'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And when the estimation was: so they proceeded, because the restraint can only be from movement. He indicated this by saying: ﴿Until when they came﴾ meaning: they approached. And when he was on his carpet above the back of the wind between the heavens and the earth, he expressed it with the tool of elevation and said: ﴿on the valley of the ants﴾. It is a valley in Ta'if - as al-Baghawi narrated from Ka'b - and it is the one to which the soul inclines. Indeed, it is still known to them by this name. It is also called Nakhb, the weight of a shoulder. I have seen it when I intended to visit those lands to see its sights, and to perform Tawaf in its temples and schools, and to seek blessings from the traces of the guide, in the endings and beginnings. And I stood at a mosque near a Sidra called the Sadr, which is well-known among them that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, prayed there. This Sidra is mentioned in the Battle of Ta'if in the Hishami biography. He limited the naming of the valley to Nakhb. I recited poetry there on the day I stood at its gate, and I pleaded at its thresholds:

I passed by the valley of the ants, O companion, in the morning, and I cried and let the tears flow down my cheek.

And I completed from it the position of the Hashemites, which filled the earth with oneness that exceeds counting.

And how many positions did I spread my forehead in, and I displayed in its corners the humility of a servant.

(p-143) In a long poem.

And when they were in a matter whose appearance is terrifying, and whose mixing weakens the powers, the estimation was: so their vanguards appeared, and their banners and glimmers became visible, and their burdens and provisions. [He organized with this his saying:] ﴿An ant said﴾ meaning: from the ants that are in that valley: ﴿O ants﴾. And when He narrated from them, glorified and exalted is He, what is of the matter of the wise, He expressed it with their pronouns and said: ﴿Enter﴾ meaning: before the arrival of what I see of the army ﴿your dwellings﴾. Then she justified her command, specifying for her companion since its signs were not hidden. She said in response to the command or as a substitute for it: ﴿Let them not crush you﴾ meaning: let them not break you and smash you. That is: do not expose yourselves lest they crush you. For it is a prohibition for them against exposing themselves in the forms of his prohibition, and it is more eloquent than explicitly prohibiting them because whoever prohibits a great one from something is for others a stronger prohibition. ﴿Sulaiman and his soldiers﴾ meaning: indeed, if they are numerous when they enter the valley, they will dominate it, and they will not leave a space of an inch empty from it. ﴿And they﴾ meaning: Sulaiman, peace be upon him, and his soldiers ﴿do not perceive﴾ meaning: of their crushing you, for they are preoccupied with what they are in of the states of movement and engaging in its interests, along with your small bodies and your hiding from the passerby in the state of your disturbance and your standing. And her saying this indicates (p-144) her knowledge that if they had perceived them, they would not have harmed them because they are followers of a Prophet, so they are merciful.