Surah Naml ayat 44 Tafsir Quran 27:44

﴿قِيلَ لَهَا ادْخُلِي الصَّرْحَ ۖ فَلَمَّا رَأَتْهُ حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً وَكَشَفَتْ عَن سَاقَيْهَا ۚ قَالَ إِنَّهُ صَرْحٌ مُّمَرَّدٌ مِّن قَوَارِيرَ ۗ قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَانَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ﴾
[ النمل: 44]

27:44 She was told, "Enter the palace." But when she saw it, she thought it was a body of water and uncovered her shins [to wade through]. He said, "Indeed, it is a palace [whose floor is] made smooth with glass." She said, "My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, and I submit with Solomon to Allah, Lord of the worlds."

It was also said to her ‘Enter the palace hallway’ — this was a transparent white glass floor underneath which flowed sweet water that contained fish. Solomon had it made when he was told that her legs and feet resembled the shanks of a mule. And when she saw it she supposed it to be a pool of water and so she bared her legs to wade through it. Meanwhile Solomon was seated on his throne at the front part of the palace hallway and he saw that her legs and feet were in fact fair. He said to her ‘It is a hallway paved smooth with crystal’ and thereafter he called her to submit to God. She said ‘My Lord indeed I have wronged myself by worshipping other than You and I submit with Solomon to God the Lord of the Worlds’. He wanted to marry her but disliked the hair on her legs. So the devils made a depilatory lime mixture nūra and she removed it therewith. He married her and had great love for her. And he let her remain as ruler of her kingdom and would visit her once a month staying for three days every time. Her reign came to an end at the same time as that of Solomon. It is reported that he became king at the age of 13 and died at the age of 53 — Glory be to the One whose enduring sovereignty will never end!

As the honoured guest of Sulayman she was invited to enter the palace and as she did she thought the brilliant floor was a lake and she drew up the hem of her clothes, but there she was told that that was not water but a floor paved with slabs of glass. There and then she paused and declared: O Allah my Creator, she said, I have wronged my own soul and here and as of now I exercise with Sulayman low submissive reverence in Islam for Allah the Creator, of the worlds

