Prophet Sulaiman and the Queen of Sheba | The Conclusion of the story | Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

The Conclusion of Prophet Sulaiman and the Queen of Sheba

So today inshallah is our final conclusion about the story of Sulaiman and the Queen of Saba (Sheba). We talked a little bit about the story as you know - the Prophet Sulaiman alayhi salam heard of this kingdom via the hoopoe, and the hoopoe was sent to deliver the letter, and the Queen of Sheba said, "Let us stall, let us send them some gifts and let us see what they say."

And I forgot one verse last time where the Queen of Sheba - the Queen of Saba - said:

So when the ministers told the Queen of Sheba, "Why don't we go to war? That's better," but if you don't want to, that's fine - the Queen of Saba responds that we have to look at the possible repercussions. What would happen if they win? In case this is all legit and real, the people who will lose the most are us elites - not the peasants, not the farmers, because the peasants and farmers need to remain in place. It is the elite: when the kings enter any country as conquerors, they will take the most powerful and deal with them. They will take the ruling class and convert them to be the weakest of the weak.

قَالَتْ إِنَّ الْمُلُوكَ إِذَا دَخَلُوا قَرْيَةً أَفْسَدُوهَا - They will completely change the status quo; nothing will be left as it used to be. وَجَعَلُوا أَعِزَّةَ أَهْلِهَا أَذِلَّةً - They're gonna make the most nobility, they're gonna make them the underclass. They're gonna make them the lowly class.

Need I remind you, most of my audience is from the Indian Pakistani subcontinent - what did the British do when they came to the land of our forefathers? The أَعِزَّة belonged to whom? And what happened? They knew this is the threat, where it's gonna come from. So what did they do? Eliminated their power base and they made them the underclass. Look at any kingdom that is tyrannical - the group that is the most threatening to them, they make them punished, persecuted, thrown in jail, strip away their rights to participate in politics, whatever.

وَكَذَٰلِكَ يَفْعَلُونَ - And this is exactly what they do. Some say the phrase وَكَذَٰلِكَ يَفْعَلُونَ is Allah affirming: once the Queen says "The kings, they change the order and they make the elite the most low class," Allah is affirming and saying, "Yes, that is how they do this." And others say that this is just an affirmation from her viziers or from the Queen herself that she's emphasizing. And both of them are valid points. Obviously, if you follow the first opinion, it is as if Allah is endorsing this is a reality - and it is a reality. Human nature teaches us this.

So she sends the gifts, and Sulaiman is extremely angry and he says, "Get away from me. Take your gifts back. We are attacking." The Queen panics and she immediately makes her way to surrender. And we had stopped at that point in time where Sulaiman asks for her throne to be brought to Jerusalem before she enters Jerusalem.

Who Brought the Throne? Different Opinions

And I went over - how many opinions? Five. I mentioned there are more, but five.

Okay, so let's go over the five that I mentioned:

The first opinion: It's a man. 1a: It is Sulaiman himself - and as I said, it's very bizarre to have a conversation. 1b: A specific man mentioned in the Israeliyyat who was a pious person, a wali of Allah - and I said this creates some problems and I'm not sympathetic to this. Number three: No man mentioned by name, but some man that Allah had given some knowledge to.

The second story: A particular rabbi that Allah had taught His special name. And I explained theologically, it doesn't make sense - and this is contested, but it doesn't make sense. A prophet - sorry, a follower of a prophet - does not have more powers than a prophet. And no human being - no human being other than prophets - have intrinsic powers that we would consider supernatural.

This is the belief of many Muslims. You should understand, some groups of Ahl al-Tasawwuf - I'm speaking factual here, I'm not making a judgment, which has got me into trouble when I don't make a judgment; I'm trying not to be sectarian - some groups of the Sufis, they believe (some, not all) that this wali has the intrinsic power to do something we would call supernatural. This wali can fly in the air, this wali can bring food out of nothing, this wali can bring Sulaiman's throne - sorry, Sheba's throne. And this is a belief that is common in certain segments of the Ahl al-Tasawwuf.

I disagree, and I say that the Quran and Sunnah do not teach us this at all. No human being has the intrinsic power to just snap fingers and do something that is not physical but spiritual. Allah didn't create humans like this. And karamat and awliya - as I explained last time, we believe in them - but karamat are gifts, not on demand.

