The Ant, The Ants — Verse 31

Sulayman's Letter to Bilqis Allah tells us what Sulayman said to the hoopoe when he told him about the people of Saba' and their queen: قَالَ سَنَنظُرُ أَصَدَقْتَ أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْكَـذِبِينَ ((Sulayman) said: "We shall see whether you speak the truth or you are (one) of the liars.") meaning, `are you telling the truth' أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْكَـذِبِينَ (or you are (one) of the liars.) meaning, `or are you telling a lie in order to save yourself from the threat I made against you' اذْهَب بِّكِتَابِى هَـذَا فَأَلْقِهْ إِلَيْهِمْ ثُمَّ تَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ فَانْظُرْ مَاذَا يَرْجِعُونَ (Go you with this letter of mine and deliver it to them then draw back from them and see what they return.) Sulayman wrote a letter to Bilqis and her people and gave it to the hoopoe to deliver. It was said that he carried it on his wings, as is the way with birds, or that he carried it in his beak. He went to their land and found the palace of Bilqis, then he went to her private chambers and threw the letter through a small window, then he stepped to one side out of good manners. Bilqis was amazed and confused when she saw that, then she went and picked up the letter, opened its seal and read it. The letter said: إِنَّهُ مِن سُلَيْمَانَ وَإِنَّهُ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ - أَلاَّ تَعْلُواْ عَلَىَّ وَأْتُونِى مُسْلِمِينَ (it is from Sulayman, and it (reads): `In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful; Be you not exalted against me, but come to me submitting (as Muslims).') So she gathered her commanders and ministers and the leaders of her land, and said to them: يأَيُّهَا الْمَلأُ إِنَّى أُلْقِىَ إِلَىَّ كِتَابٌ كَرِيمٌ ("O chiefs! Verily, here is delivered to me a noble letter.") She described it as such because of the wondrous things she had seen, that it was delivered by a bird who threw it to her, then stood aside out of good manners. This was something that no king could do. Then she read the letter to them: إِنَّهُ مِن سُلَيْمَانَ وَإِنَّهُ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ - أَلاَّ تَعْلُواْ عَلَىَّ وَأْتُونِى مُسْلِمِينَ (Verily, it is from Sulayman, and it (reads): `In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful; Be you not exalted against me, but come to me submitting (as Muslims).') Thus they knew that it was from Allah's Prophet Sulayman, upon him be peace, and that they could not match him. This letter was the utmost in brevity and eloquence, coming straight to the point. أَلاَّ تَعْلُواْ عَلَىَّ (Be you not exalted against me,) Qatadah said: "Do not be arrogant with me. وَأْتُونِى مُسْلِمِينَ (but come to me submitting (as Muslims). )" `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam said: "Do not refuse or be too arrogant to come to me وَأْتُونِى مُسْلِمِينَ (but come to me submitting (as Muslims).)"

Do not rise up against me in defiance but come to me in submission”’.

ثم بيَّنت ما فيه فقالت: إنه من سليمان، وإنه مفتتح بـ "بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم" ألا تتكبروا ولا تتعاظموا عما دعوتكم إليه، وأقْبِلوا إليَّ منقادين لله بالوحدانية والطاعة مسلمين له.

قال قتادة يقول لا تجبروا علي "وأتوني مسلمين" وقال عبد الرحمن بن زيد بن أسلم لا تمتنعوا ولا تتكبروا علي وأتوني مسلمين قال ابن عباس موحدين وقال غيره مخلصين وقال سفيان بن عينة طائعين.

كما يدل عليه قوله - تعالى - : ( أَلاَّ تَعْلُواْ عَلَيَّ ) أى : ألا تتكبروا على كما يفعل الملوك الجبابرة ( وَأْتُونِي مُسْلِمِينَ ) منقادين طائعين لشريعة الله - وحده ، التى توجب عليكم إخلاص العبادة له ، دون أحد سواه ، إذ هو - سبحانه - الخالق لكل شىء ، وكل معبود سواه فهو باطل .فالكتاب - مع إيجازه - متضمن لفنون البلاغة . ولمظاهر القوة الحكيمة العادلة ، التى اتبعها سليمان فى رسالته إلى ملكة سبأ وقومها .