The Test of Bilqis When Sulayman brought the throne of Bilqis before she and her people arrived, he issued orders that some of its features should be altered, so that he could test her and see whether she recognized it and how composed she would be when she saw it.
Would she hasten to say either that it was her throne or that it was not So he said: نَكِّرُواْ لَهَا عَرْشَهَا نَنظُرْ أَتَهْتَدِى أَمْ تَكُونُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ لاَ يَهْتَدُونَ ( Disguise her throne for her that we may see whether she will be guided, or she will be one of those not guided. ) Ibn `Abbas said: "Remove some of its adornments and parts." Mujahid said: "He issued orders that it should be changed, so whatever was red should be made yellow and vice versa, and whatever was green should be made red, so everything was altered." `Ikrimah said, "They added some things and took some things away." Qatadah said, "It was turned upside down and back to front, and some things were added and some things were taken away." فَلَمَّا جَآءَتْ قِيلَ أَهَكَذَا عَرْشُكِ ( So when she came, it was said: "Is your throne like this" ) Her throne, which had been altered and disguised, with some things added and others taken away, was shown to her.
She was wise and steadfast, intelligent and strong-willed.
She did not hasten to say that this was her throne, because it was far away from her.
Neither did she hasten to say that it was not her throne, when she saw that some things had been altered and changed.
She said, كَأَنَّهُ هُوَ ( (It is ) as though it were the very same.
) This is the ultimate in intelligence and strong resolve. وَأُوتِينَا الْعِلْمَ مِن قَبْلِهَا وَكُنَّا مُسْلِمِينَ ( Knowledge was bestowed on us before her, and we had submitted to Allah. ) Mujahid said, "This was spoken by Sulayman." وَصَدَّهَا مَا كَانَت تَّعْبُدُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ مِن قَوْمٍ كَـفِرِينَ ( And Saddaha that which she used to worship besides Allah has prevented her, for she was of a disbelieving people. ) This is a continuation of the words of Sulayman -- according to the opinion of Mujahid and Sa`id bin Jubayr, may Allah be pleased with them both -- i.e., Sulayman said: وَأُوتِينَا الْعِلْمَ مِن قَبْلِهَا وَكُنَّا مُسْلِمِينَ ( Knowledge was bestowed on us before her, and we had submitted to Allah. ) and what stopped her from worshipping Allah alone was مَا كَانَت تَّعْبُدُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ مِن قَوْمٍ كَـفِرِينَ ( that which she used to worship besides Allah, for she was of a disbelieving people. ) What Mujahid and Sa`id said is good; it was also the view of Ibn Jarir.
Then Ibn Jarir said, "It could be that the subject of the verb. وَصَدَّهَا ( And Saddaha ) refers to Sulayman or to Allah, so that the phrase now means: مَا كَانَت تَّعْبُدُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ ( She would not worship anything over than Allah. ) إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ مِن قَوْمٍ كَـفِرِينَ ( for she was of a disbelieving people. ) I say: the opinion of Mujahid is supported by the fact that she declared her Islam after she entered the Sarh, as we shall see below. قِيلَ لَهَا ادْخُلِى الصَّرْحَ فَلَمَّا رَأَتْهُ حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً وَكَشَفَتْ عَن سَاقَيْهَا ( It was said to her: "Enter As-Sarh" but when she saw it, she thought it was a pool, and she (tucked up her clothes ) uncovering her legs.) Sulayman had commanded the Shayatin to build for her a huge palace of glass beneath which water was flowing.
Anyone who did not know the nature of the building would think that it was water, but in fact there was a layer of glass between a person walking and the water. Verily, it is a Sarh Mumarrad of Qawarir Sarh means a palace or any lofty construction. Allah says of Fir`awn -- may Allah curse him -- that he said to his minister Haman: ابْنِ لِى صَرْحاً لَّعَـلِّى أَبْلُغُ الاٌّسْبَـبَ ( Build me a Sarh that I may arrive at the ways. ) ( 40:36-37 ) Sarh is also used to refer to the high constructed palaces in Yemen.
Mumarrad means sturdily constructed and smooth. مِّن قَوارِيرَ ( of Qawarir ) means, made of glass, i.e., it was built with smooth surfaces.
Marid is a fortress in Dawmat Al-Jandal.
What is meant here is that Sulayman built a huge, lofty palace of glass for this queen, in order to show her the greatness of his authority and power.
When she saw for herself what Allah had given him and how majestic his position was, she submitted to the command of Allah and acknowledged that he was a noble Prophet, so she submitted to Allah and said: رَب إِنِّى ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِى ( My Lord! Verily, I have wronged myself, ) meaning, by her previous disbelief and Shirk and by the fact that she and her people had worshipped the sun instead of Allah. وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَـنَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَـلَمِينَ ( and I submit, together with Sulayman to Allah, the Lord of all that exists. ) meaning, following the religion of Sulayman, worshipping Allah alone with no partner or associate, Who created everything and measured it exactly according to its due measurements.

(27:44) She was asked to enter the palace. When she saw it, she thought it was a 'pool of water, so she tucked up her skirt to enter it. Solomon said, "It is the glossy floor of glass. " *55 At this she exclaimed, "O my Lord! I have (hitherto) been unjust to myself; now I submit myself, with Solomon, to Allah, Lord of the worlds. " *56

She was told, "Enter the palace." But meaning

*55) This was the last thing that opened the queen's eyes.
The tirst thing was Solomon's letter that had been begun with the name of the AII-Compassionate, the AII-Merciful AIlah, a way different front the common custom prevalent among the kings.
The second was his rejection of her gifts, which made the queen understand that he was a different kind of king.
The third was the report made by the queen's envoys froth which she came to know about Solomon's pious life, his wisdom and his message of the Truth.
This very dung had induced her to travel to Jerusalem herself to personally meet the Prophet Solomon, and to this she had referred when she said.
" We had already known this and we had become Muslims. " The fourth thing was the removal of her throne from Ma'rib to Jerusalem in no time, from which the queen realized that he had allah's power at Itil hack.
Now this was the last thing that removed every doubt front her mind regarding the unique and great personality of the Prophet Solomon.
When she saw that in spite of possessing every means of comfort and ease and a grand palace for a dwelling, he was so free from every conceit, so God-fearing and righteous and so grateful to God that he bowed before Him far every small favour and his life so different from the life of those who were enamoured of the world, she exclaimed the words that follow.

