The Story of Prophet Solomon( as) -4-

Lecture No.4

This is a transcription of a lecture by Sayyed Usama Alattar. You can listen to it from here: http://www.4shared.com/audio/wOkhpXIm/soleimanpart4.html
 " قال يا أيها الملأ أيكم يأتيني بعرشها قبل أن يأتوني مسلمين(38) قال عفريت من الجن أنا آتيك به قبل أن تقوم من مقامك و إني عليه لقوي أمين(39) قال الذي عنده علم من الكتاب أنا آتيك به قبل أن يرتد إليك طرفك فلما رآه مستقراً عنده قال هذا من فضل ربي ليبلوني أأشكر أم أكفر و من شكر فإنما يشكر لنفسه و من كفر فإن ربي غني كريم(40)"
سورة النمل


The ambassador goes back to Balqees, the queen of Saba', and tells her that this guy is not a worldly king because if he was a regular king, he would been happy with the money to increase his wealth and kingdom. He did not accept her gift because he was not looking only for materialistic gain. He was looking for something else beyond that; spiritual gain. That is why the ambassador told her that they had no chance against this man. He is serious. She accepted to see him herself. He is the king and she is the queen and she is going to meet him instead of the ambassador.

" قال يا أيها الملأ أيكم يأتيني بعرشها قبل أن يأتوني مسلمين(38)" =" O' people, Who can bring me her throne (either the throne of Balqees or her bed, the word has two meanings)before they come to me as Muslims?" Prophet Solomon said. What was the answer? " قال عفريت من الجن أنا آتيك به قبل أن تقوم من مقامك و إني عليه لقوي أمين" One of the jinns replied and told him that he can get it to him. Prophet Solomon asked him while he was sitting down on his throne" How fast can you get it?" The jinn replied" Before you stand up. I am strong and honest" This jinn was not one of the good jinns. ( Jinns were of two types: those who submitted to his will and those who rejected him. Allah gave him the ability to control those who disobey him.)
( Note: The Holy Quran is telling us here that when you hire somebody to do a job, choose the one who has two characteristics. They must be healthy enough and honest about doing that job. Do not hire a cheater or a liar. And when somebody asks you to do something, be honest and strong. This is very crucial even if you are dealing with nonmuslims. You have to be honest with all people regardless of what colour they are, what religion they have, what citizenship they carry ) Now, compare these two verses: " قال الذي عنده علم من الكتاب أنا آتيك به قبل أن يرتد إليك طرفك"= The one who has a knowledge of the book. " و يقول الذين كفروا لست مرسلاً قل كفى بالله شهيداً بيني و بينكم و من عنده علم الكتاب (43) " الرعد= " Those who disbelieve say to you that you are not a messenger. Say to them that Allah is enough as a witness between you and myself. Allah testifies if I am indeed a messenger. And the one who has the knowledge of the book, not part of the book( This man is Imam Ali bin Abi Talib) is enough as a witness, too."

In the court, there was a person ,who had a knowledge of parts of the book, said to prophet Solomon(as)" Before You blink, I will bring it to you." This is faster than the previous which means that this guy is better than jinn.
Q1- Who was this person?
Q2- Why did not Solomon get the throne himself even though he was a prophet and a king and he had everything at his disposal? Could not he pray to Allah to bring the throne to him?

The name of the person is Aassef bin Barkhia. He was the nephew of prophet Solomon( as). He was Solomon's right-hand man and one of his ministers and the one who has got a knowledge of parts of the book.


Knowledge of what book???
It is possibly Azzaboor that prophet David( as) received from Allah or Attawrat that prophet Moses( as) received from Allah because prophet Solomon( as) came after prophet Moses and prophet David.
However, interpreters say that it is most likely not. It is the same book mentioned in the following verse: " و عنده مفاتح الغيب لا يعلنها إلا هو و يعلم ما في البر و البحر و ما تسقط من ورقة إلا يعلمها و لا حبة في ظلمات الأرض و لا رطب و لا يابس إلا في كتاب مبين(59)" الأنعام = Allah has written each and every leave that drops on the ground, every deed that takes place on this earth, etc, in a book. This is, of course for some reason. It is to show us the significance of documentation; how important it is to write things in books. Books can be very useful when they are used properly. That is what Allah( swt) encourages us to do as well, write things up in books that people can benefit from. Allah refers to these deeds that take place on this earth as they are all have been written in a book. That book is called( Allawh Almahfood) . Allah(swt) has a knowledge of Allawh Almahfoodh as well as he can teach it to whomever He wills of his servants. Some people are taught just parts of it and some are taught everything written in that book. Assef has knowledge of some parts of that book, Whereas, Ali bin Abi Talib has knowledge of the whole book.

For the second question, Why did not Solomon bring it himself?, Solomon wanted to teach everybody in the court at that time that he had a successor who is good enough to succeed him. Not this gin even though he is good and strong because he does not have the knowledge. The best person to succeed him is his nephew. He has the knowledge. He has what it takes to be a successor of a prophet.

(This is very interesting. David appointed a successor. Solomon here is appointing a successor. Do you think that prophet Mohammad would not appoint a successor after his death?! It just does not go with what Quran teaches us. Quran told us that when David was about to die, he left a successor. When Solomon felt that he needed to teach people that there would be a successor after him, he taught them that Assef would be his successor. Everybody is doing so. So do you think that prophet Mohammad would not do it??! It just does not make sense. Indeed, he did so, but some people chose to ignore his successor and put him aside because he was too young even though Allah and the prophet chose him. )

So, prophet Solomon chooses him and tells him to bring it over. Indeed, Assef brings that throne over.
" فلما رآه مستقراً عنده قال هذا من فضل ربي " When Solomon saw the throne before his eyes, he first said that this is from Allah. This is the blessing of Allah. This is not the work of Assef. Assef was only the means who got him the throne. But, it was Allah( swt) who enabled him to have such a great kingdom and such great people who work for him.

( Sometimes, when we have good things happening to us, we forget about Allah(swt). We do not remember him.. When life is going good for us, when we graduate, when we have a good job, when we buy a nice house, we never tend to think about Allah at that point. We think about Him only whenever things are not going so well. When, God forbids, somebody has an accident or the stock market crashes or money goes away or somebody fails in a test, we say" O' Allah, why did you make me fail? I believe in you.. I love you.." Allah would say" Where were you when I gave you a blessing? Why did not you thank me? That never came to your mind." Human being in his psychology tends to forget about Allah whenever he is comfortable. Allah knows this and says it in the Quran in numerous places. One of them is the following verse: " فأما الإنسان إذا ما ابتلاه ربه فأكرمه و نعمه فيقول رب أكرمن(15) و أما إذا ما ابتلاه فقدر عليه رزقه فيقول رب أهانن(16)" =Whenever Allah gives the human being a blessing, he says" Allah must love me" . When Allah tests him with a difficulty, he would say" O' my lord, why did you do this with me? why did you humiliate me?")

Solomon(as) is successful in that regard. He remembers Allah when he is successful and he says" Allah has given me this great kingdom and it is not a lot of fun. This is a very big responsibility God has given me. I have to be taking care of each and every gin, human, animal living in my kingdom."
That is not easy to be rich and grateful. Very few people in this world are like that. Imam Assadiq(as) said
" ما جاع فقير إلا بسبب غني" = " That not a single poor person starves not because of a rich person" The rich person is the cause because he did not pay. If each and every rich person in this world today pays that charity they have to pay, there would not be a single poor person in the world today. God has given the human beings the money to help the others. But the human is so stingy. He does not want to give that money away. He wants to keep it all for himself in his own pockets. God tests both the poor and the rich with money. If the rich does what he is supposed to do( like Solomon), there would not be a single poor person in his society. People have to think that when they get rich, they have to distribute their money to each other, not just themselves. So, Solomon(as) said " This is a test from my lord to find me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful. Whomever is being grateful, you are doing kind to yourself. And the one who does not thank Allah, Allah does not need your thanks. Allah is rich, self-sufficient, generous and honourable. He does not need your gratitude. "

Imam Ali(as) was once heard saying that = " ما أحسنت لأحد قط و لا أسأت لأحد قط" " I have not helped anybody, nor have I done injustice to anybody" People were surprised by what he meant of his words. He was the man of kindness. It is right that he did not do bad to anybody else. That was understood. But, the other one could not be understood. Imam Ali(as) wanted to educate people, teach them in a beautiful way. He responded with this verse:
" إن أحسنتم أحسنتم لأنفسكم و إن أسأتم فلها" = " If you do kindness, you do it to yourselves. And if you do unkindness, you do it to yourselves. " What goes around comes around. Allah says this in the Quran " هل جزاء الإحسان إلا الإحسان"This is a universal verse in the Quran. It means " Any human being who does any act of kindness towards anything, he ∕ she will be rewarded with another act of kindness." This is a universal law. This is how we, Muslims, think of humans. When you do nice things, you will be treated nicely by Allah(swt).