SABA' (KAUM SABA') — Ayat 14

Tafsir

{So when We decreed for him} Solomon {death}, that is, he died and remained standing on his staff for a year, dead, and the jinn were doing those hard jobs as usual, not noticing his death until the termites ate his staff and he fell down dead. {Nothing informed them of his death except a creature of the earth}, the source of the verb adrata, in the passive form, eaten by the termites {eating his staff} with a hamza and leaving it with the alif of his staff because it is used to drive away and repel. {So when he fell down} dead, {the jinn realized} it was revealed to them that {had they known the unseen}, including what was hidden from them about Solomon’s death {they would not have remained in the humiliating punishment}, the hard work for them because they thought he was alive, contrary to their thought. Knowledge of the unseen and knowledge that it is a year, based on the calculation of what the termites ate of the staff after his death, for example, a day and a night.