Qur'aanic Verse 38:34:
Transliteration:
34. Walaqad
fatanna sulaymana
waalqayna AAala kursiyyihi jasadan thumma anaba
Translation:
34. And
We did certainly put Solomon on trial by placing upon his throne a [lifeless]
body; and thereupon he turned in repentance to Us.6
Study Note:
6. Like King David,
King Solomon too, it seems, had committed some unnamed impropriety. Books of Ahaadeeth do allude to some highly
impossible and improbable acts attributed to the great King. But the Ahaadeeth are man-influenced and
error-prone. And why should we go to those books when the Qur’aan gives us
everything needed for our guidance? Allah Almighty has thought it fit not to
specifically mention the impropriety done, so why should mankind be eager to
find it out? This Qur’aanic Verse itself indicates that the impropriety was
related to the succession to Solomon’s throne. We learn from Israelite history
that the successor to Solomon was incompetent and that lead to the
disintegration of the great Solomon Empire. What we should learn from these
episodes concerning the two Prophet-kings is that (i) Prophets are after all
human and (ii) hereditary succession to ruler-ship is not divinely sanctioned.
The above is an extract from yet-to-be-published Qur'aanic Studies Manzil VI.
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