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Surah 27 · Makkah · 93 āyāt
Phase 03 · The boycott and the Year of Sorrow(c. 7–5 BH) — view in timelineAn-NamlThe Ant
النمل
The 48th surah revealed, from the third Makkan phase. It opens by naming itself a book of clear signs and guidance, then tells four intertwined stories of prophets given knowledge and power — Mūsā at the burning bush, Sulaymān commanding the ant and the hoopoe and receiving Bilqīs's submission, Ṣāliḥ and Thamūd, and Lūṭ — before closing with a sustained argument from creation for Allah's oneness. Its central thread is gratitude: knowledge and power are trials that either humble a soul toward its Lord, as with Sulaymān, or inflate it into arrogance, as with Thamūd's chiefs.
Why it was revealed
Revealed at a time when the Prophet ﷺ and the believers faced mounting mockery and hard-heartedness from Quraysh, while Makkan trade caravans carried word of the ruined dwellings of Thamūd and the overturned towns of Lūṭ's people that lay along their own trade routes to Syria and Yemen.
There is no single, specific occasion of revelation (sabab al-nuzūl) transmitted with a sound chain for this surah as a whole; classical exegetes place it among the surahs revealed in sequence during the later Makkan years without attaching it to one incident. Any claim of a specific isolated occasion beyond this should be treated with caution.
Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, introduction to Sūrat al-Naml; al-Suyūṭī, al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān (order of revelation)In the Prophet's ﷺ life
Mūsā's family and the fire at al-Ṭūr
Mūsā عليه السلام saw a fire on the mountainside while travelling with his family and went to bring word or a burning stick, only to be addressed by Allah Himself and given the staff and the shining hand as signs.
Ibn Kathīr on 27:7–12; cf. Qurʾān 20:9–24, 28:29–35
Ṭā-Sīn: a book that is guidance and glad tidings
The surah opens with disjointed letters and a description of the Qurʾān as clear verses, guidance and glad tidings for believers, while those who deny the Hereafter are veiled by their own deeds. The scene then moves to Mūsā at the fire, receiving the staff and the shining hand as signs to Firʿawn's people — who rejected them out of injustice and arrogance despite inner certainty.
طسٓ ۚ تِلْكَ ءَايَٰتُ ٱلْقُرْءَانِ وَكِتَابٍ مُّبِينٍ
Ṭā, Sīn. These are the verses of the Qurʾān and a clear Book.
هُدًى وَبُشْرَىٰ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Guidance and glad tidings for the believers.
From the tafsīr
Ṭā-Sīn are among the disjointed letters whose precise meaning is known to Allah alone; what follows describes the Qurʾān as āyāt of a clear, clarifying Book.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Firʿawn's people rejected the signs 'wrongfully and arrogantly, while their own selves were convinced of them (wa-stayqanathā anfusuhum)' — denial here is a moral failure, not an intellectual one.
— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān on 27:14
Key takeaways
- Guidance and glad tidings are named together — the Qurʾān both directs and comforts.
- Disbelief that persists after inner certainty is arrogance, not honest doubt.
- A soul that does not believe in the Hereafter loses the ability to see its own deeds clearly.
Reflect
Where have you sensed the truth of something yet resisted acting on it out of pride?
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Question 1 of 2
According to al-Qurṭubī, why did Firʿawn's people reject Mūsā's signs?
Question 2 of 2
What two qualities does the surah's opening ascribe to the Qurʾān?
The ant's warning and the hoopoe's report: creatures with knowledge
Sulaymān and Dāwūd are given knowledge and made to say 'praise be to Allah who favoured us over many of His believing servants.' Sulaymān inherits Dāwūd, is taught the speech of birds, and commands an army of jinn, men and birds. An ant warns her colony of the approaching army; Sulaymān, hearing her, smiles and prays in gratitude. Later he notices the hoopoe missing, threatens punishment, then hears its report of Sabaʾ's sun-worshipping queen.
وَوَرِثَ سُلَيْمَٰنُ دَاوُۥدَ ۖ وَقَالَ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ عُلِّمْنَا مَنطِقَ ٱلطَّيْرِ وَأُوتِينَا مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ ۖ إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَهُوَ ٱلْفَضْلُ ٱلْمُبِينُ
And Sulaymān inherited [knowledge and prophethood] from Dāwūd, and he said, 'O people, we have been taught the speech of birds, and we have been given from all things. Indeed, this is the clear favour.'
حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَوْا۟ عَلَىٰ وَادِ ٱلنَّمْلِ قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّمْلُ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ مَسَٰكِنَكُمْ لَا يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْ سُلَيْمَٰنُ وَجُنُودُهُۥ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ
Until, when they came upon the Valley of the Ants, an ant said, 'O ants, enter your dwellings so that Sulaymān and his soldiers do not crush you while they perceive not.'
