Suleiman Prophet and His Foods

Suleiman Prophet and His Foods

By Arum Jayanti

Editor : Jeroen Willemsen

I have been losing sleep for a week. It started one day in the afternoon when I ate my lunch. I found a fish on my plate. The face was not like a fish’s as usual. The fish had really big eyes with grimace teeth. I felt like when the fish was dead it didn’t rest in peace. I was looking into its eyes. Suddenly I imagined I could understand its language. That the fish was still alive, and it said “Don’t eat me. I still have kids. I need to take care of them.” Would I eat this fish?

I remember Suleiman prophet who was able to understand and speak with animals. He communicates with animals, and understands them as well. Everyday he knows the jeremiad of animals. Does he eat animals? What if the animals refuse to be eaten by him? What if the animals say “Don’t eat me! I still have kids. I need to take care of them.”

I was thinking for an hour. I asked my dad, I asked my brothers, but they didn’t know. I opened al Qur’an to get enlightenment. God explained about Suleiman prophet in Surah An Naml. There was an explanation about ants and hud-hud birds. But, there was no explanation about Suleiman prophet’s foods. I tried to find it with search engines by entering some keywords, but I still didn’t get the answer. 

I posted the question on social media; I hoped I get the answer there. Unfortunately, I didn’t. Some of my friends didn’t take it seriously. One of them makes fun of the question. This curiosity makes me crazy. I asked 2 lecturers who were online at that moment. One of them only read my question (What a pity! Being ignored). The other lecturer answered my question.

“Waalaikumsalam. Dalam kisah Nabi Sulaiman sy belum menemukan apakah bliau makan daging atau tidak. Memang beliau dpt berkomunikasi dg seluruh binatang dan mengerti bhsnya termasuk semut ia pun mengerti bhsnya.”

“Waalaikumsalam, In the story of Suleiman prophet I cannot find whether he eats meats or not. Indeed, He can communicate to animals and understand their language including ants, he understands the language.”

I was still curious. I asked some friends to discuss whether Suleiman prophet eats the animals or not. I found some answers that made me say “Oh yeah. This is makes a sense”.

A    : Does Suleiman prophet eat the animals?

B    : Yes. God created the animals and the plants for humans,

         including Suleiman prophet. Of course he just eats halal

         animals not all animals.

A    : Yeah. But these are different cases. He can speak to the

         animals. Everyday knows their jeremiad, understand

         them as well. Everyday he communicates with animals.

         Does Suleiman prophet himself eat the animals?

B   : He does. He eats animals without feeling guilty even 

       though he can speak to the animals. God created the animals

       for humans.

A   : What if the animals refuse to be eaten by him? What if

        the animals said “Don’t eat me. I still have kids. I need

        to take care of them.”?

B   : Animals would never refuse or rebel, they would be give 

     themselves over to him. Animals would be happy to be eaten

     by Suleiman prophet. God promises heaven to animals which 

     are touch by the prophet or get eaten by the prophet. Animals

    which are slaughtered in the name of God, Insya Allah went

     to heaven. Which animals would not want to go to heaven?

Well, case closed. There is no question when both of them are happy. The conversation above is the summary of a conversation with some friends. Only God knew the answer. Wallahu a’lam bishawab.