The Messenger of God —may God’s peace and blessings be upon him— said:

“A prophet once went out with his people to beseech God for rain. They came upon an ant raising one of its legs toward the sky, whereupon the prophet said, ‘Turn back, for you have been granted rain on account of this ant.’”

(1)

Al-Suddi said: A drought struck the people in the time of Solomon —peace be upon him. He ordered the people to go out, and they encountered an ant standing on its hind legs, its forelegs outstretched, saying, “O Allah, we are one of Your creatures and cannot do without Your bounty.” God then poured down rain upon them.

The Exalted said:

“And he inspected the birds and said, ‘How is it that I do not see the hoopoe? Is he among the absent? I will surely punish him with a severe punishment, or slaughter him, unless he brings me a clear proof.’

The hoopoe was not gone long and said, ‘I have encompassed something you have not encompassed, and I have come to you from Sheba with sure news. I found a woman ruling over them, endowed with every resource, and she possesses a magnificent throne. I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of God; Satan has made their deeds seem fair to them and thus barred them from the way, so they are not guided — that they should not prostrate to God, who brings forth what is hidden in the heavens and on earth and knows what you conceal and what you declare. God —there is no deity but He— is Lord of the Magnificent Throne.’

He said, ‘We shall see whether you are telling the truth or are one of the liars. Take this letter of mine, deliver it to them, then withdraw from them and observe what response they make.’

She said, ‘O nobles, a noble letter has been delivered to me. It is from Solomon, and it reads: In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Do not exalt yourselves above me, but come to me in submission.’

She said, ‘O nobles, advise me in my affair; I never decide a matter until you are present with me.’

They said, ‘We possess strength and great might, but the command rests with you; consider, then, what you will command.’

She said, ‘Indeed, when kings enter a town they ruin it and reduce the mighty of its people to the most abject state; that is what they do. I am sending them a gift and will see with what the envoys return.’

When the envoy came to Solomon, he said, ‘Are you offering me wealth? What God has granted me is better than what He has granted you. It is you who delight in your gift. Go back to them: we shall surely come against them with armies they cannot resist, and we shall drive them out from it, humbled and abased.’”
[al-Naml, 20–37]

The Most High thus recounts the affair of Solomon and the hoopoe. Each species of bird had its own commander, carrying out the tasks assigned to it and presenting itself in turn before Solomon, as soldiers do before a king. According to Ibn ʿAbbās and others, the hoopoe’s duty, whenever the army was traversing waterless deserts, was to scout out water: God had endowed it with the ability to see water beneath the layers of earth. Once it pointed out the spot, they would dig, tap the source, bring the water up, and make use of it.

One day Solomon —peace be upon him— sought the hoopoe, missed it, and did not find it in its appointed place of service. He said, “Why do I not see the hoopoe? Is he absent from my sight so that he is not present before me? I shall certainly punish him with a severe punishment,” threatening it with a chastisement whose precise nature the exegetes have differed over, yet the point stands in either case, “or I shall slaughter him, or he must bring me a clear proof,” meaning an argument that would save him from this predicament.

God, exalted is He, then said, “So he stayed away for a while,” that is, the hoopoe was absent for no great length of time and then returned