Tafsir of An-Naml 27:23

"I found a woman ruling them" (meaning: she directs their affairs, and no one opposes her). This is a resumption [of the narrative] to explain the news he brought, providing details after a summary. By this woman, he meant Bilqis bint Sharahil bin Malik bin Rayyan, from the lineage of Ya'rub bin Qahtan; and it is said: from the lineage of Tubba' al-Himyari.

Ibn 'Asakir narrated from al-Hasan that this woman’s name was Layla, though this contradicts the famous account. It is also said her father’s name was al-Sarah bin al-Hudahid.

It is told that her father was the king of all the land of Yemen, having inherited the kingdom from forty ancestors, and he had no child other than her. She overcame the kingdom after him, and the nation submitted to her. In some reports, it is stated that when her father died, she aspired to the throne and asked her people to pledge allegiance to her; some obeyed her, while others refused and installed a man over them. It is said he was her cousin, and he was wicked, treating his subjects harshly and committing adultery with the women of his people. They wanted to depose him but were unable. When she saw this, jealousy overcame her, so she sent for him, offering herself to him. He answered, saying: "Nothing prevented me from initiating the proposal except despair of you." She replied: "I do not turn away from you, for you are a peer and noble; so gather the men of my family and propose to me." He gathered them and proposed to her, and they said: "We did not think she would do it." He replied: "Indeed, she desires it." They told her, and she said: "Yes," so they married her to him. When she was brought to him, she went out with a large number of her attendants and servants. When she was alone with him, she gave him wine to drink until he was intoxicated; then she killed him, severed his head, and returned to her home. When morning came, she sent for his ministers, brought them, scolded them, and said: "Was there no one among you who would be offended by the debauchery committed against the noble women of his kin?" She then showed them him, slain, and said: "Choose a man to rule over you." They replied: "We are not satisfied with anyone but you," so they established her as queen, realizing that the marriage had been a ruse and a deception on her part.

It is famous that her mother was a Jinn. Ibn Abi Shaybah and Ibn al-Mundhir narrated from Mujahid, and al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Marduyah from 'Uthman bin Hadir, that her mother was from the Jinn, said to be called Balqamah bint Shaysah. Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Zuhayr bin Muhammad that her mother was Fari'ah the Jinniyah. In Tafsir al-Khazini, it is mentioned that her father, Sharahil, used to say to the surrounding kings: "No one among you is a peer to me," and he refused to marry among them. He proposed to the Jinn, and they married him to a woman called Rayhanah bint al-Sakan. The reason he reached the Jinn to propose to them—as it is said—is that he was a frequent hunter. Sometimes he would hunt the Jinn while they were in the form of gazelles, then he would let them go. The king of the Jinn appeared to him, thanked him for this, and took him as a friend, so he proposed to his daughter, and he married her to him.

It is also said that he went out hunting and saw two snakes fighting, a white one and a black one, and the black had overcome the white. He killed the black one, carried the white one, and poured water on it until it revived, then set it free. When he returned to his home and sat alone, a beautiful young man was with him. He feared him, but the man said: "Do not fear; I am the white snake that you revived, and the black one you killed was a slave of ours who rebelled against us and killed many of us." He offered him wealth, but he said: "I have no need of it, but if you have a daughter, marry her to me." He married him his daughter, and she gave birth to Bilqis.

Ibn Jarir, Abu al-Shaykh in al-'Azamah, Ibn Marduyah, and Ibn 'Asakir narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "One of Bilqis's parents was a Jinn." What one should rely upon is the lack of authenticity of this report. In al-Bahr, they extended the stories of her—meaning Bilqis—with what has not been established in the Qur'an or authentic Hadith. What is mentioned of these tales is most similar to myths. The obvious conclusion, assuming the possibility of sexual intercourse between humans and Jinn—a topic that leads one to slap the questioner for his foolishness and ignorance—is that there is no procreation between them. It is mentioned from al-Hasan, as narrated by Ibn 'Asakir, that it was said in his presence: "The Queen of Sheba had one Jinni parent," and he said: "They do not procreate," meaning that a human woman does not give birth from a Jinn, and a Jinni woman does not give birth from a human. Yes, it is narrated from Malik what implies the validity of this.

