Surah Saba ayat 14 Tafsir Quran 34:14

﴿فَلَمَّا قَضَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ الْمَوْتَ مَا دَلَّهُمْ عَلَىٰ مَوْتِهِ إِلَّا دَابَّةُ الْأَرْضِ تَأْكُلُ مِنسَأَتَهُ ۖ فَلَمَّا خَرَّ تَبَيَّنَتِ الْجِنُّ أَن لَّوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ الْغَيْبَ مَا لَبِثُوا فِي الْعَذَابِ الْمُهِينِ﴾
[ سبأ: 14]

34:14 And when We decreed for Solomon death, nothing indicated to the jinn his death except a creature of the earth eating his staff. But when he fell, it became clear to the jinn that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in humiliating punishment.

And when We decreed for him for Solomon death in other words when he died — he remained supported against his staff an entire year while the jinn continued to toil in hard labour as was customary unaware of his death until finally when a termite ate through his staff he fell to the ground and was seen to be dead — nothing indicated to them that he had died except a termite al-ard is the verbal noun from uridat al-khashaba passive verbal form in other words ‘it the piece of wood was eaten away by a termite al-arada’ that gnawed away at his staff read minsa’atahu or minsātahu replacing the hamza with an alif meaning a ‘staff’ so called because when describing it one would say yunsa’u bihā to mean it is used to repel or drive away creatures’. And when he fell down dead the jinn realised it became apparent to them that an is softened in other words annahum had they known the Unseen — comprising what was hidden from them in the way of Solomon being dead — they would not have continued in the humiliating chastisement in that hard labour of theirs in which they continued as they supposed him to be alive which is in contrast to what they would have supposed had they known the Unseen and the fact that he had been there an entire year judging by how much of the staff the termite had eaten through after his death; in other words they would not have continued in the humiliating chastisement for a single day or even a single night longer.

And when We decreed Solaymans death, nothing drew the Jinns attention to his death but a little earthly creature gnawing the base of his staff on which he leaned that he fell. There and then did the Jinn realize that had they known the hidden and the unknown and realized the unseen they would not have remained in the slavish disposition scourged with humility and torture

The Death of Sulayman Allah tells us how Sulayman, peace be upon him, died and how Allah concealed his death from the Jinn who were subjugated to him to do hard labor.
He remained leaning on his stick, which was his staff, as Ibn `Abbas may Allah be pleased with him, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, Qatadah and others said.
He stayed like that for a long time, nearly a year.
When a creature of the earth, which was a kind of worm, ate through the stick, it became weak and fell to the ground.
Then it became apparent that he had died a long time before.
It also became clear to Jinn and men alike that the Jinn do not know the Unseen as they ( the Jinn ) used to imagine and tried to deceive people.
This is what Allah says: مَا دَلَّهُمْ عَلَى مَوْتِهِ إِلاَّ دَابَّةُ الاٌّرْضِ تَأْكُلُ مِنسَأَتَهُ فَلَمَّا خَرَّ تَبَيَّنَتِ الْجِنُّ أَن لَّوْ كَانُواْ يَعْلَمُونَ الْغَيْبَ مَا لَبِثُواْ فِى الْعَذَابِ الْمُهِينِ ( nothing informed them (Jinn ) of his death except a little worm of the earth which kept ( slowly ) gnawing away at his stick.
So when he fell down, the Jinn saw clearly that if they had known the Unseen, they would not have stayed in the humiliating torment.) meaning, it became clear to the people that they ( the Jinn ) were lying.

(34:14) When We executed Our decree of death on Solomon, nothing indicated to the jinn that he was dead except a worm eating away his staff. So when Solomon fell down, the jinn realised *23 that had they known what lies in the realm beyond perception, they would not have continued to be in this humiliating chastisement. *24