*56) This story of the Prophet Solomon and the queen of Sheba has been related in the Old and the New Testaments and the Israelite traditions in different ways, but the Qur'anic narration differs from alI others.
A resume of the story as given in the Old Testament is as follows: " And when the queen of Sheba heard of the tame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company .
when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of aII that was in her heart.
And Solomon told her all her questions ......
And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her.
And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thine wisdom: Howbeit I believed nut their words, until I carte, and thine eves had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of they wisdom Was not told rte: for thou exceedest the ( ante that 1 heard.
Happy are thy men.
and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.
Blessed be the Lord they God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne .....
And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon .....
And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba aII her desire, whatever she asked .....
So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants. " (2 Chronicles, 9: 1-12.
A similar account is also found in I Kings, 10: 1-13 ).
In the New Testament.
the following sentence only has been reported from a discourse of the Prophet Jesus about the queen of Sheba .
" The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgement with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. " ( Matthew, 12: 42; Luke, 11: 31 ).
The story of the Prophet Solomon and the queen of Sheba as given in the rabbinical traditions resembles in most parts with the Qur'anic version.
The hopoe's absence, then its .arrival and reporting about Sheba and its queen, the Prophet Solomon's sending her a letter through it, the hoopoe's dropping the letter in front of the queen right at the time when she was going for sun-worship, the queen's calling for her ministers' council, then her sending of valuable gifts to Solomon, her travelling to Jerusalem and meeting him personally, her arrival in the palace and thinking that Prophet Solomon was sitting in the midst of a pool of water, tucking up her skirt in order to enter it-all this has been mentioned in these traditions as in the Qur'an.
But there is no mention whatsoever in these traditions of the Prophet Solomon's reply on receipt of the gift, having the queen's th rune fetched from Ma'rib, his bowing down before God in thankfulness for every favour of His, and the queen's embracing the Faith ultimately, at his hand, his belief in the oneness of God, etc.
And worst of aII, these wicked people have accused Prophet Solomon of having committed adultery, God forbid, with the queen of Sheba, giving rise to an illegitimate race, which gave birth to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who destroyed Jerusalem.
( jewish Encyclopedia, Vol.
XI, p.
443 ).
The fact of the matter is that n section of the Jewish learned men have been highly critical of the Prophet Solomon.
They have accused him of heinous crimes like violating the Commandments of the Torah, of pride of government, pride of wisdom, of being a hen-pecked husband, and of luxurious living, polytheism and idol-worship.
( Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol.
XI, pp.
439-441 ).
It is due to this propaganda that the Bible presents him only as a king instead of a Prophet, a king who was lost in the love of polytheistic women against the Divine Commandments, whose heart was turned away from God, and was turned to other gods and goddesses.
( I Kings, 11: 1-11 ).
As against this it can be seen what great favour has the Qur'an done to the Israelites by cleansing the personalities of their elders of the tilth thrown at them by themselves, and yet the Israelites, ungrateful as they are, look upon the Qur'an and him who brought it as their enemies.

 

