وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا دَاوُۥدَ وَسُلَيْمَٰنَ عِلْمًۭا ۖ وَقَالَا ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى فَضَّلَنَا عَلَىٰ كَثِيرٍۢ مِّنْ عِبَادِهِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Certainly, We gave knowledge to David and Solomon, and they said, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, who granted us an advantage over many of His faithful servants.’
وَوَرِثَ سُلَيْمَٰنُ دَاوُۥدَ ۖ وَقَالَ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ عُلِّمْنَا مَنطِقَ ٱلطَّيْرِ وَأُوتِينَا مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ ۖ إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَهُوَ ٱلْفَضْلُ ٱلْمُبِينُ
Solomon inherited from David, and he said, ‘O people! We have been taught the speech of the birds, and we have been given out of everything. Indeed this is a manifest advantage.’
وَحُشِرَ لِسُلَيْمَٰنَ جُنُودُهُۥ مِنَ ٱلْجِنِّ وَٱلْإِنسِ وَٱلطَّيْرِ فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ
[Once] Solomon’s hosts were marched out for him, comprising jinn, humans and birds, and they were held in check.
حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَوْا۟ عَلَىٰ وَادِ ٱلنَّمْلِ قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌۭ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّمْلُ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ مَسَٰكِنَكُمْ لَا يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْ سُلَيْمَٰنُ وَجُنُودُهُۥ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ
When they came to the Valley of Ants, an ant said, ‘O ants! Enter your dwellings, lest Solomon and his hosts should trample on you while they are unaware.’
فَتَبَسَّمَ ضَاحِكًۭا مِّن قَوْلِهَا وَقَالَ رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِىٓ أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَىَّ وَعَلَىٰ وَٰلِدَىَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَٰلِحًۭا تَرْضَىٰهُ وَأَدْخِلْنِى بِرَحْمَتِكَ فِى عِبَادِكَ ٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ
Whereat he smiled, amused at its words, and he said, ‘My Lord! Inspire me to give thanks for Your blessing with which You have blessed me and my parents, and that I may do righteous deeds which please You, and admit me, by Your mercy, among Your righteous servants.’
وَتَفَقَّدَ ٱلطَّيْرَ فَقَالَ مَا لِىَ لَآ أَرَى ٱلْهُدْهُدَ أَمْ كَانَ مِنَ ٱلْغَآئِبِينَ
[One day] he reviewed the birds, and said, ‘Why do I not see the hoopoe? Or is he absent?’
لَأُعَذِّبَنَّهُۥ عَذَابًۭا شَدِيدًا أَوْ لَأَا۟ذْبَحَنَّهُۥٓ أَوْ لَيَأْتِيَنِّى بِسُلْطَٰنٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ
‘I will punish him with a severe punishment, or I will behead him, unless he brings me a credible excuse.’
فَمَكَثَ غَيْرَ بَعِيدٍۢ فَقَالَ أَحَطتُ بِمَا لَمْ تُحِطْ بِهِۦ وَجِئْتُكَ مِن سَبَإٍۭ بِنَبَإٍۢ يَقِينٍ
He did not stay for long [before he turned up] and said, ‘I have alighted on something which you have not alighted on, and I have brought you from Sheba a definite report.
إِنِّى وَجَدتُّ ٱمْرَأَةًۭ تَمْلِكُهُمْ وَأُوتِيَتْ مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ وَلَهَا عَرْشٌ عَظِيمٌۭ
I found a woman ruling over them, and she has been given everything, and she has a great throne.
وَجَدتُّهَا وَقَوْمَهَا يَسْجُدُونَ لِلشَّمْسِ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ أَعْمَٰلَهُمْ فَصَدَّهُمْ عَنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ فَهُمْ لَا يَهْتَدُونَ
I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allah, and Satan has made their deeds seem decorous to them—thus he has barred them from the way [of Allah], so they are not guided—
أَلَّا يَسْجُدُوا۟ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى يُخْرِجُ ٱلْخَبْءَ فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تُخْفُونَ وَمَا تُعْلِنُونَ
so that they do not prostrate themselves to Allah, who brings forth the hidden in the heavens and the earth, and He knows whatever you hide and whatever you disclose.
ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ رَبُّ ٱلْعَرْشِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ ۩
Allah—there is no god except Him—is the Lord of the Great Throne.’
۞ قَالَ سَنَنظُرُ أَصَدَقْتَ أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ ٱلْكَٰذِبِينَ
He said, ‘We shall see whether you are truthful, or if you are one of the liars.
