He—meaning the hoopoe—then said to Solomon, "I have encompassed that which you have not encompassed," that is, I have discovered what you did not discover, "and I have come to you from Sheba with sure news," namely, truthful information: "Indeed, I found a woman reigning over them; she has been given of everything, and she possesses a magnificent throne."

In this the hoopoe was describing the grandeur of the kings of Sheba in the land of Yemen, their vast dominion, and the crowned Tubbaʿ rulers. At that time the kingdom had devolved upon a woman among them—the daughter of their king, who left no other heir—so they installed her as their sovereign.

Al-Thaʿlabī and others relate that after her father’s death her people set a man over them as king, but corruption spread under his rule. She therefore sent for him, proposing marriage; he married her, and when he came to her she gave him wine to drink, then cut off his head and displayed it at her gate. The people then turned to her and made her their queen. She is Bilqīs, daughter of al-Sayraḥ—also called al-Hadhhād—

and it is also said that she was Sharahīl daughter of Dhī Jadan son of al-Sayraḥ son of al-Ḥārith son of Qays son of Ṣayfī son of Sabaʾ son of Yashjub son of Yaʿrub son of Qaḥṭān.

Her father was one of the greatest kings, and he refused to marry any woman of Yemen. It is said that he married a jinn woman named Rayḥāna bint al-Sakan, and she bore him this daughter, whose given name was Talqama, though she is better known as Bilqīs.

Al-Thaʿlabī (1) transmitted—through the chain of Saʿīd b. Bashīr, Qatādah, al-Naḍr b. Anas, and Bashīr b. Nahīk—from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ, that he said:

"One of Bilqīs’s parents was a jinn." (2)

This ḥadīth is unusual, and its chain of transmission is weak.

Al-Thaʿlabī also said: Abū ʿAbd Allāh b. Fanjawayh (3) informed us; Abū Bakr b. Jarjah narrated to us; Ibn Abī al-Layth narrated to us; Abū Kurayb narrated to us; Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated, from Ismāʿīl b. Muslim, from al-Ḥasan, from Abū Bakrah, who said: Bilqīs was mentioned in the presence of the Messenger of God ﷺ, whereupon he said,

"A people who entrust their affairs to a woman will never prosper."

(Ismāʿīl b. Muslim al-Makkī is weak.) (4)

Nevertheless, it is authentically established in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (5), from the ḥadīth of ʿAwf, al-Ḥasan, and Abū Bakrah, that when the Messenger of God ﷺ was informed that the Persians had placed the daughter of Chosroes in authority over them, he said:

"A people who entrust their affairs to a woman will never succeed."