فَتَبَسَّمَ ضَاحِكًا مِّن قَوْلِهَا وَقَالَ رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِىٓ أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَىَّ وَعَلَىٰ وَٰلِدَىَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَٰلِحًا تَرْضَىٰهُ وَأَدْخِلْنِى بِرَحْمَتِكَ فِى عِبَادِكَ ٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ
So he smiled, amused at her speech, and said, 'My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favour which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do righteousness of which You approve, and admit me by Your mercy into [the ranks of] Your righteous servants.'
فَمَكَثَ غَيْرَ بَعِيدٍ فَقَالَ أَحَطتُ بِمَا لَمْ تُحِطْ بِهِۦ وَجِئْتُكَ مِن سَبَإٍۭ بِنَبَإٍ يَقِينٍ
But the hoopoe stayed not long and said, 'I have encompassed what you have not encompassed, and I have come to you from Sabaʾ with certain news.'
From the tafsīr
'We have been taught the speech of birds' (manṭiq al-ṭayr) — a specific gift given to Sulaymān among prophets, alongside command over the jinn and the wind.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm on 27:16
Sulaymān's smile and prayer — 'my Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favour' — came directly upon hearing the ant, showing that gratitude is the fitting response to being shown one's own power and its limits.
— Al-Qurṭubī on 27:19
The hoopoe's claim to have grasped 'what you have not grasped' from Sabaʾ is not arrogance on the bird's part but a report of information Sulaymān genuinely lacked — knowledge is not owned by rank alone.
— Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān on 27:22
Key takeaways
- Being given knowledge and power is repeatedly followed by an instruction or instinct to praise Allah, not to boast.
- A tiny ant's care for her own community becomes, in the Qurʾān, an occasion for a prophet-king's gratitude.
- Even a subordinate creature can hold knowledge its superior lacks; authority and knowledge are not the same thing.
- Sulaymān's threat to the hoopoe for absence, followed by acceptance of its excuse, models fair leadership: firm expectation, but a hearing before punishment.
Reflect
When was the last time someone with less standing than you taught you something you didn't know?
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Question 1 of 3
What specific gift is Sulaymān said to have received in verse 16?
Question 2 of 3
What did the hoopoe report about the people of Sabaʾ?
Question 3 of 3
What did Sulaymān do immediately upon hearing the ant's warning?
Bilqīs: from a throne of her own to submission with Sulaymān
Sulaymān sends a letter beginning 'in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' calling Bilqīs and her people not to exalt themselves against him but to come in submission. She consults her council, notes that kings corrupt lands when they conquer, and sends a gift instead — which Sulaymān rejects, warning he will bring an army they cannot resist. As she travels to him, her throne is fetched instantly by one 'who had knowledge of the Scripture'; disguised, it is presented to her, and she recognises it. She then enters a hall with a glass floor over water, mistaking it for a pool and baring her legs, before declaring: 'My Lord, I have wronged myself, and I submit with Sulaymān to Allah, Lord of the worlds.'
إِنَّهُۥ مِن سُلَيْمَٰنَ وَإِنَّهُۥ بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Indeed, it is from Sulaymān, and indeed it reads: 'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.'
قَالَ ٱلَّذِى عِندَهُۥ عِلْمٌ مِّنَ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ أَنَا۠ ءَاتِيكَ بِهِۦ قَبْلَ أَن يَرْتَدَّ إِلَيْكَ طَرْفُكَ ۚ فَلَمَّا رَءَاهُ مُسْتَقِرًّا عِندَهُۥ قَالَ هَٰذَا مِن فَضْلِ رَبِّى لِيَبْلُوَنِىٓ ءَأَشْكُرُ أَمْ أَكْفُرُ
Said one who had knowledge of the Scripture, 'I will bring it to you before your glance returns to you.' And when he saw it settled before him, he said, 'This is from the favour of my Lord to test me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful.'
قِيلَ لَهَا ٱدْخُلِى ٱلصَّرْحَ ۖ فَلَمَّا رَأَتْهُ حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً وَكَشَفَتْ عَن سَاقَيْهَا ۚ قَالَ إِنَّهُۥ صَرْحٌ مُّمَرَّدٌ مِّن قَوَارِيرَ ۗ قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّى ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِى وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَٰنَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
She was told, 'Enter the palace.' But when she saw it, she thought it was a body of water and uncovered her shins. He said, 'It is a palace paved smooth with glass.' She said, 'My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, and I submit with Sulaymān to Allah, Lord of the worlds.'
