سليمان
Sulaymān
Prophet
Solomon, son of David, honoured in the Quran as a prophet-king with power over the winds, the jinn and the birds.
What it means
God gave Solomon knowledge and the “speech of the birds” (27:16), the wind subdued to him (21:81), and jinn who worked for him, “every builder and diver” (38:37). He answered the Queen of Sheba’s kingdom with a letter beginning “in the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate” (27:30), and the Queen believed (27:44). When he died, only the creeping of a worm on his staff showed the jinn that he was gone (34:14).
What the sources say
The Quran rejects the claim that Solomon practised magic: “Solomon did not disbelieve, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic” (2:102). It presents him as one who thanked God and prayed that he be among the righteous.