RENAISSANCE SEPTEMBER 2021

Qur’ ā nic Exegesis 42 Monthly Renaissance September 2021 anything wrong, it is is in the imbalance of these things, and only extremely upright people can shield themselves from it. The tale of the queen of Sab ā is not mentioned in detail in the Torah; yet reproduced below is the essential part of her account so that the similarity between the Qur’ ā n and the Torah becomes evident: When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the L ORD , she came … arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind … When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the L ORD , she was overwhelmed. She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your people must be! How happy your officials … King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country. (1 Kings: 10, 1-13) It is evident from these words that after that the queen went back to her country. This seems quite logical and there is nothing in the Qur’ ā n against it. She submitted to Solomon (sws) both in politics and in religion; many of her nobles and officials were in agreement with her; she was the sole ruler of her country and was also very popular among her subjects. It is quite in line with this background that what must have happened was that she started to govern her country according to the principles Solomon (sws) told her. Some narratives found in books of exegesis show that he married her, but this does not seem true. These narratives are also not reliable as regards their chains of narration. ـــــــــــــــــــــــــ