THE BIBLE, THE KORAN, AND THE TALMUD
OR
BIBLICAL LEGENDS OF THE MUSSULMANS
BY DR. G. WEIL
[NEW YORK, 1863]
SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SABA
AFTER Solomon had paid the last honors to his father, he was resting in a valley
between Hebron and Jerusalem, when suddenly he swooned away. On reviving, there
appeared to him eight angels, each of whom had immeasurable wings of every color
and form, and thrice they bowed down to him. "Who are you?" demanded Solomon,
while his eyes were yet half closed. They replied, "We are the angels set over
the eight winds. Allah, our Creator and thine, sends us to swear fealty, and to
surrender to thee the power over us and the eight winds which are at our command.
According to thy pleasure and designs, they shall either be tempestuous or gentle,
and shall blow from that quarter to which thou shalt turn thy back; and at thy
demand they shall rise out of the earth to bear thee up, and to raise thee above
the loftiest mountains."
The most exalted of the eight angels then presented to him a jewel with this
inscription: "To Allah belong greatness and might:" and said, "If thou hast need
of us, raise this stone toward heaven, and we shall appear to serve thee." As
soon as these angels had left him, there came four others, differing from each
other in form and name. One of them resembled an immense whale; the other, an
eagle; the third, a lion; and the fourth, a serpent. "We are the lords of all
creatures living in earth and water," they said, bowing profoundly to Solomon,
"and appear before thee at the command of our Lord, to do fealty unto thee. Dispose
of us at thy pleasure. We grant to thee and to thy friends all the good and pleasant
things with which the Creator has endowed us, but use all the noxious that are
in our power against thy foes."
The angel who represented the kingdom of birds then gave him a jewel with the
inscription, "All created things praise the Lord;" and said, "By virtue of this
stone, which thou needest only to raise above thy head, thou mayest call us at
any moment, and impart to us thy commands." Solomon did so instantly, and commanded
them to bring a pair of every kind of animal that live in the water, the earth,
and the air, and to present them to him.
The angels departed quick as lightning, and in the twinkling of an eye there
were standing before him every imaginable creature, from the largest elephant
down to the smallest worm; also all kinds of fish and birds. Solomon caused each
of them to describe its whole manner of life; he listened to their complaints,
and abolished many of their abuses. But he conversed longest with the birds, both
on account of their delicious language which he knew as well as his own, as also
for the beautiful proverbs that are current among them.
The song of the peacock, translated into human language, means, "As thou judgest,
so shalt thou be judged." The song of the nightingale signifies, "Contentment
is the greatest happiness." The turtle-dove sings, "It were better for many a
creature had it never been born." The hoopoo, "He that shows no mercy shall not
obtain mercy." The bird syrdak, "Turn to Allah, O ye sinners." The swallow, "Do
good, for you shall be rewarded hereafter." The pelican, "Blessed be Allah in
heaven and earth!" The dove, "All things pass away; Allah alone is eternal." The
kata, "Whosoever can keep silence goes through life most securely." The eagle,
"Let our life be ever so long, yet it must end in death." The raven, "The farther
from mankind, the pleasanter." The cock, "Ye thoughtless men, remember your Creator."
Solomon chose the cock and the hoopoo for his constant attendants. The one,
on account of his monitory sentence, and the other, inasmuch as his eyes, piercing
as they do through the earth as if it were crystal, enabled him during the travels
of the king to point out the place where fountains of water were hid, so that
water never failed Solomon, either to quench his thirst, or to perform the prescribed
ablutions before prayer. But, after having stroked the heads of the doves, he
commanded them to appoint unto their young the temple which he was about to erect
as their habitation. (This pigeon pair had, in the course of a few years, increased
so much, through Solomon's blessed touch, that all who visited the temple walked
from the remotest quarter of the city under the shadow of their wings.)
When Solomon was again alone, there appeared an angel, whose upper part looked
like earth, and whose lower like water. He bowed down toward the earth, and said,
"I am created by Allah to manifest his will both to the dry land and to the sea;
but he has placed me at thy disposal, and thou mayest command, through me, over
earth and sea: at thy will the highest mountains shall disappear, and others rise
out of the ground; rivers and seas shall dry up, and fruitful countries be turned
into seas or oceans." He then presented to him before he vanished a jewel, with
the inscription, "Heaven and earth are the servants of Allah."
