Makhḥūl and al-Awzāʿī maintained: “The ruling remains operative to this very day: it is permissible to delay the prayer when the excuse is fierce combat,” exactly as we explained in Sūrat al-Nisāʾ under the discussion of the Prayer of Fear.
Others, however, held that the Prophet’s postponement of the ʿAṣr prayer on the Day of the Trench was purely inadvertent—forgetfulness—and that Solomon’s action, peace be upon him, should likewise be understood in that light. Allah knows best.
As for those who say that the pronoun in the verse, “until it disappeared behind the veil,” refers to the horses, so that the time of prayer did not elapse, and that the words, “Bring them back to me, and he set about wiping their shanks and necks,” mean he was wiping the sweat from their hocks and necks—this is the view preferred by Ibn Jarīr. He also transmitted it from Ibn ʿAbbās through al-Wālibī, regarding the wiping away of sweat. Ibn Jarīr argued that it would not befit Solomon to torture animals by hamstringing them or to destroy wealth without cause or fault on their part (1).
What he asserted is open to objection, for such an act might have been lawful in their religious code. Some of our jurists have said that if Muslims fear that the unbelievers will seize animals—sheep and the like—it is permissible to slaughter or destroy them so the enemy may not strengthen themselves thereby; on this basis (2) was understood the deed of Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib when, at Muʾtah, he hamstrung his horse (3).
It has further been said that the horses were extremely numerous. Some said they numbered ten thousand; others said twenty thousand; and yet others said that among them were twenty horses with wings.
Abū Dāwūd relates in his Sunan: Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf narrated to us—Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam narrated to us—Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb informed us—ʿUmārah ibn Ghaziyyah told me that Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to him from Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from ʿĀʾishah, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, returned from the expedition to Tabūk—or to Khaybar—and in a niche of mine there was a curtain. A breeze blew and lifted a corner of the curtain, revealing some dolls of mine. He asked, ‘What is this, ʿĀʾishah?’ I replied, ‘My daughters.’ He noticed among them a horse with two wings made of cloth strips and said, ‘What is this I see in their midst?’ I said, ‘A horse.’ He asked, ‘And what are these upon it?’ I replied, ‘Two wings.’ He said, ‘A horse with two wings?’ I answered, ‘Have you not heard that Solomon had horses with wings?’ She said, ‘He laughed until I could see his molars,’—peace and blessings be upon him (5).”
Some scholars have remarked: When Solomon gave up the horses for Allah’s sake, Allah compensated him with something better—namely, the wind, whose morning course covered a month’s journey and whose evening course covered a month, as will be discussed later.