Message #16480

[Heba E. Husseyn]

Wa'salam Sis Ruhi. 

That's great observation.   Agree totally.

I also did a quick research after reading your post. 

Concerning Verse 27:39, it's unanimously agreed by all Muslim commentators that the individual is a jin. About Verse 27:40 some have come up with a debatable explanation claiming that it's a human being and not a jin who performed this miracle through his knowledge of the Scripture. For example Abu Alaa Maududi is of this opinion.  But it goes against the substance of Verse 27:40.  There's no evidence in this Verse stating nor hinting that it's a human being and not jinn who could perform such a miraculous task from the standpoint of the human capacity.  Maududi admits that it's not known which former Scripture the Quran refers to that this individual had read .. apparently some Divine Message that came prior to the time of Prophet Solomon to one of his predecessors.  But there's no Quranic indication anywhere that knowledge of the Scripture can give humans any such ability beyond their natural capacity. One of the preceding Verses of this Surah, Verse 27:17, does state that those who worked for Prophet Solomon were both jinn and humankind.  However, the contents of the Quranic narration as we read along Verses 27:39-40 clearly refer to jinn. 

Thanks for bringing up this informative point, Sis.