#judaic

brassmanticore:

eastiseverywhere:

Islam Week!

King Solomon
Iran (1500s)
[Source]

King Solomon and the hoopoe who brought news from Queen Sheba
India (1796)
[Source]

Solomon and Queen of Sheba
India (1760)
[Source]

Solomon Enthroned with Angels, Beasts, and Demons
Iran (1575-90)
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The arrival of King Solomon from “The Book of Wonders of the Age” 
Iran (1600s-1700s)
[Source]

In both the Biblical and Islamic narratives, Solomon /Sulaiman / سليمان is a wise and mighty King of the Jews. But he’s got a different set of tales in Islam - and he’s all the more baller for it.

For instance, he shows off his wisdom even as a kid, surpassing his father in judgment of a case of a shepherd whose sheep has eaten up a grape farmer’s vines (he said the shepherd had to restore the vines while the grape farmer could live off the wool and milk of his sheep).

And then there’s his sheer power:

When Solomon inherited the position of king over Israel, he prayed to God to grant him a kingdom which would be greater than that of any after him. God accepted Solomon’s prayer and gave him what he pleased. It was at this stage that Solomon began to acquire the many gifts that God would bestow upon him throughout his life. 

The Quran narrates that the wind was made subservient to Solomon, and he could control it of his own will, and that the jinn also came under Solomon’s control. The jinn helped strengthen Solomon’s reign, building for him monuments, houses of worship, artwork, and reservoirs. God also caused a miraculous spring of liquid brass to flow for Solomon, inevitably to be used by the jinn in their construction. Solomon was even taught the languages of various animals, in particular all the birds. 

Solomon enthroned with Peris, Aaṣaf, jinns, animals and birds
India (1800s)
[Source]

The Quran recounts that, one day, Solomon and his army entered a valley, where there were many ant colonies. On seeing Solomon and his army, one of the ants warned all the others to “…get into your habitations, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you (under foot) without knowing it.” Immediately understanding what the ant said, Solomon, as always, prayed to God, thanking Him for bestowing upon him such gifts andfurther avoided trampling over the ant colonies.

Solomon’s wisdom, however, was yet another of the gifts he received from God, and Muslims strongly maintain that Solomon never forgot his daily prayer, which, to him, was more important than any of his gifts.

Another important aspect of Solomon’s kingship was the size of his army, which consisted of both men and jinn. Solomon would frequently assess his troops and warriors as well as the jinn and all the animals who worked under him. One day, when inspecting his troops, Solomon found the hoopoe missing from the assembly. Shortly later, the hoopoe, however, arrived to Solomon’s court, saying “I have compassed (territory) which thou hast not compassed, and I have come to thee from Saba with tidings true.”

This is where the Queen of Sheba comes in. I’ve blogged about her before for Africa Week; but her story’s so important in Islam that I think I’ll keep it for my subsequent post.

So we’ll jump ahead to his rather unfortunate death:

When Solomon was to die, he stood up in prayer holding his cane. There he silently died, but, by God’s will, did not fall. He remained in this position, and everyone including the jinn thought that he was still alive. Finally God ordered a termite to weaken the cane so that the body of Solomon fell. It was thereafter believed that the jinn (along with all humans) [realised that they] did not know everything and only God had knowledge of all.

Alas! But Solomon/Sulaiman was no slouch: he’s regarded as one of the three great monarchs of all time, and that includes King David/Dawud and Dhul-Qarnayn, who’sprobably Alexander the Great.

So good night, sweet prince, and may jinns and hoopoes sing thee to thy rest:

King Solomon enthroned on lacquer chest with weights and scales, for weighing jewellery
Iran (1840)
[Source], [Source]

I found an article that explains why Solomon was given the gift of speaking in the language of birds:

“Birds,” writes Albertus Magnus, “generally call more than other animals. This is due to the lightness of their spirits.” Although Albertus here employs “lightness” (levitas) as a technical term, the broader valences of the word are very significant; a lightness of spirit does not only indicate one who is fickle, flighty, and unconcerned with the problems of the world (as we see in its cognates légèreté in French and levity in English), but can also suggest a state of moral purity and innocence. The etymological relationship between lightness (levis) and light itself (lux, both from the Indo-European root leuk-) adds another level of interpretive meaning—as Dante illustrates in the Divina Commedia, sin is both dark and heavy, a kind of moral weight that crushes the body and hinders spiritual progress. As creatures of light and levity, whose wings take them beyond the borders of terra firma that demarcate the domain of man, birds can be seen as residing in a state of proximity to the spiritual world that no other living thing may access; their myriad and musical songs only reinforce their depiction as bearers of secret knowledge, concealed by a secret tongue.

Solomon, wisest of all kings, is granted the ability to speak with the birds in both Jewish and Islamic tradition; the Qur’anic passage ʿulimnā manṭiq al-ṭayr (“We were taught the language of birds,” Qur’an 27:16) is directly referenced by the Persian poet and mystic Farid al-Din ʿAttar (d. c. 1221) in his well-known Manṭiq al-Ṭayr, a metaphysical journey into the sublime realm of unity, usually translated into English as The Conference of the Birds. Birds have long played the role of messengers of heavenly tidings and portents in Jewish and Hellenic augury, while the Holy Spirit takes the form of a dove at Jesus’s baptism in the Bible (Luke 3:22) and is similarly depicted at the Annunciation in Christian iconography. Birds are found in the liminal spaces at the ends of the earth: in the early Irish Voyages (immrama) of Bran (8th c.) and St. Brendan (10th c.), birds are found to sing the Canonical Hours in the Isles of Earthly Paradise and transform into angels.”

From“That Melodious Linguist: Eloquence and Piety in Christian and Islamic Songbirds”

I’ve never seen an Islamic scholar explain that part so I don’t know if that’s right, but it makes sense to me.  I never understood why Suleiman had that seemingly random ability.