Sulayman's (peace be upon him) conversation with the Queen of Sheba - advice

(The Queen said): "O nobles, a venerable letter has been delivered to me.

It is from Solomon, and (says): 'In the name of Allah, Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim.

Do not rise against me, but come to me in submission.'

." Advise me, O nobles," she said "in this matter. I do not decide any thing until you concur."

They said: "We are men of valour, and brave fighters. It is for you to decide. So consider what you should command."

She said: "Surely when kings enter a city they destroy it and despoil the honour of its nobility. So will they do (to us).

But I will send them a gift and see what the envoys bring back (in return)."

So, when the envoys came to Solomon he said: "Do you wish to increase my wealth? Yet what God has given me is better than what He has given you. No. Be gratified in your present.

Go back to them. We shall soon come with our armies which they will not be able to face. We shall drive them out of (the land) with ignominy, and they will be humbled."

He (then) said (to his courtiers): "O you nobles, is there any one who can bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?"

A crafty jinn said: "I will bring it before you rise from your seat, for I am strong and trustworthy."

But one who had knowledge of the letter, said: "I will bring it to you in the twinkling of an eye." When Solomon saw it before him, (he said): "This is by the grace of my Lord that He may test me whether I am grateful or I am thankless. Yet if one is grateful, he is grateful for himself, and if one is thankless, then surely my Lord is unconcerned and magnanimous."

(Turning to his nobles) he said: "Change the appearance of her throne. Let us see if she is rightly guided, or is not guided at all."

When she arrived, they asked her: "Is your throne like this?" She said: "As though this is it. We had come to have knowledge and already submitted."

She was (in fact) turned away by what she worshipped other than God, for she came of an unbelieving people.

She was invited to enter the court. When she saw it, she took it for a sheet of water, and (pulling up her skirts) uncovered her legs. (Solomon) told her: "This is paved with tiles of glass." "O Lord," she said, "I have wronged myself, and I submit to the Lord of all the worlds with Solomon."