Quran — Page 380

Now when [the Queen’s messenger] came unto Solomon, he said: “Do you people mean to add to my wealth? But that which God has given me is [so much] better than all that He has given you! Nay, it is [only such as] you that would rejoice in this gift of yours!

“Go thou back unto them [that have sent thee]! For, [God says:] ‘We shall most certainly come upon them with forces which they will never be able to withstand, and shall most certainly cause them to be driven from that [land of theirs], despicable and humbled!’”

[When Solomon learned that the Queen of Sheba was coming,] he said [to his council]: “O you nobles! Which of you can bring me her throne ere she and her followers come unto me in willing surrender to God?”

Said a bold one of the invisible beings [subject to Solomon]: “I shall bring it to thee ere thou rise from thy council-seat - for, behold, I am powerful enough to do it, [and] worthy of trust!”

Answered he who was illumined by revela­tion: “[Nay,] as for me - I shall bring it to thee ere the twinkling of thy eye ceases!” And when he saw it truly before him, he exclaimed: “This is [an outcome] of my Sustainer’s bounty, to test me as to whether I am grateful or ungrateful! However, he who is grateful [to God] is but grateful for his own good; and he who is ungrate­ful [should know that], verily, my Sustainer is self-sufficient, most generous in giving!”

[And] he continued: Alter her throne so that she may not know it as hers: let us see whether she allows herself to be guided [to the truth] or remains one of those who will not be guided.”

And so, as soon as she arrived, she was asked: “Is thy throne like this?” She answered: “It is as though it were the same!” [And Solomon said to his nobles: “She has arrived at the truth without any help from us,] although it is we who have been given [divine] knowledge before her, and have [long ago] surrendered ourselves unto God!

[And she has recognized the truth] although that which she has been wont to worship instead of God had kept her away [from the right path]: for, behold, she is descended of people who deny the truth!”

[After a while] she was told: “Enter this court!” - but when she saw it, she thought that it was a fathomless expanse of water, and she bared her legs. Said he: “Behold, it is [but] a court smoothly paved with glass!” Cried she: “O my Sustainer! I have been sinning against myself thy worshipping aught but Thee]: but [now] I have surrendered myself, with Solomon, unto the Sustainer of all the worlds!”