The Body on the Throne

Another test happened to Sulaymān. Allah (swt) says:

And We indeed tried Sulaymān, and We placed on his throne jasadā, a body; but he did return to Allah with obedience and repentance. There is a hadith that is ṣaḥīḥ which could explain what this ayah means.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: qāla Sulaymānu ibnu Dāwūd, la-aṭūfanna al-laylata ʿalā sabʿīna imraʾah, taḥmilu kullu imraʾatin fārisan yujāhidu fī sabīli Allāh. In this hadith, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that he said he would pass by all of his seventy wives — in another hadith it is ninety; this hadith is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. So he is going to sleep with every one of his wives, and he did that with the intention that all of the children who would be born would fight for the sake of Allah. He wants to have mujāhidīn, so he decided that he would sleep with every one of his wives, so that she could give birth to a mujāhid for the sake of Allah.

His associate told him: in shāʾ Allāh. Sulaymān (peace be upon him) did not say in shāʾ Allāh. And he went ahead and slept with every one of the wives; none of them became pregnant except one of them, and then she delivered half a child — somehow it was mutilated, and only half of the child was remaining, and it was a dead body. And the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: had he said it, they would have fought for the sake of Allah.

And this is the meaning of the ayah: We tested Sulaymān — this is a trial from Allah (swt) — wa alqaynā ʿalā kursiyyihi jasadā, We threw on his throne a dead body, thumma anāb, and then he returned to Allah (swt). It is a test from Allah (swt) for him to say in shāʾ Allāh — to say in shāʾ Allāh. And therefore, whenever we want to do something in the future, we always need to tie it to the will of Allah, because nothing can happen if Allah does not will it.