Umar radiallahu anhu was giving the khutbah, and all of a sudden he sees the battle taking place and he says, "Ya Saria, al-jabal!" - "My commander, O Saria, look behind you! The mountain! They're coming from there!" Did Umar radiallahu anhu say to Allah, "Oh Allah, I want a live TV feed, give it to me now"? Or did Allah bless him in front of everybody to see the status of Umar?

In Sahih al-Bukhari, two Sahaba are walking back and it's pitch dark, and they're gonna get lost. And a light comes down in front of them - they're gonna get lost, they're gonna wander somewhere they shouldn't go. This is during the Battle of Khandaq, so they're scared. They're legitimately worried. The Battle of Khandaq is taking place, they need protection. A light comes down and it's guiding them through the entire date palms and they're imagining that there's, you know, a threat happening. And the light guides them through. Then when it's time for them to split up, the light splits up and each one goes to the house of the owner. Did they snap their fingers and say, "Allah, light right now, please"? Or did it happen as a gift from Allah?

You see, when you look at our tradition, you look at the Quran and Sunnah - all of these are gifts from Allah. I believe in karamat al-awliya - Allah blesses awliya with karamat - but this is a gift. It's not on demand. So to say that there's a human being that snapped his fingers and got the throne - this is not how it doesn't happen. And again, whoever disagrees - there are positions like this. That's not my position.

So we said opinions 1, 2, 3 - human beings, right?

Opinion number 4 is Jibreel. And it is logical, it is rational, it's not something that goes against our theology. But if Sulaiman wanted Jibreel to bring the chair, why is he asking his viziers? Because he has access to Jibreel directly. The point is, he's right now just asking his viziers. Literally, "Ayyukum yati bi arshiha" - "Who is gonna bring me the throne before she comes to me in submission?" He's now asking for physical - if he wanted to reach Allah directly to get the chair, he could have done that. He is a prophet, he has direct access. But in this case, he's not doing it for whatever reason. He's saying, "Hey, who can do this?" It's a chore, a task that is being given.

So Jibreel - it's possible, it's plausible. I just don't think it's the apparent meaning, because قَالَ الَّذِي عِندَهُ عِلْمٌ مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ - and had it been Jibreel, there's nothing that strange for us. And Sulaiman is overwhelmed when he sees the kursi. What does he say? قَالَ هَـٰذَا مِن فَضْلِ رَبِّي - "Allah blessed me to have access to this." If it's Jibreel, it's understood - this is Jibreel coming and giving it to me. So even Sulaiman's reaction seems clear that this is a blessing from his army. Somebody from his army is doing this, so he said alhamdulillah - "Allah blessed me to have this talent," right?

The Most Logical Opinion: A Knowledgeable Jinn

So then this is number four, Jibreel. I also said it's plausible, but it doesn't make sense to me. What makes the most sense to me - and it's just an opinion, it's okay to have different opinions, guys. I keep on teaching you as much as I can: tolerate difference of opinion. These are ambiguous areas. Allah knows, we leave to Allah. Allah didn't tell us, and it's okay to say multiple opinions. And we say this is my humble opinion. In the end, allahu a'lam.

So in my humble opinion, when Allah says an ifrit said, "I can do it in one hour," Allah is demonstrating another of the jinn - not from the ifrit - a jinn you would expect is weaker in physical strength, and he's not from the ifrit. But Allah blessed him with what we call book knowledge. Allah gave him ilm of tajribah, ilm of kutub - just like the first ayat revealed when Allah says:

There's two ilms: iqra from Allah, and iqra from the books that Allah allowed mankind to write for other men. Surah Iqra has two ilms - go read it again. The first ilm: divine ilm. The second ilm: what we call worldly ilm - ilm that men derive and they build on that.

How did we go to the moon and come back? How do we have this technology of the iPhone? How do we have computers? Because people kept on pushing boundaries and they wrote about it, and they then taught the next generation who didn't have to start from scratch. We didn't have to start from the wheel every single time, right? The wheel was invented 5,000 years ago. It took us literally 5,000 years to get to the combustible engine and cars and then other means of transportation. This is the ilm that Allah says: وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ عَلَّمَ الْإِنسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ - Allah allowed us these types of ilm, and we build on previous ilm. And that's why in every discipline, we are way ahead of the people thousands of years ago.

