al-Naml 27:24-26

wajadtuhā wa qawmahā yasjudūna li'sh-shamsi min dūni'llāhi wa zayyana lahumu'sh-shayṭānu aʿmālahum fa-ṣaddahum ʿani's-sabīli fa-hum lā yahtadūn · allā yasjudū li'llāhi'lladhī yukhriju'l-khabʾa fi's-samāwāti wa'l-arḍi wa yaʿlamu mā tukhfūna wa mā tuʿlinūn · Allāhu lā ilāha illā huwa rabbu'l-ʿarshi'l-ʿaẓīm

"I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of to God. Satan had made their deeds seem fair to them and had turned them from the way, so that they are not guided. That they should not prostrate to God, who brings out what is hidden in the heavens and the earth, and who knows what you conceal and what you make known… God — there is no god but He, the Lord of the mighty throne."

There is a variant reading on the first word of verse 25, and since it bears directly on the meaning it must be recorded, per the method (Method):

Both readings are transmitted by the imams of the variant readings; I do not impose a preference.

The difference changes whose sentence it is: on the first reading the sentence is still a continuation of the hoopoe's report; on the second it is a direct call breaking in. Both have been defended in the classical commentaries.

I record an observation, not a preference: on the second reading the sentence is an imperative, and this agrees with the prostration of recitation at the end of verse 26. This is an indication, not a proof.

There is agreement that this sūra contains a prostration of recitation. As to its exact place, differing views are transmitted in the classical works of law: on one view it falls at the end of verse 25, on another at the end of verse 26 (rabbu'l-ʿarshi'l-ʿaẓīm).

I confine myself to transmitting the disagreement; I issue no legal ruling. Per the method (Method), the views of the schools of law are transmitted and no ruling is issued.

The concrete sense of the root: khabʾ — a thing hidden, a thing stored away. Khabaʾa — he hid it. From the same root, khabīʾa — the thing that is hidden.

And the verb of the sentence must be recorded: yukhriju'l-khabʾ — "who brings out what is hidden." The description is thus not of one who knows what is hidden but of one who brings it out.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the choice of verb: to know is a state, to bring out is an act. The sentence frames the relation to what is hidden not as a passivity but as an action. Indeed the verb of knowing follows immediately, separately: wa yaʿlamu mā tukhfūna wa mā tuʿlinūn.

The two clauses stand side by side, and each does a different work:

I record this as an observation about the word order: the two clauses name separately what is hidden outside and what is hidden within. And both are spoken by a bird — that is, the sūra puts the two most comprehensive statements into the mouth of the smallest character in the narrative.

And the place of the word khabʾ within the sūra is worth recording: the hoopoe had brought news from a place Solomon had not seen (22). Now it names God as the one who brings out what is hidden. This is a fitness between verses that can be verified; it is not a claim about intent.

At verse 4 the same verb occurred as zayyannā ("We made fair"); here the agent is Satan. That the two usages do not contradict each other, and that this was treated in Muḥammad at 47/14, was recorded above.

The chain in this verse must be recorded, and it has three links:

The two fāʾ particles (fa-ṣaddahum, fa-hum) convey consequence. The chain is thus built as cause and effect, and the first link is a corruption of sight, not a lack of knowledge.

And the same verb (ص-د-د) will occur once more in this narrative, at verse 43: wa ṣaddahā mā kānat taʿbudu min dūni'llāh. The same root, once for the people and once for the queen. This is a repetition that can be verified within the narrative.

The verse names the people's act: prostration to the sun. And the qualification matters: min dūni'llāh — "instead of God."

Per the method (Method) I draw a limit: this verse describes a people who worshipped the sun in history. I issue no blanket verdict about an ethnic or geographical group; what the verse describes is a conduct, and whoever does that conduct falls under it.

The root س-ج-د was treated in al-Najm and in al-Inshiqāq: to bow, to fall to the ground; the plainest bodily form of submission. I do not repeat it here.

The last construct of verse 26 meets the last construct of verse 23 word for word. This is a repetition that can be verified from the text:

The same two words, three verses apart, of two different owners.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the exact overlap of the two constructs: the bird that brings the report first describes the queen's throne as ʿarshun ʿaẓīm; three verses later it uses the same description of God, and between them stands the sentence lā ilāha illā huwa. The comparison is thus made not by calling the throne small, but by returning the same description to its true owner.

And at the end of the narrative the throne will come on stage once more (38-42): it will be brought, it will be made unrecognisable, and before it the queen will declare her submission. The sūra's line about the throne thus begins here and ends at verse 42.

This sequence is a weave that can be verified within the sūra.