An-Naml · Makki · ayah 24 of 93

An-Naml 27:24

وَجَدتُّهَا وَقَوْمَهَا يَسْجُدُونَ لِلشَّمْسِ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ أَعْمَـٰلَهُمْ فَصَدَّهُمْ عَنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ فَهُمْ لَا يَهْتَدُونَ

“I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allāh, and Satan has made their deeds pleasing to them and averted them from [His] way, so they are not guided,”

Saheeh International

Essence

The heart of the hoopoe's report: a gifted people bowing to the sun, their own choices made lovely to them, turned aside from the road.

A reflection

Bowing to something that bows

If you were going to worship something in creation, the sun would be the obvious choice. It is the brightest thing anyone has ever seen. Crops grow by it, seasons turn on it, and every morning it seems to give the world back. The people of Saba were not fools. They chose the best candidate available.

Picture a crowd at a stone circle at dawn on midsummer's day. Hundreds have stood in the cold for hours. When the sun clears the horizon there is a cheer, and some people raise their arms. The feeling in that field is real. Something in the human being wants to bow to what is greatest.

The ayah does not mock that instinct. It corrects its direction: min dūni Allāh, instead of Allah.

The first hearers already had a clue in the sun's name. The lexicons say shams comes from a root meaning restless, never settling. A horse that will not stand still is shamūs. The Arabs named the sun for its constant movement. Something that is always moving is always being moved.

The Quran fills in the rest. The sun runs to a resting place set for it (36:38). It is harnessed, made to serve. And it bows: the sun and the moon and the stars... prostrate to Him (22:18). The people of Saba were bowing down to something that was itself bowing down. Ibrahim had made the point long before, watching the lights of the sky set: I do not love things that set (6:76).

Another ayah draws the line plainly. Do not prostrate to the sun or the moon, but prostrate to Allah who created them (41:37).

The greatest thing you can see is still a thing. Admire the sunrise fully. Then let your admiration travel past it, to the One it is bowing to.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.