Surah An-Naml 27:32-44 - Quran Translation Commentary

36. When he (the envoy) came to Sulaiman, he said: “What! Would you help me with wealth! But what Allah has given me is better than what He has given you. Nay it is you who exult in your present.⁵⁷

37. ”Go back to them. We will march against them with forces they cannot oppose, and drive them from their land humbled, and they will be degraded.”⁵⁸

38. Sulaiman said: “O Nobles ! which of you will bring me her throne before they come to me, submissive.”⁵⁹

39. (Ifreet) a very strong one among the jinns⁶⁰ said:” I will bring it to you before you rise from your seat, and surely I am strong and trustworthy.”⁶¹

40. Said he, who had the knowledge of the Book: “I will bring it to you before your gaze comes back to you.”⁶² And when he (Sulaiman) Saw it set before him,⁶³ he said: “This is a favour from my Lord with ⁶⁴which He would test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful. Whoever gives thanks, he does it for his own good, and whoever is ungrateful- then truly my Lord is Self- sufficient and Bountiful.”⁶⁵

41. He said: “Disguise Her throne for her so that we may see whether she is rightly guided or will be of those who are not rightly guided.”⁶⁶

42. So when she came, it was said to her :”Is your throne like this? She replied: “It looks as if it is the very one. And we were given the knowledge before this, and we were Muslims (surrendered to Allah).⁶⁷

43. And she was prevented (from surrendering to Allah) by what she worshipped beside Allah, for she came from an unbelieving nation.⁶⁸

44. She was asked to enter the palace; and when she saw it she thought it was a pool of water and bared her legs. Sulaiman said:“Verily, it is a palace, paved with glass.” Said she: “My Lord ! Verily, I have wronged myself, and I submit with Sulaiman to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.”⁶⁹

Commentary

50. It will not be correct to conclude from this that the government of Sheba was democratic, because kings also have been consulting their ministers or courtiers. Firaun also had consulted his nobles (Surah shu’ara -25). Therefore, the government of Sheba was a personal government.

51. Means military power.

52. That is: We are not afraid of fighting, but are ever ready for it.

53. The authority to take decision was that of the queen, which shows that it was a personal government.

54. That is: We have given our opinion, now it is for you to decide what action should be taken.

55. In the event of defeat resulting from a war against a king, the nation will face the danger of destruction and the citizens will be humiliated, therefore, it is better to avoid war. It shows that the Queen inspite of being a woman had more sense than a man. Although women are more emotional, therefore, unable to rule and take judicious decisions, but it is not a hard and fast rule that every woman would be like that. Sometimes we find that some women are more intelligent than most men. The understanding and the far-sightedness of the Queen of Sheba was better than that of her courtiers, and it was an exceptional case.

56. The queen decided to send a delegation of envoys to King Sulaiman with valuable presents and to wait and see what is his response. It is possible that it may pave the way for friendly relations between the two countries.

57. The Queen of Sheba had sent valuable presents to Prophet Sulaiman with a view that if these presents are accepted by him, he would withdraw his demand of requiring them to embrace Islam, and might be satisfied with mere friendly relations with her country, while Prophet Sulaiman was in a position to terminate her polytheistic power and enforce his rule and free the country from the control of the polytheistic forces.

The people of Sheba were very much proud of their wealth and material power. That is why Prophet Sulaiman said that Allah has bestowed on him more favours than what He has bestowed on them and he is much more powerful than them, and that he did not need any wealth to be weaned away from his demand of giving up polytheism.

58. Prophet Sulaiman was not ready to tolerate a polytheistic kingdom, because in those days the public generally used to follow the same religion as that of their rulers. Therefore, in order to free a people from the wicked and evil power, it was necessary to use military force. Prophet Sulaiman was a king of great power, and he talked to them in accordance with his power which shook the kingdom of power of falsehood. This wrath of Prophet Sulaiman was not the product of his pride but on account of his zeal for terminating polytheism, and providing right guidance to people. From this it becomes clear that the Islamic state has a high ideal before it and it takes necessary steps to achieve that, ideal. Therefore, it is not correct to say that its wars are only for purposes of defence. If Islam had only allowed defensive war, then Prophet Sulaiman would not have shown his inclination to wage an offensive war against Sheba.

59. Reading between the lines, it is learnt that the delegation of envoys returned home and when it informed the Queen about the great king and the magnificence of his kingdom, the Queen decided to go to meet him personally. And when Prophet Sulaiman came to know of her coming, he arranged for her throne being brought to his palace before her arrival so that she might see a miracle being performed, which was a proof of his prophethood.

60. ‘Ifreet’ means a being having great power.

