His saying, the Almighty: "And when We decreed death for him, nothing indicated to them his death except a creature of the earth eating his staff. And when he fell, it became clear to the jinn that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in the humiliating punishment."

17884 - From al-Suddi, may God be pleased with him, who said: Solomon, peace be upon him, would seclude himself in the Temple (Bayt al-Maqdis) for a year or two, a month or two, or less or more than that, and he would have his food and drink brought to him. He entered it during the time in which he died. The beginning of this was that not a single day would dawn upon him without a tree growing in the Temple. He would go to it and ask: "What is your name?" The tree would say: "My name is such and such..." He would ask: "For what purpose have you grown?" It would say: "I have grown for such and such..." He would then order it to be cut down. If it had grown for planting, he would plant it; and if it had grown as a remedy, it would say: "I have grown as a remedy for such and such..." He would then utilize it for that purpose. This continued until a tree grew called the carob. He asked it: "For what purpose have you grown?" It said: "I have grown for the ruin of this mosque." Solomon, peace be upon him, said: "God would not ruin it while I am alive! You are that upon whose surface is my demise and the ruin of the Temple." He pulled it out and planted it in a wall of his. Then he entered the prayer niche (mihrab) and stood praying, leaning on a staff. He died, and the devils did not know about it, for they were working for him out of fear that he might come out and punish them.

The devils used to gather around the prayer niche. The niche had openings from in front of him and from behind him. The defiant devil who wanted to plot would say: "Am I not brave? If I enter and exit from the other side..." So he would enter until he exited from the other side. A devil from among them entered, passed through, and there was no devil who looked at Solomon but that he would be burned. He passed by and did not hear Solomon's voice. He returned and did not hear his voice. He went back and did not hear it. He returned and dropped into the house and was not burned. He looked at Solomon and saw that he had fallen dead. He went out and informed the people: "Solomon has died!" They opened it and brought him out. They found that his staff—which is the stick in the Abyssinian language—had been eaten by the earth-creature (termite). They did not know how long ago he had died. They placed a termite on the staff, and it ate from it for a day and a night. Then they calculated based on that and found that he had died a year ago. This is in the reading of Ibn Mas'ud: "So they remained in servitude to him after his death for a full year." At that point, the people became certain that the jinn had been lying; had they known the unseen, they would have known of the death of Solomon, peace be upon him, and they would not have remained in the torment for a year working for him. Then the devils said to the termite: "If you were eating food, we would have brought you the most delicious food, and if you were drinking, we would have brought you the most delicious drink; but we will carry mud and water for you." They continue to carry it for it wherever it may be. Have you not seen the mud that is in the hollow of the wood? It is from what the devils bring to it in gratitude to it.