An-Naml · Makki · ayah 44 of 93

An-Naml 27:44

قِيلَ لَهَا ٱدْخُلِى ٱلصَّرْحَ ۖ فَلَمَّا رَأَتْهُ حَسِبَتْهُ لُجَّةً وَكَشَفَتْ عَن سَاقَيْهَا ۚ قَالَ إِنَّهُۥ صَرْحٌ مُّمَرَّدٌ مِّن قَوَارِيرَ ۗ قَالَتْ رَبِّ إِنِّى ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِى وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَـٰنَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ

“She was told, "Enter the palace." But when she saw it, she thought it was a body of water[1077] and uncovered her shins [to wade through]. He said, "Indeed, it is a palace [whose floor is] made smooth with glass." She said, "My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, and I submit with Solomon to Allāh, Lord of the worlds."”

Saheeh International

Essence

She feared deep water and found smooth glass; then a queen's first words of faith were an admission, and submission alongside Sulayman.

A reflection

The abyss that was a floor

An old man with failing eyes is shopping with his granddaughter. At the shop door he stops dead. In front of him is a black doormat, and to his eyes it is a hole. He will not move. His granddaughter steps onto it, smiling, and stands there. Only then does he cross.

Ḥasibathu lujjatan: she reckoned it a deep pool. The lexicons picture lujja as the open deep of the sea, wave folding over wave, where no bottom is reached. The commentaries describe a hall floored with clear glass, with water running beneath. To anyone who did not know, it looked like water to wade. So the queen did what anyone would. She gathered her skirts and bared her shins.

Then came the reassurance: innahu ṣarḥun mumarradun min qawārīr, it is a palace made smooth with glass. Mumarrad comes from a root of stripping bare. A tree with no leaves, sand with nothing growing, a building polished smooth: all share it. What she feared was depth was a surface with nothing on it to trip her.

There is a pattern here worth seeing. Every step towards Allah can look like that pool from the doorway. Think of giving up a habit, admitting a wrong, or praying in front of colleagues. From the edge, each looks like a drop with no bottom. We gather ourselves for drowning.

Then we step, and it holds. It was a floor all along, built smooth for walking. The fear was real, but it was a reflection.

The queen's next words came right after this moment of mistaken fear. Perhaps that is no accident. Sometimes a person must see how wrong her eyes were about one floor before she admits they were wrong about the sun.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.