61. Jinns can fly from the earth to the sky, therefore, we cannot judge their speed according to the standard of human speed, and their strength on the strength of human beings. The powerful Jinn offered to bring the throne of the Queen of Sheba to his court and that he would not misuse his trust. But Prophet Sulaiman did not consider it proper that such a work should be entrusted to a jinn.

62. By the Book is meant the Divine Book, the Torah, because no other meaning can be taken for that, And by ‘who had the knowledge of the Book’ is meant one in the court of Prophet Sulaiman who was very well versed in the Torah and had an insight in its meaning; he understood that Prophet Sulaiman wanted the throne to be brought there by a miracle and for that he wanted to make a human its agent, and therefore, he offered his services for it. Since he knew that a miracle takes place with the command of Allah, and for its occurrence time and place have no meaning, he said that he would do the job ‘before your gaze comes back to you’. It meant that since the miracle was to be performed by Prophet Sulaiman, he as an agent for that miracle, was ready to perform that service.

Prophet Sulaiman could have performed this miracle without making a human its agent, but he granted this honour to a scholar of the Torah; in other words this was a great achievement of Prophet Sulaiman which came to be manifested with the command of Allah in the same manner in which other prophets had performed their miracles. The only difference is that he utilised the services of a great scholar of the Torah to get this miracle manifested.

Some commentators think that by ‘who had the knowledge of the Book’ is meant the person who knew the ‘Ism-i-Azam’ i.e. the great name of Allah. They say that such a person brought the throne in a jiffy, and then they indulged in the discussion as to what that great name of Allah is. In this way they made this great name to be a puzzle, although the great name of Allah is not a secret, but it is a very clear reality that it is the name’ Allah’, it is the ‘Ism-i-Zaat’- personal name, and in the Qur’an it is mentioned so many times that the question of searching for a name leaving aside this name does not arise. How can it be believed that Qur’an is without the great name, and the ‘Bismillah’, Surah Fatiha, Ayatul Kursi and Surah Ikhlas, in which the recognition of the Divine Being is given and because of that they have a special significance are without the great name. And how can this point be accepted that in the’ Azkar-i-Masnoonah’ (traditional remembrances) best words of the Lord’s praises and thanks are there but this great name is not there. The fact is that those who are indulging in ‘amaliyat’ (meditation to get the coveted thing) have taken the support of this great name. Allama Sayed Sulaiman Nadvi has very rightly stated that the concept of the great name is ignorance-based and non- Shariah concept. (Arzul Qur’an, Vol. I, page 270).

63. That is: The throne came there that very moment. Between Yemen and Baitul Maqdis there is a distance of about one and a half thousand miles, therefore, apparently it seems amazing that from such a long distance the throne of the Queen reaches the court of Prophet Sulaiman in a moment. But those who believe in Allah being the Absolutely Powerful do not find it amazing. When Allah wills some miracle to be performed by one of His prophets, then the physical or natural laws do not thwart or prevent it. Prophet Moosa’s staff used to turn into a snake the moment it thrown on the ground. For Prophet Salih the appearance of an extraordinary she-camel out of nowhere was very sudden, and Prophet Muhammad covered the long journey from Makkah to Baitul Maqdis in less than a night. Then in this physical world also some things are very fast, e.g. light travels in the form of electromagnetic waves at the rate of 300,000 km per second, and sound travels at a rate of 330 meters per second in air. If Allah can shows such stupendous occurrences, then is it difficult for Him to manifest a miracle, of transferring a throne to the court, from thousands of miles within a moment at the hands of His Prophet.

64. On the appearance of the throne in his court in the extraordinary way, Prophet Sulaiman did not say that it was his achievement, but termed it as a favour of Allah. It gives an idea as to how the kingship of Prophet Sulaiman was different from that of the other kings.

65. That is: My Lord is not in need of others’ thanks, He is most Gracious, therefore, whoever is ungrateful, he acts against his own self and interest.

66. The command to change the shape of the throne was given with a set purpose, to give a chance to the Queen to contemplate. If she recognises that inspite of the apparent disguise that the throne in reality is hers, then a question will arise in her mind as to how that throne came to be present there. Contemplating on this question, she will realise that it was the miracle of Prophet Sulaiman, which is a proof of his being a prophet. In this way she can be rightly guided. If she is unable to recognise her throne, then it would mean that she is not a thinking woman, and one who does not think cannot be rightly guided.

Here it is futile to discuss the point of Fiqh that how was it lawful for Prophet Sulaiman to bring the throne of the Queen to his court without her consent. This question does not arise because a miracle comes to be manifested with the command of Allah, and for this purpose He appropriates the properly of any slave He likes. For the she-camel of Prophet Salih a day was fixed for her to drink water from the well debarring all others to draw water from there on that day. In the same way Prophet Sulaiman was given the authority to get the throne of the Queen of Sheba and to change it as he desired, so that a miracle might be manifested, and this was done with a view to rightly guiding the Queen and not to obtaining the jewels and gold from the throne.

