34. Surah Saba-(Sheba) Mecca 58 [54 verses]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَلِسُلَيْمَانَ الرِّيحَ غُدُوُّهَا شَهْرٌ وَرَوَاحُهَا شَهْرٌ...

34: 12. And to Solomon (We made) the Wind (obedient):

its early morning (stride) was a month's (journey), and its evening (stride) was a month's (journey);

C3803. Cf. 21:81-82, n. 2736, and 38:36-38.

The winds are swift and can cover in a short morning's or evening's flight the distance which it takes a whole month to cover on foot or by bullock cart.

In our own day, with air speeds of 400 miles and more per hour, this seems a moderate statement.

... وَأَسَلْنَا لَهُ عَيْنَ الْقِطْرِ...

and We made a Font of molten brass to flow for him;

C3804. In the Old Testament, II. Chronicles, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4, are described the various costly materials with which Solomon's Temple was built, and it was furnished with vessels, candle-sticks, lamps, censers, etc.

"Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance: for the weight of the brass could not be found out" (II. Chronicles, 4:18).

"Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about" (II. Chronicles, 4:2).

The receptacle or "sea" or Font was made of molten brass; presumably it contained flowing water for washing with.

... وَمِنَ الْجِنِّ مَن يَعْمَلُ بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِ...

and there were Jinns that worked in front of him, by the leave of his Lord,

C3805. See 27:17, and n. 3257. (R).

... وَمَن يَزِغْ مِنْهُمْ عَنْ أَمْرِنَا نُذِقْهُ مِنْ عَذَابِ السَّعِيرِ ﴿١٢﴾

and if any of them turned aside from Our command, We made Him taste of the Penalty of the Blazing Fire.

يَعْمَلُونَ لَهُ مَا يَشَاء مِن مَّحَارِيبَ وَتَمَاثِيلَ...

34: 13. They worked for him as he desired, (making) Arches, Images,

C3806. Mihrab "(Plural Maharib), translated "arch", may be applied to any fine, elevated, spacious architectural structure.

As the reference here is to the Temple of Solomon, the word "arches" is I think most appropriate. "Arches" would be structural Ornaments in the Temple.

Images would be like the images of oxen and Cherubim mentioned in II. Chronicles, 4:3 and 3:14;

the Basons (II. Chronicles 4:22) were perhaps huge dishes round which many men could sit together and eat, according to ancient Eastern custom, while the cooking Cauldrons or Pots (II. Chronicles, 4:16), were fixed in one place, being so large in capacity that they could not be moved about.

Indian readers will get some idea of them from the huge cooking Degs, which they use in the festivals.

... وَجِفَانٍ كَالْجَوَابِ وَقُدُورٍ رَّاسِيَاتٍ...

Basins as large as Reservoirs, and (cooking) Cauldrons fixed (in their places):

... اعْمَلُوا آلَ دَاوُودَ شُكْرًا...

"Work ye, sons of David, with thanks!

C3807. The building of the Temple was a great event in Israelite history. They are asked to be thankful without which all that glory and power would be out of place, and it fell away in a few generations, with the decline of the moral spirit which was at its back.

... وَقَلِيلٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِيَ الشَّكُورُ ﴿١٣﴾

But few of My servants are grateful!"

فَلَمَّا قَضَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ الْمَوْتَ...

34: 14. Then, when We decreed (Solomon's) death,

... مَا دَلَّهُمْ عَلَى مَوْتِهِ إِلَّا دَابَّةُ الْأَرْضِ تَأْكُلُ مِنسَأَتَهُ...

nothing showed them his death except a little worm of the earth, which kept (slowly) gnawing away at his staff:

C3808. This allegory illustrates three points:

1. however great and glorious human power and grandeur may be, it is only for a time, and it may fade away even before people know of its decline;

2. the most remarkable events may be brought to light, not by a flourish of trumpets, but by a humble individual, unknown and unseen, who works imperceptibly and undermines even so strong a thing as staff, on which a great man may lean;

3. work done by men merely on the basis of brute Strength or fear, as in the case of the Jinns, will not endure.

This is brought up in strong contrast against the Power and Majesty of Allah, which will endure, which cannot be sapped, and which can only be fully appreciated by a training of the will and heart.

In the same way, in David's story above, his mighty strength as a warrior (see 2:251) and his skill in making armour are only to be valued when used, as it was used, in the service of Allah, in righteous works (34:11).

