(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 strong and are given to vehement fighting. But the decision is yours. Therefore, consider what you would like to command." 33 She said: "Verily! Kings, when they enter a town (country), they despoil it, and make the most honourable amongst its people low. And thus they do. 34 And surely I am going to send a present to them, and shall wait to see what (answer) do the apostles bring back. 35 Now when (the embassy) came to Solomon, he said: "Will ye give me abundance in wealth? But that which Allah has given me is better than that which He has given you! Nay it is ye who rejoice in your gift! 36 Return to them, for we will surely come to them with soldiers that they will be powerless to encounter, and we will surely expel them therefrom in humiliation, and they will be debased." 37 And he said: 'O Council, which of you will bring me her throne, before they come to me, Muslims (submissive to Allah)' 38 One audacious among the jinn said: I will bring it to you before you rise up from your place; and most surely I am strong (and) trusty for it. 39 And he who had some knowledge of the Book said: "I will bring it before the twinkling of your eye." When Solomon saw the throne placed firmly beside him, he cried out: "This is by the grace of my Lord so that He may test me whether I give thanks for (His Bounty) or act with ingratitude. Whoever is grateful is so to his own good; and whoever is ungrateful, let him know that my Lord is Immensely Resourceful, Most Bountiful." 40 He said: "Transform her throne out of all recognition by her: let us see whether she is guided (to the truth) or is one of those who receive no guidance." 41 When she arrived, they asked her: "Is your throne like this?" She said: "As though this is it. We had come to have knowledge and already submitted." 42 What prevented her (from accepting the True Faith) was her worshipping deities other than Allah, for she belonged to an unbelieving people. 43 She was told: "Enter the palace." But when she saw it, she thought it was a pool of water and she bared both her calves (to enter into it). Solomon said: "This is a slippery floor of crystal." Thereupon she cried out: "My Lord, I have been inflicting much wrong on myself. Now I submit myself with Solomon to Allah, the Lord of the whole Universe." 44