The Versions of the Tradition about Solomon and the Two Birds
The Versions of the Tradition about Solomon and the Two Birds
Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī (Nishapur, d. 412/1021),
← Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (Rey, d. 376/986),
← Abū l-Qāsim al-Jawharī,
← Abū ʿAlī Mimshād b. Saʿīd al-ʿUkbarī:
A male swallow was trying to woo a female swallow in the Dome of Solomon, but she resisted him. He said to her: “Why do you resist me?! Why, if I want to, I can overturn this dome on top of Solomon!” [After hearing this,] Solomon—peace be upon him!— summoned the bird to come before him, and said: “What caused you to say that?” The swallow replied: “O Prophet of God, the words of lovers should not be held against them.” Solomon concluded: “You have spoken truthfully!”
al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1072), Risāla [= The Epistle on Sufism] (1989), 530.
The contents of al-Qushayrī's version represent one of the oldest versions of this tradition, if not the oldest.
Abū ʿAbdallāh Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Ghālib al-Baṣrī [Ghulām Khalīl] (Baghdad, d. 275/888),
← Isḥāq b. Ibrāhīm [al-Thaqafī] (Kufa),
← Jaʿfar b. Sulaymān (Basra, d. 178/794-5),
← Mālik b. Dīnār (Basra, d. 127/744-5):
Solomon son of David—peace be upon him!— made a golden dome, 40 cubits by 40 cubits, and he inlaid it with a variety of precious stones. While he was sitting inside it, two swallows landed there. The male swallow was trying to woo the female one, but she resisted him, and so he said to her: “Why do you resist me?! By God, if you were to command me to lift this dome, I would lift it.” Solomon—peace be upon him!—heard his words, and after giving the order, the two were brought before him. He said: “Who is the one who said such and such?” The male responded: “It was I, O Prophet of God.” Solomon said: “What caused you to say so?” The swallow replied: “I am a lover, and lovers cannot be blamed.”
al-Kharāʾiṭī (d. 327/938), Iʿtilāl al-qulūb [= The Malady of the Hearts] (2000), 245.
Al-Kharāʾiṭī's version appears to be responding to al-Qushayrī's version. Al-Kharāʾiṭī's source for this version, Ghulām Khalīl, was a Ḥanbalī preacher who persecuted the Sufis of Baghdad. Among other things, he zealously opposed the use of the sensuous term ʿishq (passionate love) to describe a man's feelings toward God, preferring the term ḥubb (love), which appears in the Qurʾān. His objection to this term may explain why the bird is described in al-Kharāʾiṭī's version as a muḥibb and not as an ʿāshiq. This version was likely transmitted by Ghulām Khalīl or someone imitating his rhetoric. It should also be noted that the in this version, Solomon does not declare that the bird's justification is correct, as he does in al-Qushayrī's version. The lack of Solomon's affirmation may reflect Ghulām Khalīl's opposition of the antinomian Sufis.
[al-Khallāl] Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan b. Hārūn al-Baghdādī (Baghdad, d. 311/923),
← Aḥmad b. Manṣūr al-Ramādī (Baghdad, d. 265/878),
← Ismāʿīl b. ʿAbd al-Karīm [b. Maʿqil] (Yemen, d. 210/825),
← ʿAbd al-Ṣamad [b.] Maʿqil [b. Munabbih] (Yemen, d. 183/799):
Solomon son of David -Peace be upon them- built a dome, 40 cubits by 40 [cubits], and he sat in it with his friends, while birds were giving him shade. A male bird was trying to woo a female bird. She said to him: “Are you not ashamed to try to woo me, while Solomon is listening?” He replied: “To me, you’re saying this?! Why, if you were to order me to uproot the dome from its bottom, I would uproot it.” Solomon—Peace be upon him—heard their talk and summoned them. He said: “Which one of you is the one who said such and such?” The male responded: “It was I.” Solomon said: “What caused you to say so?” The male replied: “Because lovers cannot be blamed.” Solomon let him go free.