From the tafsīr
This is the first occurrence in the Qurʾān of the basmalah opening a letter, and it is noted as the model later adopted for correspondence in Islam.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm on 27:30
Scholars differed on the identity of 'one who had knowledge of the Scripture' — many held it was a righteous man among Sulaymān's court named Āṣif ibn Barkhiyā — but the point of the verse is that the feat was accomplished by knowledge granted by Allah, not by Sulaymān's own power, which he immediately acknowledges by saying 'this is from the favour of my Lord, to test me whether I am grateful.'
— Al-Ṭabarī on 27:40
Bilqīs's mistaking the glass floor for water and her ready admission 'I have wronged myself' show a queen whose intelligence (evident throughout her council scenes) was matched by humility once the truth became clear to her.
— Al-Qurṭubī on 27:44
Key takeaways
- Sulaymān's letter models daʿwah: a clear invitation to worship Allah, without threats of harm for its own sake.
- Bilqīs is portrayed throughout as shrewd and consultative — she tests before she decides.
- The moved throne teaches Sulaymān, not just Bilqīs, that his abilities are Allah's favour and a test of gratitude, not personal merit.
- True submission (islām) for Bilqīs comes with an explicit acknowledgment of her own past wrong — repentance and surrender arrive together.
Reflect
What in your life has been shown to you plainly, yet still required humility to accept?
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Question 1 of 3
What did Bilqīs declare upon entering the glass-floored hall?
Question 2 of 3
What is notable about Sulaymān's letter to Bilqīs?
Question 3 of 3
What did Sulaymān say upon seeing Bilqīs's throne brought before him?
Ṣāliḥ, Thamūd's plot, and Lūṭ's people
Ṣāliḥ calls Thamūd to worship Allah alone; they split into two disputing factions and ask him to hasten a punishment if he is truthful. Nine ringleaders who spread corruption swear by Allah to kill Ṣāliḥ and his family by night and then deny it — but Allah counters their plot and destroys them and their people utterly, leaving their homes fallen and empty. Lūṭ then rebukes his people for approaching men with desire while leaving women, whereupon they demand his family's expulsion; Allah saves Lūṭ and his household except his wife, and sends a devastating rain upon the rest.
فَتِلْكَ بُيُوتُهُمْ خَاوِيَةًۢ بِمَا ظَلَمُوٓا۟ ۗ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَءَايَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ
So those are their houses, fallen into ruin because of the wrong they did. Indeed in that is a sign for a people who know.
From the tafsīr
The nine plotters are identified in earlier tafsīr traditions as the ringleaders of corruption among Thamūd's clans; their secret oath to murder by night was met with a plan of Allah's that overtook them before they could act.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm on 27:48–49
'Those are their homes, fallen down, because they wronged' — the ruins were visible landmarks on trade routes known to the Arabs of the Prophet's ﷺ own time, making the warning tangible rather than abstract.
— Al-Qurṭubī on 27:52
Lūṭ's wife is excepted from those saved because she remained aligned with her people's disbelief and betrayal despite living within a believing household — kinship to a prophet did not save her.
— Ibn Kathīr on 27:57
Key takeaways
- A plot hidden by an oath of denial is still fully known and countered by Allah.
- Physical ruins are treated in the Qurʾān as standing evidence, not merely narrated history.
- Household membership alone does not save a soul; Lūṭ's wife's fate shows individual accountability even within a prophet's own family.
- Ṣāliḥ's people demanded a hastened punishment as a taunt — a request the surah shows was granted in full, and not to their benefit.
Reflect
What warning signs in your own surroundings have become too familiar to notice anymore?
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Question 1 of 2
How many ringleaders plotted to kill Ṣāliḥ and his family?
Question 2 of 2
Why was Lūṭ's wife not saved with the rest of his household?
Who else does all this? The closing argument from creation
The surah closes with a repeated rhetorical question — 'is there a god besides Allah?' — following each mention of a sign in creation: who created the heavens and earth, sends rain to grow gardens, made the earth stable with rivers and mountains, answers the desperate one who calls upon Him, guides in the darkness of land and sea, and originates and then repeats creation. It affirms that none in the heavens or earth knows the unseen except Allah, and ends with instructions to the Prophet ﷺ to worship, recite, and warn, trusting Allah as the best of witnesses.
أَمَّن يُجِيبُ ٱلْمُضْطَرَّ إِذَا دَعَاهُ وَيَكْشِفُ ٱلسُّوٓءَ وَيَجْعَلُكُمْ خُلَفَآءَ ٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ أَءِلَٰهٌ مَّعَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ
Or who answers the desperate one when he calls upon Him and removes the evil, and makes you inheritors of the earth? Is there a god besides Allah? Little do you remember.
