An-Naml 27:36–61

In comparison with the invaluable wealth, which Solomon had received in the shape of prophethood and the realisation of God, every other kind of wealth was worthless in his eyes. So, when gifts of gold and silver were presented to him on behalf of the Queen of Sheba, he did not even look at them. In the way he conducted himself, Solomon gave the emissaries of the Queen of Sheba the impression that his real concern was that of principle and not of self-interest. The Quranic commentator Ibn Kathir, by way of explanation, paraphrases Solomon’s words, ‘Do you want to influence me with your wealth so that I should let you off along with your polytheism and allow you to keep your kingdom?’ The power and empire of Solomon were the gifts of God. Similarly, the manner in which he dealt with the kingdom of the Sabeans was also a godly matter. Shah Abdul Quadir (Dehlavi) writes in connection with verse 37, ‘No other prophet spoke like this. Soloman had the force of God Almighty’s empire behind him, so he spoke like this.’

Though Solomon was endowed with extraordinary power, he planned to subjugate the Sabean people by demonstrating his power rather than by using it. So, through a special agent of his, he arranged to have the Queen’s throne shifted from her palace in Ma‘arib to Jerusalem (Palestine). The idea of having the throne brought to him probably occurred to him when on the return of the presents, the Queen of Sheba started out from Yemen for Palestine, so that she could come to Solomon’s court and have direct talks with him. This journey of the Queen, undertaken with much pomp and ceremony, must have started after her diplomatic deputation had returned and narrated to her the wise words of Solomon, testified to the nobility of his character and described the magnificence of his court. The distance between Ma‘arib and Jerusalem is about fifteen hundred miles. This long distance was covered in such a way that no sooner had the words of command fallen from Solomon’s lips than the jewel-studded throne was there before him. In spite of this extraordinary power, feelings of pride did not arise in him. He remained the embodiment of modesty and kept bowing down before God.

The Queen of Sheba set forth from her country and reached Jerusalem. When she came to meet Solomon, the Queen, to her surprise, was asked whether her own throne resemebled the throne she saw at the palace. The Queen admitted that she was wonderstuck to see this throne which was exactly similar to her own. The throne which she had kept safe in her palace in Ma‘arib, had mysteriously traversed a distance of fifteen hundred miles and reached Jerusalem. After entering Solomon’s palace, the Queen of Sheba reached a room where the floor was made of thick, transparent slabs of glass with water flowing beneath them. Mistaking the floor for a pool of water, the Queen quickly pulled up her garment to prevent it from getting wet. Seeing this, Solomon explained to her that it was just the floor and not water. In this way, she was made to realise how outward appearances may deceive the understanding of men, the inner reality often being different from what meets the eye. Similarly, man starts worshipping the sun and moon because of their prominence, but the real God is beyond these visible phenomena. The Queen of Sheba had so far been worshipping the sun under the influence of the conventions of her nation. But, in the company of Solomon, whatever she heard and whatever she saw, completely banished from her mind all impressions of the majesty of anything other than God. Consequently, she renounced the religion of polytheism and whole-heartedly embraced the religion of monotheism.

When Salih started calling for belief in the pure unity of God, his community divided itself into two groups. The leaders of the community were too wrapped up in their own greatness to accept the pure and unadulterated religion preached by Salih. But, among the less important people, there were some who gave a positive response to his call. The two groups began having controversial discussions. The leading luminaries of the community stated quite bluntly that they did not believe in God and that He might bring upon them whatever retribution He wanted as a punishment for their denial. If they faced any hardship, they were wont to say that it was the ill-luck brought upon them by the inauspicious presence in their midst of Salih and his companions. All these things were said in order to humiliate Salih and belittle his call, and not as a result of any serious thought. Their circumstances, whether good or bad, had come to them from God. But they took advantage of good circumstances to feed their false pride and cited bad circumstances to make false complaints. The rising of a prophet from among them was in the nature of a trial devised for them by God. They were placed in this position in order to see whether they recognised the Truth and co-operated with it, or whether they remained blind and deaf towards it. They failed in this trial. They were so preoccupied with material things that they failed to comprehend the reality.

There were nine great chiefs in this community. In order to maintain their high position they made constant efforts to belittle the Truth, and efforts of this type undoubtedly constitute the greatest disturbance on God’s earth. Finally, these chiefs conspired to kill Salih. But, before they could take any steps against Salih according to their secret plan, God seized hold of them. In spite of all their might they were destroyed so utterly that, only dilapidated ruins of their ancient towns, still stand there as a memorial to them. A great lesson is hidden in such historical events. But, this lesson may be learnt only by one who is capable of connecting such events with the eternal laws of God. Conversely, those who attribute such events to physical causes cannot learn any lesson from them.

The community of Lot, in its excessive sexual indulgence, had stooped to homosexuality. Lot, trying to stir their conscience, said, ‘O, subjects of God! You have been given eyes to observe things and the moral sense to be able to differentiate between good and bad. Then, how can you indulge in conduct which amounts to open shamelessness?’ The community had no reply to this. They could not reject the prophet’s words on the basis of logical arguments. So, they resorted to violence against him. But, when this stage is reached, the time comes for God’s final decision to be made without further delay. So they were destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Lot’s wife was also not exempt from this fate either, as she was one of the unbelievers. God deals with individuals according to their personal conduct and not on the basis of their being someone’s relatives or on the basis of their worldly connections. One who gives serious consideration to the aforesaid events of history, will cry out with feeling, ‘I express my heartfelt gratitude to God, who has arranged for the guidance of humanity in every age!’ And then his heart will be filled with respect for those who dedicated their lives to God and completed the mission of providing God’s guidance to everyone.

Expressed as a chain of cause and effect, the theories propounded by atheists or agnostics, remain woefully inadequate to explain the creation of the unimaginably vast universe. Be it the creation of the innumerable heavenly bodies that float in boundless space, or the elaborate arrangements that make the earth habitable—all these and many other such phenomena are too great and too wonderful to have been wrought by any idol or occasioned by any blind physical law. The fact is that any explanation of the universe on bases other than God amounts to giving a false explanation of reality. This is merely a fabrication and not a genuine explanation.