Allah is saying there are also amongst the jinn those that have ilm from the kutub. They have their own ways of tajribah. It is a power - as I explained last time - the jinn have the power to convert matter into energy and then back into matter. This, for them, is not supernatural; it is natural. Just like men have the power to physically lift something up, but the amount we lift differs from person to person, right? But we can all pick something up. It's a physical strength.

One would think a brute force man will always beat somebody who's thin and skinny and, mashallah, wearing glasses and five foot whatever like myself. I can't beat the world championships - clearly not. But Allah is saying in this verse that knowledge is more powerful than brute strength. And I like to explain last time: if you bring some even basic physics students and you gave them some basic equipment of pulleys and levers or whatever, they would be able to lift with the most basic equipment much more than what the most powerful bodybuilder could lift, because they have ilm from the kutub. Do you understand this point?

So the way I see this - what makes the most sense to me - this is a jinni whom you wouldn't think could beat the ifrit, and Allah is saying he beat the ifrit because he had knowledge that his peoples had derived, and he had that knowledge. Again, some say عِندَهُ عِلْمٌ مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ - the kitab here is the Zabur, the kitab here is the Torah. And I point out: How is it possible that a follower of a prophet has more knowledge of the book than the prophet upon whom the book was revealed?

The Jinni's Knowledge and Power

So here kitab is not the book that Allah revealed. Allah is literally saying like Surah Iqra: عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ - go ahead and read, iqra, read books! Allah is saying be knowledgeable of the sciences of your peoples.

So this was a jinni who was knowledgeable, and therefore he tapped into a physical capability in their world, which is to transform matter into energy and transform it back into matter. It's not something that is beyond the capacity, because again, we don't believe anybody has the power of كُن فَيَكُونُ other than Allah. This is not even jinn - they might have powers we don't have, but it's physical for them, just like a horse runs faster than you. Are you gonna have a competition between the sprinter and the horse? It's nonsensical. Allah blessed the horse to be faster than a human being - it's physical for them. Similarly, Allah blessed the jinn to have this capacity; it is physical for them.

Nothing that is... and not that I don't believe in supernatural - of course we believe in supernatural. But supernatural comes from Allah. Allah is the one who does miracles. Allah is the one who gives karamat. No human being other than the prophets, whom Allah has delegated some gift to - this is Allah. That's why they're prophets. No human being, no makhluq has the power to say كُن فَيَكُونُ. It's not possible, otherwise they would be gods, and we don't believe this.

So no jinni can just snap his finger and say, "Oh, I'm gonna bring the chair" if it is supernatural. But if it is natural, if it's something physical - if you ask me, "Okay, I need some help lifting my desk," yes, I say insha'Allah I can do it. I can guarantee you, if Allah gives me life and I can do it, because two or three people can lift a desk. This is what we are talking about here. So this is Allahu a'lam - to me the most obvious conclusion.

Sulaiman's Reaction

Now the chair comes. Sulaiman says this is from Allah's blessings on me, and the reaction of Sulaiman clearly indicates it's not him and it's not Jibreel. Clearly indicates it is either a man or a jinni. That's very clear to me. When he's happy and humbled - had it been Jibreel, there's no strange thing; had it been himself, this is again, how would he himself do it? He'd have to go through a lot to Jibreel, basically. So this is either a jinni or a man, and it seems to be a jinni.

So he says this is Allah's blessings on me, to see whether I'm thankful or not. And whoever is thankful is for himself. Whoever's ungrateful, that's gonna be against him.

The Test of the Queen

Now we get to the final paragraph:

He said, "Disguise her throne. Change it." How so? Minor changes. So there might have been an amazing - we don't know for sure, but we can assume - there might have been amazing emerald, ruby, diamond right in the center of the throne. There might have been various decorations that were iconic in every single pillar, and so he's gonna change it around. Bring another - not an emerald but put a diamond in. Clearly the piece is similar, but not the same. نَكِّرُوا لَهَا عَرْشَهَا - change it.

But again, even if you change it, the structure of the kursi is iconic. It's not gonna be a different kursi. So what is going on here? Why is he saying disguise her chair? He tells you: نَنْظُرْ أَتَهْتَدِي أَمْ تَكُونُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَهْتَدُونَ - "I want to see, I want to test her. Will she be guided or will she refuse guidance?"

