Why Do I Not See the Hoopoe?

Let us go back to the ayah we talked about earlier: and the army of Sulaymān was assembled — the humans, the soldiers, the men, and the jinn, and the birds; a huge army. Keep this in mind, and then let us look at the next ayah.

He inspected the birds and said: what is the matter that I see not the hoopoe, or is he among the absentees? Al-hudhud is a bird; we will call it a hoopoe. Sulaymān was inspecting his army — his army of thousands, or maybe millions, this huge army — and he noticed the absence of one bird.

We find an important tip for leaders in this. Sulaymān was a king; he could spend his time in a palace. But he was there in the battlefield, inspecting the army, and he was able to notice the absence of one bird — one bird out of many. So, as I said, this might be a good tip, an important lesson, for anybody who is in a position of leadership: to be able to realise the responsibility that they have towards the followers.

He did not find al-hudhud, so he said: I will surely punish him with a severe torment, or even slaughter him, unless he brings me a clear reason. The hoopoe was absent. Sulaymān said: number one, I would punish him — a severe punishment — or slaughter him; if the sin is greater, then I would slaughter him; the bird is dead — unless the bird presents me with a clear reason for being absent.

You find here that the rule is very strict. Sulaymān did not say: I would let the bird go. It is either punishment — and then he said ʿadhāban shadīdā: it is not only punishment, but severe. The second option is execution — unless the bird brings me a clear reason.

The reason the law over here is strict is because here we are dealing with what? We are dealing with a military situation; this is an army. And if we look at the sīrah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), we would find that when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is on the battlefield and going to jihad, the rules are strict; it is a military order. It is different from the rule in Madīnah.

I will give you an example. In the battle of Tabūk, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: lā yalḥaqanna binā illā muqwin — only one with strong transport should follow us. Because in the battle of Tabūk they are going to be crossing the long deserts of Arabia; they are going to go all the way to the north, passing the sands of al-Nufūd, which is a very rigid and tough environment, and it is a long way. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: nobody should come with us unless their camel is strong. If your camel is weak, do not come, because you are putting yourself in danger.

One of the soldiers of the army really wanted to go out and fight for the sake of Allah (swt). He disobeyed the order and came on a very weak camel, and he followed the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) on that weak camel. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had given clear orders: do not come if you have a weak camel. That man disobeyed the order; what happened is that his camel fell down and the man died — because the camel was weak, it could not withstand this difficult situation, so the camel fell down and the soldier fell off the camel and died. The Companions were saying: al-shahīd, al-shahīd — they said he became a shahīd; he died for the sake of Allah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: do not say he is a shahīd; he has disobeyed my orders. He is not a shahīd, because he disobeyed the order of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

Let us look at a similar situation in Madīnah. The mother of Anas ibn Mālik brought her son Anas to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and said: I am giving away my son to be your servant. The Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted to serve the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) with their own lives; they would give their lives for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). This mother came and brought her son Anas ibn Mālik and said: take my son to be your servant. So he would serve the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

One day the Messenger of Allah told him: go out and buy me something — and he gave Anas ibn Mālik some money. Anas ibn Mālik went to the market; he was still young. On the way he saw some children playing, so he took a turn and went to play with the kids, and forgot about the order of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). And time was dragging, and he was playing, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was waiting, waiting. Anas ibn Mālik did not come back, so the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) went out looking for him, and he found him playing with the kids. He asked him what happened; Anas ibn Mālik remembered the order of the Messenger of Allah; he was checking his pockets, and he found that he had lost the money. The Messenger of Allah told him: continue playing. Continue playing.

The Messenger of Allah forgave Anas ibn Mālik: he lost the money; he did not bring what the Messenger of Allah told him to bring; and the Messenger of Allah told him: continue to play. The more severe the situation, the stricter the rules are going to be. Because in a military situation, in an army, it is a more severe situation, so the rules are stricter. And we find that the Muslims lost in the battle of Uḥud because of one rule that was broken.