In the Blink of an Eye

Nevertheless, there was a better offer, and Sulaymān (peace be upon him) turned this offer down. A few hours was not enough — because he got another offer, from alladhī ʿindahu ʿilmun min al-kitāb, the one who has knowledge of the book. And this shows you the power of knowledge: the one who has knowledge had a better offer than the ʿifrīt of the jinn.

Allah (swt) says: one with whom was knowledge of the scripture said: I will bring it to you within the twinkling of an eye. Before your eye blinks, the throne is going to be in front of you.

ʿIlm — we know that is knowledge. What type of knowledge? We do not know, because Allah (swt) said al-kitāb, the scripture. What scripture? Was it the scripture of Dāwūd? Was it a different scripture? What exactly? We do not involve ourselves in this discussion, because this is ghayb; it is unknown. What we know is what Allah (swt) told us in the Qur'an, and we do not follow the Israelite stories; we do not go after that, but we stop at the information Allah (swt) has provided us with. We know that it is knowledge — and we learn from this that knowledge has power.

With the twinkling of an eye, the throne was right there in front of Sulaymān (peace be upon him). This is power under the hands of Sulaymān. What was the response of Sulaymān? When he saw it placed before him, he said: this is by the grace of my Lord. He did not say: this is by the grace of the one who has knowledge. He said: this is by the grace of Allah (swt). That is why it is very important for us always to believe, and to say: whatever good I have done is from Allah, and whatever mistakes I have done are from myself. Whatever good we do, or happens to us, or anybody does, is from Allah (swt).

And then Sulaymān said: li-yabluwanī a-ashkuru am akfur — Allah (swt) is testing me, to see whether I am grateful or ungrateful. Whatever Allah (swt) has given you — and we talked about this a lot — whatever Allah (swt) has given you is a test from Allah for you, to see if you will be grateful or not.

And then he said: wa man shakara fa-innamā yashkuru li-nafsih — and whoever is grateful, truly his gratitude is for whom? For his own self. You are not going to benefit Allah (swt) at all by being grateful to Him; you are benefiting yourself. Wa man kafara fa-inna rabbī ghaniyyun karīm — and whoever is ungrateful, certainly my Lord is Rich, free of all needs, and Bountiful.

If you are not grateful, believe me, Allah (swt) does not need you. We need to tell ourselves this, because sometimes we feel that the money we pay — we are doing a favour to the religion of Allah (swt); whatever we donate of our time or effort to the religion of Allah, sometimes we brag about it. The religion of Allah does not need me; it does not need you; it does not need anyone. Allah (swt) is sufficient of all means.