In Surah An-Naml (The Ants, 27:18-19), the Quran recounts: "Until, when they came upon the valley of the ants, an ant said: O ants, enter your dwellings so that you will not be crushed by Solomon and his soldiers while they perceive not. And Solomon smiled, amused at her speech."
This account is remarkable in several respects: it attributes to ants a form of communication and collective warning, and it shows that Solomon understood their language.
The historical context
In the 7th century, the ant was perceived as an insignificant insect, without social organization or communication ability. The idea that an ant could warn its fellow ants of danger was inconceivable.
The scientific confirmation
Modern science has revealed that ants possess one of the most complex social organizations in the animal kingdom, with a sophisticated communication system:
- Pheromones: Ants communicate mainly through chemical signals called pheromones. They emit alarm, trail, recognition, and aggregation pheromones. The alarm pheromone, in particular, is emitted by an ant that detects danger to warn its fellow ants.
- Chemical communication: Discovered by biologist Edward O. Wilson in the 1950s-1960s, chemical communication in ants revolutionized our understanding of these social insects.
- Social organization: Ants live in highly organized colonies with a division of labor, effective communication, and collective defense.
The Quranic account of the ant warning its fellow ants of imminent danger corresponds precisely to the alarm behavior observed in ants, where an ant detecting danger emits an alarm pheromone to warn the entire colony.
The scientific significance
The Quran mentions ant communication 1,400 years before science discovered pheromones and the chemical language of social insects. This precision is all the more remarkable because the Quranic account uses the term "valley of the ants" (wadi an-naml), suggesting knowledge of the spatial organization of ant colonies.