Surah Naml ayat 24 Tafsir Quran 27:24

﴿وَجَدتُّهَا وَقَوْمَهَا يَسْجُدُونَ لِلشَّمْسِ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فَصَدَّهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ فَهُمْ لَا يَهْتَدُونَ﴾
[ النمل: 24]

27:24 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 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

I found, he said, that she and her subjects pay reverence and veneration to the sun in lieu of Allah and they display that by appropriate acts and rites. And AL-Shaytan (Satan) has allured them to a brighter present and a happier destiny as a logical result or sequence to their doings and He blinded their eyes to the path of righteousness and led them by the nose to their loss in the maze of error

How the Hoopoe came before Sulayman and told Him about Saba' Allah says: فَمَكَثَ غَيْرَ بَعِيدٍ ( But (the hoopoe ) stayed not long,) meaning, he was absent for only a short time.
Then he came and said to Sulayman: أَحَطتُ بِمَا لَمْ تُحِطْ بِهِ ( I have grasped which you have not grasped ) meaning, `I have come to know something that you and your troops do not know.' وَجِئْتُكَ مِن سَبَإٍ بِنَبَإٍ يَقِينٍ ( and I have come to you from Saba' with true news. ) meaning, with true and certain news.
Saba' ( Sheba ) refers to Himyar, they were a dynasty in Yemen.
Then the hoopoe said: إِنِّى وَجَدتُّ امْرَأَةً تَمْلِكُهُمْ ( I found a woman ruling over them, ) Al-Hasan Al-Basri said, "This is Bilqis bint Sharahil, the queen of Saba'." Allah's saying: وَأُوتِيَتْ مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ ( she has been given all things, ) means, all the conveniences of this world that a powerful monarch could need. وَلَهَا عَرْشٌ عَظِيمٌ ( and she has a great throne. ) meaning, a tremendous chair adorned with gold and different kinds of jewels and pearls.
The historians said, "This throne was in a great, strong palace which was high and firmly constructed.
In it there were three hundred and sixty windows on the east side, and a similar number on the west, and it was constructed in such a way that each day when the sun rose it would shine through one window, and when it set it would shine through the opposite window.
And the people used to prostrate to the sun morning and evening.
This is why the hoopoe said: وَجَدتُّهَا وَقَوْمَهَا يَسْجُدُونَ لِلشَّمْسِ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَـنُ أَعْمَـلَهُمْ فَصَدَّهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ ( I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of Allah, and Shaytan has made their deeds fair seeming to them, and has prevented them from the way, ) meaning, from the way of truth, فَهُمْ لاَ يَهْتَدُونَ ( so they have no guidance. ) Allah's saying: وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَـنُ أَعْمَـلَهُمْ فَصَدَّهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ فَهُمْ لاَ يَهْتَدُونَأَلاَّ يَسْجُدُواْ للَّهِ ( and Shaytan has made their deeds fair seeming to them, and has prevented them from the way, so they have no guidance, so they do not prostrate themselves before Allah. ) They do not know the way of truth, prostrating only before Allah alone and not before anything that He has created, whether heavenly bodies or anything else.
This is like the Ayah: وَمِنْ ءَايَـتِهِ الَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ وَالشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ لاَ تَسْجُدُواْ لِلشَّمْسِ وَلاَ لِلْقَمَرِ وَاسْجُدُواْ لِلَّهِ الَّذِى خَلَقَهُنَّ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ( And from among His signs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon.
Prostrate yourselves not to the sun nor to the moon, but prostrate yourselves to Allah Who created them, if you indeed worship Him. ) ( 41:37 ) الَّذِى يُخْرِجُ الْخَبْءَ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ ( Who brings to light what is hidden in the heavens and the earth, ) `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said: "He knows everything that is hidden in the heavens and on earth." This was also the view of `Ikrimah, Mujahid, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Qatadah and others.
His saying: وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تُخْفُونَ وَمَا تُعْلِنُونَ ( and knows what you conceal and what you reveal. ) means, He knows what His servants say and do in secret, and what they say and do openly.
This is like the Ayah: سَوَآءٌ مِّنْكُمْ مَّنْ أَسَرَّ الْقَوْلَ وَمَنْ جَهَرَ بِهِ وَمَنْ هُوَ مُسْتَخْفٍ بِالَّيْلِ وَسَارِبٌ بِالنَّهَارِ ( It is the same whether any of you conceals his speech or declares it openly, whether he be hid by night or goes forth freely by day ) ( 13:10 ).
His saying: اللَّهُ لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ ( Allah, La ilaha illa Huwa, the Lord of the Supreme Throne! ) means, He is the One to be called upon, Allah, He is the One other than Whom there is no god, the Lord of the Supreme Throne, and there is none greater than Him in all of creation.
Since the hoopoe was calling to what is good, and for people to worship and prostrate to Allah alone, it would have been forbidden to kill him.
Imam Ahmad, Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah recorded that Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet forbade killing four kinds of animals: ants, bees, hoopoes and the sparrow hawks.
Its chain of narration is Sahih.

