Surah An-Naml • Ayah 30

Sulayman's Letter to BilqisAllah tells us what Sulayman said to the hoopoe when he told him about the people of Saba' and their queen:قَالَ سَنَنظُرُ أَصَدَقْتَ أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْكَـذِبِينَ ((Sulayman) said: "We shall see whether you speak the truth or you are (one) of the liars.") meaning, `are you telling the truth'أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْكَـذِبِينَ(or you are (one) of the liars.) meaning, `or are you telling a lie in order to save yourself from the threat I made against you'اذْهَب بِّكِتَابِى هَـذَا فَأَلْقِهْ إِلَيْهِمْ ثُمَّ تَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ فَانْظُرْ مَاذَا يَرْجِعُونَ (Go you with this letter of mine and deliver it to them then draw back from them and see what they return.) Sulayman wrote a letter to Bilqis and her people and gave it to the hoopoe to deliver. It was said that he carried it on his wings, as is the way with birds, or that he carried it in his beak. He went to their land and found the palace of Bilqis, then he went to her private chambers and threw the letter through a small window, then he stepped to one side out of good manners. Bilqis was amazed and confused when she saw that, then she went and picked up the letter, opened its seal and read it. The letter said:إِنَّهُ مِن سُلَيْمَانَ وَإِنَّهُ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ - أَلاَّ تَعْلُواْ عَلَىَّ وَأْتُونِى مُسْلِمِينَ (it is from Sulayman, and it (reads): `In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful; Be you not exalted against me, but come to me submitting (as Muslims).') So she gathered her commanders and ministers and the leaders of her land, and said to them:يأَيُّهَا الْمَلأُ إِنَّى أُلْقِىَ إِلَىَّ كِتَابٌ كَرِيمٌ("O chiefs! Verily, here is delivered to me a noble letter.") She described it as such because of the wondrous things she had seen, that it was delivered by a bird who threw it to her, then stood aside out of good manners. This was something that no king could do. Then she read the letter to them:إِنَّهُ مِن سُلَيْمَانَ وَإِنَّهُ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ - أَلاَّ تَعْلُواْ عَلَىَّ وَأْتُونِى مُسْلِمِينَ (Verily, it is from Sulayman, and it (reads): `In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful; Be you not exalted against me, but come to me submitting (as Muslims).') Thus they knew that it was from Allah's Prophet Sulayman, upon him be peace, and that they could not match him. This letter was the utmost in brevity and eloquence, coming straight to the point.أَلاَّ تَعْلُواْ عَلَىَّ(Be you not exalted against me,) Qatadah said: "Do not be arrogant with me.وَأْتُونِى مُسْلِمِينَ(but come to me submitting (as Muslims). )" `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam said: "Do not refuse or be too arrogant to come to meوَأْتُونِى مُسْلِمِينَ(but come to me submitting (as Muslims).)"

تحقیق شروع ہو گئی ٭٭ہدہد کی خبر سنتے ہی سلیمان علیہ السلام نے اس کی تحقیق شروع کر دی کہ اگر یہ سچا ہے تو قابل معافی ہے اور اگر جھوٹا ہے تو قابل سزا ہے۔ اسی سے فرمایا کہ میرا یہ خط بلقیس کو جو وہاں کی فرمانروا ہے دے آ۔ اس خط کو چونچ میں لے کر یا پر سے بندھواکر ہدہد اڑا۔ وہاں پہنچ کر بلقیس کے محل میں گیا وہ اس وقت خلوت خانہ میں تھی۔ اس نے ایک طاق میں سے وہ خط اس کے سامنے رکھا اور ادب کے ساتھ ایک طرف ہو گیا۔ اسے سخت تعجب معلوم ہوا حیرت ہوئی اور ساتھ ہی کچھ خوف زدہ بھی ہوئی۔ خط کو اٹھا کر مہر توڑ کر خط کھول کر پڑھا اس کے مضمون سے واقف ہو کر اپنے امراء وزراء سردار اور رؤسا کو جمع کیا اور کہنے لگی کہ ایک باوقعت خط میرے سامنے ڈالا گیا ہے اس خط کا باوقعت ہونا اس پر اس سے بھی ظاہر ہو گیا تھا کہ ایک جانور اسے لاتا ہے وہ ہوشیاری اور احتیاط سے پہنچاتا ہے۔ سامنے با ادب رکھ کر ایک طرف ہو جاتا ہے تو جان گئی تھی کہ یہ خط مکرم ہے اور کسی باعزت شخص کا بھیجا ہوا ہے۔ پھر خط کامضمون سب کو پڑھ کرسنایا کہ یہ خط سلیمان علیہ السلام کا ہے اور اس کے شروع میں «‏بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم» لکھا ہوا ہے ساتھ ہی مسلمان ہونے اور تابع فرمان بننے کی دعوت ہے۔ اب سب نے پہچان لیا کہ یہ اللہ کے پیغمبر کا دعوت نامہ ہے اور ہم میں سے کسی میں ان کے مقابلے کی تاب وطاقت نہیں۔ پھر خط کی بلاغت اختصار اور وضاحت نے سب کو حیران کر دیا یہ مختصر سی عبارت بہت سی باتوں سے سوا ہے۔ دریا کو کوزہ میں بند کر دیا ہے علماء کرام کا مقولہ ہے کہ سلیمان علیہ السلام سے پہلے کسی نے خط میں «بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم» نہیں لکھی۔