And that which she was worshipping other than Allah had averted her
وَصَدَّهَا مَا كَانَتْ تَعْبُدُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ
[Surah al-Naml:43] So, regarding His saying:
not
ما
in His statement:
that which she was worshipping other than Allah
مَا كَانَتْ تَعْبُدُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ
However, although this is linguistically acceptable, it is not the appropriate interpretation here. So,
not
ما
is a relative pronoun.
And His saying:
that which she was worshipping
مَا كَانَتْ تَعْبُدُ
[Surah al-Naml:43], what is the thing she was worshipping other than Allah?
The student: The sun.
The Shaykh : The sun, and the relative pronoun referring to
not
ما
is omitted; the intended meaning is: what she used to worship besides Allah. And "sada" means to divert. The relevance of this to what came before is that, as mentioned previously, it is said: If this woman possessed this intelligence—yes—and this knowledge, why did she not worship Allah? Why did she not worship Allah, given the clarity that worship is for Allah alone? It was explained that what diverted her from worshipping Allah was that she occupied herself from the very beginning with worshipping other than Allah, because she was from a disbelieving people, so she grew up in a disbelieving environment—yes—and occupied herself with worshipping the created being instead of worshipping the Creator. So, although this woman was intelligent, understanding, and possessed of caution and restraint, it was as if she deviated from worshipping Allah, despite its clarity and obviousness, because of her preoccupation with falsehood. The soul must necessarily be occupied either with the truth or with falsehood, and it must necessarily be earning: either earning what is forbidden or what is lawful. If she takes what she has no right to, she is earning what is forbidden; and if she takes what she has a right to, she is earning what is lawful.
So here we say: the relevance of His saying:
And that which she was worshipping other than Allah had averted her
وَصَدَّهَا مَا كَانَتْ تَعْبُدُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ
[Surah al-Naml:43] is that it is like an answer to an implied question. What is the implied question?
The student: Why did she not worship Allah?
The Shaykh : Why did she not worship Allah? He said: what prevented her from worshipping Allah was what she was worshipping other than Allah, and she was from a disbelieving people. So, she grew up from the very beginning in a disbelieving environment. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that
Every child is born with a true faith of Islam (i.e. to worship none but Allah Alone) and his parents convert him to Judaism or Christianity or Magianism
أن كل مولود يولد على الفطرة، فأبواه يهودانه أو ينصرانه أو يمجسانه .
And that which she was worshipping other than Allah had averted her
وَصَدَّهَا مَا كَانَتْ تَعْبُدُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ
[Surah al-Naml:43] It was also said that the subject of
prevented her
صدها
refers to Sulayman, meaning that Sulayman prevented her from what she was worshipping other than Allah, meaning he prevented her from what she was worshipping other than Allah because of the great kingship she saw belonging to Sulayman (peace and blessings be upon him). But the first interpretation is more appropriate for the context: that
what she was worshipping
ما كانت تعبد
is the subject. Yes. But here there is no harm in saying it is a possibility, because upon reflection, it may appear that this possibility is correct.
Allah the Exalted said:
Indeed, she was from a disbelieving people."
إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ مِنْ قَوْمٍ كَافِرِينَ
[Surah al-Naml:43] meaning: her environment from the time of her birth, and they were disbelievers in Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), worshipping the sun. Therefore, she occupied herself with worshipping other than Allah instead of worshipping Allah. What is in this phrase of benefits will come, if Allah wills.