In al-Ashbah wa al-Naza'ir by Ibn Nujaym, Abu 'Uthman Sa'id bin Dawud al-Zubaydi narrated: A group of people from Yemen wrote to Malik, asking him about marriage with the Jinn, saying: "There is a man here from the Jinn who claims he wants to be lawful." He said: "I see no harm in the religion, but I dislike that if a pregnant woman is found and asked, 'Who is your husband?' she says, 'From the Jinn,' leading to much corruption in Islam." Perhaps this is not authentically attributed to Malik due to the obvious flaws in the rationale for this dislike. Furthermore, I wonder: if a Jinniyah becomes pregnant by a human, does she remain in her subtle state, so she is not seen, and the fetus in its dense state is seen? Or is the fetus subtle like her, so both remain unseen? And when the matter is complete, does it become dense and appear like other sons of Adam? Or does it take the form of the women of the sons of Adam as long as the fetus is in her womb, feeding and growing by what reaches it from her nourishment? Each of these scenarios is not free from implausibility, as is clear.

The preference of wajadtu (I found) over ra'aytu (I saw) points to what was previously signaled: that the hoopoe, during his absence, was in a state of serving [Solomon, peace be upon him] by presenting himself as someone investigating her affairs and learning about them, as if he sought her out specifically to present her to Solomon (peace be upon him). It is also said that it suggests what he obtained was something not known at first, for finding occurs after loss, and it contains a symbol of the strangeness of the situation. The pronoun in tamlikuhum (rules them) refers to Saba', either as a name for the tribe or its people, indicated by the mention of their city, assuming it is a name for it. There is nothing in the verse that indicates the permissibility of a woman being a ruler, nor is the practice of disbelieving people a proof for such a matter. In Sahih al-Bukhari, from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, the Prophet (peace be upon him), when news reached him that the people of Persia had made the daughter of Chosroes their ruler, said: "A people who entrust their affairs to a woman will never succeed." It is reported from Muhammad bin Jarir that it is permissible for a woman to be a judge, but this is not authentic. In al-Ashbah, it states that she should not be appointed to judge, even if her judgments were valid in cases other than hudud and qisas. Abu Hayyan mentioned that it is reported from Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) that she may judge only in matters where her testimony is accepted, not absolutely; nor should a decree be written for her that she is appointed to judge, but only by way of arbitration.

"And she has been given of everything" (meaning: of the things that rulers need, by the context of "rules them"). It may be said that the purpose is only to express the abundance of what she was given. The clause may be an elaboration on the clause "rules them," or it may be an hal (circumstantial) clause from the pronoun in "rules them," whether by the estimation of qad (already) or without it.

"And she has a great throne."

Ibn 'Abbas said—as narrated by Ibn Jarir and Ibn al-Mundhir—it means an honorable throne of gold, its legs made of jewels and pearls, beautifully crafted and of high value. It is also narrated from him that it was thirty cubits by thirty cubits, and its height was also thirty cubits in the air. It is said: it was eighty by eighty and eighty in height.

Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Zuhayr bin Muhammad that it was a throne of gold, its two sides inlaid with rubies and peridot, eighty cubits in length and forty cubits in width. It is said: it was of gold adorned with pearls, red rubies, and green peridot, and its legs were of rubies and emeralds, and upon it were seven chambers, each having a closed door. Other accounts exist, and Allah the Exalted knows the truth of the matter. In sum, the apparent meaning of 'arsh is a throne/bed. Abu Muslim said: "It means the kingdom," but there is no call for that. The hoopoe's regarding of her throne as great—despite what he witnessed of Solomon's (peace be upon him) kingdom—is either in relation to her own state or to the thrones of her peers among the kings. It is permitted that this is because Solomon (peace be upon him) did not have the like of it, for even a great king may find that some vassal lords possess something that the king they are under does not have. In any case, his describing it as such before him (peace be upon him) relates back to what was mentioned first: his inciting the Prophet (peace be upon him) to listen to his news. It contains an orientation of his (peace be upon him) determination toward subjugating her, which is why he followed it with what necessitates waging war against her due to her disbelief and the disbelief of her people, as he said: [...]