Finally, another angel brought to him a fourth jewel, which bore the inscription,
"There is no GOD but one, and Mohammed is his messenger." "By means of this stone,"
said the angel, "thou obtainest the dominion over the kingdom of spirits, which
is much greater than that of man and beasts, and fills up the whole space between
the earth and heaven. Part of these spirits," continued the angel, "believe in
the only GOD, and pray to him; but others are unbelieving. Some adore the fire;
others the sun; others, again, the different stars; and many even the water.
The first continually hover round the pious, to preserve them from evil and
sin; but the latter seek in every possible manner to torment and to seduce them,
which they do the more easily, since they render themselves invisible, or assume
any form they please." Solomon desired to see the genii in their original form.
The angel rushed like a column of fire through the air, and soon returned with
a host of demons and genii, whose appalling appearance filled Solomon, spite of
his dominion over them, with an inward shudder. He had no idea that there were
such misshapen and frightful beings in the world.
He saw human heads on the necks of horses, with asses' feet; the wings of eagles
on the dromedary's back; and the horns of the gazelle on the head of the peacock.
Astonished at this singular union, he prayed the angel to explain it to him, since
Djan, from whom all the genii were descended, had only a simple form. "This is
the consequence," replied the angel, "of their wicked lives and their shameless
intercourse with men, beasts, and birds; for their desires know no bounds, and
the more they multiply the more they degenerate."
When Solomon returned home, he commanded the four jewels which the angels had
given him to be set in a signet ring, in order that he might be able at any moment
to rule over spirits and animals, and over wind and water. His first care was
to subdue the demons and genii. He caused them all to come before him save the
mighty Sachr, who kept himself concealed in an unknown island of the ocean, and
Iblis, the master of all evil spirits, to whom God had promised the most perfect
independence till the day of judgment. When they were assembled, he stamped his
signet ring on each of their necks, to mark them as his slaves.
He obliged the male genii to erect various public buildings; among others,
also a temple after the plan of that at Mecca, which he had once seen during his
travels to Arabia. The female genii he obliged to cook, to bake, to wash, to weave,
to spin, to, carry water, and to perform other domestic labors. The stuffs they
produced Solomon distributed among the poor, and the food which they prepared
was placed on tables of two leagues square, for the daily consumption amounted
to thirty thousand oxen and as many sheep, with a great number of fowls and fish,
of which he could obtain as many as he chose by virtue of his ring, notwithstanding
his remoteness from the ocean. The genii and demons sat at iron tables, the poor
at tables of wood, the chiefs of the people and of the army at tables of silver,
but the learned and eminently pious at golden ones, and the latter were waited
on by Solomon himself.
One day, when all the spirits, men, beasts, and birds, had risen, satisfied,
from their various tables, Solomon prayed to Allah that he might permit him to
entertain all the creatures of the earth.
"Thou demandest an impossibility," replied Allah; "but make a beginning to-morrow
with the inhabitants of the sea."
Solomon thereupon commanded the genii to load with corn one hundred thousand
camels and as many mules, and to lead them to the sea-shore. He himself followed,
and cried, "Come hither, ye inhabitants of the sea, that I may satisfy your hunger."
Then came all kinds of fish to the surface of the sea. Solomon flung corn unto
them till they were satisfied and dived down again. On a sudden, a whale protruded
his head, resembling a mighty mountain. Solomon made his flying spirits to pour
one sack of corn after the, other into its jaws; but it continued its demand for
more, until not a single grain was left. Then it bellowed aloud, "Feed me, Solomon,
for I never suffered so much from hunger as to-day."
Solormon inquired of it "whether there were more fish of the kind in the sea."
"There are of my species alone," replied the whale, "seventy thousand kinds,
the least of which is so large that thou wouldst appear in its body like a grain
of sand in the wilderness."
Solomon threw himself on the ground, and began to weep, and besought the Lord
to pardon his senseless demand.
"My kingdom," cried Allah to him, "is still greater than thine: arise, and
behold but one of those creatures whose rule I can not confide to man."
Then the sea began to rage and to storm, as if all the eight winds had set
it in motion at once; and there rose up a sea monster so huge that it could easily
have swallowed seventy thousand like the first, which Solomon was not able to
satisfy, and cried with a voice like the most terrible thunder, "Praised be Allah,
who alone has the power to save me from starvation!"
