A Kingdom Like No Other

Sulaymān (peace be upon him), as Allah says, returned to Allah — thumma anāb. Allah (swt) says: Sulaymān said: O Allah, forgive me. And after he asked Allah for forgiveness, he made a duʿāʾ. He said: O Allah, give me a kingdom that will occur to nobody else after me. My Lord, forgive me, and bestow upon me a kingdom such as shall not belong to any other after me; verily, You are the Bestower.

Sulaymān is not asking for kingdom for the sake of kingdom; that is not the action of the anbiyāʾ. Sulaymān is asking for a kingdom that will be a miracle — that would be his miracle. So the miracle of Sulaymān would be his kingdom, because every nabī, Allah (swt) gives him a miracle. Sulaymān asked Allah to give him a kingdom that would be unique, different from any other; and that would be the miracle of Sulaymān — and we will see that it was truly a miracle. And no other person, nabī or not a nabī, was given a kingdom similar to Sulaymān's. The kingdom of Sulaymān was unique.