Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:29
She said, "O eminent ones, indeed, to me has been delivered a noble letter.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The Exalted says: the hoopoe went with Sulaymān's letter to her and cast it to her; when she read it, she said to her people: يَا أَيُّهَا الْمَلَأُ إِنِّي أُلْقِيَ إِلَيَّ كِتَابٌ كَرِيمٌ.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation also spoke.
Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one of the people of knowledge, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, he said: Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd wrote, sending it with the hoopoe: "In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. From Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd to Bilqīs, daughter of Dhī Saraḥ, and her people. To proceed: do not exalt yourselves above me and come to me as Muslims." He said: the hoopoe took the letter by its leg and set off with it until it reached her. She had a window in her house; when the sun rose, she would look at it and prostrate before it. The hoopoe came to the window and blocked it with its wings until the sun was high and she did not notice; then it dropped the letter down from the window, and it fell upon her at the place where she was staying, and she picked it up.
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Abū Sufyān related to us, from Maʿmar, from Qatāda, he said: it has reached me that she was a woman called Bilqīs — I think he said: daughter of Sharāḥīl — one of whose two parents was of the jinn; the back of one of her feet was like the hoof of an animal. She lived in a house of kingship; her counselors were three hundred and twelve men, each of them over ten thousand men. She lived in a land called Mārib, three days' journey from Ṣanʿā. When the hoopoe brought news of her to Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd, he wrote the letter and sent it with the hoopoe. The hoopoe came, and the doors were shut — she used to shut her doors and place the keys under her head. Thus the hoopoe came...