... فَلَمَّا خَرَّ تَبَيَّنَتِ الْجِنُّ...

so when he fell down, the Jinns saw plainly

C3809. The Jinns looked upon their work as a Penalty, and so it became to them. The people who worked at the Temple of Solomon as the People of David worked and gloried in their work as a thanksgiving to Allah, and their work became sanctified.

The Jinns knew nothing of hidden secrets; they only saw the obvious, and had not even the significance of the little worm that slowly gnawed away Solomon's staff.

... أَن لَّوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ الْغَيْبَ مَا لَبِثُوا فِي الْعَذَابِ الْمُهِينِ ﴿١٤﴾

that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in the humiliating Penalty (of their Task).

لَقَدْ كَانَ لِسَبَإٍ فِي مَسْكَنِهِمْ آيَةٌ...

34: 15. There was, for Saba', aforetime, a Sign in their homeland --

C3810. This is the same city and territory in Yemen as is mentioned in 27:22: see note there as to its location.

There the period was the time of Solomon and Queen Bilqis.

Here it is some centuries later. It was still a happy and prosperous country, amply irrigated from the Maarib dam. Its roads or perhaps its canals, were skirted by gardens on both sides, right and left: at any given point, you always saw two gardens. It produced fruit, spices, and frankincense, and got the name of Araby the Blest for that part of the country.

... جَنَّتَانِ عَن يَمِينٍ وَشِمَالٍ...

two Gardens to the right and to the left.

... كُلُوا مِن رِّزْقِ رَبِّكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لَهُ...

Eat of the Sustenance (provided) by your Lord, and be grateful to Him:

... بَلْدَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ... ...

a territory fair and happy,

... وَرَبٌّ غَفُورٌ ﴿١٥﴾

and a Lord Oft-Forgiving!

C3811. The land was fair to look upon; the people happy and prosperous; and they enjoyed the blessings of Allah, Who is Gracious and does not punish small human faults or weaknesses.

Asad’s Version:

34:12 AND UNTO Solomon (We made subservient] the wind: its morning course [covered the

distance of] a month's journey, and its evening course, a month's journey." And We caused a fountain of molten copper to flow at his behest; 15 and [even] among the

invisible beings there were some that had [been constrained] to labour for him " by his

Sustainer's leave and whichever of them deviated from Our command, him would We let taste suffering through a blazing flame -:

(34:13) they made for him whatever he wished of sanctuaries, and statues, and basins as [large as] great watering-troughs, and cauldrons firmly anchored. 17 [And We said:] "Labour, O David's people, in gratitude [towards Me] 1S - and [remember that] few are the truly grateful [even] among My servants!""

34:14

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. 20 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, 21 they would not have continued [to toil] in the shameful suffering [of servitude]. 22

34:15

INDEED, in [the luxuriant beauty of] their homeland, the people of Sheba had an evidence [of God's grace] 23 - two [vast expanses of] gardens, to the right and to the left, [calling out to them, as it were:] "Eat of what your Sustainer has provided for you, and render thanks unto Him: a land most goodly, and a Sustainer much-forgiving!"

[[Asad’s notes -

20 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 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.

21 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.

22 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.

23 This connects with the call to gratitude towards God in the preceding passage, and the mention, at the end of verse 13, that "few are the truly grateful" even among those who think of themselves as "God's servants" (see note 19 above). The kingdom of Sheba (Saba in Arabic) was situated in south-western Arabia, and at the time of its greatest prosperity (i.e., in the first millenium B.C.) comprised not only the Yemen but also a large part of Hadramawt and the Mahrah country, and probably also much of present-day Abyssinia. In the vicinity of its capital Ma'rih sometimes also spelled Marib - the Sabaeans had built in the course of centuries an extraordinary system of dams, dykes

and sluices, which became famous in history, with astonishing remnants extant to this day. It was to this great dam that the whole country of Sheba owed its outstanding prosperity, which became proverbial throughout Arabia. (According to the geographer Al-Hamdani, who died in 334 H., the area irrigated by this system of dams stretched eastward to the desert of Sayhad on the confines of the Rub' al-Khali.) The flourishing state of the country was reflected in its people's intense trading activities and their control of the "spice road" which led from Ma'rib northwards to Mecca, Yathrib and Syria, and eastwards to Dufar on the shores of the Arabian Sea, thus connecting with

the maritime routes from India and China. - The period to which the above Qur'anic passage refers is evidently much later than that spoken of in 27:22-44.]]