وَلِسُلَيْمَٰنَ ٱلرِّيحَ عَاصِفَةً تَجْرِى بِأَمْرِهِۦٓ إِلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ ٱلَّتِى بَٰرَكْنَا فِيهَا ۚ وَكُنَّا بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَٰلِمِينَ
34:13; 38:37.
Commentary:
The reference in the words, the land which We had blessed, is to Palestine. It appears that the vessels of Solomon plied in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea and regular trade was carried on between Palestine and the countries lying round the Persian Gulf and these two seas.
"The commercial activity of Solomon seems to have been extensive. In this respect, he reminds us of the Pharaohs, who appear almost to have monopolized the foreign commerce of Egypt. His imports were on a scale so lavish that he is said to have made silver as common as stones, cedars as sycamores, in Jerusalem. There was an extensive trade in horses (1 Kings 10:27-29).In partnership with Hiram of Tyre he maintained a fleet of ocean-going ships trading at regular intervals to Mediterranean ports, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks (1 Kings 10:22). In his trading ventures down the Gulf of ‘Akaba he was assisted by skilled Tyrian navigators supplied by Hiram (1 Kings 9:27, 29), his own people never did take kindly to the sea. This passage was evidently misunderstood by the chronicler, who took it to mean that Hiram supplied the ships (2 Chron. 8:18); how they were transported is a problem he leaves unexplained. Ophir, the land to which these vessels ventured, is not identified with certainty, but may be S. Arabia. Solomon brought Israel for the first time fully into a current of oriental commerce and civilization, and during his reign Jerusalem, at any rate, was a city of wealth and luxury" (Enc. Brit, 14th edit. under "Solomon"). In Jew. Enc. under "Solomon" we read: "With the Phoenicians he united in maritime commerce, sending out a fleet once in three years from Ezion-geber, at the head of the gulf of ‘Akaba to Ophir, presumably on the eastern coast of the Arabian peninsula. From this distant port, and others on the way, he derived fabulous amounts of gold and tropical products. These revenues gave him almost unlimited means for increasing the glory of his capital city and palaces, and for the perfection of his civil and military organizations."
In the present verse the adjective used about the wind is عاصفة (violent) while in 38:37 it is رخاء (gentle) which shows that though the wind blew fast, it was gentle and did no damage to Solomon’s ships.
The implied reference in the present and the preceding two verses may be to the great military might and economic progress and prosperity which the Muslims were to attain in the heyday of their glory which they achieved during the reigns of the Omayyad and the Abbasid dynasties.
34:13; 38:37.
It appears that the vessels of Solomon plied in the Persian Gulf, the Red and the Mediterranean Seas and regular trade was carried on between Palestine and the countries lying round the Persian Gulf and these two seas (1 Kings. 10:27-29). 'In partnership with Hiram of Tyre he maintained a fleet of ocean-going ships trading at regular intervals to Mediterranean ports, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks' (1 Kings. 10:22; 10: 27-29; II Chron. 8:18; Enc. Brit. under "Solomon"). Here the adjective used about the wind is ‘Asifah (violent) while in 38:37 it is Rukha’ (gentle) which shows that though the wind blew fast, it was gentle and did no damage to Solomon’s ships.