them, and this woman has been given of all means of strength and kingdom, and she has a large throne on which she manages the affairs of her people.

I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allah, and Satan has made their deeds pleasing to them and averted them from [His] way, so they are not guided. I found this woman and I found her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allah, and Satan has beautified for them the actions of idolatry and sins they are on, so he has turned them away from the path of truth, and thus they are not guided to Him.

[And] so they do not prostrate to Allah, who brings forth what is hidden within the heavens and the earth and knows what you conceal and what you declare. Satan has beautified for them their actions of idolatry and sins, so that they do not prostrate to Allah alone, who brings the rain which He has hidden in the skies and the plants in the earth, and He knows the actions you hide and those you make apparent, none of this being hidden from Him.

Allah - there is no deity except Him, Lord of the Great Throne. Allah - there is no true god besides, Lord of the Great Throne”.

[Solomon] said, "I will see whether you were truthful or were of the liars. Solomon (peace be upon him) said to the hoopoe: “I shall see if you are truthful in what you claim or were you amongst the liars”.

Take this letter of mine and deliver it to them. Then leave them and see what [answer] they will return." So Solomon wrote a letter and handed it to the hoopoe, and said to it: “Take this letter of mine, and give it to the people of Saba and hand it over to them, and step aside from them so you can hear what they say discuss regarding it”.

She said, "O eminent ones, indeed, to me has been delivered a noble letter. The queen received the letter and said: “O noble ones, a noble magnificent letter has been given to me.

Indeed, it is from Solomon, and Indeed, it reads: 'In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. The content of this letter which has been sent by Solomon and which begins with: “In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.” is:

Be not haughty with me but come to me in submission [as Muslims].' " Do not be arrogant, and come to me obediently and submitting to what I call you towards, namely declaring Allah’s Oneness and leaving associating partners with Him which you are involved in, as you worshipped the sun alongside Him”.

She said, "O eminent ones, advise me in my affair. I would not decide a matter until you witness [for] me." The queen said: “O noble ones and leaders, explain to me the right course in my matter. I am not going to decide a matter until you come to me and present your opinions regarding it”.

They said, "we are men of strength and of great military might, but the command is yours, so see what you will command." The nobles from her people said: “We are people of great power and strong might in warfare, but the opinion is what you think, so see what you will command us to do; we are able to carry it out”.

She said, "Indeed, kings - when they enter a city, they ruin it and render the honored of its people humbled. And thus do they do. The queen said: “When kings enter any city, they ruin it by the killing, seizing and looting they carry out, and they make its leaders and nobles disgraced, after the honour and protection they enjoyed. And this is how kings always behave when they conquer the people of a city, to plant the seeds of fear and awe in the hearts of the masses.”

But indeed, I will send to them a gift and see with what [reply] the Messengers will return." I am sending a gift to the sender of the letter and his people, and I shall see what the messengers bring after sending this gift”.

So when her messenger and his helpers who were with him came carrying the present to Solomon, he criticised them for sending the present, saying: “Are you providing me with wealth to turn me away from you? The prophethood, kingdom and wealth Allah has given me is better than what He has given you. In fact, it is you who are rejoicing on the short-term riches of the world you have been given”.

Solomon (peace be upon him) said to her messenger: “Return to them with the present you brought, for we will come to her and her people with armies they will not have the power to face, and we will remove them from Sheba disgracefully after the honour they were in, if they do not come to me obediently”.

Solomon (peace be upon him) said, addressing the prominent people of his kingdom: “O eminent ones, which one of you will bring me her royal throne before they come to me obediently?”

A rebellious jinn replied saying: “I shall bring her throne to you before you stand from the gathering you are in. I am strong enough to carry it, and can be trusted on what it contains, so I will not take anything of it”.

A pious knowledgeable man in the presence of Solomon who had knowledge of the scripture, part of which was the greatest name of Allah which Allah accepts prayers when supplicated through, said: “I shall bring her throne to you before your glance returns to you, by praying to Allah to bring it”. So he prayed, and Allah answered his prayer. When Solomon saw her throne placed before him, he said: “This is from the grace of my Lord, to test me whether I am grateful for his favours or ungrateful? Whoever is grateful to Allah, the benefit of his gratefulness will only return to him, because Allah is self sufficient, in no need of anything, is not benefitted or harmed by the gratefulness of His servants. And whoever rejects the favours of Allah and does not thank Him for them, my Lord is self-sufficient, in no need of being shown gratitude, and Generous. Part of His generosity is granting those who deny them”.