The Psychology of Power Politics

This is power politics. What is happening here? Sulaiman wants to test her level of takabbur versus humility. This is what Sulaiman wants to test. Are you going to deny the obvious? It's clearly your kursi. Everybody can see it's your kursi. You know it's your kursi. Now, let us see what you're gonna say. Before you are rushing here, no human could have reached Jerusalem before you from your kingdom, yet even when you come, I have your kursi. Do you not see now the power that Allah has given me? This is the test: humility versus arrogance. Are you gonna deny with your own eyes the obvious? In which case there is no hope - if you're gonna deny the obvious, there is no preaching to you. You're gone and you will reject and you will not submit. Or will you submit? This is the test here.

The Queen's Arrival and Response

As soon as she enters - listen what's happening here - even before any negotiations, even before she presents her submission, as she walks into the chamber of Sulaiman, right then and there, smack in the middle of the room, is her kursi. فَلَمَّا جَاءَتْ - soon as she enters the room, قِيلَ أَهَكَذَا عَرْشُكِ - she was asked, whether it was Sulaiman or whether it was one of the senior ministers (either could be the case), قِيلَ أَهَكَذَا عَرْشُكِ.

The Art of Diplomatic Language

Now, this is very technical. I'm not going to go into the deconstruction of the Arabic and every letter, because it's a bit beyond - in English it's very difficult to explain Arabic balagha in English. In fact, maybe even impossible. So I'll just translate in simple English what he's trying to do, because he didn't say "This is your throne." He didn't say "Is this your throne?" These are not questions he's asking. He's asking a very, very technical wording: أَهَكَذَا عَرْشُكِ.

And if you know your Arabic, this is not أَهَذَا عَرْشُكِ - "Is this your throne?" This is not هَذَا عَرْشُكِ - "This is your throne." No, it is أَهَكَذَا عَرْشُكِ - "Is your throne something like this?" Why? Why this bizarre, atypical phrasing? This is not the first phrasing that comes to mind. It's a very atypical phrasing - it's not what you would expect.

Because if he is saying to her, "This is your throne," halas, this is a complete power flex over her and she has no option but to immediately say yes, and there's no wiggle room. If he asks her, "Is this your throne?" once again, if she says yes, there is a complete humiliation on her part, and you want her to submit willingly, not by humiliation. And if she says no, then it is obvious that she is being extremely arrogant.

So by using an ambiguous phrase, Sulaiman allows her to keep her dignity and allows her to submit in a way where she doesn't have to embarrass herself. And this is of the fiqh of the understanding of Sulaiman. The point is not humiliation. The point is we don't want you as a threat. We don't want you as a threat - come and join us. The goal here is not to rub her face in the sand. The goal here is not to make her feel as if she has been vanquished completely. The kursi is doing the job without him adding salt to the wound. It is obvious that Sulaiman has power that is beyond the realm of this world, and she can see this.

So the goal now - I don't want to fight you guys, because even if Sulaiman has all of that army, in the end of the day, war is blood. People will die, including his troops. We don't want that. So he's giving her a phrase that is intentionally ambiguous in order that she can give a response where her dignity is maintained and she can submit. And this is exactly what she does.

Lessons in Leadership

By the way, if you read this section, you really understand so much about politicians - effective politicians, how they rule. This whole story, which we didn't get into because it's a different thing, is really also about fiqh of siyasa - the fiqh of ruling. All too often when we're not rulers, we think very simplistically. We think in a very binary manner, and actual politicians cannot be simplistic. They must be very nuanced. They must understand, they must balance so many different factors at play here.

And everybody who gets involved in any field - the higher up you go, the more you realize, "Okay, when I didn't have this amount of responsibility, my understanding of this situation was different than it is now." This is human nature. So Sulaiman is being ambiguous in order that she can save face and also to test her: how humble or arrogant is she?

The Queen's Masterful Response

So he asks her, "Is your throne something like this?" - أَهَكَذَا عَرْشُكِ - and her response indicates she fully gets what is going on. She is also a shrewd politician. She is also a very wise leader for her people, and she understands the game completely and she plays it flawlessly and perfectly.

When she's asked, "Is your throne something like this?" she doesn't say, "What? How did you get my throne here?" because that is demeaning of her dignity and grace. She will lose face amongst her people and it's going to be a massive humiliation. And she also cannot say, "This is not my throne," because even if she were to say it, everybody knows she's lying when she negates this is her throne. She knows it is her throne and everybody knows she knows it is her throne. She cannot say yes. She cannot say no. Are you guys understanding this?

