27.21

[chadiga]

Salam all together
27.20

And he reviewed the birds, to see the hoopoe — which would locate water beneath the ground and indicate its location by pecking at it, whereupon the devils would extract it, for Solomon required it for when he prayed; but he could not see him — then he said, ‘Why is it that I do not see the hoopoe?, in other words, is there something preventing me from seeing him? Or is he among the absent?, and so I cannot see him because he is absent?’ And when he became certain [of the hoopoe’s absence],

27.21
He said, ‘Assuredly I will chastise him with a severe chastisement, by having [all] his feathers as well as his tail plucked and leaving him out in the sun, where he would not be able to escape from reptiles, or I will slaughter him, by slitting his throat, unless he brings me (read la-ya’tiyannī or la-ya’tinannī) a clear warrant’, plain manifest proof for his [having a valid] excuse.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn, trans. Feras Hamza
© 2012 Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan (http://www.aalalbayt.org) ® All Rights Reserved

I have trouble  with the interpretation that a prophet of God, who posses the highest wisdom of Allah, he will punish a bird, because he is absent or late,  or slaughter ( dhb kill, to sacrifice ) it. Also, if we looks  the previous verse also we  note that with the ants Prophet Solomon appears in a different light- namely as an admirer of nature and respect it, including the animal world. Are there any other point of view, it is perhaps a wrong translation? Asad said in his comment of a pure, idiomatic, twist, but this convinced me not.
Thanks for your suggestions Peace

[Saba]

Good question Chadiga. 

[Joseph Islam]

Dear Chadiga,

Salamun Alaikum.

I am quite confused / surprised with the translation you have offered as I cannot see any of the highlighted parts in red in the Arabic of the Quran.

27:20
And he reviewed the birds, to see the hoopoe — which would locate water beneath the ground and indicate its location by pecking at it, whereupon the devils would extract it, for Solomon required it for when he prayed; but he could not see him — then he said, ‘Why is it that I do not see the hoopoe?, in other words, is there something preventing me from seeing him? Or is he among the absent?, and so I cannot see him because he is absent?’ And when he became certain [of the hoopoe’s absence],

27.21
He said, ‘Assuredly I will chastise him with a severe chastisement, by having [all] his feathers as well as his tail plucked and leaving him out in the sun, where he would not be able to escape from reptiles, or I will slaughter him, by slitting his throat, unless he brings me (read la-ya’tiyannī or la-ya’tinannī) a clear warrant’, plain manifest proof for his [having a valid] excuse.

Is this an attempted translation or an interpretation by the author? If this is an attempted translation, then this is quite simply 'terrible' as you will agree.

A closer translation of the Arabic would be...

027.020
"And he inspected / reviewed (tafaqqada) the birds and he said: "Why do I not see the Hoopoe? Or is he among the absent?"

027.021
"I will most certainly punish him with a severe punishment, or kill him unless he brings me a clear reason"

To me, it clearly shows the power of a commander and his authority (Prophet Solomon). Also the Hoopoe was not like the ants. The Hoopoe was part of Prophet Solomon's formidable army and under his authority / leadership. Given that the Hoopoe was singled out, it seems this particular Hoopoe had an important position in the army. Disobedience to a leader / head of state can be seen as an act of treason. In this case, such disobedience as going AWOL, absconding, or defecting would not go unpunished and was expressed as death.

'Tafaqqada' in Arabic means to inquire or to search out things lost or possibly missed, at times repeatedly.

For me, this only highlights the importance of this particular 'Hoopoe' as Prophet Solomon repeatedly searched for him. Therefore, the Hoopoe could be a leader of the birds or one whose importance to the army was significant.

If an important general of an army becomes absent without leave (AWOL), then there has to be a very good excuse, let alone the possibility of him absconding / defecting to join another party.

Given the Hoopoe's importance, this then gives the 'testimony' of the Hoopoe even greater credibility in the Quran and one can sense why Prophet Solomon took his testimony regarding Sheba (Saba) so seriously and acted on it by sending Sheba (Saba) a message.

Otherwise, one could potentially question how a Prophet could rely on a simple bird's testimony? This was no simple bird, but rather seemingly, one of great importance.

Every word, every verse in Arabic has succinct relevance with multiple layers to unravel. We must try to stay as close to the Arabic as possible and then try to ponder on the layers of wisdom of what the text reveals.

I hope that helps, God willing
Joseph.

[Saba]

Aslamaolaikum eveyone. Thank you brother Joseph for the post. Very informative and useful.

Chadiga - The translation has so many 'additions'?? is this from the Shiat / Ismaili translation / explanation by Feras Hamza not a translation but a Tafsir of Jalalayn mixed together with the translation? Thanks Saba 

[chadiga]

Salam
thank you for clarification

 Saba: I do not know from where i get this implementation, ...  anyway, it was important to me, especially the disobedience and the killing, or slaughter.
Josep: , thank you for your good declaration. I  have  two questions again:
First: where the Koran says that Solomon had an army of birds?
Second:  You have not explained to me why he wanted to kill the bird? Do you think that, even though he was the leader of the birds and was late (also repeatet), he  has earned a slaughter?
Salam

[Joseph Islam]

Salamun Alaikum Chadiga, 

Question 1:
Verse 27:17 is absolutely clear in its testimony that Prophet Solomon's 'junudu' consisted of the 'jinn', 'people/men' (ins) and the birds (tayr).

The Arabic word 'jund' is an assembling of an army or a military force. It is a word well known to Arabic which means a collection prepared for war, military force or legion. The birds were part of this.

Question 2:
I gave my humble response in my earlier post by saying that in my opinion that it seems clear to me that the Hoopoe was an important member of the birds / army. This is a military gathering and was not a gathering of social contacts or an ordinary affair. 

Therefore, in my humble opinion, when one accepts the testimony of 27:17 that the gathering was one of a military nature, then one can better understand what it possibly means to become AWOL / abscond or defect from an army and what the implications may be.  The Hoopoe was no exception. Even today, punishments can be very harsh in similar circumstances.

I hope that helps, God willing. 
Joseph.

[chadiga]

Salam Joseph
Yes, this statement what I needed! May Allah reward you! Yesterday I asked the same question to my husband, but received only rejection and accusation to reject now even  the Word of God .... However, in a Tafsir was still a good explanation of the 'slaughter;, namely, that this teaching the steps of the train of thought, or rather the paths of a good charakter: first a severe punishment, then a slaughter (what is not so peanful for the bird, quickly) and at last the way out for all the punishments and with a new sight: the asking of the bird first, why he was absent, not the punishment first!
salam