She said: O chiefs! counsel me in my affair. I am wont not to resolve on any affair until ye are present with me. 32 They said, "We are strong and our prowess in battle is great, but the decision is in your hands, so consider what you will 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 But lo! I am going to send a present unto them, and to see with what (answer) the messengers return. 35 So when (the envoy) came unto Solomon, (the King) said: What! Would ye help me with wealth? But that which Allah hath given me is better than that which He hath given you. Nay it is ye (and not I) who exult in your gift. 36 “Go back to them – so we shall indeed come upon them with an army they cannot fight, and degrading them shall certainly drive them out from that city, so they will be humiliated.” 37 Said Sulaiman, “O court members, which one of you can bring me her throne before they come humbled in my presence?” 38 An efreet of the jinns said, 'I will bring it to thee, before thou risest from thy place; I have strength for it 39 One with whom was knowledge of the Scripture said: I will bring it thee before thy gaze returneth unto thee. And when he saw it set in his presence, (Solomon) said: This is of the bounty of my Lord, that He may try me whether I give thanks or am ungrateful. Whosoever giveth thanks he only giveth thanks for (the good of) his own soul; and whosoever is ungrateful (is ungrateful only to his own soul's hurt). For lo! my Lord is Absolute in independence, Bountiful. 40 [And] he continued: Alter her throne so that she may not know it as hers: let us see whether she allows herself to be guided [to the truth] or remains one of those who will not be guided." 41 When she came to Solomon, she was asked, "Is your throne like this?" She replied, "It looks as though it were the same, and we had been given knowledge [of your power] before this, and we have 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 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