The Name Sulayman — Peace and Wholeness
The name Sulayman (سُلَيمَان) is the Arabic form of the Hebrew Shlomo — from the root shalom (peace, wholeness, completeness). He is the prophet of peace and integration: the one in whom the visible and invisible worlds were brought under a single divinely ordered sovereignty. His name is a summary of his mission: to bring everything under the peace of divine governance.
Sulayman (AS) was the son of Dawud (AS) by Bathsheba — born into the household of prophethood and kingship simultaneously. He appears in five surahs of the Quran: al-Baqarah, al-Nisa, al-Anbiya, al-Naml, Saba’, and Sad. His most extended narrative is in Surah al-Naml (the Ant), which takes its title from the story of the ant that warned its colony — one of the details only Sulayman (AS) could hear.
The Inheritance — What Father and Son Share
“And We gave to Dawud, Sulayman. An excellent servant, indeed he was one repeatedly turning back [to Allah].” (38:30)
Before his power is mentioned, his character is established. The Quran’s first word about Sulayman (AS) is awwab — one who constantly returns to Allah. The same quality ascribed to his father. The inheritance that matters most in the prophetic household is not the throne but the awwab disposition: the soul that, no matter how far the world pulls it, returns continually to the divine presence.
The inheritance of prophethood and kingship together placed Sulayman (AS) in the position his father had established: khalifatullah upon the earth, responsible simultaneously for the community’s zahir (governance, justice, security, building) and its batin (worship, spiritual care, divine awareness). What was given to Dawud (AS) as a founding grant, Sulayman (AS) inherits as a trust.
“And Sulayman inherited Dawud and said: ‘O people, we have been taught the language of birds, and we have been given from all things. Indeed, this is evident bounty.’” (27:16)
The first words of Sulayman (AS) in the Quran after inheriting the kingdom are words of gratitude: this is evident bounty (fadl mubin). Not a claim to personal achievement. Not a declaration of conquest. A recognition that the gift exceeds the recipient and comes from One greater than both.
The Prayer for a Unique Kingdom
“He said: ‘My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me. Indeed, You are the Bestower.’” (38:35)
Sulayman’s prayer for an unmatched kingdom is unique in the Quran — a prophet asking Allah for the greatest worldly power ever granted to a human being. Classical scholars have asked: is this a permissible prayer? Is it not a form of worldly ambition?
The answer lies in what Sulayman (AS) did with the kingdom once granted. Every power he received — winds, jinn, birds, animals, people — he deployed in the service of divine command, the building of Bayt al-Maqdis, the propagation of tawhid, and ultimately the reception and conversion of the Queen of Sheba. The kingdom was not an end in itself; it was an instrument of divine purpose. This is the permissibility of asking for great means when the purpose is great service.
Allah granted the prayer. Then followed the test.
The Test of the Horses — Dawning of Awareness
Immediately after the prayer, the Quran places a trial:
“When there were displayed before him in the afternoon the poised [standing] racehorses. And he said: ‘Indeed, I have preferred the love of good [things] over the remembrance of my Lord.’ [He said this] until they were hidden by the veil [of night]. [He said]: ‘Return them to me,’ and set about striking [their] legs and necks.” (38:31-33)
Sulayman (AS) had become so absorbed in reviewing his magnificent horses that the time of prayer passed. When he realized, he returned the horses and gave them away — some traditions say he gave them as sadaqa in the path of Allah, others say he sacrificed them. The act was his immediate self-correction: the thing that distracted from divine remembrance was given away.
This episode — placed immediately before his prayer for the greatest kingdom — is the Quran’s structural argument: the prophet who is willing to give away what distracted him from Allah is the one who can safely be trusted with the kingdom. Sulayman (AS) passed the test of attachment before he received the gift of unmatched sovereignty.
Command Over the Winds — The Expansive Kingdom
“And to Sulayman [We subjected] the wind — its morning course was a month’s journey and its evening course was a month’s journey.” (34:12)
The wind (al-rih) was made subservient to Sulayman (AS) by divine command. What a month’s travel would normally require, the morning wind could carry in hours. He could deploy this for travel, for communication across his vast kingdom, and for the swift movement of resources and people.
“And We subjected the wind to Sulayman, blowing forcefully, proceeding by his command toward the land which We had blessed. And We are ever, of all things, Knowing.” (21:81)
The land of blessing is Jerusalem (al-Ard al-Muqaddasa) — the destination of the prophetic kingdom’s resources and energies. The wind that carries Sulayman’s throne toward the blessed land is the ta’wil of the divine amr that carries the prophetic teaching toward the hearts made ready to receive it.
In Ismaili ta’wil, the wind (rih) controlled by Sulayman is the da’wa — the divine call that reaches every geography, carries the truth across all distances, and operates at the command of the designated sovereign of the prophetic mission. The da’wa, like the wind, is invisible but all-encompassing; directed by divine command; capable of moving what seems immovable.
