Surah An Naml, Sulaiman pbuh and Balqis

27:38 He said (to his own men): "Ye chiefs! which of you can bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?"  قَالَ يَا أَيُّهَا المَلَأُ أَيُّكُمْ يَأْتِينِي بِعَرْشِهَا قَبْلَ أَن يَأْتُونِي مُسْلِمِينَ(27:38 27:39 Said an 'Ifrit, of the Jinns: "I will bring it to thee before thou rise from thy council: indeed I have full strength for the purpose, and may be trusted."  قَالَ عِفْريتٌ مِّنَ الْجِنِّ أَنَا آتِيكَ بِهِ قَبْلَ أَن تَقُومَ مِن مَّقَامِكَ وَإِنِّي عَلَيْهِ لَقَوِيٌّ أَمِينٌ (27:39 27:40 Said one who had knowledge of the Book: "I will bring it to thee within the twinkling of an eye!" Then when (Solomon) saw it placed firmly before him, he said: "This is by the Grace of my Lord!- to test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful! and if any is grateful, truly his gratitude is (a gain) for his own soul; but if any is ungrateful, truly my Lord is Free of all Needs, Supreme in Honour !"  قَالَ الَّذِي عِندَهُ عِلْمٌ مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ أَنَا آتِيكَ بِهِ قَبْلَ أَن يَرْتَدَّ إِلَيْكَ طَرْفُكَ فَلَمَّا رَآهُ مُسْتَقِرًّا عِندَهُ قَالَ هَذَا مِن فَضْلِ رَبِّي لِيَبْلُوَنِي أَأَشْكُرُ أَمْ أَكْفُرُ وَمَن شَكَرَ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ رَبِّي غَنِيٌّ كَرِيمٌ (27:40)

27:41 He said: "Transform her throne out of all recognition by her: let us see whether she is guided (to the truth) or is one of those who receive no guidance." قَالَ نَكِّرُوا لَهَا عَرْشَهَا نَنظُرْ أَتَهْتَدِي أَمْ تَكُونُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَهْتَدُونَ (27:41)

27:42 So when she arrived, she was asked, "Is this thy throne?" She said, "It was just like this; and knowledge was bestowed on us in advance of this, and we have submitted to Allah (in Islam)."  فَلَمَّا جَاءتْ قِيلَ أَهَكَذَا عَرْشُكِ قَالَتْ كَأَنَّهُ هُوَ وَأُوتِينَا الْعِلْمَ مِن قَبْلِهَا وَكُنَّا مُسْلِمِينَ (27:42)

27:43 And he diverted her from the worship of others besides Allah. for she was (sprung) of a people that had no faith. وَصَدَّهَا مَا كَانَت تَّعْبُدُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ مِن قَوْمٍ كَافِرِينَ (27:43)

