وَتَفَقَّدَ ٱلطَّيْرَ فَقَالَ مَا لِىَ لَآ أَرَى ٱلْهُدْهُدَ أَمْ كَانَ مِنَ ٱلْغَآئِبِينَ
Wa tafaqqadat taira faqaala maa liya laaa aral hud hud, am kaana minal ghaaa'ibeen
انہوں نے جانوروں کا جائزہ لیا تو کہنے لگے کیا سبب ہے کہ ہُدہُد نظر نہیں آتا۔ کیا کہیں غائب ہوگیا ہے؟
And he inspected the birds and said, "Why do I not see the hoopoe? Or is he among the absent?"
Tafaqqada names a review conducted specifically to find what is absent, so the scene is built around a gap rather than a crowd. A king with armies of jinn and men registers one missing bird, which is how the surah scales its attention down again after the ants. Everything that follows, the whole account of Sheba, arrives through the one who was not there.