When Solomon was returning again to Jerusalem, he heard such a noise, proceeding
from the constant hammering of the genii, who were occupied with the building
of the temple, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem were no longer able to converse
with each other. He therefore commanded the spirits to suspend their labors, and
inquired whether none of them was acquainted with a means by which the various
metals might be wrought without producing such a clamor. Then there stepped out
one from among them, and said, "This is known only to the mighty Sachr; but he
has hitherto succeeded in escaping from thy dominion."
"Is, then, this Sachr utterly inaccessible?" inquired Solomon.
"Sachr," replied the genius, "is stronger than all of us put together, and
is as much our superior in swiftness as in power. Still, I know that he drinks
from a fountain in the province of Hidjr once in every month. Perhaps thou mayest
succeed, O wise king! to subdue him there to thy scepter."
Solomon commanded forthwith a division of his swift-flying genii to empty the
fountain, and to fill it with intoxicating liquor. Some of them he then ordered
to linger in its vicinity until they should see Sachr approaching, and then instantly
to return and bring him word. A few weeks afterward, when Solomon was standing
on the terrace of his palace, he beheld a genius flying from the direction of
Hidjr swifter than the wind. The king inquired of him if he brought news respecting
Sachr.
"Sachr is lying overcome with wine at the brink of the fountain," replied the
genius, "and we have bound him with chains as massive as the pillars of thy temple;
but he will burst them asunder as the hair of a virgin when he has slept off his
wine."
Solomon then mounted hastily the winged genius, and in less than an hour was
borne to the fountain. It was high time, for Sachr had already opened his eyes
again; but his hands and feet were still chained, so that Solomon set the signet
on his neck without any hinderance. Sachr uttered such a cry of woe that the whole
earth quaked; but Solomon said to him, "Fear not, mighty genius! I will restore
thee to liberty as soon as thou shalt indicate the means whereby I may work the
hardest metals without noise."
"I myself know of no such," replied Sachr; "but the raven will best be able
to advise thee. Take only the eggs from a raven's nest, and cover them with a
crystal bowl, and thou shalt see how the mother-bird shall cut it through."
Solomon followed Sachr's advice. A raven came and flew about the bowl; but,
finding that she could not get access to the eggs, she flew away, and a few hours
afterward reappeared with a stone in her beak, called Samur, which had no sooner
touched the bowl than it fell in two halves.
"Whence hast thou this stone?" inquired Solomon of the raven.
"From a mountain in the distant west," replied the raven.
Solomon then commanded some of the genii to follow the raven to the mountain,
and to procure more of these stones; but Sachr he set free again, according to
his promise. When the chains were taken from him, he shouted with exultation;
but his joy sounded in Solomon's ear like the laughter of scorn. As soon as the
spirits returned with the Samur stones, he caused himself to be carried back to
Jerusalem by one of them, and divided the stones among the genii, who could now
continue their labors without making the slightest noise.
Solomon then constructed a palace for himself, with a profusion of gold, silver,
and precious stones, the like of which no king had ever possessed before him.
Many of its halls had crystal floors and ceilings, and he erected a throne of
sandal-wood, covered with gold, and embossed with the most costly jewels. While
the building of his palace was in progress, he made a journey to the ancient city
of Damascus, whose environs are reckoned among the four earthly paradises.
The genius on whom he rode pursued the straightest course, and flew over the
valley of ants, which is surrounded by such lofty cliffs, and deep, impassable
ravines, that no man had been able to enter it before.
Solomon was much astonished to see beneath him a host of ants, which were as
large as wolves, and which, owing to their gray eyes and feet, appeared at a distance
like a cloud.
But, on the other hand, the queen of the ants, which had never seen a human
being, was in no small trouble on perceiving the king, and cried to her subjects,
"Retire quickly to your caverns!"
But Allah said to her, "Assemble all thy vassals, and do homage to Solomon,
who is king of the whole creation."
Solomon, to whom the winds had wafted these words, then at a distance of six
leagues, descended to the queen, and in a short time the whole valley was covered
with ants as far as his eye could reach. Solomon then asked the queen, who was
standing at their head, "Why fearest thou me, since thy hosts are so numerous
that they could lay waste the whole earth?"