ٱذْهَب بِّكِتَٰبِى هَٰذَا فَأَلْقِهْ إِلَيْهِمْ ثُمَّ تَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ فَٱنظُرْ مَاذَا يَرْجِعُونَ
Take this letter of mine and deliver it to them. Then draw away from them and observe what [response] they return.’
قَالَتْ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْمَلَؤُا۟ إِنِّىٓ أُلْقِىَ إِلَىَّ كِتَٰبٌۭ كَرِيمٌ
She said, ‘O [members of the] elite! Indeed a noble letter has been delivered to me.
إِنَّهُۥ مِن سُلَيْمَٰنَ وَإِنَّهُۥ بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
It is from Solomon, and it begins in the name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful.
أَلَّا تَعْلُوا۟ عَلَىَّ وَأْتُونِى مُسْلِمِينَ
[It states,] ‘‘Do not defy me, and come to me in submission.’’ ’
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Triangulated from: enlightening_commentary, tabatabai_al_mizan, tabarsi_majma_al_bayan, tusi_al_tibyan, bahrani_al_burhan (narrations), and qummi. All six sources are present; none is silent.
Human-review flags: bahrani_al_burhan — the long 'chapter that the Imams know the speech of birds' (some seventeen short parallel narrations) was faithfully summarized rather than rendered in full; core narrations keep their isnāds.
The passage turns to David and Solomon (15–16), Solomon's inheritance and his proclamation we were taught the speech of birds and given of everything; his marshaled hosts of jinn, men and birds; the Valley of the Ants and the ant's warning (17–19), which is the sūra's namesake; then the muster of the birds, the missing hoopoe and Solomon's threat (20–21), the hoopoe's report of Sabaʾ — a queen given everything, with a great throne, whose people prostrate to the sun instead of God (22–26); and Solomon's letter, opening In the name of God, delivered to the queen who calls it a noble letter (27–31).
The inheritance dispute. The sharpest divergence is over waritha Sulaymānu Dāwūd. al-Ṭabarsī [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan], al-Ṭūsī [tusi_al_tibyan] and al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī [tabatabai_al_mizan] all read it as material inheritance — al-Ṭūsī explicitly noting the Imāmī position that Solomon inherited property and knowledge, and that the Sunnī report 'we prophets do not bequeath' is a khabar wāḥid that cannot restrict the Qurʾān's generality. al-Baḥrānī [bahrani_al_burhan] carries Fāṭima's citation of this very verse against Abū Bakr over Fadak (via al-Iḥtijāj), and al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī adds the nuance that prophethood itself cannot be inherited.
The speech of birds. al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī gives the most philosophical treatment, arguing (against al-Rāzī's Tafsīr al-Kabīr, which he names) that the birds have a real manṭiq God taught Solomon — not a bare miracle — even citing the range of human hearing. al-Ṭabarsī and al-Ṭūsī preserve al-Rummānī's definition (a single-form signification) and al-Mubarrad's dictum that 'the Arabs call all that makes itself understood articulate.' al-Baḥrānī devotes an entire narration-chapter to the Imams' inheritance of this knowledge, reading the calls of sparrows, doves and the swallow.
The hoopoe and the water. All four Arabic sources carry the tradition that the hoopoe sees water underground 'as one sees oil in a glass'; al-Ṭabarsī and al-Baḥrānī both give al-ʿAyyāshī's exchange between Abū Ḥanīfa and al-Ṣādiq — 'when destiny descends it blinds the sight.' On the hoopoe's theology, al-Ṭabarsī and al-Ṭūsī both reject al-Jubbaʾī's claim that the bird did not really know God, since its argument distinguishes true prostration from false and blames Satan.
The qirāʾāt. al-Ṭabarsī and al-Ṭūsī rehearse the reading of allā yasjudū (heavy: 'that they not prostrate,' Satan's work) versus alā yā sjudū (light: an imperative 'O people, prostrate!'), and the declension of Sabaʾ. al-Baḥrānī's al-Qummī narration and Tafsīr al-Qummī [qummi] gloss allā taʿlū ʿalayya as 'do not aggrandize over me,' and al-Baḥrānī uniquely names Āṣaf ibn Barkhiyā and the Valley 'that grows gold and silver.' The published enlightening_commentary [enlightening_commentary] narrates Solomon inheriting David and the ant episode in an accessible register.
Sources present: enlightening_commentary, tabatabai_al_mizan, tabarsi_majma_al_bayan, tusi_al_tibyan, bahrani_al_burhan, qummi; silent: none.