وقوله (أَلا تَعْلُوا عَلَيَّ وَأْتُونِي مُسْلِمِينَ ) يقول: ألقي إليّ كتاب كريم ألا تعلوا عليّ.ففي " أنْ" وجهان من العربية: إن جعلت بدلا من الكتاب كانت رفعا بما رفع به الكتاب بدلا منه; وإن جعل معنى الكلام: إني ألقي إليّ كتاب كريم ألا تعلوا علي كانت نصبا بتعلق الكتاب بها.وعنى بقوله: (أَلا تَعْلُوا عَلَيَّ ) ألا تتكبروا ولا تتعاظموا عما دعوتكم إليه.كما حدثني يونس, قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب, قال: قال ابن زيد في قوله: (أَلا تَعْلُوا عَلَيَّ ) ألا تمتنعوا من الذي دعوتكم إليه إن امتنعتم جاهدتكم، فقلت لابن زيد: (أَلا تَعْلُوا عَلَيَّ ) ألا تتكبروا علي؟ قال: نعم; قال: وقال ابن زيد: (أَلا تَعْلُوا عَلَيَّ وَأْتُونِي مُسْلِمِينَ ) ذلك في كتاب سليمان إليها. وقوله: (وَأْتُونِي مُسْلِمِينَ ) يقول: وأقبلوا إليّ مذعنين لله بالوحدانية والطاعة.

( ألا تعلوا علي ) قال ابن عباس : أي : لا تتكبروا علي . وقيل : لا تتعظموا ولا تترفعوا علي . معناه : لا تمتنعوا من الإجابة ، فإن ترك الإجابة من العلو والتكبر ) ( وأتوني مسلمين ) مؤمنين طائعين . قيل : هو من الإسلام ، وقيل : هو من الاستسلام .

أَلَّا تَعْلُوا عَلَيَّ وَأْتُونِي مُسْلِمِينَ (31)وحرف ( أنْ ) من قوله : { أن لا تعلوا عليّ } في موقعه غموض لأن الظاهر أنه مما شمله كتاب سليمان لوقوعه بعد البسملة التي هي مبدأ الكتاب . وهذا الحرف لا يخلو من كونه ( أن ) المصدرية الناصبة للمضارع ، أو المخففة من الثقيلة ، أو التفسيرية .فأما معنى ( أَنْ ) المصدرية الناصبة للمضارع فلا يتضح لأنها تستدعي عاملاً يكون مصدرُها المنسبك بها معمولاً له وليس في الكلام ما يصلح لذلك لفظاً مطلقاً ولا معنى إلا بتعسف ، وقد جوزه ابن هشام في «مغني اللبيب» في بحث ( أَلاّ ) الذي هو حرف تحضيض وهو وجهة شيخنا محمد النجار رحمه الله بأن يُجعل { أن لا تعلوا } إلخ خبراً عن ضمير { كتاب } في قوله : { وإنه } فحيث كان مضمون الكتاب النهيَ عن العلو جُعل { أن لا تعلوا } نفسَ الكتاب كما يقع الإخبار بالمصدر . وهذا تكلف لأنه يقتضي الفصل بين أجزاء الكتاب بقوله : { بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم } .وأما معنى المخففة من الثقيلة فكذلك لوجوب سدّ مصدر مسدّها وكونها معمولة لعامل ، وليس في الكلام ما يصلح لذلك أيضاً . وقد ذكر وجهاً ثالثاً في الآية في بعض نسخ «مغني اللبيب» في بحث ( أَلاَّ ) أيضاً ولم يوجد في النسخ الصحيحة من «المغني» ولا من «شروحه» ولعله من زيادات بعض الطلبة . وقد اقتصر في «الكشاف» على وجه التفسيرية لعلمه بأن غير ذلك لا ينبغي أن يفرض . وأعقبه بما روي من نسخة كتاب سليمان ليظهر أن ليس في كتاب سليمان ما يقابل حرف ( أنْ ) فلذلك تتعين ( أنْ ) لمعنى التفسيرية لضمير { وإنه } العائد إلى { كتاب } كما علمته آنفاً لأنه لما كان عائداً إلى { كتاب } كان بمعنى معاده فكان مما فيه معنى القول دون حروفه فصح وقع ( أَنْ ) بعده فيكون ( أَنْ ) من كلام ملكة سبأ فَسَّرَتْ بها وبما بعدها مضمون { كتاب } في قولها : { ألقى إلى كتاب كريم } .و { ألا تعلوا عليّ } يكون هو أول كتاب سليمان ، وأنها حكاية لكلام بلقيس . قال في «الكشف» يتبين أن قوله : { إنه من سليمان } بيان لعنوان الكتاب وأن قوله : { وإنه بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم } إلخ بيان لمضمون الكتاب فلا يرد سؤال كيف قدم قوله : { إنه من سليمان } على { إنه بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم } . ولم تزل نفسي غير منثلجة لهذه الوجوه في هذه الآية ويخطر ببالي أن موقع ( أَنْ ) هذه استعمال خاص في افتتاح الكلام يعتمد عليه المتكلم في أول كلامه .وأنها المخففة من الثقيلة . وقد رأيتُ في بعض خطب النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم الافتتاح ب ( أنْ ) في ثاني خُطبة خطبها بالمدينة في «سيرة ابن إسحاق» . وذكر السهيلي : أَنَّ الحمدُ ، مضبوط بضمة على تقدير ضمير الأمر والشأن . ولكن كلامه جرى على أن حرف ( إن ) مكسور الهمزة مشدد النون . ويظهر لي أن الهمزة مفتوحة وأنه استعمال ل ( أنْ ) المخففة من الثقيلة في افتتاح الأمور المهمة وأن منه قوله تعالى : { وآخر دعواهم أن الحمد لله رب العالمين } [ يونس : 10 ] .و { ألا تعلوا عليّ } نهي مستعمل في التهديد ولذلك أتبعته ملكة سبأ بقولها : { يأيها الملأ أفتوني في أمري } [ النمل : 32 ] .