So what does she say? قَالَتْ كَأَنَّهُ هُوَ - "It appears quite similar to it." Not "Yes, this is my throne," nor "No, this is not my throne." She is maintaining her dignity and hence her people will respect her and follow her decision, and she is also acknowledging, "You know what? It really looks a lot like my throne." Again, neither yes nor no.

The Declaration of Submission

Now this phrase: وَأُوتِينَا الْعِلْمَ مِن قَبْلِهَا وَكُنَّا مُسْلِمِينَ - "And we were given knowledge before this and we are Muslims." Who says it? There's again multiple opinions. This is one of the beauties of the Quran when you study tafsir - one of the issues that comes in any story is who says what, because the Quran doesn't use proper names that much.

So there's a phrase here: وَأُوتِينَا الْعِلْمَ مِن قَبْلِهَا وَكُنَّا مُسْلِمِينَ - "And we were given knowledge before this and we are Muslims." There are multiple views. I'll just mention two of them because of time.

Two Interpretations

The first: this is Sulaiman telling her, and Sulaiman is saying, "Allah has given me much more than this power. Allah has given me knowledge even before you came to me. All of this I had, and with this knowledge I have submitted to Allah as a Muslim." So this is the first interpretation: وَأُوتِينَا الْعِلْمَ - this is Sulaiman speaking in the royal "we" - we Sulaiman and the Muslims, we have been given knowledge before this whole charade took place, this whole power game took place of the kursi. This kursi is just a manifestation of what Allah has given me, the power that Allah has given me. This is what Allah has given me before the kursi came. وَكُنَّا مُسْلِمِينَ - and because of that knowledge we have submitted to Allah in Islam. This is one interpretation.

But I follow the other interpretation - it makes more sense to me, because she is saying قَالَتْ كَأَنَّهُ and then immediately وَأُوتِينَا. This seems to be therefore an indication that this phrase is coming from her mouth, not from Sulaiman's. And this seems to be the context.

So وَأُوتِينَا الْعِلْمَ مِن قَبْلِهَا وَكُنَّا مُسْلِمِينَ translates as she is speaking to Sulaiman, and she is speaking in the royal "we" like all kings and queens say "we." So she is saying, "And I already knew of your power before you had to show me this knowledge of bringing the kursi. وَأُوتِينَا الْعِلْمَ مِن قَبْلِهَا - you didn't need to do all of this. I already figured out you are correct in what you are saying." So before this whole show of the kursi, "I already knew you are correct and you are indeed tapping into a power that I don't have." وَكُنَّا مُسْلِمِينَ - now she announces why she has come to Sulaiman: "We are submitting politically to you. We have surrendered."

And this is very clear to me that this is coming from her, and she is saying she's trying to save her grace and she's trying to be ambiguous without being too demeaning to herself. And she is saying, "This throne might as well be my kursi."

The Queen's Political Surrender

She does it. "It's very much like my kursi and I knew you had this power even before I came to Jerusalem and I want to tell you I have come submitting and surrendering to you politically." Is that clear? So this seems to be coming from the Queen, clearly. ادخلي الصرح - Now the final segment in the story. Clearly ادخلي الصرح.

So this was the chamber of diplomacy, this was the chamber room of diplomacy where treaties are enacted, where negotiation takes place. She has surrendered, negotiation over. Now what happens when the treaty is signed? What happens? Food, festivals, right? Visits. So once she surrenders, now we go to the festivals, now we go to the food, now we go to the more personal chambers.

Entering the Palace

Okay, clearly ادخلي الصرح. Now the announcers come and there's gonna be people coming, this and that, how the charades happen. This is the reality of all diplomats. This is how politics works. This is the reality. So she's coming with her entourage and now she enters the more private chambers. This is where the honored VIP guests are given meals. This is not the public chamber where negotiations with friend and foe take place. That's where the kursi was. Now she gets to the more elite place, the more hospitable place, and obviously the decorations there, the ambience there is different than the ambience of the negotiation room, right?

So now she's getting to the more private chambers where the guests are invited. ادخلي الصرح - "Enter my palace," and to the palace of Sulaiman. And some say this was a palace that was attached to the original Baitul Maqdis that Sulaiman had built. And I explained to you that the original Baitul Maqdis, what they call the Temple of the Mount, the original Baitul Maqdis - the Quran mentions this - it was built by the jinn and it was beyond imagination.

