وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا دَاوُۥدَ وَسُلَيْمَٰنَ عِلْمًا وَقَالَا ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى فَضَّلَنَا عَلَىٰ كَثِيرٍ مِّنْ عِبَادِهِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ · وَوَرِثَ سُلَيْمَٰنُ دَاوُۥدَ وَقَالَ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ عُلِّمْنَا مَنطِقَ ٱلطَّيْرِ وَأُوتِينَا مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَهُوَ ٱلْفَضْلُ ٱلْمُبِينُ
wa laqad ātaynā Dāwūda wa Sulaymāna ʿilmā, wa qāla'l-ḥamdu li'llāhi'lladhī faḍḍalanā ʿalā kathīrin min ʿibādihi'l-muʾminīn · wa waritha Sulaymānu Dāwūd, wa qāla yā ayyuha'n-nāsu ʿullimnā manṭiqa'ṭ-ṭayri wa ūtīnā min kulli shayʾ, inna hādhā la-huwa'l-faḍlu'l-mubīn
"We gave David and Solomon a knowledge, and both of them said: 'Praise be to God, who has favoured us above many of His believing servants.' Solomon inherited from David, and said: 'O people! We have been taught the speech of birds, and we have been given of everything. This is indeed a plain favour.'"
The narrative opens not with kingship but with knowledge, and this is a datum of the word order. Ātaynā… ʿilman — the object of the first sentence is knowledge.
And that the word comes indefinite is worth recording: ʿilman — "a knowledge." Of what it is knowledge is not said. I record this as an observation about the word order: the indefiniteness leaves the scope open, and one instance of it is given in the next verse (manṭiqu'ṭ-ṭayr), but no definition is given.
The section on David and Solomon was treated in detail in Ṣād (the horses, the prayer, the wind, the repetition of the word awwāb for three prophets) and what was given to the two of them was set out in a table in Sabaʾ at 34/10-14 (the softening of iron, the flowing of copper, the wind, the labour of the jinn, and the death of Solomon). I rely on these two files; I do not repeat the analyses there.
| Sūra | What is named first in the David–Solomon passage |
|---|---|
| Ṣād 38/17-40 | The attribute of servanthood — niʿma'l-ʿabd, innahū awwāb |
| Sabaʾ 34/10-13 | Materials and resources — iron, copper, wind |
| al-Naml 27/15 | Knowledge — and after it, praise |
1. ʿalā kathīrin — "above many", not above all. 2. min ʿibādihi'l-muʾminīn — the group above which they are set is His believing servants.
I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence makes no claim of absolute superiority — it is bounded on both sides. And the comparison is drawn not with those who deny but with the believers.
And the verb of the sentence must be recorded: faḍḍala — "He favoured", not a passive, and its agent is God. The superiority is thus named not as something attained but as something given. Indeed the sentence opens with al-ḥamdu li'llāh: the subject of the utterance is stated at the outset.
What was inherited is not said in the verse, and this has been debated in the classical commentaries:
| Reading | What waritha covers |
|---|---|
| 1 | Prophethood and knowledge — not property; that the passage opens with knowledge is taken as an indication |
| 2 | Kingship and rule — the government passing from father to son |
| 3 | Both together — the general sense of the word is left as it stands |
I do not impose a preference. I record one indication, not a preference: the chain of verses opened in the preceding verse with ʿilman, and in the next sentence Solomon speaks of something taught (ʿullimnā). The context runs along the axis of knowledge; but the verse does not say so explicitly.
The root ن-ط-ق: to bring forth speech with the voice, to speak. Manṭiq — speech, utterance; and from this, in later centuries, it took on the sense of a method of thought (the science of logic). The root was treated in al-Najm at 53/3 (wa mā yanṭiqu ʿani'l-hawā) and in al-Mursalāt; in both places this verse was already cited. I do not repeat it here.
And in Fuṣṣilat at 41/21 the same root occurred for the making of the limbs speak on the day of reckoning (anṭaqanā'llāhu'lladhī anṭaqa kulla shayʾ). In the last block of al-Naml the same root will turn the other way: at verse 85, fa-hum lā yanṭiqūn — "and they will not speak."
| Verse | Expression | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | ʿullimnā manṭiqa'ṭ-ṭayr | Solomon — the speech of what is reckoned speechless is understood |
| 85 | fa-hum lā yanṭiqūn | Those who deny — the one who speaks falls silent |
This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra. And I record this as my own reading: the sūra opens speech as a capacity and closes it as a deprivation.
I draw a limit, and per the method (Method) I write it out plainly: I derive no scientific claim about animal communication from the phrase manṭiqu'ṭ-ṭayr. The verse reports a particular understanding given to Solomon; it does not say that it opens a general door to knowledge. Indeed the verb is passive, and its agent is evident: ʿullimnā — "we were taught."
The word order must be recorded: the particle min is there. The sentence does not say ūtīnā kulla shayʾ ("we were given everything") — min kulli shayʾ: "of everything [a share]." The giving thus conveys not the extent but the variety.
And the same phrase will be used once more in this sūra, at verse 23, of the queen of Sabaʾ: wa ūtiyat min kulli shayʾ. The same construction, once of a prophet and once of a queen. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra, and I shall return to it there.