Sheba (Saba’)
Verses 14 GROUP_1112 34.14
14
فَلَمَّا قَضَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ الْمَوْتَ مَا دَلَّهُمْ عَلَى مَوْتِهِ إِلَّا دَابَّةُ الْأَرْضِ تَأْكُلُ مِنسَأَتَهُ فَلَمَّا خَرَّ تَبَيَّنَتِ الْجِنُّ أَن لَّوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ الْغَيْبَ مَا لَبِثُوا فِي الْعَذَابِ الْمُهِينِ
When We decreed Solomon’s death, nothing indicated his death to them except a worm from the earth, which was eating away at his cane. When he fell down, the jinn plainly realized that if they had known what was unseen, they would not have
had to continue with such humiliating labour.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) When it was time for Solomon to die, he was leaning on a stick and having some constructive work done by the ‘jinn’. The angel of death took away his life-spirit, but his lifeless body, with the support of the stick remained upright. The jinn continued with their work under the impression that he was nearby supervising the work. It so happened that some white ants infested the stick and after some time, when the white ants had made the stick hollow, his body fell on to the ground. It was then that the jinn came to know that Solomon had died. This incident suffices to remove the erroneous popular belief that the jinn have knowledge of the future.