Chez Ant

In this post I look at a passage that caught my attention. Sulayman has turned up to the Valley (or Wadi) of the Ants.

S 27:18 Until when they came upon the wadi of the ants an ant said: Ants, enter your dwellings lest Sulayman and his troops crush you not perceiving.

Where do ants live? In houses? 'Dwellings' would suggest separate places of abode. Ants don't have such things. Definitions for 'maskan':

- A building for human habitation - The place where one lives - Place to stay or live in - The fixed residence of a family - A place where you spend the night - Place or position where a person or a thing in - Country or territory settled by migrants from another country and conrolled by it - A room or a set of rooms forming a separate residence within a house - place; suite; tenement; flat; apartment; house; dwelling-place; inhabitancy; inhabitation; lodging; shelter; stay

المختصر

مَسْكَن

- abode; domicile; dwelling; habitation; residence

مَسكَن

- lodgings; quarters; home; accommodations; analgesic; anodyne; assuasive; calmative; calming; palliative; reliever; relieving; sedative; soothing; tranquilizer; mitigative; painkiller; allaying; alleviating; demulcent; easing; lenitive

المختصر

https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%83%D9%86/

The author elsewhere says that creatures are 'nations' like 'us'.

S 6:38 And there is no beast on the Earth nor bird that flies with its two wings but are nations the likes of you. We have neglected nothing in the book. Then to their lord are they gathered.

A Brief Note on S 6:38

Does he imagine that ants live in houses? One further thing we can look at is the grammar. ادْخُلُوا مَسَاكِنَكُمْ لَا يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْ سُلَيْمَانُ وَجُنُودُهُ Udkhulu masakinakum la yahtimannakum Sulaymanu wa-junuduhu.

The author uses a masculine imperative and masculine pronominal suffixes. Why? Nahlah is a grammatically feminine word.

Legends of the Jews index

Ants