صفحہ نمبر6423ایک غریب اور ضعیف حدیث ابن ابی حاتم میں ہے سیدنا بریدہ رضی اللہ عنہ فرماتے ہیں میں نبی کریم صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کے ساتھ جا رہا تھا کہ آپ نے فرمایا میں ایک ایسی آیت جانتا ہوں جو مجھ سے پہلے سلیمان بن داؤد علیہ السلام کے بعد کسی نبی پر نہیں اتری میں نے کہا حضور وہ کون سی آیت ہے؟ آپ نے فرمایا مسجد سے جانے سے پہلے ہی میں تجھے بتا دوں گا اب آپ نکلنے لگے ایک پاؤں مسجد سے باہر رکھ بھی دیامیرے جی میں آیا شاید آپ بھول گئے۔ اتنے میں آپ نے یہی آیت پڑھی۔ [ضعیف:اس میں عبدالکریم راوی ضعیف ہے] ‏ اور روایت میں ہے کہ جب تک یہ آیت نہیں اتری تھی نبی کریم صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم دعا «باسمک اللہم» تحریر فرمایا کرتے تھے۔ جب یہ آیت اتری آپ نے «بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم» لکھنا شرع کیا۔ خط کا مضمون صرف اسی قدر تھا کہ میرے سامنے سرکشی نہ کرو مجھے مجبور نہ کرو میری بات مان لو تکبر سے کام نہ لو موحد مخلص مطیع بن کر میرے پاس چلی آؤ۔صفحہ نمبر6424

آیت 30 اِنَّہٗ مِنْ سُلَیْمٰنَ وَاِنَّہٗ بِسْمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ ”یہ قرآن کا واحد مقام ہے جہاں ”بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم“ سورت کے اندر اس کے متن میں شامل ہے۔ باقی ہر جگہ یہ سورتوں کے آغاز میں لکھی گئی ہے۔ اس کے بارے میں اختلاف ہے کہ سورتوں کے آغاز میں جہاں جہاں بھی بسم اللہ لکھی گئی ہے کیا اسے ایک آیت مانا جائے گا یا جتنی مرتبہ لکھی گئی ہے اتنی آیات شمار ہوں گی۔

Some rules of writing lettersإِنَّهُ مِن سُلَيْمَانَ وَإِنَّهُ بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّ‌حْمَـٰنِ الرَّ‌حِيمِIt is from Sulaiman and it is (in the following words:) With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-Merciful. 27:30There is not a single aspect of human life on which Qur'an does not provide guidance. Mutual exchange of welfare and other information through letters is part of human requirements. In this Surah, full text of the letter from Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) to Queen Saba' has been reproduced. This is a letter from a prophet, and Qur'an has reproduced it as an approved format for a letter. Hence, it should be taken in that light and Muslims should try to follow the guidance provided in it for letter writing.Writer should first write his name and then of the addresseeThe very first guidance provided in this letter is that Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) has begun it by writing his name. How did he write the name of the addressee, it is not mentioned in the Qur'an. However, it does tell us that it was the practice of the prophets to write their name first, in which there are many benefits: For instance, the addressee would know even before reading the letter from whom it has come. So he would read the letter in the backdrop of his relations with the writer, and any confusion about the identity of the writer would be eliminated right in the beginning. The Holy Prophet ﷺ had also adopted the same practice in all his letters addressed to various persons, and began the letter with the wordings مِن مُحَمَّد عبد اللہ و رسولہٖ (From Muhammad, the slave of Allah and His messenger)A question may arise here as to whether it would be a disrespect to the addressee if a junior writes his name first while writing to his elder, teacher or senior in status? So, is it appropriate to follow this practice or not? In this respect the companions of the Holy Prophet ﷺ had acted differently. Most of them preferred to follow the practice of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and not the requirement of the formality, and wrote their names first even when writing to the Holy Prophet ﷺ himself. Ruh al-Ma’ ani has reproduced a narration of Sayyidna 'Anas ؓ from al-Bahr ul-Muhit as follows:مَا کَان احد اعظم حرمۃ مِن رسول اللہ ﷺ، و کان اصحابہٖ اذا کتبوا کتاباً بدأوا بانفسھم۔ قلت : و کتاب علاء الحضرمی ؓ یشھد لہ، علی ما روی۔"No human is more revered than the Holy Prophet ﷺ 0, but when his companions used to write to him, they would first write their names, and I say that Sayyidna ` Ala' Al-Hadrami's letter, which he wrote to the Holy Prophet ﷺ ", is a proof to that."However, after quoting these narrations in Ruh ul-Ma’ ani it is observed that all this discussion is about the preferred way, otherwise both ways are permissible. If someone writes his name in the last, that too is correct. Religious jurist Abu al-Layth has written in his Bustan that if someone starts with the name of the addressee, no one can question its permissibility, because this has also been the practice among the Muslims