Solomon (peace be upon him) said: “Change her royal throne from its original form: we shall see: is she guided to recognising it is her throne or will she be from those who are not guided to recognising their own things?”

So when the queen of Sheba came to Solomon, it was said to her to test her: “Is this how your throne is?” She answered according to the question: “It is as though it was that”. Allah has granted us knowledge before her and we were submitting to Allah’s order and obeying Him.

And she was turned away from the Oneness of Allah by what she used to worship besides Allah, in following her people and blindly imitating them. She was amongst the people who disbelieve in Allah, so she was a disbeliever like them.

It was said to her: “Enter the palace” which was like a plane surface. When she entered it, she thought it was water and uncovered her shins to enter it. Solomon (peace be upon him) said: “It is a palace which has been made smooth with glass”. He called her to Islam, so she accepted what he called her towards, saying: “O Lord, I wronged myself by worshipping others besides You, and I have submitted with Solomon to Allah, Lord of all created things”.

And I sent toThamud their brother in lineage Salih (peace be upon him) saying “Worship Allah alone”, but they became two groups after his calling them: a believing group and the other disbelieving, arguing over who is on the truth.

Salih (peace be upon him) said: “why do you seek to hasten the punishment instead of seeking Allah's mercy? Why do you not seek forgiveness from Allah for your sins, in the hope that he will forgive you?”

His people said to him, in stubbornness from the truth: “I consider you and the believers with you a bad omen”. Salih (peace be upon him) said: “The birds that you drive away due to the difficulties that which has afflicted you from what you dislike and you attribute as a bad omen is actually decreed from Allah and He has knowledge of that.

And in the city of Hijr there were nine men who would cause corruption on earth through disbelief and sins, and they would not reform in it through faith and good actions.

They said to one another: “Each one of you should swear by Allah that we will go to him and the believers with him at night, then we will kill them and then say to the one responsible for avenging his blood: ‘We were not present at the murder of Salih or the murder of his followers, and we are truthful in what we have said’”.

And they secretly made a plan to destroy Salih and his followers amongst the believers, and I also made a plan to help him, save him from their plan and to destroy the disbelievers from his people, whilst they did not know that.

So contemplate, O Messenger, what was the outcome and end of their planning and scheming; did they achieve what they were intending? No. In fact, I totally uprooted them with a punishment from Myself so they were all destroyed.

So those are their homes whose walls have fallen on their roofs, and they have remained empty of inhabitants, due to their wrongdoing. In the punishment which has afflicted them due to their wrongdoing is a lesson for people who believe, as they are the ones who take lessons from the signs.

And I saved those who believed from the people of Salih (peace be upon him), and they used to be mindful of Allah by carrying out His orders and refraining from His prohibitions.

O Messenger, remember Lot when he said to his people, reprimanding them and criticising them: “Do you come to the indecent act, which is sodomy in your meetings, openly watching one another?

Do you come to men lustfully, leaving the women, not intending chastity or children but only to fulfil animalistic lust? But rather you are a people ignorant of what is necessary upon you, namely faith, purity and staying far from sins”.

But his people did not have an answer besides their saying: “Remove the family of Lot from your city. They are a people who want to stay pure from dirt and impurity”. They said this to mock the family of Lot who would not join them in the immoral acts they used to commit, but rather they would condemn them for committing them.

So we saved him and his family, except for his wife, who was decreed to be from those who remained behind for the punishment, so she may be from those who were destroyed.

And I rained stones of baked clay on the people of Lot. Dreadful is the rain of those who have been warned such as the people of Lot who did not respond to him, and in fact remained on their disbelief, misguidance and committing immorality.

O Messenger, say: “All praise is for Allah for his favours, and peace from him on His Messengers whom He chose to convey His religion”. Is Allah, the true god in whose Hand is the kingdom of everything, better or the gods which the idolaters worship, which do not possess benefit or harm?

Is He not best who created the heavens and the earth without any precedent, and He sent down for you, O people, rainwater from the sky, then He grew for you gardens of beauty? It was not for you to grow the trees of these gardens, due to your being unable to do that. So it is Allah who grew them. Is there any true god alongside Allah? No, but rather they are a people who turn away from the truth, so they unjustly make the creation equal with the Creator.

