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wajadtuhā wa-qawmahā yasjudūna li-sh-shamsi min dūni llāhi wa-zayyana lahumu sh-shayṭānu ʾaʿmālahum fa-ṣaddahum ʿani s-sabīli fa-hum lā yahtadūna
I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allah, and Satan has made their deeds seem decorous to them—thus he has barred them from the way [of Allah], so they are not guided—
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah An-Naml - Verse 23-24
23. “Verily I found a woman ruling over them, and she has been given of everything, and she possesses a magnificent throne.”
24. “I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allah, and Satan has made their deeds fair-seeming to them and he has barred them from the (right) way, so they are not guided aright.”
However, Hoopoe explained the event of going to the land of Sheba and its Queen under the name of Bilqiys, as follows:
By these three short sentences, the hoopoe told Solomon nearly all qualifications of the country of Sheba and that how it was governed. First of all, it said that it was a habitable country with all kinds of merits and potentialities. The next matter was that a woman was ruling over there who had a very glorious court, perhaps even more glorious than the organizations of Solomon, since though the hoopoe had certainly seen Solomon’s throne it mentioned that of the Queen as ‘a magnificent throne’.
By this speech, the hoopoe made Solomon understand that he should not think that the entire world was in the realm of his government and that the great throne and magnificence was allocated only to him. By hearing this news, Solomon began contemplating, but the hoopoe did not give him time and added another amazing matter, when it said:
The Hoopoe explains that Satan has dominated over them and has so ornamented their deeds to them that they boast of worshipping the sun, and thus Satan has hindered them from the right way and they have so engaged in idolatry that I do not believe they return easily from that way. The verse continues saying:
In this way, the hoopoe made clear the spiritual and religious situation of those people and announced that they had earnestly fallen in idolatry, and their government encouraged them to adorring the sun, so people usually follow the religion of their kings. Their idol temples and their other circumstances show that they insist on paving this wrong way: they like it and they boast of it. In the conditions that both the whole people and government are wrongly on one line, their guidance is very improbable.
That marvellous story indicates that some animals possess a high understanding, such as hoopoe who understood and realized some concepts, like: man and woman, crown and throne, government and ownership, monotheism and idolatry, sun and prostration, Satan and his ornamentations, right and wrong, guidance and misguidance.