When Prophet David died, the reign was passed to Prophet Solomon (Sulayman). Like his father, Solomon was a Prophet and a king. Prophet Solomon asked God for a kingdom the likes of which no one would have after him. God fulfilled that supplication of Prophet Solomon.

THE MAGNIFICENT REIGN OF PROPHET SOLOMON

Let us relate some of the special endowments God bestowed on Solomon. God taught Solomon the speech of the birds and the beasts. The plants would speak to Prophet Solomon and tell him about their benefits. In the assembly of Prophet Solomon, there were six hundred seats. Both humans and jinn would sit there.

God made Solomon able to subjugate the devils. Although they did not become Muslim, they worked for Solomon. They greatly feared Solomon and none of them dared not to do the work that Solomon ordered them to do. The devil that did disobey Solomon would have a great torture befall him. This is why none of them dared to disobey Solomon. They built high, strong buildings for him, and large containers. They brought jewels and pearls from the sea. God made copper come out of the Earth, already melted for Prophet Solomon. From that copper, magnificent things were made.

THE REAL FLYING CARPET

Among what the devils made for Prophet Solomon was a wide, carpet-like, wooden platform covered with gold and silk. This platform was big enough to carry humans, castles and other buildings, tents, supplies, horses, camels, and other animals. In the middle of it was a place for Prophet Solomon to sit. Around Prophet Solomon the pious people sat on golden chairs. Around them there were silver chairs for the scholars. The other people and jinn sat around the scholars.

Despite the vastness of the reign of Prophet Solomon, he fought in person for the sake of spreading the Religion. Prophet Solomon was constantly battling the blasphemers to spread Islam, teaching that God was the only God, without partners.

God subjugated the wind to Solomon. The flying carpet carried him, taking Solomon wherever he wanted. If he wanted to travel or fight an enemy, the carpet would be loaded with all that an army needs. Then a special wind that was designated by God to obey Prophet Solomon would come under the carpet, raising the carpet into the sky. This wind would be as gentle as a breeze, carrying Prophet Solomon and his army to their destination.

If Prophet Solomon wanted to travel faster, he would ask for a stronger wind, and it would come. This carpet had an amazing speed covering what was normally a one-month traveling distance in less than five hours. They would get to a place in the morning, and be back at home in the afternoon. Birds flew over them shading, and protecting them from the harmful sunrays.

The city of Tadmur, in the region of Ash-Sham was the headquarters for Prophet Solomon’s kingdom. It was cited that the jinn had built that city for him from great stones, with long pillars of yellow and white marble. One morning, Prophet Solomon headed out from Tadmur in the direction of Istakhr, one of the biggest cities of Persia. In Istakhr there was a mosque known as Solomon’s Mosque.

It would usually take a month to reach Istakhr from Tadmur, but Prophet Solomon reached it by noon. He rested a bit in the mosque, and then he headed towards Kabul in present-day Afghanistan, which also usually took a month to reach. Prophet Solomon reached there by nightfall, slept there, and headed back towards Tadmur the next morning, reaching it by noon.

Among the proofs for these trips is what was found in a house near the Tigris River. In that house, a board was found. On this board, one of the companions of Prophet Solomon, either from the humans or the jinn, had written, “We stayed in this house. We did not build it; rather it was already built. We reached Istakhr at noon and the next day returned to Ash-Sham.”

Another story that was narrated about Prophet Solomon was that while riding his carpet he passed over a farmer plowing his land. The man looked towards him and said, “David’s family has been given a great kingdom.”

The wind carried the words of this man to the ears of Prophet Solomon. Solomon landed and walked to the man. Prophet Solomon told the man, “I heard what you said, and I came to warn you not to wish for that which you cannot obtain. One praise of God, that God accepts from you, is better than the entire world and what is in it.” The farmer replied, “May God ease your worries like you have eased mine.” 
Out of his extreme generosity, every day Prophet Solomon slaughtered 100,000 lambs and 30,000 cows and offered it to the people. Then Solomon himself ate the bread of the poorest people, barley bread, and drank sour milk.

The concerns of Prophet Solomon were not, “What will I eat today? What will I wear today?” When Prophet Solomon did wear fancy clothes it would be done for a Religious benefit, not for the purpose of living luxuriously. When the highly righteous people take care of their clothing, it is for the purpose of having people come and gather around them to listen to the knowledge. This is so because most of the people judge by the appearances.

Our Prophet cited in his hadith that there are men with scattered uncombed hair, who are dusty. They wear two garments only, just one to cover the upper part and one to cover the lower. If they come to people, the people would not receive them and would instead send them away. However, if one of them made supplication to God, he would be answered, because he really has a very high status in the Religion. Al-Bukhariyy, Ahmad and others narrated this.