(27:24) I saw that she and her people prostrate themselves before the sun instead of Allah. " *30 ---- Satan *31 made their deeds seem fair to them, *32 and hindered them from the highway: therefore, they do not find the right path

I found her and her people prostrating meaning

*30) This shows that the people of Saba' at that lime followed the religion of sun-worship, which is also supported by the ancient traditions of Arabia.
Ibn ishaq has cited the genealogists' saying to the effect that Saba' have in fact descended from an ancestor whose name was `Abd Shams ( slave of the sun, or sun-worshipper ) and title Saba'.
This is supported by the Israelite traditions as well.
According to these when the hud=hud arrived with the Prophet Solomon's letter, the queen of Sheba was going for the worship of the sun-god, and it threw the letter on the way before the queen.

*31) The style shows that the sentences from here to the end of the paragraph are not a part of the hud-bud's speech but its speech ended with: " they prostrate themselves before the sun ", and these words are an addition by Allah to its speech.
'I his opinion is supported by the sentence: " He knows all that you conceal and reveal. " These words give the impression that the speaker and the addressees here are not he hud-hud and the Prophet Solomon and his courtiers respectively, but the speaker is Allah and the addressees the mushriks of Makkah, for whose admonition this story has been related.
From among the commentators, 'Allamah Alusi;, the author of Ruh-al-Ma ani, also has preferred the same opinion.

*32) That is, Satan has made them believe that earning the worldly wealth and making, their lives more and more grand and pompous is the only real and fit use of their mental and intellectual and physical powers.
Apart from these, they need not think seriously on anything else: they need not bother themselves to see whether there was any factual reality behind the apparent life of the world or not, and whether the basis of their religion, morality, culture and system of life accorded with that Reality or went utterly against it.
Satan satisfied them that when they were making adequate progress in respect of wealth and power and worldly grandeur, they had no need to see whether their beliefs and philosophies and theories were correct or not, for the only proof of their being correct was that they were earning wealth and enjoying life to their hearts content.

 