Command Over the Jinn — The Unseen Builders
“And among the jinn were those who worked for him by the permission of his Lord. And whoever deviated among them from Our command — We would make him taste of the punishment of the Blaze. They made for him what he willed of elevated chambers, statues, bowls like reservoirs, and stationary kettles.” (34:12-13)
The jinn worked under Sulayman’s (AS) authority not by submission born of their own will but by divine command — bi idhn rabbihi (by permission of his Lord). This is the crucial theological distinction: the power over the jinn was not sorcery, not dark pact, not magic. It was divine designation. The one appointed by Allah to rule creation was given the means to fulfill that appointment.
What the jinn built was extraordinary: elevated chambers (high buildings, palaces, possibly the Temple structure itself), statues (of angels and prophets, for instruction — not for worship), great basins like pools, and fixed cooking caldrons too large to move. The scale of the building operation under Sulayman (AS) was beyond what human labor alone could accomplish. The divinely appointed sovereign received divinely ordered labor to match the scale of his mission.
“Work, O family of Dawud, in gratitude — and few of My servants are grateful.” (34:13) — The divine comment on the household of prophets who received such gifts: the appropriate response is shukr (gratitude expressed through action), and the divine note that few who receive such gifts maintain this response. The warning is embedded in the gift.
The Language of Birds — The Hudhud Messenger
Sulayman (AS) reviewed his army — composed of jinn, humans, and birds — and noticed the Hudhud (hoopoe bird) was absent. His response was decisive:
“I will surely punish him with a severe punishment or slaughter him unless he brings me clear authorization.” (27:21)
The scale of Sulayman’s (AS) governance was such that the absence of a single bird from its assigned rank merited immediate attention. Nothing in the kingdom of the prophet-king escapes accountability. Every position — from the greatest commander to the smallest bird — has its responsibility.
The Hudhud returned with extraordinary intelligence: there was a kingdom, Saba’ (Sheba, in southern Arabia — modern Yemen), ruled by a queen named Bilqis, who was powerful and wealthy, and whose people worshipped the sun instead of Allah. The Hudhud had observed all of this and reported with the analysis of a messenger who understood the theological significance of what he had seen.
“And I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allah, and Satan has made their deeds pleasing to them and averted them from [His] way, so they are not guided — [so] they do not prostrate to Allah, who brings forth what is hidden within the heavens and the earth and knows what you conceal and what you declare. Allah — there is no deity except Him, Lord of the Great Throne.” (27:24-26)
The hoopoe’s theological commentary is one of the Quran’s remarkable moments: a bird delivering a sophisticated analysis of misdirected worship and the nature of the divine throne. Sulayman (AS) verified the report and sent a letter with the Hudhud.
The Letter to Bilqis — The Sovereignty of Bismillah
The letter Sulayman (AS) sent to the Queen of Sheba is the Quran’s most complete preserved correspondence from a prophet-king — and it opens with what became the opening of every chapter of the Quran:
“Indeed, it is from Sulayman, and indeed, it reads: ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Be not haughty with me but come to me in submission [as Muslims].’” (27:30-31)
Three features of this letter are theologically significant:
It begins with Bismillah: The letter that calls a queen to submit to Allah begins with the name of Allah Most Gracious, Most Merciful — not with a threat, not with a military ultimatum, not with a recitation of power. Mercy before command. This is the prophetic da’wa model.
It identifies itself: “From Sulayman” — transparency, not anonymity. The prophet-king stands behind his message.
It invites, not demands: “Be not haughty with me but come to me in submission.” — It acknowledges the possibility of arrogance (‘alayya tatakabbar) in the addressee and invites its opposite. The invitation to Islam is to the humble posture, not to the kneeling of conquest.
Bilqis — The Queen of Sheba’s Wisdom and Conversion
Bilqis consulted her advisors upon receiving the letter. They said they were a people of power and could fight. She said: “Indeed, kings — when they enter a city, they ruin it and render the honored of its people humiliated. And thus do they do.” (27:34) — A queen who understood the nature of conquest and refused to frame her decision as a military calculation.
She decided to send a gift to test Sulayman’s (AS) true nature: if he was a worldly king, he would be satisfied with wealth; if he was more than that, he would reject the gift.
Sulayman’s (AS) response was immediate: “‘But what Allah has given me is better than what He has given you.’” (27:36) — He rejected the gift entirely. Then he arranged for her arrival.
One who had knowledge from the Book (‘ilm min al-kitab) — described by classical scholars variously as Asaf ibn Barkhiya, a human minister who possessed divine knowledge, or as a reference to the divine knowledge itself — transported Bilqis’s throne from Saba’ to Sulayman’s court in the blink of an eye (qabla an yartadda ilayka tarfuka — 27:40), before she arrived.
When she arrived and saw the throne had preceded her — transformed yet recognizable — Sulayman said this was to test whether she would recognize the truth. Then the most subtle test of all:
“It was said to her: ‘Enter the palace.’ But when she saw it, she thought it was a body of water and uncovered her shins [to wade through]. He said: ‘Indeed, it is a palace [whose floor is] made smooth of glass.’” (27:44)
The glass floor that appeared to be water — the zahir that conceals the true nature of what is beneath it. The one without the knowledge to read appearances correctly sees water where there is solid ground, sees danger where there is safety. The palace of Sulayman (AS) was itself a lesson in ta’wil: appearances deceive; only the eye trained in the true nature of things sees correctly.
