“She said: ‘My Lord! Verily, I have wronged myself, and I submit [in Islam, together with Sulaymaan (Solomon)] to Allaah, the Lord of the ‘Aalameen(mankind, jinn and all that exists).’”
[al-Naml 27:44]
I understand that the meaning is that she had wronged herself by disbelieving and that she submitted (became Muslim) after the truth became clear to her. But the wording of the verse, and the fact that there is no symbol for a pause or full stop after the word nafsi (myself) could make one imagine that the meaning is the opposite, that she wronged herself by submitting – Allaah forbid. Is there any explanation?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Allaah says
in Soorat al-Naml (interpretation of the meaning):
“It was
said to her: ‘Enter As‑Sarh’ (a glass surface with water underneath it or a
palace): but when she saw it, she thought it was a pool, and she (tucked up
her clothes) uncovering her legs. Sulaymaan (Solomon) said: ‘Verily, it is a
Sarh (a glass surface with water underneath it or a palace).’ She said: ‘My
Lord! Verily, I have wronged myself, and I submit [in Islam, together with
Sulaymaan (Solomon)] to Allaah, the Lord of the ‘Aalameen(mankind, jinn and
all that exists)’”
[al-Naml
27:44]
In this
verse Allaah tells us of the great surprise that Sulaymaan (peace be upon
him) had prepared for the Queen of Saba’, which was a palace of glass, the
floor of which was above the water, and the Queen stood astonished before
these wonders, the like of which no human could produce, and she turned to
Allaah and spoke to Him. She acknowledged that she had wronged herself by
previously worshipping others, and she declared that she was submitting,
with Sulaymaan, to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds.
This is what
is understood from the context of the story and it is also what is implied
by the rules of the Arabic language.
The phrase
zalamtu nafsi (I have wronged myself) is a verbal clause which is the
predicate of the word Inni (Verily, I).
This is
followed by the conjunction wa (and) which connects one phrase to
another, and she says, Wa aslamtu ma’a Sulaymaan (and I submit [in
Islam, together with Sulaymaan (Solomon)]) .
See
I’raab al-Qur’aan wa Bayaanuhu by Muhiy al-Deen Darweesh (7/216) and
al-Jadwal fi I’raab al-Qur’aan by Mahmoud Saafi (9/415).
What is
meant is: I submit with Sulaymaan to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds.
This is the
correct meaning, because the grammarians say that the conjunction only
limits repetition in a sentence.
Ibn ‘Aqeel
says in Sharh Alfiyat Ibn Maalik (2/208):
The
conjunction implies repetition without needing to repeat everything. End
quote.
So instead
of saying ja’a Zayd wa ja’a ‘Amr (Zayd came and ‘Amr came) you can
shorten it by saying: Ja’a Zayd wa ‘Amr (Zayd and ‘Amr came).
Similarly,
sentence or phrases may be joined in like manner:
Instead of
saying: Verily Allaah knows what you are doing and Allaah will bring you to
account for it, you can shorten it and say: Allaah knows what you are doing
and will bring you to account for it.
The verse
must be understood on this basis. So what the verse means is:
I have
wronged myself, and I submit with Sulaymaan to Allaah, the Lord of the
Worlds.
From a
linguistic point of view, it is not necessarily that the two sentences
joined together have the meaning.
Professor
‘Abbaas Hasan says in al-Nahw al-Waafi (3/557):
If the word
that comes after the conjunction wa is not singular, it may mean that
both phrases refer to the same action, such as nabata al-ward wa nabata
al-qasab (the flowers grew and the reeds grew), or it may not, such as
hadarat al-tayyaarah wa lam tahdar al-sayyaarah (the plane came but
the car did not come). End quote.
As Allaah
mentioned the words of the Queen of Saba’ after the conjunction wa – “(and
I submit [in Islam, together with Sulaymaan (Solomon)]” – it is not
permissible to understand this as an elaboration of the words that came
before the conjunction, from a purely linguistic point of view. How can that
be so, when the two meanings are clearly opposites?
The context
demonstrates that the queen acknowledged that she had wronged herself when
she worshipped the sun instead of Allaah, and she repented from that shirk
and submitted and worshipped Allaah alone, the Lord of the Worlds.
Thus the
meaning is correct, and the misunderstanding of the verse asked about here
is dispelled.
The
misunderstanding – as far as grammatical rules are concerned – may have been
valid if the wording had been:
“I have
wronged myself: I submitted with Sulaymaan” with no conjunction, if the
second phrase had been an apposition of the first phrase, as in the verse
(interpretation of the meaning):
“and
whoever does this shall receive the punishment.
69. The
torment will be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide
therein in disgrace”
[al-Furqaan 25:68-69]
The doubling
of the torment is an explanation of the punishment incurred by the one who
commits major sin.
The
misunderstanding – as far as grammatical rules are concerned – may also have
been valid if the conjunction had been fa, and she had said “Inni
zalamtu nafsi fa aslamtu ma’a Sulaymaan (Verily, I have wronged
myself, and so I submit [in Islam, together with Sulaymaan (Solomon)])”
because the conjunction fa is often used to indicate a sequence,
i.e., it points to the reason, such as saying rama al-sayyaad al-taa’ir
fa qatalahu (the hunter shot the bird and (so) he killed it).
See
al-Nahw al-Waafi (3/574)
But the
wording of the Qur’aan is quite clear:
“She
said: ‘My Lord! Verily, I have wronged myself, and I submit [in Islam,
together with Sulaymaan (Solomon)] to Allaah, the Lord of the
‘Aalameen(mankind, jinn and all that exists)’”
[al-Naml
27:44]
So the
questioner’s confusion is not valid and does not affect the correct meaning
and the principles of Arabic grammar.
And Allaah
knows best.
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