"I fear none but Allah," replied the queen; "for if my subjects which thou
now beholdest were threatened with danger, seventy times their number would appear
at a single nod from me."
"Why, then, didst thou command thy ants to retire while I was passing above
thee?"
"Because I feared lest they might look after thee, and thus forget their Creator
for a moment."
"Is there any favor that I may show thee ere I depart?" inquired Solomon.
"I know of none: but rather let me advise thee so to live that thou mayest
not be ashamed of thy name, which signifies 'The Immaculate;' beware also of ever
giving away thy ring without first saying, 'In the name of Allah the All-merciful.'"
Solomon once more exclaimed, "Lord, thy kingdom is greater than mine!" and
took leave of the queen of ants.
On his return he commanded the genius to fly in another direction, so as not
to disturb the devotions of the queen and her subjects.
On arriving at the frontiers of Palestine, he heard how some one prayed:
"My God, who hast chosen Abraham to be thy friend, redeem me soon from this
woeful existence!"
Solomon descended to him, and beheld an aged man bowed down with years, and
trembling in all his limbs.
"Who art thou?"
"I am an Israelite of the tribe of Judah."
"How old art thou?"
"Allah alone knows. I counted up to my three hundredth year, and since that
time full fifty or sixty more must have passed away."
"How camest thou to so great an age, which, since Abraham's time, no human
being has attained?"
"I once saw a shooting star in the night of Al-Kadr, and expressed the senseless
wish that I might meet with the mightiest prophet before I died."
"Thou hast now reached the goal of thy expectations: prepare thyself to die,
for I am the king and prophet Solomon, to whom Allah has granted a power such
as no mortal before me ever possessed." Scarcely had he finished these words,
when the Angel of Death descended in human form, and took the soul of the aged
man.
"Thou must have been quite close to me, since thou camest so promptly," said
Solomon to the angel.
"How great is thy mistake! Be it known to thee, O king! that I stand on the
shoulders of an angel whose head reaches ten thousand years beyond the seventh
heaven, whose feet are five hundred years below the earth, and who, withal, is
so powerful, that if Allah permitted it, he could swallow the earth, and all that
it contains, without the slightest effort.
"He it is who points out to me when, where, and how I must take a soul. His
gaze is fixed on the tree Sidrat Almuntaha, which bears as many leaves inscribed
with names as there are men living on the earth.
"At each birth a new leaf, bearing the name of the newly born, bursts forth;
and when any one has reached the end of his life, his leaf withers and falls off,
and at the same instant I am with him to receive his soul."
"How dost thou proceed in this matter, and whither takest thou the souls at
death?"
"As often as a believer dies, Gabriel attends me, and wraps his soul in a green
silken sheet, and then breathes it into a green bird, which feeds in Paradise
until the day of the resurrection. But the soul of the sinner I take alone, and
having wrapped it in a coarse, pitch-covered woolen cloth, carry it to the gates
of hell, where it wanders among abominable vapors until the last day."
Solomon thanked the angel for his information, and besought him, when he should
one day come to take his soul, to conceal his death from all men and spirits.
He then washed the body of the deceased, buried him, and having prayed for
his soul, begged for a mitigation of his bodily pains at the trial he was to undergo
before the angels Ankir and Munkir. 1
This journey had fatigued Solomon so much, that he ordered the genii, on his
return to Jerusalem, to weave strong silken carpets, which might contain him and
his followers, together with all the requisite utensils and equipages for traveling.
Whenever he desired thereafter to make a journey, he caused one of these carpets,
of a larger or smaller size, according to the number of his attendants, to be
spread out before the city, and as soon as all that he required was placed upon
it, he gave a signal to the eight winds to raise it up. He then seated himself
on his throne, and guided them into whatever direction he pleased, even as a man
guides his horses with bit and reins.
One night Abraham appeared to him in a dream, and said, "Allah has distinguished
thee above all other men by thy wisdom and power. He has subjected to thy rule
the genii, who are erecting a temple at thy command, the like of which the earth
has never borne before; and thou ridest on the winds as I once rode on Borak,
who shall dwell in Paradise until the birth of Mohammed. Show thyself grateful,
therefore, unto the only God, and, taking advantage of the ease with which thou
canst travel from place to place, visit the cities of Jathrib, 2
where the greatest of prophets shall one day find shelter and protection, and
of Mecca, the place of his birth, where now the holy temple stands which I and
my son Ismael (peace be on him!) rebuilt after the flood."