قُل لَّا يَعْلَمُ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ٱلْغَيْبَ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ ۚ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ أَيَّانَ يُبْعَثُونَ
Say, 'None in the heavens and earth knows the unseen except Allah, and they do not perceive when they will be resurrected.'
وَقُلِ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ سَيُرِيكُمْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ فَتَعْرِفُونَهَا ۚ وَمَا رَبُّكَ بِغَٰفِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
And say, 'Praise be to Allah; He will show you His signs, and you will recognise them. And your Lord is not unaware of what you do.'
From the tafsīr
Each of the five 'amman' questions (amman khalaqa, amman yahdīkum, etc.) is answered implicitly: only Allah does each of these things, so only He deserves worship — a direct address to the polytheists' own admission that Allah is the Creator while they still worship others besides Him.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm on 27:60–64
'None in the heavens or earth knows the unseen except Allah' is a direct refutation of soothsayers and astrologers whom the Makkans consulted, and a statement so general it includes angels and prophets except by what Allah discloses to them.
— Al-Qurṭubī on 27:65
'You see the mountains and think them firmly fixed, while they are passing by like clouds' is understood as a description of the Day of Judgement, when the mountains will move as the whole created order is undone.
— Ibn Kathīr on 27:88
Key takeaways
- The surah argues for Allah's oneness not by abstract proof but by pointing at rain, mountains, rivers, and the relief of the desperate — everyday, undeniable signs.
- Belief in false gods often survives despite an admitted belief that Allah is the true Creator; the surah targets this inconsistency directly.
- Knowledge of the unseen is Allah's alone — a limit that applies even to those with great knowledge, like Sulaymān, and to the angels.
- The final address to the Prophet ﷺ is threefold: worship, recite the Qurʾān, and warn — leaving the outcome to Allah, the best of witnesses.
Reflect
Which of today's ordinary signs — rain, safety, an answered need — have you stopped noticing as signs?
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Question 1 of 3
What does 27:65 state about knowledge of the unseen?
Question 2 of 3
What three instructions close the surah for the Prophet ﷺ?
Question 3 of 3
What rhetorical device runs through āyāt 60–64?
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Roots from this surah
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ع ل م
āyāt 15, 16, 40, 52, 65to know, to be taught or given knowledge
- عِلْمknowledge
- عُلِّمْنَاwe were taught
- يَعْلَمُونَthey know
- عَٰلِمُknower
ش ك ر
āyāt 19, 40to give thanks, to be grateful
- شُكْرgratitude
- أَشْكُرَthat I be grateful
- شَاكِرone who is grateful
ف ض ل
āyāt 16, 40, 73surplus, favour, excellence bestowed beyond what is due
- فَضْلfavour, grace
- ٱلْفَضْلُ ٱلْمُبِينُthe clear favour
- أَفْضَلmore excellent
ن م ل
āyāt 18ant; the small creature that gives the surah its name
- نَمْلَةan ant
- ٱلنَّمْلthe ants (collective)
ظ ل م
āyāt 14, 44, 52to place something not in its rightful place; wrongdoing, injustice
- ظَلَمْتُI wronged
- ظُلْمwrongdoing, injustice
- ظَٰلِمِينwrongdoers
س ل م
āyāt 44, 81, 91to be safe, whole, at peace; to submit
- أَسْلَمْتُI have submitted
- إِسْلَامsubmission [to Allah]
- سَلَامpeace
غ ي ب
āyāt 65that which is hidden or absent from perception
- ٱلْغَيْبthe unseen
- غَآئِبabsent, hidden
ب ع ث
āyāt 65, 87to send, raise up, resurrect
- يُبْعَثُونَthey will be resurrected
- بَعْثresurrection, raising
Carry this with you
- Knowledge and power are trials in gratitude, not personal achievements to boast of.
- A creature far smaller than you may hold knowledge or care you lack — do not despise it.
- True daʿwah invites clearly to Allah without seeking harm for its own sake.
- Recognising truth and still refusing it out of arrogance is a moral choice, not an intellectual limitation.
- Plots hidden by denial are never hidden from Allah.
- Belonging to a righteous household does not itself save a soul that aligns with wrong.
- Everyday signs — rain, safety, an answered call in distress — are sufficient proof of Allah's oneness for those who reflect.
- None but Allah knows the unseen; this humbles even those given great knowledge, like Sulaymān.
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An-Naml · Who else does all this? The closing argument from creation
What rhetorical device runs through āyāt 60–64?
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