Hence if a highly pious person cares for his appearance, it is not out of love of luxury, but only so that they are not sent away. They want to be received by the people, so the people would learn the Religious knowledge.

The true richness is piety. This is why the Prophet said that richness is not by owning many things, but it is the richness of the heart.

THE STORY OF PROPHET SOLOMON AND LADY BILQIS

Once, Solomon was walking with others in a certain location. He needed water. Prophet Solomon asked for his hoopoe bird. This bird would travel with Prophet Solomon because it had the ability to see the water underneath the soil. Solomon could not find water, due to the disappearance of that bird. Prophet Solomon said, “I shall torture or slaughter that bird unless he gives me a legitimate excuse as to why he is not here with us.”1

The hoopoe had passed by the palace of Bilqis, who was a queen in Yemen. She was from the people of a man named Saba’ who was from a man named Qahtan. The Arabs of Yemen go back to Qahtan.
The bird had seen an orchard behind the palace of Yemen and went there. He heard the news from the palace that Bilqis was the queen with a grand reign. He also heard that she and her people were blasphemous, prostrating to and worshipping the sun.

When the hoopoe came back to Solomon, Solomon asked him about where he had gone. The hoopoe said, “I learned that which you did not know. I brought you from Yemen some news which I am certain you do not know.” Then the hoopoe told Prophet Solomon the story of Bilqis and her people.

Prophet Solomon said, “I will check if you are truthful in your claim.” From verses 30 and 31 of Suratul-Naml, we know that Solomon wrote Bilqis a short letter saying, “I start with the name of God, ar-Rahman (the One Who is merciful with believers and disbelievers in this life), ar-Rahim (The One Who is merciful only with the believers in the Hereafter). This is from Solomon. Do not disobey me and come to me as Muslims.”

Prophet Solomon ordered the hoopoe to drop the letter in the lap of Queen Bilqis. The hoopoe did as ordered. Bilqis was greatly astonished at seeing a bird come and drop a letter in her lap that contained such content. She gathered the heads of her people to get their opinion. They told her, “We are a people with great strength and power. It is up to you, our Queen.”

Bilqis said that she would subject Solomon to a test by sending him a gift. She said that if Solomon accepted the gift, then she would know that he was a man who was attached to worldly power, and was not as he said. If he did not accept it, then she would know that he is a person dedicated to God. 
When her gift arrived to Solomon, along with her messenger, Solomon said, “Are you giving me money? God gave me better than what He gave you. You are the ones who are delighted about receiving gifts from one another. I did not request a gift from you, rather I demanded that you become Muslim.”

Then Prophet Solomon sent the gift back with the messenger, and told the messenger to tell Bilqis, “You will meet a great army which you have never experienced before. You will be unable to defeat or block the army of Prophet Solomon. We shall drive you out of your city.”

When the messenger returned the gift to Bilqis and gave her the message from Solomon, she said, “This is a man we cannot handle.” She gathered the heads of her people and they traveled to Prophet Solomon. When she got near to arrival, Prophet Solomon told those with him, among the humans and jinn, “Who will bring me the throne of Bilqis [which is in Yemen]?” Prophet Solomon wanted her throne brought to him, to prove to her that he was a Prophet. One of the jinn said, “I can bring you the throne before you break for lunch.” Prophet Solomon said, “I want it quicker than that.” One among the righteous humans was an assistant of Prophet Solomon, named Asaf Ibn Barkhiya.

Asaf said, “I can bring you the throne of Bilqis quicker than the time it takes you to focus your sight from a far away object to a close object.” Prophet Solomon then found the throne of Bilqis before him. Solomon said, “This is a test from God. Will I thank God, or will I forget?” This was really an amazing feat considering that the throne of Bilqis was 120 feet long and 60 feet wide, covered with jewels.

Bilqis was a smart woman. However, she was misguided to not worship God, due to the habit of her people. Her people were powerful. It is the nature of most people who are given a lot of strength to not listen to those who have less strength.

Prophet Solomon, in his brilliance, wanted to lead her to the correct belief. When Bilqis arrived to Prophet Solomon, he showed her throne and asked her, “Is this how your throne looks?” She said, “It is as if it is mine”. Prophet Solomon told her, “It is really yours. The fact that you locked your doors did not benefit you!”

Prophet Solomon ordered the devils to build a very grand structure out of glass. This structure was flat and it had water running under it. In it were fish and other things one would see in the sea. Some people told Bilqis to enter this grand structure. When she entered she thought it was water. She slightly lifted her dress to walk and reach Solomon. Solomon turned his eyes away and told her, “This is made out of smooth glass. Do not fear; you can step on it.”

When she saw all of this great reign and dominion, she knew that the strength of her people did not compare to the great strength of Prophet Solomon. She recognized that all of that was an endowment from God upon Solomon. At that moment she was guided to know that God did not accept her former deeds. She said, “O my Lord, I have done myself injustice by worshipping other than You! I have become a Muslim, worshipping the Lord of the Worlds along with Solomon.”

Her story is cited in the Qur’an and the hadith. It is famous among narrators that later Prophet Solomon married Bilqis, but this is not confirmed. Others said that Prophet Solomon told her to marry a king of Yemen. God knows best.

PROPHET SOLOMON AND THE ANGEL OF DEATH

Once, in the session of Prophet Solomon, the Angel of Death, ^Azra’il, was visiting. The Angel of Death used to visit Prophet Solomon now and then. The Angel of Death was looking a lot at a certain man who was with Prophet Solomon. When that man knew that the Angel of Death was looking at him, he showed great fear when the Angel of Death left, thinking about death.

This man asked Prophet Solomon to order the wind to carry him to the land of India. Prophet Solomon did so, and the man got to India very quickly. Then the Angel of Death, ^Azra’il, came back to Prophet Solomon. Prophet Solomon asked the angel why he was looking a lot at that particular person. The angel responded “I saw that man with you, in ash-Sham, and I was ordered to soon take his soul in India. I was looking at him wondering how he would get from Ash-Sham to India so quickly.” Whatever God willed must be.

THE REAL VERSION OF THE STORY OF THE VOW OF PROPHET SOLOMON

In Verse 34 of Suratu Sad is a reference to an event in the life of Prophet Solomon. This verse was given many interpretations. Some of these interpretations are not suitable to attribute to a Prophet. Abus-Su^ud gave the correct interpretation. Al-Bukhariyy and Muslim narrated the same from the Prophet. The true meaning is the following:

Prophet Solomon said, “I will have sexual intercourse with one hundred of my women (who were made Islamically legal for him) in this one night. Each will give birth to a fighter for the sake of God.”
However Prophet Solomon forgot to say “in sha’ Allah” (by God’s will) concerning this matter. 
Prophet Solomon did have sexual intercourse with one hundred women that night. Contrary to Solomon’s hope, only one of them conceived a child. When she delivered, she gave birth to half a boy who was dead. Prophet Muhammad swore, “By the One Who controls my soul, had Solomon said ‘in sha ‘Allah’ all of the women would have conceived and given birth to knights fighting for the spread of Islam.”2

THE DEATH OF PROPHET SOLOMON

Prophet Solomon stayed in his great dominion for some time, with the jinn serving him as he willed. When the time for Solomon’s death arrived, a matter happened which Prophet Muhammad told us about, as narrated by Ibn Hibban and others.

Prophet Muhammad said, “When Solomon stood to pray in his niche (mihrab), a plant emerged. Solomon asked, ‘What is your name?’ God made the plant speak, and it told its name. Prophet Solomon then asked the plant, ‘For what purpose do you grow?’ Then the plant told him. If it were edible, it would be taken and cultivated. If it was medicine, that would be written down.

Once, when Prophet Solomon was praying, a plant emerged between his hands. He asked the plant what its name was and the plant said ‘the carob.’ He said, ‘For what were you created?’ It said, ‘To destroy this house.’ This meant that the death of Solomon was near, and Solomon understood.

Prophet Solomon said, ‘O my Lord, I ask that the news of my death be kept from the jinn, for the humans to know that the jinn do not know the unforeseen.’ (Some humans used to believe that the jinn knew the unforeseen.)

Prophet Solomon took that plant which had grown up and made a stick out of it. He leaned against that stick and died. Prophet Solomon stayed in that position for an entire year, being dead, leaning against that stick. The jinn stayed travailing, doing work for Solomon, not knowing that Solomon had died some time ago. One day, a small insect called “Al-Aradah” came. This insect chewed on the stick of Solomon and Solomon fell down. When the jinn saw that, they knew that Prophet Solomon had died.”

The jinn thanked this insect that revealed the situation of Prophet Solomon. They brought water to it, to build its house. This insect creeps on ceilings made out of wood, and it constructs its house from a mixture of soil and water. One wonders from where this insect brings the soil and water to make this clay house. It is the jinn who provide the soil and water in order to thank the insect. It is in the Sham area.

O God, bless Prophet Solomon, the one You endowed with a great kingship!