then, to proceed: Do not exalt yourselves over me, but come to me in submission.” Ibn Jurayj said: Solomon added nothing beyond what Allah has related in His Book. Qatadah said: The prophets likewise used to write brief letters; they did not make them lengthy or wordy. When he had written the letter, he scented it with musk and sealed it with his ring. Then he said to the hoopoe: “Go with this letter of mine and deliver it to them.”

“Go with this letter of mine and deliver it to them. Then withdraw from them and observe what answer they return.” (28) She said, “O eminent ones, a noble letter has been delivered to me.” (29)

Concerning His words, “Go with this letter of mine and deliver it to them”: Abu Amr, Asim, and Hamzah recited the final hā with a silent vowel. Abu Jafar pronounced it with a shortened vowel, while Yaqub and Qalun recited it with a kasrah; [the others recited it with a fully pronounced kasrah].

“Then withdraw from them”: move away from them, but remain near them. “And observe what answer they return”: that is, what reply they give. Ibn Zayd said: The verse contains an inversion in order; its intended sense is: “Go with this letter of mine and deliver it to them, then observe what answer they return; then withdraw from them”—that is, return to me.

The hoopoe took the letter and brought it to Bilqis. She was in a land called Ma'rib, three days’ journey from Sanaa. He reached her in her palace after she had locked its doors. Whenever she slept, she would lock the doors, take the keys, and place them beneath her head. The hoopoe came to her while she was asleep, lying on her back, and dropped the letter upon her upper chest. This was the view of Qatadah.

Muqatil said: The hoopoe carried the letter in its beak until it stood above the woman’s head, while commanders and soldiers surrounded her. It fluttered for a while as the people watched it, until the woman raised her head, whereupon it dropped the letter into her lap.

Ibn Munabbih and Ibn Zayd said: She had an opening facing the sun, into which the sunlight would fall at sunrise. Whenever she looked toward it, she would prostrate to it. The hoopoe came to the opening and blocked it with its wings. The sun had risen, but she did not realize it. When the sun seemed delayed to her, she rose to look, and it cast the sheet of writing toward her. Bilqis took the letter, and she was able to read. When she saw the seal, she trembled and submitted, for Solomon’s kingship was in his ring. She recognized that the one who had sent her the letter possessed a kingdom greater than hers. She then read the letter, while the hoopoe withdrew to a place not far away.

She came and sat upon the throne of her kingdom, and summoned the council of her people: twelve thousand commanders, each commander having one hundred thousand fighters under him. Ibn Abbas said: Bilqis had one hundred thousand qayls, each qayl having one hundred thousand men under him. A qayl was a king below the supreme king. Qatadah and Muqatil said that the members of her council numbered three hundred and thirteen men, each of them over ten thousand men. ⦗56b⦘ He said: They came and took their seats. (1)

“She said”—that is, Bilqis—“O eminent ones,” meaning the nobles and leading figures among the people, “a noble letter has been delivered to me.”