Quran 34:14 – Prophet Solomon Falling From The Stick Holding
فَلَمَّا قَضَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ الْمَوْتَ مَا دَلَّهُمْ عَلَى مَوْتِهِ إِلَّا دَابَّةُ الْأَرْضِ تَأْكُلُ مِنْسَأَتَهُ فَلَمَّا خَرَّ تَبَيَّنَتِ الْجِنُّ أَن لَّوْ كَانُوْا يَعْلَمُوْنَ الْغَيْبَ مَا لَبِثُوا فِی الْعَذَابِ الْمُهِيْنِ. [It is these jinn who you associate with God thinking that they have knowledge of the Unseen. They have remained in the servitude of Solomon.] Then when We implemented on him the decision of death, it was only a worm of the earth [32] that was eating away his staff which informed them of his death. Thus when Solomon fell down, it was only then that the reality of jinn became evident to themselves too that if they had knowledge of the Unseen, they would not have remained trapped in this humiliating torment [33] . (Quran 34:14) (Excerpt from Quranic Exegesis: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi) (English Translation by Dr. Shehzad Saleem) ____ [32] . Indications in the verse are that termites are being referred to. [33] . Ie., it became evident to the jinn too the extent of their knowledge which they would acquire through eavesdropping. The incident which brought this to light may have happened in somewhat the following manner: Solomon (sws) was personally supervising some construction work of his in which the jinn too were working when the time of his death arrived. His soul was claimed by the angel of death. When his chiefs, elders and family members saw that in spite of his death, Solomon (sws)’s body was still standing through support from his staff, they let him stay in that position until the task reached its completion . This strategy worked for a considerable period of time. However, God had other plans. Thus during that time, termites ate away the bottom of the staff after which the dead body of Solomon (sws) fell to the ground.