STORY OF THE ANT.

Allah—w. n. b. e.—said: ‘And his armies were gathered together unto Sulimân [consisting] of genii and men and birds, and they were led in distinct bands until they came unto the valley of ants. [And] an ant [seeing the hosts approaching] said: O ants, enter ye into your habitations, lest Sulimân and his army tread you under foot and per­ceive [it] not.’* Wuhub Bin Muniah relates a tradition of Ka’b-ullâkhbâr, that when Sulimân—u. w. b., etc.—rode on the wind, he carried with him all his attendants and servants with iron stoves and stone pots, every one of which could contain ten camels; and in front of the carpet there was a plain for the quadrupeds, all of which the wind took up and bore gently to the place of their destination. Once Sulimân was travelling in this manner from Estakhar in Persia towards the country of Yaman. When he arrived in the pleasant city of Madinah, he said: ‘This is the place to which the prophet of the last times will flee. Blessed is he who will believe in him, and blessed will be he who will follow him!’ Thence he went to Mekkah, where he did not alight, but passed on in haste, the house of the Ka’bah being at that time full of idols. After Sulimân had departed, the Ka’bah was distressed, and complained to Allah —w. n. b. e.—who asked it why it was lamenting, and the edifice replied: ‘O Lord, Sulimân is one of the prophets, all whose followers profess monotheism and Islâm; they have nevertheless passed me by, have not alighted, have not prayed, and have not purified me of idols.’ Then again the allocution of the Lord of lords descended: ‘Lament not, but be of good cheer; for I shall distinguish thee most of all localities. I shall cause the pious, who will come to worship here, and from whose countenances light is radiat­ing —“who have marks on their faces from the effects of prayer”—to circumambulate thee. I shall raise up from thee a prophet, who will be the best of prophets in my sight. I shall give to My servants grace to rebuild thee, I shall grant strength to one of My intimate servants to purify thee of idols, I shall enjoin the poor and the rich in a religious ordinance to go on pilgrimage to thee, to circumambulate thee, and I shall make them so desirous to visit thee, that they will hasten to thee from every deep valley, like the eagle who soars over his nest.’

In fine, after Sulimân had passed by the regions of Mekkah, he arrived in the valley of the ant, which is, according to some traditions, a valley near Tâif, where the king of the ants ordered his army to enter their hiding-places, lest they should be injured by the descent of Sulimân’s host and carpet upon them. When his lordship had been informed of the ant’s apprehension, and his advice to his subjects, he smiled. ‘And [Solomon] smiled, laughing at the words, and said: O Lord, excite me, that I may be thankful for Thy favour wherewith Thou hast favoured me and my parents.’* He implored the Infinite Benefactor to cause the carpet to descend in the valley of ants; he also issued orders that no one should move after it had descended until the ants had retired into their nests. Then he called for their chief, placed him on the palm of his hand, and conversed with him very affably:

Distich:To consider dervishes is not repugnant to grandeur,
Since Sulimân, with all his pomp, considered an ant.

He asked: ‘Knowest thou that I am a prophet of Allah, and that I do not wish to injure even an ant under my foot?’ The king of the ants replied: ‘I was aware of it; but as it is incumbent upon superiors to admonish their inferiors, I did so. Another reason was because they fol­lowers might do harm, “and perceive it not,” as the blessed verse informs us.’ The Lord Sulimân approved of this reply, and further inquired: ‘Is my power and dominion greater than thine?’ The king of the ants said: ‘O prophet of Allah, thy throne is borne by the wind, and mine is now on the palm of thy hand.’ Sulimân continued: ‘Is my army more numerous than thy hosts?’ The king of the ants said: ‘Allow me a little time to show thee some of my army.’ His lordship having assented, the king of the ants shouted to his army to come forth into the presence of the prophet of Allah. It is related that thereon seventy thou­sand legions issued forth [from their nests], the numbers of each of which were known to no one except to Him who is aware of the mysteries of futurity. Sulimân then asked: ‘Hast thou other armies beside these?’ The ant replied: ‘O prophet of Allah, be it known unto thee that, if they were during seventy years to continue to appear every day in this manner, all of them could not present themselves.’ The Lord Sulimân was astonished, and wished to depart, but the king of the ants said: ‘Delay a while that I may bring thee an offering in conformity with my circumstances, since an old proverb says, “He who visits a living man and tastes nothing, is like one who pays a visit to a dead man.”’ His lordship complied with the request, and the king of the ants produced one-half of the leg of a locust:

Verses:It is a fault, but it is a feat of an ant
To bring the foot of a locust to Sulimân!
One day an ant waited upon Sulimân
With the foot of a locust in her mouth;
She sang eloquently, and, excusing herself, said:
‘The donation is in conformity with the donor’s power.’