Bilqis understood immediately:
“She said: ‘My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, and I submit with Sulayman to Allah, Lord of the worlds.’” (27:44)
Her conversion is among the most complete in the Quran: not submission under military threat, not a political calculation, but a genuine recognition after witnessing divine knowledge and divine power deployed in the service of tawhid. She wronged herself, she submitted — the two steps of tawba and iman, together, in a single verse.
Building Bayt al-Maqdis — The Temple of Jerusalem
Islamic tradition and the scriptural record agree that Sulayman (AS) completed the building of Bayt al-Maqdis — the great Temple in Jerusalem — which his father Dawud (AS) had planned and prepared for but was not permitted to build. The jinn labored under divine command in its construction; the temple was the culmination of the prophetic kingdom’s architectural mission.
“They made for him what he willed of elevated chambers, statues, bowls like reservoirs, and stationary kettles.” (34:13)
The Temple was not merely a building; it was the zahir of the prophetic community’s organization — the physical center of divine worship, the place where the divine presence was invoked, and the destination of pilgrimage for Banu Isra’il across centuries. In Ismaili ta’wil, the building of Bayt al-Maqdis is the ta’wil of the construction of the Dawat — the institution of the divine call that Sulayman’s kingdom in the spiritual realm represents.
The Death of Sulayman — Termites and the Lesson of the Ghayb
Sulayman (AS) died while leaning on his staff in a posture of standing prayer. The jinn were working under his command — not knowing he had died — and continued their work. His body remained upright so long that it was not discovered until termites (dabbat al-ard, the creatures of the earth) ate through his staff and he fell.
“And when We decreed for him death, nothing indicated to them his death except a creature of the earth eating his staff. But when he fell, it became clear to the jinn that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in humiliating punishment.” (34:14)
The divine teaching embedded in this extraordinary death: the jinn, who some humans imagine to have supernatural knowledge, do not know the ghayb (the unseen). They were unable to perceive the death of the one they served. Only Allah knows what is hidden. The termite — the smallest, most overlooked creature — was the instrument of the great revelation.
This death, in the posture of prayer, is among the most beautiful in prophetic tradition: the king-prophet whose life was prayer and governance died in prayer, with his governance continuing until the moment of the final revelation. He served until the last breath — standing.
Ta’wil of Sulayman’s Kingdom — The Da’wa and Its Reach
In Ismaili ta’wil, the kingdom of Sulayman (AS) is the most complete Quranic representation of the da’wa in its cosmic scope:
- Sulayman (AS) himself is the Imam — the divinely appointed sovereign over all realms
- The jinn represent the realm beyond ordinary human perception — the spiritual dimensions of the da’wa that operate unseen
- The birds represent the hudud of the da’wa — each ranked in its proper position, each speaking the divine praise in its own register
- The wind is the divine amr — the command that carries the da’wa across all distances
- Bilqis represents the world outside the da’wa — the community that has not yet come to submit — and her conversion is the ta’wil of the da’wa’s ultimate reach: bringing the most powerful and distant sovereignties into the orbit of the divine truth
- The glass palace is the zahir of the da’wa: what appears impenetrable to those without knowledge is, to those who know, as clear as transparent glass
The throne of Bilqis transported in the blink of an eye is the ta’wil of the da’wa’s capacity to transform a remote community’s orientation to the divine truth — not gradually and with great effort, but instantaneously when the conditions are correct and the knowledge is present.
Salawat upon Nabi Sulayman (AS)
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى سُلَيمَانَ النَّبِيِّ المَلِكِ ابنِ دَاوُودَ النَّبِيِّ المَلِكِ، الَّذِي آتَيتَهُ مُلكًا لَا يَنبَغِي لِأَحَدٍ مِن بَعدِهِ، وَسَخَّرتَ لَهُ الرِّيحَ وَالجِنَّ وَالطَّيرَ خَاضِعَةً لِأَمرِكَ
Allahumma salli ‘ala Sulayman al-Nabi al-Malik ibn Dawud al-Nabi al-Malik, alladhi ataytahu mulkan la yanbaghi li-ahadin min ba’dihi, wa sakhkharta lahu al-rih wa al-jinn wa al-tayr khadi’atan li-amrika
“O Allah, send blessings upon Sulayman the Prophet-King, son of Dawud the Prophet-King — to whom You gave a kingdom that will not belong to anyone after him, and for whom You subjected the wind, the jinn, and the birds in submission to Your command.”
See also: Dawud Alayhis Salam, Musa Alayhis Salam, Tawil Esoteric Interpretation, Al Zahir Al Batin, Jinn In Islam, Nubuwwa, Imamah, Dai Al Mutlaq Institution, Bayt Al Maqdis, Bilqis Queen Of Sheba