(After reading the letter) the Queen said: "Nobles, let me have your counsel in this matter for I make no firm decision without you." 32 They said, 'We possess force and we possess great might. The affair rests with thee; so consider what thou wilt command.' 33 Said she: "Verily, whenever kings enter a country they corrupt it, and turn the noblest of its people into the most abject. And this is the way they [always] behave? 34 “And I shall send a present to them, then see what reply the envoys bring.” 35 So when [the envoy] came to Solomon he said, "What! Are you offering me wealth? But that which God has given me is better than that which He has given you. Yet you rejoice in your gift. 36 [Then Sulaiman (Solomon) said to the chief of her messengers who brought the present]: "Go back to them. We verily shall come to them with hosts that they cannot resist, and we shall drive them out from there in disgrace, and they will be abased." 37 Solomon said: "My nobles, which of you can bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?" 38 A giant from the jinns said: I shall bring it unto thee ere thou arisest from thy place; verily I am strong for it and trusty. 39 But one of them who had some knowledge of the Book said, "I will bring it to you in the twinkling of an eye." When Solomon saw it placed before him, he exclaimed, "This is by the grace of my Lord, to test whether I am grateful or ungrateful. Whosoever is grateful, it is for the good of his own self; and whosoever is ungrateful, then surely my Lord is self-sufficient and generous." 40 He said: Alter her throne for her, we will see whether she follows the right way or is of those who do not go aright. 41 And when she came she was asked: 'Is your throne like this' And she replied: 'It looks like it' And we were given the knowledge before her, and were Muslims. 42 Her idols prevented her from believing in God and she was an infidel. 43 It was said to her, “Enter the hall”; and when she saw it she thought it was a pool and bared her shins*; said Sulaiman, “This is only a smooth hall, affixed with glass”; she said, “My Lord, I have indeed wronged myself, and I now submit myself along with Sulaiman to Allah, the Lord Of The Creation.” (* In order to cross it) 44