His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "So when We decreed upon him death, nothing indicated to them of his death except a creature of the earth that eats his staff. So when he fell, it became clear to the jinn that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in the humiliating punishment."

The pronoun refers back to Sulayman, blessings and peace be upon him. And "We decreed" means: We executed and brought him into the realm of existence. Otherwise, the final decree concerning him is established in the eternal past. It has been narrated from Ibn Abbas and Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with them, in their stories that Sulayman, blessings and peace be upon him, used to worship in Bayt al-Maqdis. Every year, a tree would grow in his prayer niche. He would ask it about its benefits and harms and all its matters, and it would inform him. He would command it to be uprooted, and it would be utilized for its benefits or planted to propagate. When the time of his death approached, a tree emerged, and he asked it: What are you? It said: I am the carob tree; I have emerged for the destruction of your kingdom. He said: Allah would not destroy it while I am alive, but surely my appointed time has come. So he, blessings and peace be upon him, prepared himself and planted it. He made a staff for himself from it and intensified his worship. After that, the Angel of Death came to him and informed him that he had been commanded to take his soul and that he had only a short time left. It has been narrated that he commanded the jinn at that time, and a dome of glass was made for him, in which he would worship. He did not make a door for it and leaned on his staff in a position that would support him even in death. Then he passed away, blessings and peace be upon him, in that state. It has been narrated that he prepared in that dome with provisions for a year. The jinn thought that he was eating at night, and they did not approach the dome or enter through the openings that were at its top. Whoever among them attempted to do so would be burned before reaching it. This was during the time that Sulayman, blessings and peace be upon him, was in the dome. When he died, that awe remained upon the jinn. It has been narrated that the dome had a door and that Sulayman commanded some of his family to conceal his death from the jinn and humans and to leave it as it was for a year. His intention during that year was for the jinn to complete a task that had begun in the time of Dawud, blessings and peace be upon him, and it was estimated that a year's work remained from it. He preferred to be free from it. When a year passed after his death, he fell from his staff, and the staff had been consumed by the earth, which is the worm that eats the wood. The jinn saw him falling and assumed he had died. A bold one among them approached, and he did not get burned. Then he thought and returned, coming closer. Then he approached until he entered through some of those openings and found Sulayman dead. He informed them of his death. The appointed time was observed, and it was estimated to be a year. Some people said: The worm consumed him for a day and a night, then this was measured against its consumption of the staff, and it was known that it had consumed him since a year ago. Thus, this was the indication of the earth creature regarding his death. For the interpreters, in these stories, there is much to rely on what we have mentioned. Many of the interpreters said: "The creature of the earth" refers to the woodworm, which is the earthworm. Ibn Abbas and Abbas ibn al-Fadl read: "The earth" with a fathah on the ra, the plural of earthworm. This strengthens that interpretation. A group said: "The creature of the earth" refers to an animal from the earth, whose nature is to eat wood, and that exists, and the woodworm is not among the creatures of the earth. A group among them, Abu Hatim the linguist, said: "The earth" here is the source of "The garments and wood were eaten" when they were consumed by the earthworm, as if he said: The creature of eating which is in that form, in the way of rotting.

And in the Mus'haf of Abdullah: "She ate his staff," and the staff is the stick. From it is the saying of the poet:

If you crawl on the staff due to old age, Then entertainment and frivolity have distanced themselves from you.

And a group of the reciters read it without hamzah, among them Abu Amr and Nafi'. Abu Amr said: I do not know its derivation, so I do not hamzah it; because if it were something that is hamzah, I have taken precautions; for it is not permissible for me to hamzah what is not hamzah. Others said: Its origin is the hamzah, and it is from the staff with an open hamzah, from: "You drove the camels, sheep, and she-camel" when you led them. From it is the saying of Turfa:

I have driven them like the branches of the bow, On a slope as if it were the back of a bull.

And it is narrated: "And 'Anas'" like "planks," and its hamzah was completely softened. The norm would be for it to be softened between two. The rest of the seven recited it according to the original with the hamzah. Hamzah read: "Mansatuhu" with the opening of the mim and without hamzah. A group read: "Minsaatuhu" with a silent hamzah, and this has no justification except for the softening in the stopping of the moving letter without a reason, as Imru' al-Qais said:

Today I drink without being deserving of it, A sin from Allah and no one else.

And a group read: "Min Sa'atihi" separating "Min" and breaking the ta in "Sa'atihi," and this leans towards: the bow's string; for it is said: Siyat and Sawat, as if he said: "Min Sa'atihi" then he made the hamzah silent, and its meaning is: from the end of his stick, he lowered the stick to the status of the bow.

And some people said: Indeed, Sulayman, peace be upon him, did not die except while lying down on a journey, but he was in a house built upon him, and the termites ate the threshold of the door until the house collapsed, and his death was known. And this is weak.

And the majority read: "The jinn became clear" attributing the action to them, meaning: their matter became apparent, as if he said: the jinn were exposed, meaning to the humans. This is an interpretation, and it is possible that his saying: "The jinn became clear" means: the jinn knew and confirmed. And by the jinn, he means their majority, the doers among them, and the servants, and by the pronoun in "they were," he means their leaders and elders; for they are the ones who claim knowledge of the unseen to their followers from the jinn and humans and deceive them with that. This was said by Qatadah, so the followers become clear that if the leaders had known the unseen, they would not have remained. And "that" - according to the first interpretation - is a substitute for "the jinn," and according to the second interpretation, it is purely an object. And Ya'qub read: "The jinn became clear" with the action being unknown, meaning: the people became clear to it, and "that" - according to this reading - is a substitute, and it is permissible that it be in the position of an accusative by dropping the preposition, meaning: by that, according to this reading, and according to the first interpretation of the first reading.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

The school of Sibawayh is that "that" in this verse has no place in the grammatical structure. Rather, it is an indication of the answer that is treated like an oath from the action that means certainty and assurance. This is because these actions, which are: I have clarified, I have confirmed, I have known, and I have assured, and similar to them, take the place of an oath in your saying: I know that if Zayd were to stand, 'Amr would not stand. It is as if you said: By Allah, if Zayd were to stand, 'Amr would not stand. So his saying: "They did not remain" - according to this saying - is the answer to what is treated like an oath, not the answer to "if." And according to the earlier opinions, it is the answer to "if." In the book of Al-Nahhas, there is a reference that he reads with the accusative [the jinn], meaning: the humans clarified the jinn. And "the humiliating punishment" is the work in that mockery, and the meaning is that if the jinn had knowledge of the unseen, the matter of the death of Sulayman, peace be upon him, would not have been hidden from them. It has become clear that it was hidden from them due to their continuous service while he was dead. So "the humiliating" means "the humiliating one," from humiliation. Al-Tabari said: In some readings, [it is said: "So when he fell, the humans clarified that the jinn, if they had been"] and Abu al-Fath narrated it from Ibn 'Abbas, Al-Dhahhak, and Ali ibn Al-Husayn. Abu Hatim mentioned that it is likewise in the Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud. Most of the interpreters have elaborated on the stories of this verse with what has no authenticity and what the words of the Qur'an do not necessitate, and in its meanings afterwards, so I have summarized it for that reason.