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THE QUR'ÂN.
XXVII, 28-40.
then turn back away from them, and see what they return.'
102
Said she, 'O ye chiefs! verily, a noble letter has been thrown before me. [30] It is from Solomon, and, verily, it is, "In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. Do not rise up against me, but come to me resigned!" She said, 'O ye chiefs! pronounce sentence for me in my affair. I never decide an affair until ye testify for me.'
They said, 'We are endowed with strength, and endowed with keen violence; but the bidding is thine, see then what it is that thou wilt bid.'
She said, 'Verily, kings when they enter a city despoil it, and make the mighty ones of its people the meanest; thus it is they do! [35] So, verily, I am going to send to them a gift, and will wait to see with what the messengers return.'
And when he came to Solomon, he said, 'Do ye proffer me wealth, when what God has given me is better than what He has given you? nay, ye in your gifts rejoice! return to them, for we will surely come to them with hosts which they cannot confront; and we will surely drive them out therefrom mean and made small!'
Said he, 'O ye chiefs! which of you will bring me her throne before they come to me resigned?'
Said a demon of the ginns, 'I will bring thee it before thou canst rise up from thy place, for I therein am strong and faithful.'
[40] He who had the knowledge of the Book' said, 'I will bring it to thee before thy glance can
1 The commentators are uncertain as to whether this was 'Âzaf, Solomon's prime minister, or whether it was the prophet 'Hidhr, or the angel Gabriel, or, indeed, Solomon himself.
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