The next morning, Solomon proclaimed that he would undertake a pilgrimage to
Mecca, and that each and every Israelite would be permitted to accompany him.
There immediately applied so many pilgrims, that Solomon was obliged to have a
new carpet woven by the spirits, two leagues in length and two in breadth.
The empty space which remained he filled with camels, oxen, and smaller cattle,
which he designed to sacrifice at Mecca, and to divide among the poor.
For himself he had a throne erected, which was so studded with brilliant jewels
that no one could raise his eyes to him. The men of distinguished piety occupied
golden seats near the throne: the learned were seated on silver, and part of the
common people on wood. The genii and demons were commanded to fly before him,
for he trusted them so little that he desired to have them constantly in his presence,
and therefore always drank out of crystal cups so as never to lose sight of them,
even when he was compelled to satisfy his thirst. But the birds he directed to
fly above the carpet in close array, to protect the travelers from the sun.
When the arrangements were complete, and men, spirits, birds, and beasts were
assembled, he commanded the eight winds to raise up the carpet, with all that
it contained, and to carry it to Medina. In the vicinity of that city, he made
a signal to the birds to lower their wings, whereupon the winds gradually abated
until the carpet rested on the earth.
But no one was permitted to leave the carpet, for Medina was then inhabited
by worshipers of idols, with whom the king would not suffer his subjects to come
in contact.
Solomon went unattended to the spot where, in later times, Mohammed erected
his first mosqueit was then a burial-groundperformed his midday devotions, and
then returned to the carpet. The birds, at his nod, spread their wings, the winds
bore up the carpet, and swept on with it to Mecca. This city was then governed
by the Djorhamides, who had migrated there from the Southern Arabia, and were
at that time worshipers of the only God, keeping the Kaaba as pure from idolatry
as it was in the days of Abraham and of Ismael.
Solomon therefore entered it, with all his attendants, performed the ceremonies
obligatory on pilgrims, and when he had slain the victims which he brought with
him from Jerusalem, he pronounced in the Kaaba a long discourse, in which he predicted
the future birth of Mohammed, and exhorted all his hearers to enforce faith in
him upon their children and descendants.
After a stay of three days, King Solomon resolved to return again to Jerusalem.
But when the birds had unfolded their wings, and the carpet was already in motion,
he suddenly discovered a ray of light striking upon it, whence he concluded that
one of his birds had left its post.
He therefore summoned the eagle, and directed him to call over the names of
all the birds, and to report which was absent. The eagle obeyed, and soon came
back with the answer that the hoopoo was wanting.
The king grew enraged; the more so, because he needed the hoopoo during the
journey, since no other bird possessed its powers to descry the hidden fountains
of the desert.
"Soar aloft," he cried harshly to the eagle; "search for the hoopoo, and bring
it hither, that I may pluck off its feathers, and expose it naked to the scorching
sun, until the worms shall have consumed it."
The eagle soared heavenward until the earth beneath him appeared like an inverted
bowl. He then halted, and looked in every direction to discover the truant subject.
As soon as he spied it coming from the south, he plunged down, and would have
seized it in his talons, but the hoopoo adjured him by Solomon to forbear.
"Darest thou to invoke the king's protection?" replied the eagle. "Well may
thy mother weep for thee. The king is enraged, for he has discovered thy absence,
and sworn to punish it terribly."
"Lead me to him," rejoined the other. "I know that he will excuse my absence
when he hears where I have been, and what I have to report of my excursion."
The eagle led him to the king, who was sitting on his judgment throne with
wrathful countenance, and instantly drew the delinquent violently toward him.
The hoopoo trembled in every limb, and hung down his plumage in token of submission.
But when Solomon would have grasped him still more tightly, he cried, "Remember,
O prophet of Allah! that thou, too, shalt one day give an account unto the Lord:
let me, therefore, not be condemned unheard."
"How canst thou excuse thy absenting thyself without my permission?"
"I bring information respecting a country and a queen whose names thou hast
not even heard ofthe country of Saba, and Queen Balkis."