67. The Queen recognised her throne, but since its shape was changed she said that it looked as if it was the very one, and at the same time she admitted that she knew of the miraculous achievements of Prophet Sulaiman from before, and that she had embraced Islam and had already become a Muslim.

From this statement of the Queen it becomes clear that she and her companions acknowledged the truth of Islam on hearing the report of their delegation, but they had not openly declared their Islam before their nation, nor their mental preparedness to accept the faith had reached the proper level.

Prophet Sulaiman’s letter had asked them to embrace Islam and to go to him, therefore, the Queen might have taken the decision to undertake that journey on agreeing to embrace Islam.

68.That is: The Queen had acknowledged the truth of Islam, but she had not openly declared her acceptance of this faith, because she belonged to a polytheistic religion and was the head of an infidel nation. To embrace Islam leaving behind this religion was not easy for her, but when she came out of this atmosphere and was in the company of Prophet Sulaiman, she got the opportunity of responding to the call of her conscience.

69. To make her realise her intellectual error and ideological straying, Prophet Sulaiman had built a palace of glass, whose floor was of a clean and smooth glass: It presented an appearance of water. Therefore, for walking over it, the Queen bared her calves, so that her clothing might not get wet. Prophet Sulaiman informed her that it was a floor of glass. She was taken by surprise and her mind at once realised the fact that if a man does not think properly, he can be deceived by external appearances, while the reality is quite different. These manifestations in the universe, the sun and the moon, etc., are not gods, but God is the one whose light is illuminating the entire universe. When this reality dawned on her, she realised that she was believing in polytheism which was false, therefore, she admitted her error in the presence of her Lord.

Now Islam had reached the inner recesses of her heart, and therefore, she declared her Islam with full consciousness and full belief. Thus the policy of Prophet Sulaiman became the cause of her right guidance.

As for the question that King Sulaiman was a Prophet, and prophets do not lead a luxurious life, then how did he build a palace ? The answer is that all this was done in support of his mission and for Islam’s political advantage, and not for leading a luxurious life nor even for exhibiting his grandeur. Secondly Prophet Sulaiman was given extra-ordinary resources, even the services of jinns were made available to him. He utilised these resources in building a majestic Baitul Maqdis and constructing a magnificent palace, the burden for constructing these edifices did not fall on the poor people. These monumental edifices were not constructed by him at the cost of the rights and dues of the poor, but he utilised the immense treasures which Allah had granted him for the high purpose of meeting the noble demands of the religion. Thirdly a model of this aspect of character of a prophet comes to the fore that without giving up the high standard of God-fearing righteousness a grand kingdom can be ruled, and let nobody be under the wrong impression that none of the prophets was provided with the abundance of resources, and no prophet could present a model of an ideal ruler while at the same time maintaining his piety and righteousness.

Whether after embracing Islam the Queen returned to her country or not is not indicated in the Qur’an, for its purpose is not to relate history but to present a historical event in order to refute polytheism which clearly shows that when a lady even after becoming the queen of a rich country, ponders over God’s signs with an open mind, she comes to the right conclusion that polytheism is false and monotheism is right, and she embraces Islam with unstinted belief. And let nobody be under this impression that the message of prophets has influenced only the poor people, but it has also happened that persons in power were also influenced by their dawah and have readily embraced the faith. However, in the Bible it is stated that the queen returned to her country afterwards.

“So she turned and went back to her own land, with her servants.” (2 Chronicles 9:12) Anyway there is no mention of Prophet Sulaiman’s marriage with the Queen of Sheba in the Qur’an, nor in the hadith nor even in the Bible. And what seems likely is that she might have returned to her country, so that she might invite her people to embrace Islam, and Prophet Sulaiman might have given up his intention of a military action against Sheba when its kingdom had accepted his suzerainty.

Some people quote the event of the Queen of Sheba in support of the contention of a woman being the head of the state. Their argument is that Prophet Sulaiman let her continue as the ruler after her embracing Islam. First of all there is no Quranic verse to show that the queen returned to her country and continued to rule in support of their argument. Secondly Prophet Sulaiman had not made her the ruler. It was her people who had made her their ruler. Thirdly her nation was infidel and polytheistic, and after the queen’s having been rightly guided, she could be made the means of rightly guiding her people.

Therefore with a view to meeting this great need of dawah and reform, if a lady who had embraced Islam with full consciousness, is kept as a ruler, then it could only be an exceptional case. It would not be correct to take it to be a general rule of the Shariah. And the Shariah of Prophet Muhammad, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, is a complete and perfect Shariah, in which commands for observing Purdah have also been given, therefore, to follow all these commands and yet to act as the ruler of a state is neither practicable nor feasible.