Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:22
But the hoopoe stayed not long and said, "I have encompassed [in knowledge] that which you have not encompassed, and I have come to you from Sheba with certain news.
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.
By His word فَمَكَثَ غَيْرَ بَعِيدٍ the Exalted means: Sulaymān did not remain long after he had asked about the hoopoe, until the hoopoe came.
The Qurʾān reciters differed over the reading of His word فَمَكَثَ. The general body of reciters of the great cities, with the exception of ʿĀṣim, read it as "fa-makutha" with a ḍamma on the kāf, while ʿĀṣim read it with a fatḥa. Both readings are, in our view, correct, because they are two well-known dialectal forms, although the ḍamma is more pleasing to me, since it is the most well-known and most eloquent of the two forms.
And His word فَقَالَ أَحَطتُ بِمَا لَمْ تُحِطْ بِهِ: he says: the hoopoe said, when Sulaymān asked it about its having stayed behind and its absence: I have encompassed in knowledge that which you have not encompassed, O Sulaymān.
As Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word أَحَطتُ بِمَا لَمْ تُحِطْ: that which you do not know.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one of the people of knowledge, from Wahb ibn Munabbih: فَمَكَثَ غَيْرَ بَعِيدٍ — then the hoopoe came, and Sulaymān said to it: what has kept you back from your service? It said: I have encompassed that which you have not encompassed.
And His word وَجِئْتُكَ مِن سَبَإٍ بِنَبَإٍ يَقِينٍ: he says: I have come to you from Sabaʾ with a certain tiding.
And that is what Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one of the people of knowledge, from Wahb ibn Munabbih: وَجِئْتُكَ مِن سَبَإٍ بِنَبَإٍ يَقِينٍ — that is to say: I have reached a kingdom that your kingdom has not reached.
The reciters differed over the reading of His word مِن سَبَإٍ. The general body of reciters of Medina and Kufa read it as مِن سَبَإٍ with declension (iǧrāʾ), with the meaning that it is a man named Sabaʾ. Some reciters of Mecca and Basra read it as مِن سَبَأَ without declension, on the view that it is the name of a tribe or of a woman.
The correct position concerning this is to say: they are two well-known readings, and learned reciters have read each of the two. Whoever of the two reads it has done well — both declension and non-declension of Sabaʾ is correct. For if Sabaʾ is a man, as the report indicates, then it takes declension when one intends the name of the man; and if one intends the name of the tribe, then it does not take declension, as the poet said in his use of declension:
"The ones arriving, and Taym in the lee of Sabaʾ, — the hides of the buffaloes have bitten their necks."
There are two transmissions: dhirā and dhirā; and it was related to me from al-Farrāʾ, from al-Ruʾāsī, that he asked Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ: why is Sabaʾ not declined? He said: I do not know what it is. It seems that Abū ʿAmr did not decline it because he did not know what it was, as the Arabs do with unknown names that they do not recognize — they leave off the declension. From some of them it is related: "This Abū Maʿrūr has come" without declension, because he did not recognize it among their names. And if Sabaʾ is a mountain, then it takes declension, because thereby one intends the specific mountain; and if it does not take declension, that is because it is the name for the mountain and its surroundings as a region.