Abū l-Shaykh, al-ʿAẓama [= The Divine Magnitude] (1988), 5: 1766–1767.
Abū l-Shaykh's version draws on the version of al-Kharāʾiṭī, as well as on the following two traditions (in which I have marked similarities in boldface). This first tradition is:
Abū ʿImrān al-Jawnī:
Solomon son of David was passing by, while birds were giving him shade, and jinn and humans, were on his right and on his left, and so he passed by one of the Children of Israel, who called out to him: "O Son of David, God has bestowed upon you a great kingdom." Solomon heard his words and said: "In a believer's heavenly record of his actions, a single instance of saying 'praise be to God' is worth more than anything that has been bestowed upon the Son of David. What has been bestowed upon him will come to an end, but a single instance of saying 'praise be to God' is forever."
Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh Dimashq [= The History of Damascus] (1995), 22: 275.
...and the second tradition, which especially informed Abū l-Shaykh's version, is this one:
Abū Mālik:
Solomon son of David passed by a male bird going in circles around a female bird, and said to his friends: "Do you know what he's saying?" They replied: "What is he saying. O Prophet of God?" He answered: "He is asking her to marry him, saying: 'Marry me, and any upper chamber in Damascus that you want, I will make it your home!' Solomon explained: "Because the upper chambers of Damascus are built of stones, no-one [i.e. no bird] can make them their home, but [the male bird lied because] every guy asking a girl's hand in marriage is a liar."
Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh Dimashq (1995), 22: 232 .
This tradition about a bird's mendacious promise to his potential wife may be compared to the rooster's promise in the Babylonian Talmud:
What does the rooster do to appease the hen? Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Prior to mating, it spreads its wings as if to say this: I will buy you a coat that will reach down to your feet. After mating, the rooster bends its head as if to say this: May the crest of this rooster fall off if he has the wherewithal and does not buy you one. I simply have no money to do so.
BT, ʿErubin 100b, translation from Sefaria.
Ibn al-Ṭuyūrī (Baghdad, d. 500/1107),
← al-ʿAtīqī (Baghdad, d. 441/1049),
← Ibn Ḥayawayh (Baghdad, d. 382/992),
← Muḥammad b. al-Qāsim b. Jaʿfar Dār al-Dimashqiyyīn (Baghdad, d. 317/929),
← ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAmr (Baghdad, d. 274/887),
← Abū ʿAmr al-Bāhilī (Basra),
← Saʿīd b. Salm (Basra, d. 217/832),
← Sulaymān b. Arqam (Basra)
While Solomon son of David -peace be upon him!- was in a lofty dome in Damascus, a swallow entered it with his wife. He started behaving proudly before her, until he finally said to her: “If I want to, I can surely drop this dome on the Prophet of God.” Solomon heard this and commanded an ʿifrīt from among the jinn: “Stand at the entrance of the dome, and when he comes out, grab him, and bring him before me!” [He did so and brought the bird] and Solomon asked him: “Are you the one who said these things?” The swallow responded: “O Prophet of God, don’t hold the words of lovers against them!”
Al-Silafī, al-Ṭuyūriyyāt [= The Traditions of Ibn al-Ṭuyūrī] (2004), 1: 110–111.
Al-Silafī's tradition is notable for taking place in a dome in Damascus. This location is not surprising, given the presence of Muḥammad b. al-Qāsim in the chain of transmission. He was either a Damascene transmitter or a transmitter who resided in a Damascene part of Baghdad. This tradition demonstrates well the tendency of traditions to become localized. Just as this version of the tradition was attached to Damascus, other versions of it were attached to Jerusalem and its Ḥaram.
***
This is Part II of the Companion to my article "Solomon and the Petrified Birds on the Dome of the Rock." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 79.2 (2020): 271-286.
For Part I, click here.
For the Companion's main menu, click here.
Published October 2020
updated May 2023