Lobna Mulla – #8 Truth Above Ego Bilqis as, Queen of Sheba Upheld Allah Women in the Quran
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A representative from Islamist movement discusses the history of the Islamist movement, including the implementation of Islamist goals and the use of gifts to show their faith. The representative also highlights the importance of showing faith in Islamist goals and emphasizes the need for a strong faith in one's own religion to succeed in a difficult situation.
AI: Summary ©
Have you ever had a hard time changing
your way of life because you are worried
what others will think or that it will
make you look weak or maybe even wrong?
Allah sends for us an example of a
ruler who didn't let her ego get in
the way of the truth.
Meet Bilqis,
queen of Saba or queen of Sheba.
She ruled over a kingdom on the southern
Arabian Peninsula in what is now known as
Yemen.
Bilqis was a rich and powerful queen, yet
she and her people worshiped the sun and
other idols.
Unbeknownst to her, there existed a more powerful
ruler, Prophet Sallayman Alayhi Salaam. And the Quran
mentions many miracles and blessings that Allah Subh'an
Anhu Wa Ta A'la had bestowed upon him.
He could understand the speech of animals, had
the power of the wind, and despite his
worldly powers, he never forgot Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta A'la and was always grateful to him.
Sulayman Alayhi Salaam had an army of birds,
jinn, and humans, and amongst his army was
the hoopoe bird or the hudrud, which one
day was absent without his consent, which made
Prophet Sulayman Alayhi Salaam unhappy.
The hoopoe bird returned, however, with some exciting
news and an explanation.
He had been scouting in areas where Sulayman
Alayhi Salaam's army had not yet reached.
The hood hood reported that the kingdom of
Saba was ruled by a queen and that
the people of that kingdom worship the sun
and other idols.
Therefore, Prophet Sullayhi Salaam sent the hood hood
with a letter to the queen,
greeting her and requesting her to submit to
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la. The hoodwud flew
through the window of her palace, dropped the
letter in front of her. And upon receiving
the letter, Bilqis consulted with her advisors.
When she read Suleyman Alayhi Salaam's letter to
them and consulted with them about this news,
they said, we have great strength and great
ability for war, but it is for you
to command. So think over what you will
command us to do.
Bilqis had the full authority to declare war.
However, she chose a more diplomatic approach, where
she decided to send a huge collection of
expensive gifts to Suleyman Alayhi Salaam. Ibn Abbas
Radi Lu Anhu said, she said to her
people, if he accepts the gift, he is
a king, so fight him. But if he
does not accept it, he is a prophet,
so follow him. SubhanAllah.
Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam however rejected her gifts
and said that the gifts which she had
received from Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la were infinitely
better than those which she had sent. He
sent the messengers back with the gifts and
had them deliver a new message to Bilqis
that either she submits to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta A'la or he would send armies which
would destroy the whole of Saba and its
people. When Bilqis saw that her gifts were
returned, she then knew that Suleyman Alayhi Salaam
was a prophet. So she accepted the message
of Tawhid
and left her palace with her army to
honor Suleyman, Alayhi Salaam and to learn his
religion.
Prophet Suleyman, Alayhi Salaam wanted to further display
the gifts he had been granted by Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la by bringing her very
expensive and elaborate throne to his palace before
she arrived.
So he asked his army, which one of
you can bring me her throne?
A jinn offered to bring it to him
before Suleyman would even leave his seat.
And another man who had knowledge of the
book said, he could bring the queen's throne
in the blink of an eye. When the
throne had been placed before Suleyman Alayhi Salaam,
he praised Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la and
thanked him. Suleyman Alayhi Salaam then had the
queen's throne disguised so that Bilqis couldn't recognize
it right away. When she arrived, she was
asked whether it was her own throne, and
she said, it looked like it. Then as
Bilqis was asked to enter the palace, she
noticed that the floor was shiny and looked
like it was water. So she lifted up
her skirt thinking there was a pool of
water to walk through. Summoned Mufassireen said that
prophet Salliman Alaihi Wasallam built a huge palace
of glass for Bilqis in order to show
her the greatness of his kingdom and power.
When she saw for herself what Allah had
given him and how majestic his position was,
she proclaimed her faith in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta A'la to whom she had already submitted
to before she even left her kingdom. She
said, rabbi innnidalamtunafsi
waslamtumaasulaymana
lillahi rabbilalameen.
My Lord, verily I have wronged myself and
I submit together with Sulayman to Allah Subh'anaHu
Wa Ta A'la, the Lord of all that
exists.
Bilqis, queen of Sab'ah was a wise ruler.
She ruled over a powerful kingdom and had
a group of advisors that respected her authority
and wisdom.
She had everything she could have possibly wanted
but she didn't let that get in the
way of her ego when she was invited
to the truth by Sulaiman Alayhi Salaam. She
could have thought, I don't want my people
to think I'm weak for changing our religion
to that of another ruler. But instead she
did the right thing. She followed the right
path. She didn't fear losing her wealth or
power. Instead, she put her faith in Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la by leaving her palace
to personally accept the invitation of prophet SallAllahu
Alaihi Wa Man in his palace.
Her willingness to change also gained her the
reward of all of her people who followed
the religion of Tawhid because of her leadership.
We learned from Biltiz's example that to be
a real leader, to show real strength, it
is to do the right thing and follow
the straight path.