for long, and no one has objected to that. (Ruh ul-Ma’ ani, Qurtubi)Replying to letters is also a practice of the prophetsIt is observed in Tafsir ul-Qurtubi that if someone receives a letter, it is incumbent upon him to answer it, because a letter from someone not present is as good as the greeting of the one who is present. It is attributed to Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ in a narration that he used to regard the reply of a letter as much obligatory as the reply to a greeting by salam. (Qurtubi)Starting letters with BismillahThe letter of Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) and all the letters sent by the Holy Prophet ﷺ have established that writing Bismillah at the beginning of a letter was the practice of the prophets. As to the question whether Bismillah should precede the name of the writer or not, the practice of the Holy Prophet ﷺ was that he always put Bismillah before his name, and the name of the addressee after his own name. But in the Qur'an the order is reversed and the name of Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) is written first and then Bismillah. Therefore, it is also in order if the name of the writer is written first and then Bismillah. But Ibn Abi Hatim has reported on the authority of Yazid Ibn Rauman that in fact Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) had written his letter in this manner: بسم اللہ الرحمٰن الرحیم ۔ من سلیمان بن داؤد الٰی بلقیس ابنۃ شرح و قومھا۔ ان لا تعلوا عَلَیَّ وَاتُونِی مُسلِمِینَ (which means that he wrote Bismillah before his name) but when Bilqis read out this letter to her people, she mentioned the name of Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) first in order to let them know the name of the writer. The Holy Qur'an has copied what Bilqis had uttered. There is no mention in the Qur'an whether Bismillah was written first or the name of Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) in the original letter. There is yet another possibility that the name of Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) was written on the envelope and Bismillah at the top of the letter, and when Bilqis read out the letter to her people she announced the name of Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) first.RulingThe original tradition (Sunnah) of letter writing is that all letters should begin with Bismillah. However, the religious jurists have ruled, on the authority of the indications given in the Qur'an and Sunnah, that if there is a risk of disrespect to the name of Allah on the apprehension that the paper on which Bismillah is written would be thrown away, then it is not right to write Bismillah, lest one should get involved in sin. The present day practice is that letters are thrown away after reading and they end up in garbage. Hence, it is better to perform Sunnah by reciting Bismillah orally before starting the letter, rather than writing it on paper.Can a paper bearing a Qur'anic verse be given in the hands of a disbeliever?Sayyidna Sulaiman علیہ السلام had sent this letter to Bilqis when she was not a Muslim, but بسم اللہ الرحمٰن الرحیم was written on it. It confirms that this is permissible. The non-Arab kings to whom the Holy Prophet ﷺ had written letters were disbelievers. But the letters contained some Qur'anic verses too. It should be understood that although it is not permitted to hand over the Holy Qur'an to infidels, but any book or paper containing some verses of the Qur'an does not qualify to be the Qur'an itself; hence, such papers or books can be handed over to an infidel or to someone without وُضُو wudu' (ablution). (Alamgiri)Letters should be written short, comprehensive, eloquent and effectiveLooking at the letter of Sayyidna Sulaiman (علیہ السلام) one cannot avoid noticing that it is so comprehensive that all important matters have been put together in a few sentences, maintaining the high standard of eloquence along with the royal grandeur in front of the infidels. At the same time perfected attributes of Allah Ta’ ala are also described along with an invitation towards Islam. The condemnation of conceit and arrogance is also noticeable. As a matter of fact, this letter is a specimen of the marvel of Qur'an. Sayyidna Qatadah ؓ has stated that it was the practice in letter writing by all the prophets to make it brief but at the same time ensuring that nothing mentionable is left out. (Ruh ul-Ma’ ani)