27:44 She was asked to enter the lofty Palace: but when she saw it, she thought it was a lake of water, and she (tucked up her skirts), uncovering her legs. He said: "This is but a palace paved smooth with slabs of glass." She said: "O my Lord! I have indeed wronged my soul: I do (now) submit (in Islam), with Solomon, to the Lord of the Worlds."  قِيلَ لَهَا ادْخُلِي الصَّرْحَ فَلَمَّا رَأَتْهُ حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً وَكَشَفَتْ عَن سَاقَيْهَا قَالَ إِنَّهُ صَرْحٌ مُّمَرَّدٌ مِّن قَوَارِيرَ قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَانَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ (27:44) Sadaqallah, I’ve always found this verse very intriguing. To begin this post proper, I shall first recount my very first encounter, in detail, with this verse. It was a rew years back when I sat in Ust Hafazah Ahmad’s class on Tasawwuf, then he had just started on reading the book Kimiya As Saadah (The Alchemy of Eternal Bliss) by Imam Ghazali. I still remember clearly the topic; It was on knowing the Self. A central reference throughout the entire topic was the Hadith “ Man ‘arifa nafsah, fa qad ‘arifa rabbah” He who knows himself knows his Lord.   He then kicked off the topic by talking about how much a person’s knowledge is valued; and knowledge is of two kinds, one that is dry that can be found on paper and books, the other is very much spiritual. That was when he referred to this verse, verse 40 of Surah An Naml when Sulaiman pbuh asked for anyone who could move Balqis’ palace to him. The Jinn Ifreet stood up and said it can be done before he could finish standing up, but a man of knowledge said it could be done within the blink of an eye.   So who was this man? Or rather what kind of human was he? Was he a Prophet? Not likely, because his name was not mentioned, so in all likelihood he was a wali, a saint who was bestowed with karamah. Nowadays, people tend to reject such things in very much the same way they reject the notion that the Prophet pbuh went body and soul during Israk Miraj. The reality is that such things exist and the reason why we don’t see many of such things today is because today is the age of rationality and logic, any miracle like that would be too overwhelming an evidence to the extent that those who witness it and study it rationally will come to conclude that this is no magic, that it is real and it is a miracle, and therefore have no reason not to come to belief. In the past, people can still deny miracles as black magic, but today, if the miracle is scientifically studied, truth will  manifest, and belief will ensue, en masse, such that life in this world will lose its value as a place of trial for people to choose whether or not to believe. Imagine if Jesus were to heal the blind or the leper in an instant in today’s medical age, what will the specialists say?   Ust Hafazah also warned that a rational person is he who appreciates the Giver more than the gift, and tells us not to amal just to seek these karamah, and that amal should be ikhlas for Him alone. And he also reveals that the more effective path to God is to be disciplined in a Tariqah, under the guidance of a Mursyid, who is a guide.   For this, he referred to how Balqis erred unknowingly, two times in the verses above. First she worshipped the sun instead of God out of following age-old customs and traditions, all the while thinking that it was nothing wrong. The second was when she was asked to enter the new palace, and in it she thought she saw a pool of water, and raised her garments such that her legs could be seen, to enter the pool without getting her garment wet. Then she was promptly stopped by Sulaiman pbuh who explained that it was not a pool, rather a panel of glass. She then was thankful and submitted into belief in one God.   This story,or rather a metaphor, highlights the need to have a guide and the adab of a murid to his guide. The fact that glass was thought to be water alludes to something illusionary – something very real and common in Tasawuuf and Tazkiah an Nafs (purification of the Self). The devil and his whispers bring about confusion and illusions and sometimes the only way to be saved is to have a guide who knows what is the truth, what is not, what is illusionary and what is real. We may think that we are good and pious but in reality we are not etc. Hence we need a guide. And about adab to the guide, we ought to be humble and acknowledge our wrongs and accept the guide’s help. Essentially, this is what Tariqah is about. Mentioned in the verse, in reaction to seeing the illusionary pool, Balqis proceeded to do something very undignified of a queen, ie to raise her garments to the extent that her legs were exposed, and she thought she was doing the logical thing, to bring her garments up in order to cross the pool which was, in reality, a glass floor/panel.   It was here that Ust Hafazah seriously exhorted us to look for real guides, and he recommended a few, among them Sidi Abdul Rasyid and Sidi Faiz of Ahmadiah-Idrisiah Tariqah. That was the beginning of my joining the Tariqah, and for the next few years, I followed my friend and his dad almost every week to zikr, taking his dad’s van as transport. Seriously, even until today, I still find it very timely for me, that when I reached an age capable of thinking properly, I was exposed to the reality of Tariqah and its necessity, in an age where attacks against Tariqahs are very common, and I was given the convenience of transportation for every majlis that I went to henceforth. When I attended Ust Hafazah’s class, he was just doing a relief for another Ust. And to think about it, my own grandfather was a follower of awrad muhammadiyah of almarhum Ust Taha Suhaimi, the same tariqah as Ust Hafazah.   By the way, all chapters of the Quran begin with Basmallah except for Surah At-Tawbah, but still there are 114 Basmallahs in the Quran, the remaining Basmallah to “compensate” Surah at Tawbah is found in the verse above:   “Innahu min Sulaiman, wa innahu Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim”   It (the letter) is from Sulaiman and it says “In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful”