[Solomon] said, "We will see whether you were truthful
قَالَ سَنَنظُرُ أَصَدَقْتَ
[Surah al-Naml:27] regarding what you have informed us of,
or were of the liars.
أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ
[Surah al-Naml:27] meaning: of this type, it is more eloquent than if you had lied in it.
whether you were truthful or were of the liars.
أَصَدَقْتَ أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِين
[Surah al-Naml:27] The explicit meaning of the first is that he did it, and here he said:
or were of the liars.
أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ
[Surah al-Naml:27] meaning: of this type, it is more eloquent than if you had lied, because it indicates a permanent description: one of the liars, so it is more eloquent than saying: or did you lie, because
or did you lie
أم كذبت
is an action, and an action may occur once, but
or were of the liars.
أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ
[Surah al-Naml:27] this is a description that indicates the continuity of lying in him, this is what the author established, and I think there is elegance in Solomon’s expression to the hoopoe, because confronting him and opposing him with the words: or did you lie, has a stronger impact than saying: or were you one of the liars. Stronger, meaning: or were you one of the liars is milder than if he had said: or did you lie. So in reality, from the perspective of looking at it, his saying:
or were of the liars.
أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ
[Surah al-Naml:27] is a necessary description, and from the perspective of addressing him, it is milder than saying: or did you lie. This is the point of difference between his saying: did you tell the truth, or were you one of the liars. He says:
"Then he showed them the water, so it was extracted and they quenched their thirst and performed ablution and prayed, then Solomon wrote a letter, the form of which was: From 'Abd Allah Solomon, son of David, to Bilqis, Queen of Saba, In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy, Peace be upon him who follows the guidance, As for what follows: Do not be arrogant over me and come to me as Muslims. Then he sealed it with musk and stamped it with his seal, then he said to the hoopoe: Go with My letter
اذْهَب بِكِتَابِي هَذَا
"[Surah al-Naml:28] All of this is from the extraneous matters for which there is no evidence in the Qur'an, that he showed them the water so they extracted it and quenched their thirst and performed ablution and prayed, also there is nothing in .....
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Huh?
The student: Go back to ...
The Shaykh : Where?
The student: Because he established at the beginning that they sought.....
The Shaykh : Yes. You look for that, no, but because he knows the location of the water, but we say: there is no evidence for this, and it is not permissible for us to believe it or to deny it, this is if it is authentic from the Children of Israel.. Also because there is a defect in it, ... the path between us and the Children of Israel, who narrated it from the Children of Israel? If it is authentic from the Children of Israel and that it is from what they reported to this Ummah, we say about it: it is neither affirmed nor denied, because there is nothing in it.. there is nothing in it that contradicts our Book, and there is nothing in our Book that supports it, otherwise if there were something in our Book that supported it, we would have accepted it, and if there were something in our Book that contradicted it, we would have rejected it.
The student: O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes.
