Tafsir of An-Naml 27:42

"When she arrived": This initiates the account of the trial intended by Solomon, peace be upon him. That is, when Bilqis arrived at Solomon, while the throne was set before him in an altered state, "it was said"—either by Solomon himself or through an intermediary—"Is your throne like this?" That is: "Is this throne, which you see, the likeness of the throne you left behind in your land?"

He did not say, "Is this your throne?" so as not to prompt her, thereby losing the intended purpose of altering it—which was to present the throne in a state of ambiguity and doubt, so that her state of mind might be revealed to him, peace be upon him. For she had been spoken of in his presence as having a deficiency of intellect.

In some traditions, it is said that the Jinn feared that he might marry her and beget a child who would possess the sagacity of humans and the agility of the Jinn—given her partial lineage to them—and thus control them with great firmness. Therefore, they cast aspersions on her, claiming she was mad and that her feet were like the hooves of beasts. Hence, he tested her with this, and with that which would uncover her shins. Those who do not subscribe to her being of Jinn lineage say: Perhaps a jealous person cast this aspersion upon her, so he, peace be upon him, wished to test her to ascertain the truth of the matter.

Others say that this was done only to treat her as she had treated him, for she had disguised her male and female servants, and tested him with a perforated pearl and a twisted-hole bead. Accomplishing such a feat with her throne—which is far removed from the possibility of being brought, given the great distance and her intense guardianship of it—is more complete and more powerful, and it also contains an implicit demonstration of a miracle, which is not hidden. To me, this is more compelling than the other explanations.

"She said, 'It is as though it were it'": She answered in a way that signaled the perfect balance of her intellect. She did not assert that it was it, due to the possibility that it might be merely similar; rather, she used ka’anna (as though), which, as has been said, denotes a preponderance of conviction regarding its identity while maintaining doubt as to the contrary. Ka’anna here is not used for the purpose of simile, as is its primary usage.

Ibn al-Munir mentioned in al-Intisaf something that indicates it denotes the strength of the resemblance: "The wisdom in Bilqis’s turning away from answering, 'Is it this?'—which would have matched the question—to 'It is as though it were it,' is an expression from one in whom the resemblance was so strong that she herself doubted the distinctness between the two things, and nearly said, 'It is indeed it.' That was the state of Bilqis. As for 'Is it this?', it is the language of one certain of the distinctness of the two, judging that there is a resemblance between them and nothing more; thus, it would not have matched her state. Hence, she turned away from it toward what is in the sublime arrangement."

"And we were given knowledge before it, and we were Muslims": This is a continuation of her speech, according to what a group of exegetes have chosen. It is as if she sensed from what she witnessed that her intellect was being tested and that a miracle was being demonstrated for her. Since the apparent intent of the question was the former, she hastened to answer in a manner that indicated the perfection of her intellect. And since the demonstration of the miracle was secondary in terms of clarity, she mentioned what relates to it afterward, which is her saying: "And we were given knowledge..." etc. This also contains evidence of the perfection of her intellect.

Its meaning is: We were given knowledge of the perfection of Allah the Almighty’s power and the truth of your Prophethood before this miracle, or before this situation, through what we witnessed of the affair of the hoopoe, and what we heard from our messengers to you regarding the signs indicating that. And we were believers from that time, so there was no need for the manifestation of this miracle. You may also treat it as a continuation of what relates to the test, the essence of which is: There was no need for the test, for I had already believed before, and this is sufficient to indicate the perfection of my intellect.

It is also possible that it is for the sake of clarifying the source of the preponderance of her conviction that it was her throne, and the motive for her refined courtesy in her dialogue with him, peace be upon him. That is: "We were given knowledge of your bringing the throne before seeing it, or before this situation, through circumstantial evidence or reports, and we were from that time believers." The expression using the "We" of majesty follows the custom of royal expressions, and it contains an aggrandizement of her conversion to Islam, not a reference to herself and those with her from her people, as the words of the Almighty... make that unlikely.