"These names are indeed quite strange to me. Who has informed thee of them?"
"A hoopoo from those regions, whom I met during one of my short excursions
in the course of our conversation I spoke to him of thee, and thy extensive dominions,
and he was astonished that thy fame should not yet have reached his home. He entreated
me, therefore, to accompany him there, and convince myself that it would be worth
thy while to subject the land of Saba unto thy scepter.
"On our way he related to me the whole history of that country down to its
present queen, who rules over so large an army that she requires twelve thousand
captains to command it."
Solomon relinquished his hold of the hoopoo, and commanded him to recount all
that he had heard of that country and its history, whereupon the bird began as
follows: "Most mighty king and prophet! be it known to thee that Saba is the capital
of an extensive country in the south of Arabia, and was founded by King Saba,
Ibn Jashab, Ibn Sarab, Ibn Kachtan. His name was properly Abd Shems (the servant
of the Sun); but he had received the surname of Saba (one who takes captive) by
reason of his numerous conquests."
Saba was the largest and most superb city ever constructed by the hand of man,
and, at the same time, so strongly fortified that it might have defied the united
armies of the world.
But that which especially distinguished this city of marble palaces were the
magnificent gardens in the center of which it stood.
For King Saba had, in compliance with the counsels of the wise Lockman, constructed
vast dikes and numerous canals, both to guard the people from inundation during
the rainy season, and also against want of water in time of drought.
Thus it came to pass, that this country, which is so vast that a good horseman
would require a month to traverse it, became rapidly the richest and most fertile
of the whole earth. It was covered with the finest trees in every direction, so
that its travelers knew nothing of the scorching sun. Its air, too, was so pure
and refreshing, and its sky so transparent, that the inhabitants lived to a very
great age, in the enjoyment of perfect health.
The land of Saba was, as it were, a diadem on the brow of the universe.
This state of felicity endured as long as it pleased Allah. King Saba, its
founder, died, and was succeeded by other kings, who enjoyed the fruits of Lockman's
labors without thinking of preserving them; but time was busy with their destruction.
The torrents, plunging from the adjacent mountains, gradually undermined the dike
which had been constructed to restrain and to distribute them into the various
canals, so that it fell in at last, and the whole country was, in consequence,
laid waste by a fearful flood.
The first precursors of an approaching disaster showed themselves in the reign
of King Amru. In his time it was that the priestess Dharifa beheld in a dream
a vast dark cloud, which, bursting amid terrific thunderings, poured destruction
upon the land. She told her dream to the king, and made no secret of her fears
respecting the welfare of his empire; but the king and his courtiers endeavored
to silence her, and continued, as before, their heedless, careless courses.
One day, however, while Amru was in a grove in dalliance with two maidens,
the priestess stepped before him with disheveled hair and ruffled countenance,
and predicted anew the speedy desolation of the country.
The king dismissed his companions; and having seated the priestess beside him,
inquired of her what new omen foreboded this evil. "On my way hither," replied
Dharifa, "I met crimson rats standing erect, and wiping their eyes with their
feet; and a turtle, which lay on its back, struggling in vain to rise: these are
certain signs of a flood, which shall reduce this country to the sad condition
in which it was in ancient times."
"What proof givest thou me of the truth of thy statement?" inquired Amru.
"Go to the dike, and thine own eyes shall convince thee."
The king went, but speedily came back to the grove with distracted countenance.
"I have seen a dreadful sight," he cried. "Three rats as large as porcupines were
gnawing the dikes with their teeth, and tearing off pieces of rock which fifty
men would not have been able to move."
Dharifa then gave him still other signs; and he himself had a dream, in which
he saw the tops of the loftiest trees covered with sandan evident presage of
the approaching floodso that he resolved to fly from his country.
Yet, in order to dispose of his castles and possessions to advantage, he concealed
what he had seen and heard, and invented the following pretext for his emigration.
One day he gave a grand banquet to his highest officers of state and the chiefs
of his army, but arranged with his son beforehand that he should strike him in
the face during a discussion. When this accordingly took place at the public table,
the king sprang up, drew his sword, and feigned to slay his son; but, as he had
foreseen his guests rushed in between them, and hurried away the prince. Amru
then swore that he would no longer remain in a country where he had suffered such
a disgrace. But, when all his estates were sold, he avowed the true motive of
his emigration, and many tribes joined themselves to him.