أَلا تَعْلُوا عَلَيَّ وَأْتُونِي مُسْلِمِينَ أي: لا تكونوا فوقي بل اخضعوا تحت سلطاني، وانقادوا لأوامري وأقبلوا إلي مسلمين. وهذا في غاية الوجازة مع البيان التام فإنه تضمن نهيهم عن العلو عليه، والبقاء على حالهم التي هم عليها والانقياد لأمره والدخول تحت طاعته، ومجيئهم إليه ودعوتهم إلى الإسلام، وفيه استحباب ابتداء الكتب بالبسملة كاملة وتقديم الاسم في أول عنوان الكتاب.

وأتوني مسلمين " أي منقادين طائعين مؤمنين .

The Queen of Sheba viewed the matter quite realistically. She realised that if she resisted the might of Solomon, there was a strong possibility of her being defeated and then her nation would be treated as every vanquished nation is treated by a victorious nation. On the contrary, she thought, she would be saved if she surrendered. However, the queen pursued the course of sending gifts to him by way of initial feelers, so that she might know whether Soloman desired wealth, or if not, whether he had any other demands based on some other principle.

Some rules of writing letters إِنَّهُ مِن سُلَيْمَانَ وَإِنَّهُ بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّ‌حْمَـٰنِ الرَّ‌حِيمِ It is from Sulaiman and it is (in the following words:) With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-Merciful. 27:30 There is not a single aspect of human life on which Qur'an does not provide guidance. Mutual exchange of welfare and other information through letters is part of human requirements. In this Surah, full text of the letter from Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) to Queen Saba' has been reproduced. This is a letter from a prophet, and Qur'an has reproduced it as an approved format for a letter. Hence, it should be taken in that light and Muslims should try to follow the guidance provided in it for letter writing. Writer should first write his name and then of the addressee The very first guidance provided in this letter is that Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) has begun it by writing his name. How did he write the name of the addressee, it is not mentioned in the Qur'an. However, it does tell us that it was the practice of the prophets to write their name first, in which there are many benefits: For instance, the addressee would know even before reading the letter from whom it has come. So he would read the letter in the backdrop of his relations with the writer, and any confusion about the identity of the writer would be eliminated right in the beginning. The Holy Prophet ﷺ had also adopted the same practice in all his letters addressed to various persons, and began the letter with the wordings مِن مُحَمَّد عبد اللہ و رسولہٖ (From Muhammad, the slave of Allah and His messenger) A question may arise here as to whether it would be a disrespect to the addressee if a junior writes his name first while writing to his elder, teacher or senior in status? So, is it appropriate to follow this practice or not? In this respect the companions of the Holy Prophet ﷺ had acted differently. Most of them preferred to follow the practice of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and not the requirement of the formality, and wrote their names first even when writing to the Holy Prophet ﷺ himself. Ruh al-Ma’ ani has reproduced a narration of Sayyidna 'Anas ؓ from al-Bahr ul-Muhit as follows: مَا کَان احد اعظم حرمۃ مِن رسول اللہ ﷺ، و کان اصحابہٖ اذا کتبوا کتاباً بدأوا بانفسھم۔ قلت : و کتاب علاء الحضرمی ؓ یشھد لہ، علی ما روی۔ "No human is more revered than the Holy Prophet ﷺ 0, but when his companions used to write to him, they would first write their names, and I say that Sayyidna ` Ala' Al-Hadrami's letter, which he wrote to the Holy Prophet ﷺ ", is a proof to that." However, after quoting these narrations in Ruh ul-Ma’ ani it is observed that all this discussion is about the preferred way, otherwise both ways are permissible. If someone writes his name in the last, that too is correct. Religious jurist Abu al-Layth has written in his Bustan that if someone starts with the name of the addressee, no one can question its permissibility, because this has also been the practice among the Muslims for long, and no one has objected to that. (Ruh ul-Ma’ ani, Qurtubi) Replying to letters is also a practice of the prophets It is observed in Tafsir ul-Qurtubi that if someone receives a letter, it is incumbent upon him to answer it, because a letter from someone not present is as