How the Hoopoe came before Sulayman and told Him about Saba' Allah says: فَمَكَثَ غَيْرَ بَعِيدٍ ( But (the hoopoe ) stayed not long,) meaning, he was absent for only a short time.
Then he came and said to Sulayman: أَحَطتُ بِمَا لَمْ تُحِطْ بِهِ ( I have grasped which you have not grasped ) meaning, `I have come to know something that you and your troops do not know.' وَجِئْتُكَ مِن سَبَإٍ بِنَبَإٍ يَقِينٍ ( and I have come to you from Saba' with true news. ) meaning, with true and certain news.
Saba' ( Sheba ) refers to Himyar, they were a dynasty in Yemen.
Then the hoopoe said: إِنِّى وَجَدتُّ امْرَأَةً تَمْلِكُهُمْ ( I found a woman ruling over them, ) Al-Hasan Al-Basri said, "This is Bilqis bint Sharahil, the queen of Saba'." Allah's saying: وَأُوتِيَتْ مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ ( she has been given all things, ) means, all the conveniences of this world that a powerful monarch could need. وَلَهَا عَرْشٌ عَظِيمٌ ( and she has a great throne. ) meaning, a tremendous chair adorned with gold and different kinds of jewels and pearls.
The historians said, "This throne was in a great, strong palace which was high and firmly constructed.
In it there were three hundred and sixty windows on the east side, and a similar number on the west, and it was constructed in such a way that each day when the sun rose it would shine through one window, and when it set it would shine through the opposite window.
And the people used to prostrate to the sun morning and evening.
This is why the hoopoe said: وَجَدتُّهَا وَقَوْمَهَا يَسْجُدُونَ لِلشَّمْسِ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَـنُ أَعْمَـلَهُمْ فَصَدَّهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ ( I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of Allah, and Shaytan has made their deeds fair seeming to them, and has prevented them from the way, ) meaning, from the way of truth, فَهُمْ لاَ يَهْتَدُونَ ( so they have no guidance. ) Allah's saying: وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَـنُ أَعْمَـلَهُمْ فَصَدَّهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ فَهُمْ لاَ يَهْتَدُونَأَلاَّ يَسْجُدُواْ للَّهِ ( and Shaytan has made their deeds fair seeming to them, and has prevented them from the way, so they have no guidance, so they do not prostrate themselves before Allah. ) They do not know the way of truth, prostrating only before Allah alone and not before anything that He has created, whether heavenly bodies or anything else.
This is like the Ayah: وَمِنْ ءَايَـتِهِ الَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ وَالشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ لاَ تَسْجُدُواْ لِلشَّمْسِ وَلاَ لِلْقَمَرِ وَاسْجُدُواْ لِلَّهِ الَّذِى خَلَقَهُنَّ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ( And from among His signs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon.
Prostrate yourselves not to the sun nor to the moon, but prostrate yourselves to Allah Who created them, if you indeed worship Him. ) ( 41:37 ) الَّذِى يُخْرِجُ الْخَبْءَ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ ( Who brings to light what is hidden in the heavens and the earth, ) `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said: "He knows everything that is hidden in the heavens and on earth." This was also the view of `Ikrimah, Mujahid, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Qatadah and others.
His saying: وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تُخْفُونَ وَمَا تُعْلِنُونَ ( and knows what you conceal and what you reveal. ) means, He knows what His servants say and do in secret, and what they say and do openly.
This is like the Ayah: سَوَآءٌ مِّنْكُمْ مَّنْ أَسَرَّ الْقَوْلَ وَمَنْ جَهَرَ بِهِ وَمَنْ هُوَ مُسْتَخْفٍ بِالَّيْلِ وَسَارِبٌ بِالنَّهَارِ ( It is the same whether any of you conceals his speech or declares it openly, whether he be hid by night or goes forth freely by day ) ( 13:10 ).
His saying: اللَّهُ لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ ( Allah, La ilaha illa Huwa, the Lord of the Supreme Throne! ) means, He is the One to be called upon, Allah, He is the One other than Whom there is no god, the Lord of the Supreme Throne, and there is none greater than Him in all of creation.
Since the hoopoe was calling to what is good, and for people to worship and prostrate to Allah alone, it would have been forbidden to kill him.
Imam Ahmad, Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah recorded that Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet forbade killing four kinds of animals: ants, bees, hoopoes and the sparrow hawks.
Its chain of narration is Sahih.

( I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of Allah; and Satan maketh their works ) their worship of the sun ( fair-seeming unto them, and debarreth them from the way (of Truth )) the devil has barred them from the way of Truth and guidance, ( so that they go not aright ) to the way of truth and guidance:

"I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of Allah, and Shaitan (Satan) has made their deeds fair-seeming to them, and has barred them from (Allah's) Way, so they have no guidance,"

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