The Floor of Glass

It was said to her: enter al-ṣarḥ. What is a ṣarḥ? A ṣarḥ is a special palace that was built for Sulaymān (peace be upon him). This palace had very amazing things in it, one of which was the flooring of this palace: the floor was made out of glass — transparent glass — and under that glass was a flowing river. So this palace is erected on water, and the floor was glass. Glass was something that the people in that time might not have known — this transparent material.

So when Sulaymān told her to enter into this palace, when she saw it, what did she think? She thought it was water, so she raised up her skirt. Allah (swt) says: qīla lahā udkhulī al-ṣarḥ, fa-lammā raʾathu ḥasibathu lujjatan wa kashafat ʿan sāqayhā — but when she saw it, she thought it was a pool, and she tucked up her clothes, uncovering her legs.

Something very embarrassing. Why is it embarrassing? Because it shows her ignorance; it shows that she is backward, considering the advanced stage that Sulaymān was at. She does not know about this technology; she was raising up her skirt, trying to walk into that water. So it was embarrassing for her.

Why did Sulaymān do all of this? Again: to show her what Allah (swt) has given him. It is part of the miracle of what Allah (swt) has given him, to show her the truth of his message. Sulaymān told her: innahu ṣarḥun mumarradun min qawārīr — verily, it is a glass surface, with water underneath it.

In that moment, that was the third step towards Islam for her. Finally — finally — Bilqīs submitted and said: rabbi innī ẓalamtu nafsī wa aslamtu maʿa Sulaymāna lillāhi rabbi al-ʿālamīn — she said: my Lord, verily, I have wronged myself, and I submit, with Sulaymān, to Allah, the Lord of al-ʿālamīn, the Lord of the worlds. And she became a Muslim.