The Historical Context of the Temple

And this is why the memory of that temple remains with those people to this day and they cry and wail over that memory. And the wailing wall that they cry over - this has nothing to do with Sulaiman. The wailing wall is the remnants of the second temple that was built during the time of Jesus Christ by the king of the Jewish people that he called himself the king. King Hadrian called himself the King of the Jewish people. He built the temple, he built it, and it was a human structure. And he built it wanting it to be a magnificent structure rivaling that of Sulaiman, but it only lasted less than a hundred years. It too was destroyed in one of the uprisings - those people revolted against the Jewish, revolted against the Romans.

So the Romans sent in and massacred groups and killed others, lit them on fire, literally persecuted them, and then destroyed their temple. "How dare you uprise against us!" So they destroyed the temple. Of that destruction, which took place in 73 CE - like after Jesus by a few decades - the remnants of that temple, there's only one wall remaining and that is called the wailing wall. Okay, that is why they're wailing, because they want their temple back. So may Allah azza wa jal free Masjid Al-Aqsa from the occupation that it currently engages with, and also our brothers and sisters of Gaza.

The Magnificent Palace Floor

So قيل لها ادخلي الصرح - there is a palace attached to the temple, enter this palace. She enters the palace, she enters the first room.

Soon as she comes in, she is bedazzled with what she sees. All she can see is just beauty after beauty, splendor after splendor, and the entire floor to her appeared like water. She has never seen any structure like this in her whole life, and she is the queen of the most powerful civilization besides Sulaiman's. She has access to more wealth than any other ruler, and her throne embodied that wealth and that power. But she has never seen a palace like that of Sulaiman.

So when she comes in and she's looking everywhere, and again the Quran itself says يعملون له ما يشاء من محاريب وتماثيل وجفان كالجواب وقدور راسيات اعملوا آل داود شكرا وقليل من عبادي الشكور. Allah is saying the jinn would make for him massive urns, they would make for him massive pots, they would make for him places of water to put. So the jinn are constructing these entities - they're constructing these structures. Can you imagine when you have jinn at your service? They're gonna bring all the expensive metals, they're gonna bring all the exotic items, they're gonna build in ways we cannot even imagine.

So she walks in and she cannot believe what she is seeing, and the entire floor is shimmering. The entire floor is as if it were water. And in that excitement, bedazzlement, she's so stupefied, she forgets where she is. She forgets she's the queen and she acts like any normal human being would - is unbefitting of a queen to do, unbefitting of a queen to do. She lifts her skirts up as she walks in, thinking that it's water, and who wants to get your skirts or your pants wet in water, right? She lifts her skirts up. كشفت عن ساقيها - and her shins, the lower part of her feet basically above her ankles, but the saq were exposed.

Sulaiman's Gracious Response

Allah, Sulaiman directly says to her: إنه صرح ممرد من قوارير - "This is a palace whose floor has been paved with crystals." Crystals are paving the floor! Which king - I mean if you go to the Versailles Palace, King Louis outside of Paris, you go and look at that palace, they have the famous Chamber of Mirrors over there, right, where World War One - that the treaty was signed, 11th of November 1918, 11 a.m., 11th of November - 11-11-11. That's when they did it. They signed the Treaty of Versailles, they signed the Treaty of Surrender in that famous mirror Hall of Mirrors.

I'm going on a tangent here - King Louis was one of the most extravagant, show-off-y kings in recent human history, and that's why his kingdom went bankrupt. He built palaces upon palaces of gold and silver whatnot. Even in his palace, where is the qawārīr put on the sides? Nobody has the luxury and the quality to put as floor. This is not what people could do back then. It's beyond the capability of human beings back then. Now we have our fortified glass, we can do it. Back then it was not possible.

So the fact that you have on the floor qawārīr that look like glass is doing what glass does, and the light comes in, and we can only imagine - because again, we don't know, we can only imagine - that the ambience would have literally been otherworldly.

