Sulaymān (Solomon) — سليمان

The Qur'an records that when Dāwūd and Sulaymān judged a case of crops destroyed at night by grazing sheep, Sulaymān arrived at an understanding of the matter, and Allah says: We gave that understanding to Sulaymān — without denying wisdom and knowledge to Dāwūd. The verse is often cited to show that even among prophets in the same household, Allah distributes particular insights differently.

Sulaymān's own words summarize his outlook precisely: he thanked Allah who taught him and Dāwūd, saying, "Praise be to Allah who has favoured us over many of His believing servants," refusing at every stage to let extraordinary gifts become a claim to personal merit.

After a period of trial mentioned briefly in Sūrah Ṣād, Sulaymān asked Allah: forgive me, and grant me a kingdom that will not belong to anyone after me, for You are the Bestower. Allah answered by subjecting the wind to him, blowing gently at his command wherever he directed it, and subjecting the devils among the jinn to him — builders and divers, and others bound in chains — all under his authority, described as a gift without account.

This kingdom included command over molten copper, made to flow for him, and jinn who worked before him by his Lord's permission, building him what he wished of sanctuaries, statues, basins like reservoirs, and fixed cooking pots. The Qur'an frames this immense power explicitly as a trust: whoever deviated from Our command among them, We would make him taste the punishment of the blaze — authority carried responsibility at every level.

Sulaymān was taught the speech of birds, and marching with his armies of jinn, men, and birds arrayed in ranks, he passed by a valley of ants. An ant called out to the others to enter their dwellings so that Sulaymān and his soldiers would not crush them without noticing. Sulaymān heard this and smiled, laughing at her speech, and prayed: my Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favour which You bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do righteousness that You will approve.

The scene is remembered less for the marvel of understanding an ant than for what followed it: a king with command over jinn and wind responded to overhearing a small creature's concern for her own community not with indifference but with gratitude to Allah, and with a prayer that his enormous power be matched by righteous action.

The hoopoe bird reported to Sulaymān news of a people in Sabaʾ ruled by a woman given everything, possessing a magnificent throne, yet worshipping the sun instead of Allah. Sulaymān sent her a letter — beginning in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful — inviting her not to exalt herself against him but to come to him in submission.

The queen, showing prudence rather than pride, consulted her chiefs, sent gifts to test his intentions, and finally travelled to see him herself. Sulaymān had her throne brought before her arrival by one with knowledge of the Scripture, and altered its appearance to test her recognition; seeing his kingdom, and the case of the crystal floor she mistook for water, she declared: my Lord, I have wronged myself, and I submit with Sulaymān to Allah, Lord of the worlds — an ending that turns the entire episode into an account of guidance rather than of conquest.

The Qur'an relates a striking scene at Sulaymān's death: when We decreed death for him, nothing showed the jinn that he had died except a creature of the earth eating away at his staff, on which his body had remained standing. When he fell, the jinn realized that, had they known the unseen, they would not have remained in the humiliating labour they had continued performing under the false impression that he still lived and watched over them.

This closing scene is read by commentators as a direct rebuttal of claims — some circulating among certain groups even in the pre-Islamic and early periods — that jinn possess knowledge of the unseen; the very creatures Sulaymān had commanded were shown to know nothing of his death until the plainest physical evidence made it undeniable.