good as the greeting of the one who is present. It is attributed to Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ in a narration that he used to regard the reply of a letter as much obligatory as the reply to a greeting by salam. (Qurtubi) Starting letters with Bismillah The letter of Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) and all the letters sent by the Holy Prophet ﷺ have established that writing Bismillah at the beginning of a letter was the practice of the prophets. As to the question whether Bismillah should precede the name of the writer or not, the practice of the Holy Prophet ﷺ was that he always put Bismillah before his name, and the name of the addressee after his own name. But in the Qur'an the order is reversed and the name of Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) is written first and then Bismillah. Therefore, it is also in order if the name of the writer is written first and then Bismillah. But Ibn Abi Hatim has reported on the authority of Yazid Ibn Rauman that in fact Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) had written his letter in this manner: بسم اللہ الرحمٰن الرحیم ۔ من سلیمان بن داؤد الٰی بلقیس ابنۃ شرح و قومھا۔ ان لا تعلوا عَلَیَّ وَاتُونِی مُسلِمِینَ (which means that he wrote Bismillah before his name) but when Bilqis read out this letter to her people, she mentioned the name of Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) first in order to let them know the name of the writer. The Holy Qur'an has copied what Bilqis had uttered. There is no mention in the Qur'an whether Bismillah was written first or the name of Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) in the original letter. There is yet another possibility that the name of Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) was written on the envelope and Bismillah at the top of the letter, and when Bilqis read out the letter to her people she announced the name of Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) first. Ruling The original tradition (Sunnah) of letter writing is that all letters should begin with Bismillah. However, the religious jurists have ruled, on the authority of the indications given in the Qur'an and Sunnah, that if there is a risk of disrespect to the name of Allah on the apprehension that the paper on which Bismillah is written would be thrown away, then it is not right to write Bismillah, lest one should get involved in sin. The present day practice is that letters are thrown away after reading and they end up in garbage. Hence, it is better to perform Sunnah by reciting Bismillah orally before starting the letter, rather than writing it on paper. Can a paper bearing a Qur'anic verse be given in the hands of a disbeliever? Sayyidna Sulaiman علیہ السلام had sent this letter to Bilqis when she was not a Muslim, but بسم اللہ الرحمٰن الرحیم was written on it. It confirms that this is permissible. The non-Arab kings to whom the Holy Prophet ﷺ had written letters were disbelievers. But the letters contained some Qur'anic verses too. It should be understood that although it is not permitted to hand over the Holy Qur'an to infidels, but any book or paper containing some verses of the Qur'an does not qualify to be the Qur'an itself; hence, such papers or books can be handed over to an infidel or to someone without وُضُو wudu' (ablution). (Alamgiri) Letters should be written short, comprehensive, eloquent and effective Looking at the letter of Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) one cannot avoid noticing that it is so comprehensive that all important matters have been put together in a few sentences, maintaining the high standard of eloquence along with the royal grandeur in front of the infidels. At the same time perfected attributes of Allah Ta’ ala are also described along with an invitation towards Islam. The condemnation of conceit and arrogance is also noticeable. As a matter of fact, this letter is a specimen of the marvel of Qur'an. Sayyidna Qatadah ؓ has stated that it was the practice in letter writing by all the prophets to make it brief but at the same time ensuring that nothing mentionable is left out. (Ruh ul-Ma’ ani)

Exalt not yourselves against me) feel not too haughty towards me, (but come unto me as those who surrender) and seek peace; as well as demanding other things which were mentioned in the letter.