Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 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."
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.
It is related that when the Queen of Sabaʾ was on her way to him, Sulaymān commanded the jinn to build him a pavilion — a kind of flat roof of glass — and to let water flow beneath it, in order to test her intelligence and her understanding thereby, in the same manner as she had done by sending him male and female slaves so that he might distinguish the males from the females among them.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of a number of the scholars, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said: Sulaymān commanded the pavilion to be built, and the jinn fashioned it for him of glass, white as water; then he caused the water to flow beneath it, and he placed his throne within it and seated himself upon it. Birds, jinn, and men stood reverently around him. Then he said: ادْخُلِي الصَّرْحَ ('Enter the pavilion') — in order to show her a sovereign power mightier than her sovereign power and a dominion greater than her dominion. فَلَمَّا رَأَتْهُ حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً وَكَشَفَتْ عَنْ سَاقَيْهَا ('but when she saw it, she supposed it to be a body of water, and she uncovered her shins') — not doubting that it was water through which she was wading. It was said to her: enter, it is only a pavilion built of glass. When she stood before Sulaymān, he called her to the worship of Allah and discussed with her the worship of the sun apart from Allah. She then spoke the word of the zindīqs, whereupon Sulaymān fell prostrate to the ground in profound dismay at what she had said, and the people fell prostrate with him. It struck her down to the ground when she saw what Sulaymān did. When Sulaymān raised his head, he said: 'Woe to you — what have you said?' And he said: and it was made me forget what she had said. She said: رَبِّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَانَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ('Lord, I have wronged myself, and I submit together with Sulaymān to Allah, the Lord of the worlds'). She embraced Islam, and her Islam was good.
And it has been said that Sulaymān commanded the building of the pavilion as Allah describes it only because the jinn feared that Sulaymān would marry her, and they wished to cool him toward her. They said: her leg is the leg of a donkey, and her mother was of the jinn. So Sulaymān wished to learn the truth of what the jinn had told him.
*Mention of who said that:*
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qurażī, who said: the jinn said to Sulaymān, in order to cool him toward Bilqīs: her leg is the leg of a donkey, and her mother was of the jinn. Sulaymān commanded the pavilion, and it was built; and the sea creatures were confined within it: fish and frogs. When she saw the pavilion, she said: has the son of Dāwūd found no punishment with which to kill me other than drowning? حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً وَكَشَفَتْ عَنْ سَاقَيْهَا: he said: and behold: the most beautiful shins and feet of the people. He said: Sulaymān withheld her shins from the razor and had the depilatory (nūra) made for that purpose.
And it is possible, in my view, that Sulaymān gave the command to build the pavilion for both reasons: that of Wahb and that of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qurażī — to test her intelligence and to look at her shins and feet, in order to learn the correctness of what had been told him about her.
Mujāhid used to say — according to what is related from him concerning the meaning of the pavilion — what Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both together — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, his word الصَّرْحَ: he said: a pool of water over which Sulaymān had glass placed. And Bilqīs had hairy, rough legs — her foot was like the hoof of a donkey, and her mother was a jinn.
Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Ramlī related to me, saying: Hishām ibn ʿAmmār related to us, saying: al-Walīd ibn Muslim related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Bashīr, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Naḍr ibn Anas, on the authority of Bashīr ibn Nahīk, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: 'One of the parents of the Queen of Sabaʾ was a jinn.'
He said: Ṣafwān ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Walīd related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Bashīr, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Bashīr ibn Nahīk, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ — without mentioning al-Naḍr ibn Anas.
His word فَلَمَّا رَأَتْهُ حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً ('but when she saw it, she supposed it to be a body of water'): he says: when the woman saw the pavilion, she supposed, because of its whiteness and the movement of the water creatures beneath it, that it was a body of water of a sea; she uncovered her shins in order to wade through it to Sulaymān.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this the exegetes spoke.
*Mention of who said that:*
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: قِيلَ لَهَا ادْخُلِي الصَّرْحَ فَلَمَّا رَأَتْهُ حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً: he said: it was of glass, and the water was behind it — and she supposed that it was a body of water.
He said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, his word حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً: he said: a sea.
ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: Ibn Sawwār related to us, saying: Rawḥ ibn al-Qāsim related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word وَكَشَفَتْ عَنْ سَاقَيْهَا: and behold: the two legs were hairy. He said: is there nothing that removes this? They said: the razor. He said: no, the razor leaves a trace. So he commanded the depilatory to be made.
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Ḥafṣ related to us, on the authority of ʿImrān ibn Sulaymān, on the authority of ʿIkrima and Abū Ṣāliḥ, who both said: when Sulaymān married Bilqīs, she said to him: 'Never has iron touched me.' Sulaymān said to the jinn: 'Seek out what will strip it from her.' They said: the depilatory. That was the first time a depilatory was made.
His word إِنَّهُ صَرْحٌ مُمَرَّدٌ مِنْ قَوَارِيرَ ('it is only a pavilion built of glass'): Allah, exalted is His praise, says: Sulaymān said to her: this is not a sea — it is a pavilion built (mummarrad) of glass. He says: it is only a structure, sculpted and elevated, of glass.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this the exegetes spoke.
*Mention of who said that:*
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: مُمَرَّدٌ: he said: elevated.
His word قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَانَ... to the end of the verse: Allah, exalted is His remembrance, says: the woman, the Queen of Sabaʾ, said: Lord, I have wronged myself by my worship of the sun and my prostration before those apart from You. وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَانَ لِلَّهِ: she says: I have submitted obediently together with Sulaymān to Allah with the profession of His Oneness, singling Him out with divinity and dominion above all apart from Him.
Ibn Zayd used to say concerning that what Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً: إِنَّهُ صَرْحٌ مُمَرَّدٌ مِنْ قَوَارِيرَ — and she understood that she had been overcome. قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَانَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ.
