Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

When  Hazrat Sulaiman (a.s.) died nobody was aware of his death until the stick on which he was standing cracked and broke due to termites.  My Question is dint he had people checking what he need to eat food, or just casual visit to meet him.  How come people dint came to know for so long time.

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Answer:

Death of prophet sulaimaan termites

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chatper 34 Surah Saba verses 12-14:

12 And to Sumaimaan (Allah made) the wind (obedient): its early morning (stride) was a month's (journey) and its evening (stride) was a month's (journey); and We made a font of molten brass to flow for him; and there were Jinns that worked in front of him by the leave of his Lord; and if any of them turned aside from Our command We made Him taste of the Penalty of the Blazing Fire.

13 They (the Jinns) worked for him (Prophet Sulaimaan (a.s.)) as he desired (making) arches, images, basins as large as reservoirs, and (cooking) cauldrons fixed (in their places): "Work ye sons of Dawood with thanks! But few of My servants are grateful!"

14 Then when We decreed (Prophet Sulaimaan’s (a.s.)) death, nothing showed them (the Jinns) his death except little creatures of the earth which kept gnawing away at his staff: so when he (Prophet Sulaimaan (a.s.)) fell down, the Jinns saw plainly that if they had known the ‘unseen’, they would not have tarried in the humiliating penalty (of their task).

Your Questions: ….When  Hazrat Sulaiman (a.s.) died nobody was aware of his death until the stick on which he was standing cracked and broke due to termites.  My Question is dint he had people checking what he need to eat food, or just casual visit to meet him.  How come people dint came to know for so long time.

Respected brother in Islam, as believers in Allah and the Last Day, we are under obligation to believe without any reservation whatsoever, and with absolute and total conviction whatever is Declared by the Lord Most Majestic, Most Supreme in His Glorious Quran.

When the Lord All-Knowing, All-Wise Has Himself Declared that ‘…..nothing showed them (the Jinns) his death except little creatures of the earth which kept gnawing away at his staff; so when he (Prophet Sulaimaan (a.s.)) fell down, ….’; it should be the belief of every believer, and I swear by Allah Subhanah, that is precisely and exactly what happened…..for that is Declared by none other than The Lord Most Majestic Who Created.

One is at liberty to ponder and search for the wisdom and the rationale behind every Guidance and every Declaration of the Glorious Quran……but a believer who has professed belief in Allah and the Last Day has absolutely no right to challenge or deny or disbelieve anything which is related in Truth by the Lord Most Majestic Himself in His Glorious Quran.

The scholars and jurists in Islam are absolutely unanimous in their opinion that the main wisdom behind the declaration of this particular Verse in context of the incident was the categorical declaration of the Quran that the Jinns possess absolutely no knowledge of the ‘ghaib’ or the ‘unseen’!

But the truth is brother, many amongst the eminent scholars and commentators of the Glorious Quran have struggled to equate or explain the ‘time-factor’ ratio between the gnawing of the termites of the staff of Prophet Sulaimaan (a.s.) and the knowledge of his death unto those around him!

In the absence of any further details regarding this specific ‘time-factor’ in the Glorious Quran or in the authentic and established Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws), one may come up with any number of ‘probabilities’ in their efforts to explain the ‘time-factor’…..but what exactly was the condition of the times, and what exactly happened and transpired is known to none save Allah Subahnah Alone!

Now to answer your specific questions…..

First and foremost brother, the Quran does not specify that ‘nobody’ was aware of the death of Prophet Sulaimaan (a.s.)…..it declares that only the Jinns were unaware of his death. Allah Subhanah has not bestowed a kingdom of the like He had bestowed on Prophet Sulaimaan (a.s.) to any before or after him….thus it is inconceivable that a king of the stature of Hadrat Sulaimaan (a.s.) was not attended, at least, periodically by his staff, or servants, or his family….

Thus it is possible that the humans around Hadrat Sulaimaan (a.s.) were well aware of his death, it was only the Jinns who remained unaware of his death until they saw him fall.

It may well be that, under the Guidance of Allah Subhanah, Prophet Sulaimaan (a.s.) was to take and fulfill some specific task from the Jinns under his command…..and he (a.s.) had forewarned his staff and his family regarding his impending death and they were commanded not to attend to him until his death became known to the Jinns after his fall.

Also it is not as if the dead body of the Prophet (a.s.) stood or sat with the support of the wooden staff for a considerably long period of time of days or weeks ‘overseeing’ the assigned task being done by the Jinns…..for even if the termites gnawed at only a few centimeters of the bottom of the wooden staff which supported the dead body of Hadrat Sulaimaan (a.s.), the body would have lost its support. And anyone who has knowledge of the speed at which an army of termites can devour dead wood, would know that a few hours would have been more than sufficient!

We reiterate again brother, that in the absence of any further details regarding this specific ‘time-factor’ in the Glorious Quran or in the authentic and established Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws), one may come up with any number of ‘probabilities’ …..but what exactly was the condition of the times, and what exactly happened and transpired is known with conviction to none save Allah Subahnah Alone!

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan