Take This Letter

Sulaymān (peace be upon him) said: sa-nanẓuru a-ṣadaqta am kunta min al-kādhibīn — we will see whether you are telling the truth, or whether you are lying.

Go with this letter of mine and deliver it to them, then draw back from them and see what answer they return. Sulaymān (peace be upon him) wrote a letter, and the hoopoe delivered this letter to the queen of Sabaʾ — in English, Sheba. Her name is Bilqīs. So the hoopoe carried this letter, and the story says that the hoopoe delivered the letter onto her lap, and then the hoopoe withdrew. So they did not know where this letter came from; she just saw that this letter fell onto her lap. And Sulaymān said: fa-unẓur mādhā yarjiʿūn — see what they are going to do. So the hoopoe, even though it withdrew from their sight, was monitoring their actions — the hoopoe was monitoring their actions to see what their response would be.