وَعَلَّمْنَٰهُ صَنْعَةَ لَبُوسٍ لَّكُمْ لِتُحْصِنَكُم مِّنۢ بَأْسِكُمْ فَهَلْ أَنتُمْ شَٰكِرُونَ · وَلِسُلَيْمَٰنَ ٱلرِّيحَ عَاصِفَةً تَجْرِى بِأَمْرِهِۦٓ إِلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ ٱلَّتِى بَٰرَكْنَا فِيهَا وَكُنَّا بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَٰلِمِينَ · وَمِنَ ٱلشَّيَٰطِينِ مَن يَغُوصُونَ لَهُۥ وَيَعْمَلُونَ عَمَلًا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ وَكُنَّا لَهُمْ حَٰفِظِينَ
Wa ʿallamnāhu ṣanʿata labūsin lakum li-tuḥṣinakum min baʾsikum, fa-hal antum shākirūn · Wa li-Sulaymāna'r-rīḥa ʿāṣifatan tajrī bi-amrihi ila'l-arḍi'llatī bāraknā fīhā, wa kunnā bi-kulli shayʾin ʿālimīn · Wa mina'sh-shayāṭīni man yaghūṣūna lahu wa yaʿmalūna ʿamalan dūna dhālik, wa kunnā lahum ḥāfiẓīn
"We taught him the craft of making garments of mail for you, to protect you from your own violence. Are you, then, grateful? · And to Solomon the raging wind, running by his command to the land We had blessed. And We know all things. · And of the satans there were those who dived for him and did other work besides. And it was We who kept watch over them."
Labūs — root ل-ب-س, on the faʿūl pattern: a thing that is worn. The pattern gives the sense "the thing with which something is done" (rakūb — a beast that is ridden, ḥalūb — a beast that is milked). In the classical commentaries it is widely recorded that the word here means coats of mail.
A variant reading is transmitted: li-tuḥṣinakum (its subject labūs or the craft), li-yuḥṣinakum (its subject David or God), li-nuḥṣinakum ("that We may protect you"). I name no reciter. The direction of the sense changes, but those protected are the same: the addressees.
And now I come to the most striking place in the verse, and I record this as my own reading, its ground being the pronoun:
The mail is defined not against a danger coming from outside but against the addressees' own violence. The verse does not say "from your enemy's force".
| Expression | To whom it belongs |
|---|---|
| li-tuḥṣinakum — that it may protect you | The addressees |
| min baʾsikum — from your violence | The addressees again |
Both pronouns refer to the same people. That is, the verse names an implement of war not as a defence but as a precaution against the danger the human being produces himself.
Baʾs — root ب-أ-س: violence, hardship, might in war. The word is used in the Qurʾān both of the force of war and of distress — and it occurred in the twelfth verse of this sūra of the punishment: fa-lammā aḥassū baʾsanā. The same word, once ascribed to God and once to the human being. It is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.
فَهَلْ أَنتُمْ شَٰكِرُونَ — and the question is framed as a nominal sentence: hal antum shākirūn — "are you grateful ones?" Not a verbal sentence (hal tashkurūn). The grammarians record this difference: a nominal sentence conveys fixity. That is, what is asked about is not a conduct but a state.
And a point of word order must be recorded: the wind is qualified as ʿāṣifa (raging) but its verb is tajrī (runs) — a gentle verb. And its direction is fixed: ila'l-arḍi'llatī bāraknā fīhā.
I record this as my own reading: the verse says that what is violent has been directed. The attribute conveys violence, the verb order.
And I record its connection with the thirty-fifth verse: there the sūra had spoken of testing with evil and with good. What was given to Solomon represents the good side of the series, and Job, who comes three verses later, the evil side. I give this as my own reading, its ground being the standing of the two stories side by side in the sūra.
| View | Who lahum is |
|---|---|
| 1 | The satans — We watched over their work and did not let them escape |
| 2 | Solomon and those with him — We guarded them from the satans' harm |
| 3 | The works done — We guarded them from being spoiled |
Yaghūṣūna — root غ-و-ص: to dive into water. Ghawwāṣ — a diver. The verse does not say what was brought up; nor do I.