Tafseer of The Prophets · Al-Anbiyaa · 21:81
And to Solomon [We subjected] the wind, blowing forcefully, proceeding by his command toward the land which We had blessed. And We are ever, of all things, Knowing.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah, exalted be His praise, says: (And) We made subject to Sulaymān (وَ) سخرنا (لِسُلَيْمانَ) ibn Dāwūd (الرِّيحَ عَاصِفَةً) — the stormy wind — and its stormy character is the force of its mode of blowing; (تَجْرِي بِأَمْرِهِ إِلَى الأرْضِ الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا), that is to say: the wind blows at the command of Sulaymān toward the land which We have blessed, by which is meant: al-Shām. For indeed the wind transported Sulaymān and his companions wherever Sulaymān wished, and then returned to his dwelling place in al-Shām. Hence it was said: (toward the land which We have blessed).
As Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of certain scholars, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: When Sulaymān left his audience, the birds would array themselves around him, and the jinn and humans would stand before him until he had taken his seat upon his throne. He was a man who waged many campaigns and rarely abstained from them; whenever he heard of a king in any far corner of the earth, he would march against him until he had humbled him. And, as is claimed, when he wished to undertake a campaign, he would summon his army together and have a platform of wood erected for him; then the people, the animals, and all the equipment of war were loaded upon it. As soon as everything he wished to take with him had been loaded, he commanded the stormy wind — and it would press in from beneath the wood and lift it up. When the whole had risen aloft, he commanded the gentle wind, which would then carry it, for a month on its outward flight and a month on its return, to the destination he wished. Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, says: فَسَخَّرْنَا لَهُ الرِّيحَ تَجْرِي بِأَمْرِهِ رُخَاءً حَيْثُ أَصَابَ (We made the wind subject to him, flowing at his command, gently, wherever he wished), and He says: وَلِسُلَيْمَانَ الرِّيحَ غُدُوُّهَا شَهْرٌ وَرَوَاحُهَا شَهْرٌ (And the wind was for Sulaymān; its morning course was a month and its evening course a month). He said: I was told that beside the Tigris there is a dwelling place upon which there is an inscription, written by one of the companions of Sulaymān — whether a jinn or a human —: "We lodged here, but did not build it; it was already built when we found it. We departed in the morning from Iṣṭakhr and rested here, and we now depart from it, in shā'a Allāh, to be in al-Shām by evening."
Bishr related to us; he said: Yazīd related to us; he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words (وَلِسُلَيْمَانَ الرِّيحَ عَاصِفَةً)… up to His words (وَكُنَّا لَهُمْ حَافِظِينَ): he said: Allah caused Sulaymān to inherit Dāwūd, so that he inherited his prophethood and his kingdom, and over and above that Allah added to it that He made subject to him the wind and the devils.
Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words (وَلِسُلَيْمَانَ الرِّيحَ عَاصِفَةً تَجْرِي بِأَمْرِهِ): stormy and forceful, blowing at his command toward the land which We have blessed — he said: al-Shām.
The Qur'ān reciters differed in the recitation of His words (وَلِسُلَيْمَانَ الرِّيحَ): the majority of the reciters in the great cities read it in the accusative (الرِّيحَ), in accordance with the meaning which we have explained, while ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Aʿraj read it as (الرِّيحُ) — in the nominative — within the framework of beginning a fresh statement about Sulaymān, as the inception of an announcement that the wind was for Sulaymān.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reading which, in my view, admits of no other reading alongside it is that upon which the reciters of the great cities have agreed, on account of the consensus of the authorities among the reciters concerning it.
His words (وَكُنَّا بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَالِمِينَ) mean: and We were knowing of what We did for Sulaymān in subjecting to him what We subjected to him, and in giving him what We gave him of kingdom and the welfare of creation — We did it out of Our knowledge of the fittingness of what We did for him thereby, and We are knowing of all things, from which nothing remains hidden from Us.
