An-Naml · Makki · ayah 28 of 93

An-Naml 27:28

ٱذْهَب بِّكِتَـٰبِى هَـٰذَا فَأَلْقِهْ إِلَيْهِمْ ثُمَّ تَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ فَٱنظُرْ مَاذَا يَرْجِعُونَ

“Take this letter of mine and deliver it to them. Then leave them and see what [answer] they will return."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Sulayman tests the report and delivers the call in one move: a letter, carried by the bird who brought the news.

A reflection

Send the one who brought the news

A junior analyst spots something odd in a client's accounts. A payment pattern does not add up. She raises it with her director, half expecting to be told to leave it to the partners. Instead he says: you found it, you present it. Tomorrow, nine o'clock, the client's boardroom.

Idhhab bi-kitābī hādhā: go with this letter of mine. Sulayman had far stronger servants. His host included jinn, men and birds (27:17), and some jinn could move great loads in moments (27:39). Yet he hands the letter to the small bird who had just been in disgrace.

A later commentary gives two reasons. Sulayman had seen in the hoopoe signs of knowledge and wisdom. And sending him would leave the bird no excuse at all. If his report was true, he could prove it with his own wings. If it was false, the letter would come back undelivered.

That is wise leadership in two directions. It honours the person who brought the information. It also makes him accountable for it. The analyst who found the anomaly is the one best placed to defend it, and the one whose name now rides on it.

Many organisations do the opposite. A junior person raises a concern, and a senior person takes it into the meeting. The junior never learns how the story ends. Over time, such people stop raising things.

Sulayman's choice says something to anyone who leads. When someone brings you news you did not have, consider sending them with the next step. Trust given at the moment of a fresh mistake is remembered for a lifetime. And responsibility given with it teaches more than any warning.

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.