The Story of Prophet Sulayman for Kids
A king with the wind at his command, who halted a whole army so one ant could get home.
Prophet Sulayman, alayhi salaam, is the king children remember, because his story has the details that stick: he could understand what animals said, the wind carried his travel, and he once stopped an entire army for a single ant. All of it is in the Qur'an.
A kingdom nobody has had since
Sulayman was the son of Prophet Dawud, alayhi salaam, and he asked Allah for something unusual. He asked for a kingdom that would belong to nobody after him. Allah gave it: the wind ran at his command, and he was taught the speech of the birds and the animals. The Qur'an is careful about how it says this. Sulayman was taught. None of it was his own power. That distinction is worth making to a child the first time you tell it.
The valley of the ants
One day Sulayman was travelling with his armies, and they came to a valley of ants. And one ant called out to the others: O ants, enter your homes, so that Sulayman and his soldiers do not crush you while they do not notice.
Notice what she said. Not they will hurt us. She said while they do not notice, assuming the best of them even while warning her people. And far away at the head of the column, the king heard her.
He smiled. And then he prayed: My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favour which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do righteousness of which You approve. A king with the wind at his command, thanking Allah because he had overheard an ant.
The hoopoe and the queen
The other famous part of Sulayman's story begins with a missing bird. The hoopoe was absent from the assembly, and returned with news of a kingdom in Saba, in what is now Yemen, ruled by a queen whose people worshipped the sun. Sulayman sent a letter. What followed is one of the most extraordinary sequences in the Qur'an, ending with the queen recognising the truth and saying she submitted, with Sulayman, to the Lord of the worlds.
What children take from it
- Small things matter to Allah. An ant's warning is recorded in the Qur'an, and will be read until the end of the world.
- Power is for protecting, not for crushing. The most powerful man alive stopped for the smallest creature in the valley.
- Everything good is a gift. Sulayman's first response to his own greatness was to ask for help being grateful for it.
Read more about Prophet Sulayman → The full story is narrated in the Sukun Kids app, along with shorter versions for bedtime.
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Frequently asked
Could Prophet Sulayman really talk to animals?+
The Qur'an says Allah taught him the speech of the birds and the animals, and describes him understanding an ant's warning in Surah An-Naml. It was something Allah gave him, not a power of his own, and that is the part worth emphasising to children.
What is the story of Sulayman and the ant?+
As Sulayman travelled with his armies they came to a valley of ants, and one ant warned the others to enter their homes so they would not be crushed without the soldiers noticing. Sulayman heard her, smiled, and prayed to Allah to make him grateful. It is in Surah An-Naml, verses 18 and 19.
Is Prophet Sulayman the same as King Solomon?+
Yes. Sulayman, alayhi salaam, is the prophet known as Solomon in the Biblical tradition. The Qur'anic account differs in important ways, most notably in that Islam holds him to have been a prophet of Allah who worshipped Allah alone.
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Bring these stories to bedtime.
Sukun Kids narrates the prophets' stories softly for sleep. Free to start.