The Valley of the Ants

They were marching, and they came into a valley. This valley was occupied by ants. There were many ants in this valley, and Allah (swt) called it wādī al-naml, the valley of ants. There were so many ants living in that valley that it was called the valley of ants; they found residence in that valley, and there were millions of them living in it.

Sulaymān (peace be upon him) does not know that this is the valley of ants; he was passing through it; his army was marching. Ḥattā idhā ataw ʿalā wādī al-naml — and when they came upon the valley of the ants, one of the ants saw the army approaching. It was the first ant to see the army coming.

What would be a natural reaction when you see an army of humans and jinn, and birds in the air, marching towards you, and you are this small creation, an insect? What would be the natural reaction in such a situation? To run. You would run — run away from danger. This was not the reaction of the ant. We would expect that the natural reaction is that you would immediately run away from this approaching danger. But the ant did not do that — and subḥān Allāh, we find a lesson. Allah (swt) does not mention anything in the Qur'an except for a reason. We can have a whole talk about ants and learn lessons from it, and find that we are lacking in things which this ant and its kingdom had.

This ant knew that if it runs away, it is not going to survive, because it is part of an ummah; it is part of a nation. And the survival of that ant depends on the survival of its ummah. Because if the ummah is destroyed, it would not do the ant any good even if it is alive; it is going to end up dying in the end. And this is something that every Muslim should learn and realise: that your survival is based on the survival of your ummah. Never think that you can make it alone. You have to have the support of the ummah, and you need to take care of the ummah, and you need to be concerned about the ummah. If you are not concerned about the ummah, then realise that you are dead. If you do not have the concern that this ant had for its ummah, then know that you are already dead before you even die.

This ant said: yā ayyuhā al-namlu udkhulū masākinakum — O you ants, enter into your dwellings. Allah (swt) says: and one of the ants said: O ants, enter your dwellings, lest Sulaymān and his hosts should crush you while they perceive not. They might crush you. So it gave the advice to the whole ummah of ants: go down into your dwellings. It fulfilled its responsibility towards this ummah.

There is also something else we notice at the end of the ayah: wa hum lā yashʿurūn. The ant said that Sulaymān and his army would crush you — and what is worse than killing? I mean, the whole ummah of the ant could be dead. Nevertheless, the ant found an excuse for Sulaymān and said: wa hum lā yashʿurūn — and they do not perceive it; they do not know. It did not say that they are intentionally going to kill us and get rid of us. It said: wa hum lā yashʿurūn. Even though it is a matter of life and death — we are going to die if we do not move from this place; even though we are going to lose our life — we are still going to give him an excuse, and we are going to say that he does not intend to do so.

The ant is finding an excuse for Sulaymān in something that is so important; it is an issue of life and death. Sometimes very minor things could happen between us — very minor things — and we would not find an excuse. In fact, we would try to indict a person and to accuse a person. Instead of trying to find seventy excuses for the person, we would try to find seventy ways to accuse a person. Over here it is an issue of life and death, and the ant is still finding an excuse for Sulaymān and saying: they do not perceive so; they do not know. These are important things that we can learn from an ant.