Between the Kingdom of Solomon and the Arrogance of Pharaoh

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered at the American Imams Academy (AIA) on 19 September 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

O Allah, we seek refuge in You from the evil of this day, the evil of what is in it and the evil of what comes after it. Set right for us our religion, our worldly life and our hereafter, and prepare for us right guidance in our affairs, bless us in what You have provided us, protect us from the punishment of the Fire, and turn away from us the causes of punishment in this world and the next, through Your mercy and good pleasure, O Lord of the worlds. And now, welcome to you; may Allah be pleased with you and keep you in well-being and good health.

When the Qur'an Takes You to Other Places

In the Fajr prayer we were recited the end of Sūrat al-Naml and the beginning of Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ^[1]. And no sooner does a person begin to reflect on the meanings of some verses than the Qur'an takes him to other places and other citations, and he tries to connect them, but the Qur'an leaves people incapable, Glory be to Allah, the All-Powerful. In Sūrat al-Naml there is a group of stories, and in Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ there is also a group of stories.

The Kingdom of Solomon: A Civilization Built on Law

But Sūrat al-Naml dealt with a great story, which narrated to us the events of a mighty construction on earth, and a development and a civilization that filled the ear and the eye and left everyone around it incapable: the kingdom of Solomon, which included the ant and included the hoopoe. The Qur'an has told us of a wind that moves by the permission of the Lord of the worlds, subjected, having no authority except by His permission, Glorified is He,^[3] and of his soldiers who were gathered for him from the jinn, mankind and the birds: ﴿فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ * حَتَّىٰ إِذَا أَتَوْا عَلَىٰ وَادِ النَّمْلِ﴾ ("and they were marshalled in ranks * until, when they came upon the valley of the ants") [al-Naml: 17–18].

So imagine the scene of this kingdom. It was built on law, on justice, on equality between individuals in giving before taking, on holding to account whoever fell short in his work, and on assigning the task to the one who began it. And it was built on the idea that the power possessed is a power that rules with justice over people all together, not only internally; so no one was wronged, harmed or transgressed against, but rather principles were established with it that apply to political dealings between great states, and it came with honor, respect and esteem. So much so that its affair ended with her submitting, together with Solomon, to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

And pay attention to the phrase: ﴿…وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَانَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ﴾ ("…and I submit, with Solomon, to Allah, Lord of the worlds") [al-Naml: 44]. Why "with Solomon"? Because Solomon, peace be upon him, is the civilized, mature, pure and God-fearing model, whom she herself tried to win over with a gift: ﴿وَإِنِّي مُرْسِلَةٌ إِلَيْهِم بِهَدِيَّةٍ فَنَاظِرَةٌ…﴾ ("And indeed, I will send to them a gift and see…") [al-Naml: 35], meaning she was testing him and feeling out his pulse. And that was the bearing of Solomon, peace be upon him, and his civilization: his superiority over all around him through mercy, kindness, justice, logic, wisdom and calm, and through genuine civilized interaction.

The Other Face: Pharaoh and His Arrogance

And come, let us look at the other face, when the Lord of the worlds, Glorified is He, says: ﴿وَنُرِيدُ أَن نَّمُنَّ عَلَى الَّذِينَ اسْتُضْعِفُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ﴾ ("And We wanted to confer favor upon those who were oppressed in the land") [al-Qaṣaṣ: 5]. Why? Because they had the one of whom Allah, Blessed and Exalted, spoke in His words: ﴿إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ عَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا يَسْتَضْعِفُ طَائِفَةً مِّنْهُمْ يُذَبِّحُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيِي نِسَاءَهُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ﴾ ("Indeed, Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and made its people into factions, oppressing a sector of them, slaughtering their sons and keeping their women alive. Indeed, he was of the corrupters") [al-Qaṣaṣ: 4].

If you break down the verse in its construction, you see that «علا في الأرض» ("exalted himself in the land") indicates that he made himself one class and the rest of creation another class; he and his entourage live and breathe air other than the air the rest of the people breathe, and live a completely separate life, far from all this "rabble." Then ﴿وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا﴾ ("and made its people into factions"), which means that each group of them became a sect, a party, a bloc, so he divided them and placed within them the seeds of this division. And this is a very ancient philosophy: opposition parties and parties facing them, the two sides clashing, and on the other side one person sitting at ease watching them, and whenever the world calms down he sends them something to stir them up again: newspapers, television, stories and tales.

And who is ground down in this mental circle? The poor fellow who has nothing to do but look to see where the world is going, who has no eye but these people, and has no glasses with which to see events except these people who look at him night and day. And I do not want to give examples, for we are in diverse societies, and each of us has those he follows; may our Lord honor everyone.

The Desired Citizen: Solomon's Hoopoe

The point is that you are facing a civilization that held to the law: ﴿وَتَفَقَّدَ الطَّيْرَ فَقَالَ مَا لِيَ لَا أَرَى الْهُدْهُدَ أَمْ كَانَ مِنَ الْغَائِبِينَ * لَأُعَذِّبَنَّهُ عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا أَوْ لَأَذْبَحَنَّهُ أَوْ لَيَأْتِيَنِّي بِسُلْطَانٍ مُّبِينٍ * فَمَكَثَ غَيْرَ بَعِيدٍ فَقَالَ أَحَطتُ بِمَا لَمْ تُحِطْ بِهِ وَجِئْتُكَ مِن سَبَإٍ بِنَبَإٍ يَقِينٍ﴾ ("And he took attendance of the birds and said, 'Why do I not see the hoopoe – or is he among the absent? * I will surely punish him with a severe punishment or slaughter him unless he brings me clear authorization.' * But he stayed not long and said, 'I have encompassed that which you have not encompassed, and I have come to you from Sheba with certain news'") [al-Naml: 20–22]. And the matter is not a love of revenge, nor rancor in Solomon's heart against the hoopoe, nor a desire to shed blood; rather he gave him a way out: «أو ليأتيني بسلطان مبين» ("unless he brings me clear authorization").

