Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:16
And Solomon inherited David. He said, "O people, we have been taught the language of birds, and we have been given from all things. Indeed, this is evident bounty."
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 mention, says: وَوَرِثَ سُلَيْمَانُ his father دَاودَ — the knowledge that Allah had given him during his lifetime, and the kingship that He had bestowed upon him specifically above the rest of the people of his nation, and which He assigned to him after his father Dāwūd above the rest of the sons of his father. وَقَالَ يَاأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ عُلِّمْنَا مَنْطِقَ الطَّيْرِ — He says: and Sulaymān said to his people: O people, we have been taught the language of the birds — that is to say: we understand their speech; and he equated that with regard to the birds with the speech of a man from the children of Ādam when he understands it from them.
And al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb: وَقَالَ يَاأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ عُلِّمْنَا مَنْطِقَ الطَّيْرِ — he said: it has been transmitted to us that the army-camp of Sulaymān covered a hundred parasangs: twenty-five for the people, twenty-five for the jinn, twenty-five for the wild beasts, and twenty-five for the birds; and he had a thousand houses of crystal upon wood, containing within them three hundred free wives and seven hundred concubines (sariyya); he commanded the gale to lift him up and commanded the gentle wind to carry him along. Then Allah revealed to him while he was travelling between heaven and earth: I have decreed that no one of the creatures says anything at all but that the wind will come and inform him of it.
And His word: وَأُوتِينَا مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ — He says: and we have been given and granted of every good. إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْمُبِينُ — He says: this which has been given to us of goods is truly the privilege above all our contemporaries, the manifest privilege — that is to say: that which makes clear to whoever considers and reflects upon it that it is a privilege given to us above the rest of mankind.
