Watafaqqada alttayra faqala ma liya la ara alhudhuda am kana mina alghaibeena
English
Ahmed Ali
When he reviewed the Tair, he said: "How is it I do not see Hud-hud? Is he absent?
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Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (and he sought among the birds) he inspected the birds (and said) when he could not see the hoopoe among them: (how is it that i see not the hoopoe) in his place, (or is he among the absent?)
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and he reviewed the birds, to see the hoopoe — which would locate water beneath the ground and indicate its location by pecking at it, whereupon the devils would extract it, for solomon required it for when he prayed; but he could not see him — then he said, ‘why is it that i do not see the hoopoe?, in other words, is there something preventing me from seeing him? or is he among the absent?, and so i cannot see him because he is absent?’ and when he became certain [of the hoopoe’s absence],
