A016
Surah: 027 - Ayah: 016
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27:16
Hazrat Sulayman was an Imam-i mustawda or an Entrusted Imam. In his Qur'anic story, there is the example of the spiritual kingdom of the great souls. Queen Sheba is representing the hujjats of the night (hujjatan-i shab). For this is a great secret that the True Guide keeps attached to his personality, the people of the entire world, through the hujjats of the day (hujjatan-i ruz) and the hujjats of the night (hujjatan-i shab). And numerous wisdoms are hidden in this law.
God grants to every prophet and every imam the same spiritual kingdom which He had granted to Hazrat Sulayman. Thus this great favour has continued from the very beginning as a heritage, as is said: "And Sulayman became Dawud's heir" (27:16). From this wisdom-filled indication, the reality is clear to the intellect and wisdom, that the spiritual kingdom of Hazrat Sulayman was already with his father Hazrat Dawud, Here this question may arise that if it was so, then it would have been mentioned in the Qur'an. Uith due humility, I would like to say that in the Wise Qur'an, everything is mentioned in the language of wisdom, and it is because of this that this Holy Book of God is called the Wise Qur'an.
Where there is the mention of birds in the Holy Qur'an, in the language of wisdom it is the mention of souls and angels. As it is said in verse (27:16): "And Sulayman became David's heir (i.e. the famous kingdom of Sulayman, continues secretly from the time of Hazrat Adam) and he said: O mankind! we have been taught the language of birds (i.e. the language of souls and angels which is necessary for every Prophet and every Imam), and have been given of all things (This is further elaboration of the favours mentioned in this verse)".
Speech of Birds or the Language of Angels?
Q. 58. According to the Qur'an (27:16), Hazrat Sulayman knew the speech of the birds. In its ta'wil. in answer to Q. 50, you have said that Hazrat Sulayman knew the language of souls, for by birds are meant souls. Indeed, we accept this ta'wil. but in it the sub-question arises, whether hazrat Sulayman did know the speech of physical birds also? Further, here we would like to ask regarding the verse: "Allah ... gave speech to everything" (41:21). When and where did this miracle take place, while we see that creatures other than man are always speechless and incapable of speaking?
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A. There is no doubt that Hazrat Sulayman knew, not only the language of souls, but also the speech of external and physical birds. And in this miraculous and spiritual knowledge, all the noble Prophets and pure Imams are equal. For the attachment of the Perfect Men to the Divine light results in the same kind of knowledge and marifat. It is obvious that you are neither a Prophet nor an Imam. But suppose God, in His infinite mercy, grants you the light of marifat and you follow the Messenger of God and the Imam of the time on the path of spirituality, then there will be a new world of marvels and wonders and miracles of the light of Prophethood and Imamat in front of you at every step. At that time you will observe and study innumerable supernatural events and during these experiences, you would also converse with the souls of the living and the dead and be able to understand the speech of the birds. Without such spirituality, there is neither complete marifat, nor is there any path other than this.
Yes, Allah gave speech to everything. That is to say that, He, by His Perfect Power, showed the miracle of the speech of everything, the practical proof of which is always at the place of spirituality. In short, every inanimate and speechless thing speaks miraculously in two ways: In one way, it is the soul of the thing which converses and in the other, although the thing (i.e. animal etc.) is physically before the viewer, it is, in reality, the Holy Spirit which manipulates it. Therefore, at the place of your spirituality, if an inanimate or animate thing says something, it is not necessary that it should be aware and conscious of its own speech.
Ta'wil of Bird and Fruit
Q. 50. We have attained tremendous pleasure and happiness in reading one of your books "Pearls of Knowledge". May God preserve you! In this book, you have written about the ta'wils of Higher Reality. For instance, the ta'wil of birds and fruits is unique and extremely soul-nourishing. Would you add any other interesting and important point to it?
A. The ta'wil of the verse (27:16), according to which, Hazrat Sulayman knew the language of the birds, is that he used to converse with all souls which comprised the souls of jinns, mankind, beasts and birds. The soul is called bird, in the sense that it comes and goes freely, flying over us in the form of subtle particles.
If there is meat in paradise, it is only of the birds. Why? Because the soul is compared to a bird. And the ta'wil of eating the meat of birds in paradise is to adopt a fine, pleasant and a higher soul and to make it a part of one's existence. The purpose of eating the worldly good things is also the same that, by eating them, the physical existence may continue.
The Holy Qur'an repeatedly says that, in paradise, the food will be given in the form of fruits. In this also, an allusion is made to the souls. For, in the universe and existents, the soul of everything is called its fruit. As all the characteristics, beauties, faculties and tastes of the tree are gathered in its fruit, similarly, all the sweetness and happiness of knowledge and wisdom are contained in the soul of things. It should be well remembered that paradise abounds in intellectual and spiritual bounties.
Mantiq at-tayr (The tongue of the birds)
According to verse (27:16) Hazrat Sulayman knew the tongue of the birds. This wisdom-filled way of the Qur'an is to test people in knowledge. Otherwise in reality, not only Hazrat Sulayman, but all other Prophets and Imams know not only the tongue of the birds, but also that of the air, water, etc. In fact, this is among the miracles of the Holy Spirit that speech is created from such ordinary sounds while the birds themselves are not aware of this. Thus, the perfect carif hears many such auditory miracles in his own tongue.
Question: When Hazrat Sulayman succeeded Hazrat Dawud, he proclaimed the dacwat-i haqq (true mission) in this way: "O people! We have been taught the language of birds and have been given everything." (27:16). The question is, why did he link his kingdom with the true mission? What did his subjects have to do with this? Does the language of birds have a ta’wil? Why did he say "We" instead of "I"? Everything includes all things in the universe, so what was it that was given to him?
Answer: The procedures used by Hazrat Sulayman in the true mission were those in accordance with the Divine will. He was the living picture of the spiritual kingdom of all the Prophets, Imams and mu’mins and therefore it was necessary for him to mention the kingdom of Paradise to the people for it was relevant to them. By birds are meant the souls of the people of the world with whom conversations take place in Paradise. In such conversations, ordinary birds are also included. The reason for using "We" instead of "I"
is that in this spiritual kingdom he represented all Perfect Men. Another reason is that the hudud-i din were also included with him. What was given to him was the personal world in which there is a living picture of everything that is in the universe.
The centre of the wisdoms of the Qur’anic story of Hazrat Sulayman from which all the other wisdoms spread and complete the story is the phrase "And we have been given everything." (27:16), and the rest is its explanation. By "everything" is meant the compendium of all intellectual, spiritual and physical things, i.e. the entire universe that has an intellect, a soul and a body. Thus "everything" means a subtle, living picture of it, i.e. the personal world which contains everything and it is this same reality that is mentioned in verse (36:12) relating to the manifest Imam. In short, Hazrat Sulayman was the Imam and therefore within him a personal world was made consisting of the subtle form of everything in the universe and the existents.
This verse has been referred 8 times.