Prophet Solomons (pbuh) Death

Then when We decreed that he [Solomon] should die, nothing divulged his death to them except the earthworm that ate his staff; so that when he fell down, it was made clear to the jinns that if they had truly had knowledge of the Unseen, they need not have stayed there, suffering humiliating punishment. (Qur'an, 34:14)

The Qur'an does not contain much information about the prophets' deaths. However, it does relate some important details about Prophet Solomon's (pbuh) death. For example, at the moment of his death he was surrounded by jinns who probably were trying to complete their assigned tasks. Not realizing that he was dead, they continued to work. This verse suggests that the jinns do not have any true knowledge of the Unseen, for if they did, they would have stopped working. As this verse emphasizes the words humiliating punishment, they were working very hard on a task and were afraid of Prophet Solomon (pbuh). Thus, they did not stop when he died as they did not realize he was dead until the staff broke.

The words in Arabic translated here as earthworm are dabbat al-ard. Dabba means animal or beast. Coming from debbe, which means a light walking or to struggle, it is used for animals and insects. Ard means ground or floor. Therefore, the expression dabbat al-ard can be thought of as referring to any animal, not just the earthworm.