The eighth clip of Quranic Thursdays was released in Nigeria

We start from we left you last week and here are ayahs 41 to 43 of Surah Naml:

قال نکّروا لها عرْشها ننظرْ أتهْتدی أمْ تکون من الّذین لا یهْتدون

فلمّا جاءتْ قیل أهـٰکذا عرْشک ۖ قالتْ کأنّه هو ۚ وأوتینا الْعلْم من قبْلها وکنّا مسْلمین

وصدّها ما کانت تّعْبد من دون اللّـه ۖ إنّها کانتْ من قوْمٍ کافرین

“He (Solomon) said, ‘Disguise her (Bilqis’) throne for her, so that we may see whether she is discerning or if she is one of the undiscerning ones.”

“So when she came, it was said [to her], ‘Is your throne like this one?’ She said, ‘It seems to be the same, and we were informed before it, and we had submitted.”

“She had been barred [from the way of Allah] by what she used to worship besides Allah, for she belonged to a faithless people.”

Last Friday we said that Prophet Solomon on learning that Queen Bilqis of the kingdom of Sheba in Yemen, was on her way to Palestine in Syria to offer her submission to him, ordered the immediate transfer of her throne from that distant land to his own palace. His vizier, Asef bin Barkhiya, whom God had endowed with part of Unseen Knowledge, brought the throne in the twinkling of an eye. The ayahs that we just recited to you mean to say that in order to test her prudence and IQ, that is, intelligence quotient, Solomon ordered the decoration of her throne in a different way. Upon her arrival in Solomon’s palace, she was asked by the Prophet whether the throne in front of her was similar to this one. After a careful glance, she said, it was the same. She told Solomon that if his goal was to demonstrate his power, she and her courtiers had already realized what God has bestowed him and thus the purpose of her journey to Palestine, was is to formally submit to his divinely-decreed authority. The next ayah means to say that since Bilqis grew up among infidels and worshipped the sun, polytheism had clouded her mind and prevented it from turning to the One and Only God, but now when Prophet Solomon had invited her to monotheism, truth became manifest for her, and made her accept it.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Faith based on knowledge and awareness is important, rather than blind imitation.
2. Superstitions and distorted ideas prevent proper cognizance of truth and acceptance of faith.
3. By nature the human being is oriented towards truth, which means that if truth is properly presented, people who so far had stumbled in the dark, feel the light of faith and accept it, irrespective of their deviated ways of the past.

Now we listen to ayah 44 of Surah Naml:

قیل لها ادْخلی الصّرْح ۖ فلمّا رأتْه حسبتْه لجّةً وکشفتْ عن ساقیْها ۚ قال إنّه صرْحٌ مّمرّدٌ مّن قواریر ۗ قالتْ ربّ إنّی ظلمْت نفْسی وأسْلمْت مع سلیْمان للّـه ربّ الْعالمین

“It was said to her, ‘Enter the palace;’ so when she saw it, she supposed it to be a pool of water, and she bared her shanks. He said, ‘It is a palace paved with crystal.’ She said, ‘My Lord! Indeed I have wronged myself, and I submit with Solomon to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.” 

When invited to enter the palace, Bilqis mistook the glass-paved courtyard that had crystal clear water underneath it, to be a shallow pool, and slightly lifted the gird of her skirt till her bare shanks so as to prevent her dress from being wet. Prophet Solomon, who was displaying the grandeur of his worldly powers bestowed upon him by God Almighty, told her that the courtyard was of crystal without any water on its surface. At this, Queen Bilqis, totally amazed by the wonders at the court of Solomon that made the splendours of her own palace pale into insignificance, realized the limitation of her intellect. With a tone of repentance for her past life, she implored in earnest to the One and Only God of how, until now, she has wronged herself. Then she formally expressed her belief in monotheism by submitting to the Sole Creator of the entire universe through faith in the mission of Prophet Solomon, who despite being a king and wielding vast powers, was not the least impressed by the gifts she had brought. This was proof of the fact that worldly power never deceives a Prophet of God, who was only carrying out his God-given duties of guiding people towards the truth. It is also worth noting that the Queen of Sheba did not say ‘I submitted to Solomon’, but says “I submit along with Solomon to God and both of us are the servants of the One and Only God.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Material power and wealth should be used for promotion of religion and guidance towards truth and God, as Prophet Solomon demonstrated to Queen Bilqis.
2. A God-oriented government, such as the Islamic system of administration, should develop art, culture, economy, industry and modern technology in order to grant dignity to the masses and at the same discourage disbelievers from indulging in any hostile behaviour.
3. Sincere repentance requires acknowledgement of the wrongdoings of the past, while real faith means submission to the One and Only God in earnest.