(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 are lords of might and lords of great prowess, but it is for thee to command; so consider what thou wilt command. 33 She said: "Surely when kings enter a city they destroy it and despoil the honour of its nobility. So will they do (to us). 34 Hence, behold, I am going to send a gift to those [people,] and await whatever [answer] the envoys bring back." 35 So when the envoy came to Sulaiman, he said, “Are you helping me with wealth? What Allah has bestowed upon me is better than what He has given you; rather it is you who are delighted at 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 He said, 'O Council, which one of you will bring me her throne, before they come to me in surrender?' 38 An Ifrit (strong) from the jinns said: "I will bring it to you before you rise from your place (council). And verily, I am indeed strong, and trustworthy for such work." 39 Said one who had knowledge of the Book, “I will bring it in your majesty’s presence before you bat your eyelid”; then when he saw it set in his presence*, Sulaiman said, “This is of the favours of my Lord; so that He may test me whether I give thanks or am ungrateful; and whoever gives thanks only gives thanks for his own good; and whoever is ungrateful – then indeed my Lord is the Independent (Not Needing Anything), the Owner Of All Praise.” (A miracle which occurred through one of Allah’s friends.) 40 Said Sulaiman, “Disguise her throne in front of her so that we may see whether she finds the way* or becomes of those who remain unknowing.” (*Recognises her throne.) 41 And so, as soon as she arrived, she was asked: "Is thy throne like this?" She answered: "It is as though it were the same!" [And Solomon said to his nobles: "She has arrived at the truth without any help from us,] although it is we who have been given [divine] knowledge before her, and have [long ago] surrendered ourselves unto God! 42 And he diverted her from the worship of others besides Allah: for she was (sprung) of a people that had no faith. 43 [After a while] she was told: "Enter this court!" - but when she saw it, she thought that it was a fathomless expanse of water, and she bared her legs. Said he: "Behold, it is [but] a court smoothly paved with glass!" Cried she: "O my Sustainer! I have been sinning against myself thy worshipping aught but Thee]: but [now] I have surrendered myself, with Solomon, unto the Sustainer of all the worlds!" 44