And certainly We tried Solomon, and We
put on his throne a (mere) body, and so he turned (to Allah). He said: My Lord,
forgive me and grant me a kingdom which is not fit for anyone after me. Surely
Thou art the Great Giver. (Qur’an, Sad, 38:34-5)
His Commentary:
By the mere body that was put on his
throne is meant either his son Rehoboam, who lost the allegiance of all except
a single tribe of Israel (1 Kings 12:17), or Jeroboam, who led the revolt
against the house of David, and, on becoming king of ten tribes, set up
image-worship in Dan and Beth-el, the two calves being supposed to be images of
Jehovah (1 Kings 12:28), and also began the worship of molten images (1 Kings
14:9). Thus both Rehoboam and Jeroboam answer the description of a body
(without real life) thrown on Solomon’s throne.
The previous verse speaks of the
imbecile heir-apparent to Solomon’s throne. Hence we find Solomon praying here for
a spiritual kingdom, for that is the only kingdom which is not in danger of
being spoiled by an heir. The glory of Solomon’s temporal kingdom was not
maintained after his death; nor has a king like Solomon appeared in Israel. By anyone
after me is meant anyone in Israel, not the whole world.
Dabbat al-Ard:
His translation of
the verse:
But when We decreed death for him (i.e.,
Solomon), naught showed them his death but a creature of the earth that ate
away his staff. So when it fell down, the Jinn saw clearly that, if they had
known the unseen, they would not have tarried in humiliating torment. (Qur’an,
Saba, 34:14)
His Commentary:
The reference in the creature of the
earth that ate away his staff is to his son’s weak rule, under whom the kingdom
of Solomon went to pieces. It appears that Solomon’s successor, Rehoboam, led a
life of luxury and ease, and instead of acting on the advice of the older men,
he yielded to the pleasure-seeking wishes of his companions (1 Kings 12:13),
and it is to his luxurious habits and easy mode of life that the Holy Qur’an
refers when it calls him a creature of the earth. The eating away of his staff
signifies the disruption of the kingdom. The Jinn, as already remarked, mean
the rebellious tribes who had been reduced to subjection by Solomon, and who
remained in subjection to the Israelites for a time, until the kingdom was
shattered. This instance, as well as the one following, contains a warning for
the Muslims as to the result of falling into luxury and ease, by which,
however, they benefited little; the ultimate fate of the respective kingdoms of
the Umayyads and Abbasides was the same as that of Solomon’s kingdom.
The Holy Qur’an, English Translation and Commentary
“But
[ere this], indeed, We had tried Solomon by placing upon his throne a
[lifeless] body; and thereupon he turned [towards Us; and] he prayed: “O my
Sustainer! Forgive me my sins, and bestow upon me the gift of a kingdom which may
not suit anyone after me:verily, Thou
alone art a giver of gifts!” (Qur’an, Sad, 38:34-5)
His Commentary:
To explain this verse, some of the
commentators advance the most fantastic stories, almost all of them going back
to Talmudic sources. Razi rejects them all, maintaining that they are unworthy
of serious consideration. Instead, he plausibly suggests that the “body” (Jasad)
upon Solomon’s throne is an allusion to his own body, and—metonymically—to his
kingly power, which was bound to remain “lifeless” so long as it was not
inspired by God-willed ethical values. (It is to be borne in mind that in
classical Arabic a person utterly weakened by illness, worry or fear, or devoid
of moral values, is often described as “a body without a soul”.) In other
words, Solomon’s early trial consisted in his inheriting no more than a kingly
position, and it rested upon him to endow that position with spiritual essence
and meaning. (Qur’an, 38:34)
Trial is a means for polishing the soul
and getting nigh to Allah.
These verses explain another part of
Solomon’s life story, and show that how much high the power of a man may grow, again
he has nothing from his own and whatever exists is from the side of Allah Almighty.
Here, the Qur’an says:
“And certainly We did try Solomon, and
We cast on his throne a (mere) body; then he repented.”
The Arabic word kursi means a
throne with short legs. It seems such that the ancient kings had two kinds of
throne: one was for ordinary times, which had short legs, and a throne for their
formal meetings and official ceremonies which had long legs. The former was
called kursi and the latter was called ‘arš.
The Arabic word jasad means a
body without soul, and as Raqib says in Mufradat, it has a concept more limited
than the concept of body, because the word jasad is not used for
anything other than man (but scarcely) while the word jism (body) is
general.
It is understood from this verse that
Solomon’s trial had been through a soulless body which was on his throne before
his eyes, the thing which he did not expect, and he hoped for something other
than it. The Qur’an has delivered no more explanation on this matter.
The commentators and traditionists have
mentioned some news and commentaries on this field.
The most fitting and clear of all of
them is that Solomon desired to have some brave and fruitful children who could
help him in running the country and specially in struggling against the enemy,
but since he did not say the holy phrase: ‘If Allah wills’, the same sentence
which shows the man’s reliance to Allah Almighty in all circumstances, at that time, he
got no child from his wives except a handicapped child like a soulless body
that was brought and put on his throne.
Solomon thought very much and became
inconvenience that why he neglected Allah Almighty for a moment and relied on his own
power. Then he repented and returned to Allah.
In the next verse, the Holy Qur’an
reiterates Solomon’s repentance in more details. It says:
“He said: ‘My Lord! Forgive me and
grant me a dominion such as shall not be fit anyone after me, verily You are
the Bounteous (without measure).”
Dabbat al-Ard
His translation of
the verse:
Yet [even Solomon had to die; but] when
We decreed that he should die, nothing showed them that he was dead except an
earthworm that gnawed away his staff.And when he fell to the ground, those invisible beings [subservient to
him] saw clearly that, had they but understood the reality which was beyond the
reach of their perception, they would not have continued [to toil] in the shameful
suffering [of servitude].(Qur’an,
Saba, 34:14)
His Commentary:
This is yet another of the many
Solomonic legends which had become an inalienable part of ancient Arabian tradition,
and which the Qur’an uses as a vehicle for the allegorical illustration
of some of its teachings. According to the legend alluded to above, Solomon
pbuh died on his throne leaning forward on his staff, and for a length of time nobody
became aware of his death: with the result that the jinn, who had been
constrained to work for him, went on labouring at the heavy tasks assigned to
them. Gradually, however, a termite ate away Solomon’s staff, and his body, deprived
of support, fell to the ground. This story—only hinted at in its outline—is
apparently used here as an allegory of the insignificance and inherent
brittleness of human life and of the perishable nature and emptiness of all
worldly might and glory.
Al-ghayb, “that which is beyond the reach of [a
created being’s] perception”, either in an absolute or—as in this instance—in a
relative, temporary sense. i.e., because they would have known that Solomon’s
sway over them had ended. In the elliptic manner so characteristic of the Qur’an,
stress is laid here, firstly, on the limited nature of all empirical knowledge,
including the result of deductions and inferences based on no more than
observable or calculable phenomena, and, secondly, on the impossibility to
determine correctly, on the basis of such limited fragments of knowledge alone,
what course of action would be right in a given situation. Although the story
as such relates to “invisible beings”, its moral lesson (which may be summed up
in the statement that empirical knowledge cannot provide any ethical guideline unless
it is accompanied, and completed, by divine guidance) is obviously addressed to
human beings as well.