And when We decreed for Solomon death, meaning

*23) Another meaning of the sentence can be: " The true state and condition of the jinns became clear and exposed.
" According to the first meaning, it will mean: " The jinns realized that their claim to havc the knowledge of the unseen was wrong.
" According to the second, it will mean: " The people who thought that the jinns possessed the knowledge of the unseen, came to know that they had no such knowledge.
"
*24) Some modern commentators havc interpreted it as follows: As the Prophet Solomon's son, Rehoboam, was unworthy and given to luxurious living and surrounded by flatterers, he could not sustain the heavy burden of responsibility that fell on his shoulders after the death of his great father.
A short time after his succession, the kingdom collapsed, and the frontier` tribes ( i.
e.
, of the jinns ) whom the Prophet Solomon had subdued by his mighty power, rebelled and broke away.
But this interpretation does not at all conform to the words of the Qur'an.
The scene depicted by the words of the Qur'an is somewhat like this: Death came to the Prophet Solomon in a state when he was standing or sitting with-the support of a staff.
His body stood in place due to the staff, and the jinns continued to perform their duties and services, thinking that he was living.
At last, when the wood-louse started eating away the staff and it became hollow from within, the Prophet Solomon's body fell down; then the jinns realized that he had died.
After all, why should this clear and unambiguous description of the event be construed to mean that the wood-louse implied the unworthiness of the Prophet Solomon's son, and the staff implied his power and authority and the falling down of his body implied the disintegration of his kingdom? Had Allah meant to say all this, there was no dearth of the words in the vast Arabic language.
The Qur'an, in fact, has nowhere used such enigmatic language.
How could the common Arabs, who were its first addressees, have solved this riddle?
Then, the most absurd part of this interpretation is that according to it the jinns imply the people of the frontier tribes whom the Prophet Solomon had subdued to perform certain services under him.
The question is, which of these tribes had claimed to have the knowledge of the unseen, and whom did the mushriks regard as the knower of the unseen? A person who reads the last words of the verse with open eyes can himself see that jinn here necessarily implies a group of beings who either had themselves made a claim to have the knowledge of the unseen, or who, the people believed, had the knowledge of the unseen; and the secret of this group's being ignorant and unaware of the unseen became disclosed when they continued to serve the Prophet Solomon under the impression that he was living, whereas he had died.
This statement of the Qur'an was enough to induce an honest person to revise his this opinion that the jinn imply the frontier tribes, but the people who feel shy of admitting the existence of the hidden creation called the jinn before the materialistic world stilt insist on this interpretation of theirs in spite of the plain meaning of the Qur'an.

At several places in the Qur'an Allah tells that the mushriks of Arabia regarded the jinns as the associates of Allah, and as His children, and used to seek their refuge: " They set up the jinns as partners with AIlah.
whereas He has created them.
" ( Al-An'am:100 ).
" And they have invented a blood-relationship between Allah and the jinns. " ( As-Saffat: 1S8 ).
" And that, some people from among the men used to seek refuge with some people from among the jinns. " ( AI-Jinn: 6 ).

One of their beliefs was that they regarded the jinns as the knowers of the unseen and hidden.
and used to turn to them to obtain knowledge of the hidden things.
Allah has related this event here in order to repudiate this belief and to make the Arabs realize that they are following the false creeds of ignorance without any valid reason, whereas the fact is that chest beliefs are absolutely baseless.
( For further explanation, see E.N.
63 below ).

 

The Death of Sulayman Allah tells us how Sulayman, peace be upon him, died and how Allah concealed his death from the Jinn who were subjugated to him to do hard labor.
He remained leaning on his stick, which was his staff, as Ibn `Abbas may Allah be pleased with him, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, Qatadah and others said.
He stayed like that for a long time, nearly a year.
When a creature of the earth, which was a kind of worm, ate through the stick, it became weak and fell to the ground.
Then it became apparent that he had died a long time before.
It also became clear to Jinn and men alike that the Jinn do not know the Unseen as they ( the Jinn ) used to imagine and tried to deceive people.
This is what Allah says: مَا دَلَّهُمْ عَلَى مَوْتِهِ إِلاَّ دَابَّةُ الاٌّرْضِ تَأْكُلُ مِنسَأَتَهُ فَلَمَّا خَرَّ تَبَيَّنَتِ الْجِنُّ أَن لَّوْ كَانُواْ يَعْلَمُونَ الْغَيْبَ مَا لَبِثُواْ فِى الْعَذَابِ الْمُهِينِ ( nothing informed them (Jinn ) of his death except a little worm of the earth which kept ( slowly ) gnawing away at his stick.
So when he fell down, the Jinn saw clearly that if they had known the Unseen, they would not have stayed in the humiliating torment.) meaning, it became clear to the people that they ( the Jinn ) were lying.

( And when We decreed death for him ) for Solomon, Solomon died and remained standing in his retreat for a year ( nothing showed his death ) the death of Solomon ( to them save a creeping creature of the earth ) a woodworm ( which gnawed away his staff ) and it is said: his short spear. ( And when he fell ) when Solomon fell to the ground ( the jinn saw clearly how ) the jinn and human beings saw clearly that they do not know the unseen, ( if they had known the unseen, they would not have continued in despised toil ) they would not have continued in their subservience. People thought before this that the jinn knew the unseen but when they saw this they realised that they did not.

Then when We decreed death for him [Sulaiman (Solomon)], nothing informed them (jinns) of his death except a little worm of the earth, which kept (slowly) gnawing away at his stick, so when he fell down, the jinns saw clearly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have stayed in the humiliating torment.

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