The Test of Bilqis When Sulayman brought the throne of Bilqis before she and her people arrived, he issued orders that some of its features should be altered, so that he could test her and see whether she recognized it and how composed she would be when she saw it.
Would she hasten to say either that it was her throne or that it was not So he said: نَكِّرُواْ لَهَا عَرْشَهَا نَنظُرْ أَتَهْتَدِى أَمْ تَكُونُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ لاَ يَهْتَدُونَ ( Disguise her throne for her that we may see whether she will be guided, or she will be one of those not guided. ) Ibn `Abbas said: "Remove some of its adornments and parts." Mujahid said: "He issued orders that it should be changed, so whatever was red should be made yellow and vice versa, and whatever was green should be made red, so everything was altered." `Ikrimah said, "They added some things and took some things away." Qatadah said, "It was turned upside down and back to front, and some things were added and some things were taken away." فَلَمَّا جَآءَتْ قِيلَ أَهَكَذَا عَرْشُكِ ( So when she came, it was said: "Is your throne like this" ) Her throne, which had been altered and disguised, with some things added and others taken away, was shown to her.
She was wise and steadfast, intelligent and strong-willed.
She did not hasten to say that this was her throne, because it was far away from her.
Neither did she hasten to say that it was not her throne, when she saw that some things had been altered and changed.
She said, كَأَنَّهُ هُوَ ( (It is ) as though it were the very same.
) This is the ultimate in intelligence and strong resolve. وَأُوتِينَا الْعِلْمَ مِن قَبْلِهَا وَكُنَّا مُسْلِمِينَ ( Knowledge was bestowed on us before her, and we had submitted to Allah. ) Mujahid said, "This was spoken by Sulayman." وَصَدَّهَا مَا كَانَت تَّعْبُدُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ مِن قَوْمٍ كَـفِرِينَ ( And Saddaha that which she used to worship besides Allah has prevented her, for she was of a disbelieving people. ) This is a continuation of the words of Sulayman -- according to the opinion of Mujahid and Sa`id bin Jubayr, may Allah be pleased with them both -- i.e., Sulayman said: وَأُوتِينَا الْعِلْمَ مِن قَبْلِهَا وَكُنَّا مُسْلِمِينَ ( Knowledge was bestowed on us before her, and we had submitted to Allah. ) and what stopped her from worshipping Allah alone was مَا كَانَت تَّعْبُدُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ مِن قَوْمٍ كَـفِرِينَ ( that which she used to worship besides Allah, for she was of a disbelieving people. ) What Mujahid and Sa`id said is good; it was also the view of Ibn Jarir.
Then Ibn Jarir said, "It could be that the subject of the verb. وَصَدَّهَا ( And Saddaha ) refers to Sulayman or to Allah, so that the phrase now means: مَا كَانَت تَّعْبُدُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ ( She would not worship anything over than Allah. ) إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ مِن قَوْمٍ كَـفِرِينَ ( for she was of a disbelieving people. ) I say: the opinion of Mujahid is supported by the fact that she declared her Islam after she entered the Sarh, as we shall see below. قِيلَ لَهَا ادْخُلِى الصَّرْحَ فَلَمَّا رَأَتْهُ حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً وَكَشَفَتْ عَن سَاقَيْهَا ( It was said to her: "Enter As-Sarh" but when she saw it, she thought it was a pool, and she (tucked up her clothes ) uncovering her legs.) Sulayman had commanded the Shayatin to build for her a huge palace of glass beneath which water was flowing.
Anyone who did not know the nature of the building would think that it was water, but in fact there was a layer of glass between a person walking and the water. Verily, it is a Sarh Mumarrad of Qawarir Sarh means a palace or any lofty construction. Allah says of Fir`awn -- may Allah curse him -- that he said to his minister Haman: ابْنِ لِى صَرْحاً لَّعَـلِّى أَبْلُغُ الاٌّسْبَـبَ ( Build me a Sarh that I may arrive at the ways. ) ( 40:36-37 ) Sarh is also used to refer to the high constructed palaces in Yemen.
Mumarrad means sturdily constructed and smooth. مِّن قَوارِيرَ ( of Qawarir ) means, made of glass, i.e., it was built with smooth surfaces.
Marid is a fortress in Dawmat Al-Jandal.
What is meant here is that Sulayman built a huge, lofty palace of glass for this queen, in order to show her the greatness of his authority and power.
When she saw for herself what Allah had given him and how majestic his position was, she submitted to the command of Allah and acknowledged that he was a noble Prophet, so she submitted to Allah and said: رَب إِنِّى ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِى ( My Lord! Verily, I have wronged myself, ) meaning, by her previous disbelief and Shirk and by the fact that she and her people had worshipped the sun instead of Allah. وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَـنَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَـلَمِينَ ( and I submit, together with Sulayman to Allah, the Lord of all that exists. ) meaning, following the religion of Sulayman, worshipping Allah alone with no partner or associate, Who created everything and measured it exactly according to its due measurements.

( It was said unto her: Enter the hall ) enter the castle. ( And when she saw it she deemed it a pool and bared her legs ) she lifted her dress above her legs. ( (Solomon ) said: Lo! it is a hall, made smooth, of glass) beneath which there is water, so do not be afraid of getting wet. ( She said: My Lord! Lo! I have wronged myself ) by worshipping the sun, ( and I surrender with Solomon ) at the hand of Solomon ( unto Allah, the Lord of the Worlds ) the master of the jinn and human beings.

It was said to her: "Enter As-Sarh" [(a glass surface with water underneath it) or a palace], but when she saw it, she thought it was a pool, and she (tucked up her clothes) uncovering her legs, Sulaiman (Solomon) said: "Verily, it is Sarh [(a glass surface with water underneath it) or a palace] paved smooth with slab of glass." She said: "My Lord! Verily, I have wronged myself, and I submit (in Islam, together with Sulaiman (Solomon), to Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists)."

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