And look at the language: a hoopoe addressing the head of the state, saying «أحطتُ بما لم تحط به» ("I have encompassed that which you have not encompassed"), that is: there reached me today what has not reached you, and I accomplished what you have not accomplished. And reflect on this symmetry in dealing. Then «وجئتك من سبأ بنبأ يقين» ("and I have come to you from Sheba with certain news"); the Qur'an chooses its words. It did not say "with a khabar" (report), because a khabar can be true or false, and it said "I have come to you from Sheba," pointing to the specification of the location of the mission that was assigned to him, indeed that he assigned to himself.^[4] And those who understand military science know the meaning of a "specific mission" (the "task"): you are going to a specific place to bring back particular news, and you must return with it. «بنبأ يقين» ("with certain news"): no doubt in it and no play; I came from that direction, and the report is complete. In this Allah, Blessed and Exalted, shows us an image of the desired citizen in a state that works by this law and this work.

Two Outcomes and a Safety Valve

And the Noble Qur'an presents to us the two stories facing each other in two successive surahs. So what was the outcome of Solomon? Unending glory, and a kingdom such as belongs to no one after him, as he asked his Lord: ﴿وَهَبْ لِي مُلْكًا لَّا يَنبَغِي لِأَحَدٍ مِّن بَعْدِي﴾ ("and grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me") [Ṣād: 35]^[2], so Allah made the outcome of his affair so. And the other, how did his affair end? When he wanted to declare his Islam as drowning overtook him, it was said to him: ﴿آلْآنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ قَبْلُ وَكُنتَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ﴾ ("Now? And you had disobeyed before and were of the corrupters") [Yūnus: 91], that is: the time of acceptance has passed.

The point is that the Noble Qur'an does not only draw for us the philosophy of daily living and how to deal with father and mother, neighbors and kin, but draws the philosophy of dealing with civilizations, and draws the course of humanity's path if we want to learn from it with sincerity and certainty. And it is striking that the Prophet ﷺ repeats in our hearing what he was commanded at the end of al-Naml: ﴿إِنَّمَا أُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَعْبُدَ رَبَّ هَٰذِهِ الْبَلْدَةِ الَّذِي حَرَّمَهَا وَلَهُ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ وَأُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ * وَأَنْ أَتْلُوَ الْقُرْآنَ﴾ ("I have only been commanded to worship the Lord of this city, who made it sacred and to whom belongs all things, and I have been commanded to be of the Muslims * and to recite the Qur'an") [al-Naml: 91–92]. This is our safety valve, my dear beloved ones.

And reflect on this transition between the story of Solomon and the story of Pharaoh and Moses and that great struggle that is to come. And when you read the order of events, it is not as they happened, but as the Lord of the worlds, Glorified and Exalted, arranged them. So look at how your Lord arranges events, how wondrous! And whoever thinks he is intelligent and can play games with a law or a religion, or plot with it against the Lord of the worlds, is deluded and arrogant. And whoever knows that his whole affair belongs to Allah, Allah secures for him the means of salvation and delivers him safely to the means of guidance.

O Allah, we ask You for Your good pleasure and Paradise; O Allah, we ask You for guidance; O Allah, we ask You for justice in our lives; O Allah, establish us on what You will, where You want us; make us among Your servants on earth, and inspire us with maturity, good thinking, reflection and understanding of what You intended for us in Your Book, O Lord of the worlds.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The recitation was from the end of Sūrat al-Naml and the beginning of al-Qaṣaṣ, according to what the speaker mentioned; the two verses cited from al-Qaṣaṣ are the fourth and the fifth. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat Ṣād, verse 35, whose full text is ﴿رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَهَبْ لِي مُلْكًا…﴾. The speaker mentioned only the part given, and the verse has been given here to the extent he mentioned. As for the saying "آلآن وقد عصيت قبل" that occurs after it, it is from Sūrat Yūnus (91) concerning Pharaoh at the time of drowning, and the verse has been completed here with ﴿وَكُنتَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ﴾ to make the context clear. The speaker's colloquial phrase in explaining it ("very late") has been rendered here in Standard Arabic as «فات أوان القبول» ("the time of acceptance has passed"). ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The subjection of the wind to Solomon, peace be upon him, is mentioned in other places in the Qur'an, such as al-Anbiyāʾ (81), Saba (12) and Ṣād (36), and not in the recited portion of Sūrat al-Naml; the speaker mentioned it as a prelude to describing the kingdom. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: This linguistic observation distinguishing between "nabaʾ" and "khabar" is from the speaker's words; the well-known view among the people of the language is that the nabaʾ is a report of importance and great benefit, so the intent is that it is trustworthy news of great consequence. A joke in which people were mentioned by name has been omitted from the transcription.