Overview (Verses 41 - 44)

A Confrontation of Sorts
 
Now Solomon continues preparing some surprises for the Queen of Sheba whom he expected would arrive shortly: “He [then] said: Alter the appearance of her throne: let us see whether she will be able to recognize it, or she will remain unguided.” (Verse 41) He wanted the distinctive features of her throne to be changed, so as to gauge her intelligence and alertness. Would she be able to recognize it, or would the change confuse her such that she could not see it?
 
Perhaps Solomon wanted to test her presence of mind and her reaction at the point of surprise as she saw the throne. Therefore, we are presented with a picture of the queen with Solomon: “So when she arrived, she was asked: ‘Is your throne like this?’ She answered: “It looks as though it were the same.’“ (Verse 42) This was a shock for the queen. She could have never thought it possible that the throne she was looking at was her own. She had left it in her own country, where it was well guarded. What could bring it to Jerusalem, Solomon’s capital? Who could bring it and how? Yet she could see that it was hers, despite the alterations. Should she deny this on the basis of the realities of the situation, or should she say that it was hers, considering all the similarities? Her answer was thoughtful and clever: “It looks as though it were the same.” (Verse 42) She neither denied nor confirmed it. In fact her answer is indicative of a sharp intelligence and quick presence of mind.
 
We have here another gap which suggests that she was informed of the surprise and its secret. In reply she said that she was already prepared to surrender herself to God from the moment she had decided to come to Solomon after he had turned down her gift: “We were endowed with knowledge before her, and we have surrendered ourselves.” (Verse 42)
 
The sūrah then explains what prevented her from believing in God up to that point and what had turned her away from surrendering herself to God when Solomon’s letter was first delivered to her. She had grown up in the midst of an unbelieving people. Her worship of creatures that were far from equal to God, such as the sun, actually prevented her from worshipping Him alone: “Yet that which she used to worship instead of God had kept her away [from the true faith]. She belonged to an unbelieving nation.” (Verse 43)
 
Solomon had already prepared another surprise for the queen, which thus far remains hidden from us. With the first one, we were told of it before it actually occurred, but here the method is different:
 
She was told to enter the court. When she saw it, she thought it was a lake of water, and she bared her legs. Said he: “It is but a court smoothly paved with glass!’ She said: ‘0 my Lord! I have indeed wronged my soul, but now I submit myself with Solomon, to God, the Lord of all the worlds.’ (Verse 44)
 
This surprise consisted of a palace made of glass, and its floor placed above water so as to appear like a lake. When she was asked to enter the palace, she thought that she was meant to walk through the lake and so lifted her skirts to bare her legs. The surprise was then complete. Now Solomon tells her its secret: “It is but a court smoothly paved with glass.” (Verse 44) The queen stood agape, perfectly amazed at such wondrous accomplishments that defy human capabilities. She recognized that Solomon had been given superior powers. Therefore, she turned to God acknowledging her past error, declaring that she had wronged herself when she worshipped others, and announcing her submission, not to Solomon, but with him, “to God, the Lord of all the worlds.” (Verse 44)
 
Thus her heart had interacted with divine guidance and benefitted by its light. She realized that surrendering to God did not mean her submission to anyone of His creatures, not even to Solomon, the prophet and the king who had been given all these miracles. True surrender is to God, the Lord of all the worlds, being in companionship with those who believe in Him and who advocate His message, on the basis of equality.
 
The sūrah highlights this point in order to clarify the nature of belief in God and surrender to Him. It imparts the sort of dignity that raises the vanquished to the ranks of the victors, such that they become brothers in faith. In fact, there are no vanquished or victors. How can there be when they are truly brothers, tied by the bond of faith, feeling their equality in God’s sight?
 
The elders of the Quraysh who opposed the Prophet in Makkah felt it far beneath them that they should be under Muhammad’s leadership. Here we see a woman of the past teaching them that Islam places the advocate of the divine message and those who are addressed by that advocate on the same basis. Leader and subordinates are equals, treated in the same way. People simply respond to God’s Messenger and submit with him to God, the Lord of all the worlds.