The Hoopoe's Big News

7 min · Ages 4–12 · Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon)

A hoopoe with a feathered crown perched on a branch beside a small rolled scroll tied with a cord.

Sulaiman, peace be upon him, is a king who understands the language of the birds. One day the hoopoe is missing, and when it comes back it brings news of the people of Saba. Sulaiman sends a letter, and in the end the queen of Saba comes to believe in Allah.

The Moral · Honesty

The hoopoe told Sulaiman exactly what he had found, and Sulaiman checked whether it was true before he believed it.

Try today: Tell a grown-up what really happened today, even if it is a little hard.

How the Story begins

One bird was missing, and the king noticed. This is a true story, and it comes from the Qur’an. It is about the Prophet Sulaiman, peace be upon him, the king who understood the language of the birds. And it is about one special bird, called the hoopoe. A hoopoe is a beautiful bird, with a crown of feathers on its head, and stripes on its wings. One day, this little hoopoe brought some very big news.

Sulaiman had an army of people, jinn and birds, and he looked after all of them carefully. One day, he was checking on the birds, making sure that every bird was where it should be. He looked, and he looked again. And then he said, “Why do I not see the hoopoe? Is he missing?” The hoopoe was not there.

Sulaiman was a king, and a good king takes his job very seriously. If a soldier goes missing without asking, that is a big problem. So Sulaiman said that the hoopoe would be in very serious trouble, unless he came back with a clear, good reason. Everyone waited. Where could the hoopoe be?

The Story has 18 Pages. The rest is narrated in the app.

Hear the whole Story in Munira. Narrated Page by Page over hand-drawn Scenes, then a picture Quiz and one Moral to carry into tomorrow. Bedtime Mode dims the screen and fades the narration to silence.

Download on the App Store

Free to download with 5 Free Stories. Every Story with Yearly (US$19.99, 7-day free trial) or Lifetime (US$49.99). iPhone and iPad; English.

Sources

Retold from Surah An-Naml 27:16 and 27:20–44; Sahih al-Bukhari 2363; with notes from Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Every Story in Munira is retold only from the Qur’an and authentic hadith, shows its Sources, and is checked by a Reviewer before it is published in the app.

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