So when she recognizes she's basically made a fool out of herself, right? She's been so - it's like imagine, not the same thing, but when Yusuf's beauty is so handsome the women cut their hands. They lose track of reality, right? Basically, this is a type of equivalent where she's so overwhelmed with the beauty she does something very unbecoming. She lifts her skirts up, she kind of makes a fool of herself. So Sulaiman's trying to save her dignity, being the gentleman. So Sulaiman saves her dignity and Sulaiman says, "No, no, this is my palace whose floor has been paved with crystals. This isn't water. This is crystals, this is glass, this is reflection. You don't have to do this, right?"

And again, this shows you he's not mocking her, he's not laughing out loud. He's acting like a true gentleman. This is how gentlemen act. And obviously in all of this, the Queen understands she's really made a fool of herself in this regard and she's underestimating the power of Sulaiman.

The Queen's Complete Surrender to Islam

So now she says:

She says, "O Allah, I have wronged myself. It took me too long to confess this. I shouldn't have just surrendered only politically. I should have accepted Islam recognizing Sulaiman to be a prophet." قالت رب إني ظلمت نفسي وأسلمت مع سليمان لله رب العالمين

Now she accepts the religion of Islam. Whereas in the hall before, she had politically surrendered and she had not accepted Islam. But when she sees this reality, she recognizes this is beyond, and I was arrogant. "O Allah, forgive me. I shouldn't have delayed this long. I know deep down inside, this is your prophet. I know this is coming from you. So O Allah, accept my forgiveness and I am entering into Islam at the behest of, at the dawah of Sulaiman." أسلمت مع سليمان لله رب العالمين

The Main Lessons of the Story

Now this is the end of the story of Sheba, of Sulaiman and Sheba. What is the main moral? Why did Allah reveal this story in an early Meccan Surah?

First Theme: Message to the Quraysh

The theme of the story, the main motif of the story is very obvious, and it was meant for the Quraysh. And that is, Allah is saying to the Quraysh - the Quraysh, of course every Arab knows the civilization of Saba, every Arab knows the dam, every Arab has heard the legends of the Queen of Sheba, every Arab. This is what they grew up hearing. This is children's stories for them. They know it.

And Allah is saying, "You look up to them as being legendary. They were more powerful than you. They had more civilizational strength than you. And yet they embraced Islam when they saw the power of the Prophets. So O Quraysh, why are you being arrogant? The people you look up to - this is their story. The people whose stories you've heard since you were children and you consider them to be icons - well, then follow their path. And you have more right to do so because the Queen of Sheba actually had an empire. You don't have an empire. The Queen of Sheba had an army. You don't have an army. The Queen of Sheba had so much and still she embraced Islam with Sulaiman. Therefore, people of Quraysh, you need to embrace Islam with the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ."

Second Theme: Gratitude and Humility

And there's a secondary theme as well. And again, this is a short class. Obviously the three lessons we did, I encourage you to go back and reread these stories much more. There's another motif that is very clear in this story, and it occurs at least four or five times in the span of two and a half pages, and that is being thankful for what Allah has given you.

Constantly Dawud and Sulaiman - constantly in this two and a half pages, go read it tonight - how many times they say, "This is from Allah. We thank Allah. This is from Allah. Allah has blessed us with this." You know, when the ant talks, then he makes dua to Allah to allow him to be thankful. So the entire story has another motif, and that is: if you are blessed - and we are all blessed - if you have a blessing from Allah - and we all have blessings from Allah - do not allow those blessings to cloud your judgment so that you become arrogant. Thank Allah and humble yourself.

This is a key theme of this whole section as well that is meant for Muslims. The first theme is meant for non-Muslims. This theme is now meant for Muslims. Memorize this phrase: قال هذا من فضل ربي ليبلوني أأشكر أم أكفر - "This is from Allah to test me whether I'm gonna use it to thank Him or whether it will make me - astaghfirullah - arrogant and haughty and I reject the blessing from Allah."

Any blessing we have, think of this: This is from Allah to test me whether I'm gonna use it to thank Him or whether it will make me arrogant and haughty and I reject the blessing from Allah.

Whoever is thankful then Allah will reward and whoever is ungrateful Allah has no need of you. We should humble ourselves for the blessings Allah has given and ask Allah like Sulaiman said:

And with this inshallah ta'ala we conclude from the story of Sulaiman. May Allah grant us all humility. May Allah make us all thankful for the blessings that we have and may Allah free the land that Sulaiman ruled from the people who have nothing to do with Sulaiman and give it to the real people of Sulaiman and that is us.