Is He not best who made the earth firm and still, without it shaking those on it, and made within it rivers that flow, and made for it firm mountains, and made between two seas, salty and sweet, a barrier which stops the salty mixing with the sweet so that it does not spoil it and then making it unsuitable for drinking? Is there a true god alongside Allah who can make all that happen? No, but most of them do not know. Had they known, they would not have associated any of Allah’s creation with Him as a partner.

Is He not best who responds to the call of the distressed when he calls upon Him, seeking for his harm to be removed, and who removes what the human finds bad such as illness and poverty, and who makes you deputies on earth, succeeding one another generation after generation? Is there a true god alongside Allah who makes all that happen? No. Little do you take heed and consider.

Is He not best who guides you in the darkness of the land and the darkness of the sea through the signs and stars He fixes for you, and who sends winds to give good news of close rainfall through which He will have mercy on His servants? Is there a true god alongside Allah who makes all that happen and decrees it? Allah is purified and far removed from the partners the creation associate with Him

Is He not best who begins the creation in the wombs, stage after stage, then He will restore it after He gives it death, and who provides you from the sky with water that descends from its direction, and who provides you from the earth with plants He makes grow therein? Is there a true god alongside Allah who makes all that happen and decrees it? Say - O Messenger, to these idolaters: “Bring your proofs for the idolatry you are on, if you are true in your claim that you are on the truth”.

O Messenger, say: The Ghaib is not known by the angels in the heavens or the people on earth. However Allah alone is the one who knows it. And nobody in the heavens or the earth knows when they will be raised for recompense besides Allah.

But rather their knowledge in the afterlife will become complete, due to their seeing it with their own eyes after the Messengers used to inform them of it when it was unseen, but they used to deny it because they had not seen it. And they were in doubt and confusion regarding the afterlife in their worldly life, for their eyes and hearts had become blind towards it.

Those who disbelieved said denyingly: “When we die and become dust, is it possible we will be raised alive?

We were promised and our fathers were promised before that we will all be raised, but we have not seen that promise come true. This promise we were all made is nothing but lies of the former people who recorded them in their books”.

O Messenger! Say to these deniers of the resurrection: “Travel in any direction on earth, then ponder over what was the outcome of the evildoers who denied the resurrection; I destroyed them due to their denying it”.

Do not grieve due to the idolaters turning away from your call nor should your bosom become tight or should you worry due to their scheming against you, for Allah is with you and He will help you against them.

The disbelievers amongst your people who deny the resurrection say: “When will the punishment you and the believers promise us occur, if you are true in what you claim of that?”

O Messenger, say to them: “Perhaps some of the punishment you are hastily seeking has already come near”.

And your Lord, O Messenger, is graceful towards the people, as He is leaving punishing them quickly despite the disbelief and sins they are upon. However, most people do not thank Allah for the favours He gives them.

And your Lord knows what the hearts of His servants hide and what they make apparent. None of that is hidden from Him.

And there is nothing hidden from the people in the sky nor anything hidden from them on earth except that it is in a clear book, which is the Preserved Tablet.

This Qur’ān which was revealed to Muhammad (peace be upon him) relates to the Israelites most of what they differ in, and it exposes their deviances.

And it is a guidance and mercy for the believers who practice what it has brought.

O Messenger, your Lord will decide between the people, believers and disbelievers, on the day of judgment through His just judgment. He will have mercy on the believer and punish the disbeliever, and He is the Mighty who will take retribution from His enemies, with nobody to overpower Him, the Knowing to whom the truthful is not unclear from the liar.

So trust in Allah, and rely on Him in all your affairs. You are on the clear truth.

O Messenger, you cannot make the dead whose hearts have died to their disbelief in Allah hear, nor can you make those who have lost their hearing hear what you are calling them towards when they return turning away from you.

And you are not one to guide those whose eyes are blind to the truth, so do not grieve over them and tire yourself. Only those will listen to your call who believe in our verses, because they submit to the orders of Allah.

When the punishment becomes binding and established for them, due to their disbelief and sins, and the worst of people remain, I shall take out for them near to the Final Hour one of its greatest signs, which is a creature from the earth which will speak to them with what they understand that the people did not believe My verses which were revealed to My Prophet.

O Messenger, remember the day I shall gather from each of the nations a group from amongst them the leaders who used to disbelieve in our ayaat, so they can precede their followers to the fire...the first group will be held until the last group of leaders are gathered and then they will be led to the reckoning.