“Indeed, I found a woman ruling over them, who has been given of everything and has a magnificent throne.” (23)
Regarding, “But he stayed not long”: Asim and Yaqub recited it with an a-vowel on the kaf, while the others recited it with a u-vowel; both are valid dialectal forms. “Not long” means: not for a long time. “He said, ‘I have encompassed in knowledge that which you have not encompassed’”: to encompass something means to know it from every aspect. That is, “I know what you do not know, and I have reached what neither you nor your armies have reached. ‘And I have come to you from Sheba’”: Abu Amr and al-Bazzi, reporting from Ibn Kathir, recited “from Sabaʾ”—as well as “for Sabaʾ” in Sura Sabaʾ—with an open hamzah; while al-Qawwas, reporting from Ibn Kathir, recited it without the hamzah, leaving the final letter vowelless (1). The others recited it as a fully declinable noun. Those who did not decline it regarded it as the name of a land, whereas those who declined it regarded it as the name of a man. Indeed, it is related in a hadith that the Prophet was asked about Sabaʾ, and he said: “He was a man who had ten sons: six of them went to Yemen, and four went to Syria.” (2) “With certain news”: that is, with a report whose truth is certain.
Solomon said, “And what is it?” He replied, “Indeed, I found a woman ruling over them.”
“Indeed, I found a woman ruling over them”: her name was Bilqis, daughter of Sharahil, descended from Yarab son of Qahtan. Her father was a king of great standing, the last in a line of forty kings. He ruled over all the land of Yemen and would say to the kings of the surrounding regions, “None of you is a suitable match for me.” He refused to marry among them, so they married him to a female jinn named Rayhanah, daughter of al-Sakan. She bore him Bilqis. He had no child besides her. It is related in a hadith that one of Bilqis’s parents was a jinn (3).
When Bilqis’s father died (4), she aspired to the throne and asked her people to pledge allegiance to her. Some obeyed her, while others opposed her and appointed a man as their ruler. They divided into two factions, each taking control of one part of Yemen. Then the man whom they had made king behaved wickedly toward the people of his realm, even violating the womenfolk of his subjects and committing fornication with them. His people wanted to depose him but were unable to do so. When Bilqis saw this,