What Allah gave Sulayman bin Dawud (peace be upon him)

Al-Hasan said: When the wind was made subservient to Sulayman bin Dawud (peace be upon them both), he would set out in the morning from Bayt al-Maqdis and take his midday rest at Qarira, then he would travel in the evening and spend the night in Kabul.

Sa'id bin Jubayr said: 600,000 chairs used to be set out for Sulayman (peace be upon him).

Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: 600,000 chairs used to be set out for Sulayman bin Dawud (peace be upon them both). Then the nobles of mankind would come and sit on the right side, then the nobles of the jinn would come and sit on the left side. Then he would call the birds and they would shade them, then he would call the wind and it would carry them, and he would cover a month's journey in a single morning. One day, while he was travelling in this way through an open plain, he needed water. He called the hoopoe; it came, pecked the ground with its beak, and showed the place of the water. Then the devils came to that place and dug it open the way the skin of a goat is removed, and they drew water from that place. He said: At this, Nafi' bin al-Azraq said: O you who stop [at the text], stop! You say that the hoopoe came and pecked the ground at the place of the water. How can it see this when it cannot even see the snare that comes and falls upon its neck? Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: Woe to you! Destiny comes between the eyes and what they see.

Abdullah bin Shaddad said: The chair of Sulayman (peace be upon him) would be placed on the wind, and along with it the chairs of whichever jinn and humans he wished would be placed. He needed water, but the people did not know where it was. At that point he searched among the birds and did not find the hoopoe, so he threatened it, and its punishment was to be that its feathers would be plucked and it would be left in the sun. When it came, the birds met it and said: Sulayman (peace be upon him) has announced a punishment for you. The hoopoe said: Did he make any exception? They said: Yes, that you present some excuse. Its excuse was that it had come after seeing the affair of the queen of Saba. So Sulayman (peace be upon him) wrote to them: "It is from Sulayman, and it is in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful: Do not exalt yourselves against me, but come to me in submission." He said: Bilqis set out, and when she was at a distance of one farsakh, Sulayman (peace be upon him) said: "Which of you will bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?" A powerful one of the jinn said: "I will bring it to you before you rise from your place; indeed, I am strong and trustworthy for this." Sulayman (peace be upon him) said: I want it faster than that. "The one who had knowledge of the Book said: I will bring it to you before your glance returns to you" [Al-Naml: 30-31, 38, 39, 40].

He said: Mansur informed me on the authority of Mujahid that he entered a tunnel beneath the earth and brought it. Sulayman said: Alter it. When she came, she was asked: Is your throne like this? He said: She began both to recognise it and to deny it, and she marvelled at its swiftness, and she said: It is as though it were the same. It was said to her: Enter the palace. When she saw it she took it to be a deep pool of water and uncovered her shins, and there she was, a very hairy woman. He said: Sulayman said: What will remove this? They said: Lime. He said: So lime was made on that day.

Mujahid said: When the jinn said, "I will bring it to you before you rise from your place," he said: I want it faster than this. So "the one who had knowledge of the Book said: I will bring it to you before your glance returns to you." He said: Her throne emerged from a tunnel in the earth.

Mujahid reports from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), in explaining the saying of Allah, "before you rise from your place," that it means the sitting of a man in which he sits until those present get up.

Abdullah bin Ma'bad al-Zimmani said: "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful" was not revealed anywhere in the Qur'an except in Surah al-Naml, where He says: "It is from Sulayman, and it is in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."

Sa'id bin Jubayr said that the explanation of "before your glance returns to you" is that he raised his gaze, and his gaze had not yet come back down when he saw the throne in front of him.

Abu Salih said that the explanation of "But I am sending them a gift" [Al-Naml: 35] is that she gave a brick of gold as a gift.

Sa'id bin Jubayr reports from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that her name was Bilqis bint Dhi Sharah, and that she was a very hairy woman.

Al-Hakam reports from Mujahid that the queen of the people of Saba was a jinn woman and very hairy.

Sa'id bin Jubayr reports from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), under "But I am sending them a gift," that he said: She sent gold, or a brick of gold. When they arrived with it, they saw that the walls of the city were of gold. This is the meaning of the saying of Allah: "Do you offer me wealth? What Allah has given me is better than what He has given you" [Al-Naml: 36], to the end of the verse.