“There is not a thing but celebrates His praise, but you do not understand their glorification”?[1]
How could we resort to allegorical interpretation when the Qur’an declares, ﴾ وَ مَا أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلا قَلِيلاً ﴿ “And you have not been given of the knowledge except a few [of you].”[2]
We read many times in the Qur’an that the Prophet (ṣ) who has access to eternal knowledge, said: ﴾ إِنْ أَدْرِى ﴿ “I do not know.”[3] So what if we also say, “We do not know” and “We do not understand”?
What is interesting is that God has explicitly declared to us our ignorance and lack of knowledge: ﴾ وَ لَكِن لا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسبِيحَهُمْ ﴿ “But you do not understand their glorification.”[4] But the proud man is not ready to say: “I do not understand the secret of creation among which is the tasbīḥ of other creatures.
Does not the Qur’an categorically disclose that the hoopoe was aware of the sun-worshipping practice of the people of Sheba and reported the same to Hadrat Sulaymān (‘a), saying: “The ruler of Sheba is a woman who is sitting on a large throne and her people are worshipping the sun.[5]
The hoopoe’s knowledge of the peculiarities of the environment and the name of the land, and its ability to distinguish woman from man, ruler from subject, polytheism from monotheism, and the like are all signs of the intelligence of other creatures.
Does not the Qur’an say that one of the ants said to the others, “Enter your dwellings, lest Solomon and his hosts should trample on you while they are unaware”?[6]
In these verses, understanding the movement of human beings, their names (Solomon), their occupation (military), their inattention to where they step, and the ant’s concern for the other ants are among the issues that makes us aware of the capacity and power of discernment of other creatures.
Now, if we accept the existence of instinct as we have to accept the text of the Qur’an, then there is no more need to justify and analyze the tasbīḥ of other creatures.