Soon after his departure the predicted calamities took place, for the inhabitants
of Saba, or Mareb, as this city is sometimes called, listened neither to the warnings
of Dharifa nor the admonition of a prophet whom Allah had sent them. The strong
dike fell in, and the waters, pouring from the mountain, devastated the city and
the entire vicinity. "As, however, the men of Saba," continued the hoopoo, in
his narrative before King Solomon, "who had fled into the mountain, were improved
by their misfortune, and repented, they soon succeeded, with the help of Allah,
in constructing new dams, and in restoring their country to a high degree of power
and prosperity, which went on increasing under the succeeding kings, though the
old vices too reappeared, and, instead of the Creator of heaven and earth, they
even worshiped the sun."
The last king of Saba, named Sharahbil, was a monster of tyranny. He had a
vizier descended from the ancient royal house of the Himiarites, who was so handsome
that he found favor in the eyes of the daughters of the genii, and they often
placed themselves in his way in the shape of gazelles, merely to gaze upon him.
One of them, whose name was Umeira, felt so ardent an attachment for the vizier,
that she completely forgot the distinction between men and genii, and one day,
while he was following the chase, appeared in the form of a beautiful virgin,
and offered him her hand, on condition that he would follow her, and never demand
an account of any of her actions.
The vizier thought the daughter of the genii so far exalted above all human
beauty, that he lost his self-command, and consented, without reflection, to all
that she proposed. Umeira then journeyed with him to the island where she lived,
and married him. Within a year's time she bore a daughter, whom she called Balkis;
but soon after that she left her husband, because he (as Moses had done with Al-kidhr)
had repeatedly inquired into her motives when unable to comprehend her actions.
The vizier then returned with Balkis to his native country, and concealed himself
in one of its valleys at a distance from the capital: there Balkis grew up like
the fairest flower of Yemen; but she was obliged to live in greater retirement
the older she became, for her father feared lest Sharahbil might hear of her,
and treat her as remorselessly as the other maidens of Saba.
Nevertheless, Heaven had decreed that all his precautions should be abortive;
for the king, in order to learn the condition of his empire, and the secret sentiments
of his subjects, once made a journey on foot, disguised like a beggar, throughout
the land. When he came to the region where the vizier lived, he heard both him
and his daughter much spoken of, because no one knew who he was, nor whence he
had come, nor why he lived in such obscurity.
The king therefore caused his residence to be pointed out, and he reached it
at the moment when the vizier and his daughter were seated at table. His first
glance fell on Balkis, who was then in her fourteenth year, and beautiful like
an houri of Paradise, for, with the grace and loveliness of woman, she combined
the transparent complexion and the majesty of the genii. But how great was his
astonishment, when, fixing his eye on her father, he recognized his former vizier,
who had so suddenly disappeared, and whose fate had rernained unknown!
As soon as the vizier observed that the king had recognized him, he fell down
at his feet, imploring his favor, and relating all that had befallen him during
his absence. Sharahbil pardoned him from love to Balkis, but demanded that he
should resume his former functions, and at the same time presented him with a
palace in the finest situation near his capital. But a few weeks had scarcely
elapsed when the vizier one morning returned from the city with a heavily clouded
brow, and said to Balkis, "My fears are now realized! The king has asked thy hand,
and I could not refuse without endangering my life, although I would rather see
thee laid in thy grave than in the arms of this tyrant."
"Dismiss your fears, my father," replied Balkis; "I shall free me and my whole
sex from this abandoned man. Only put on a cheerful brow, that he may not conceive
any suspicion, and request of him, as the only favor I demand, that our nuptials
be solemnized here in privacy."
The king cheerfully agreed to the wish of his bride, and repaired on the following
morning, accompanied by a few servants, to the vizier's palace, where he was entertained
with royal magnificence. After the repast, the vizier retired with his guests,
and Balkis remained alone with the king; but on a given signal her female slaves
appeared: one of them sang, another played on the harp, a third danced before
them, and a fourth presented wine in golden cups.
The last was, by Balkis's directions, especially active, so that the king,
whom she urged by every art to partake of the strongest wines, soon fell back
lifeless on his divan. Balkis now drew forth a dagger from beneath her robe, and
plunged it so deeply into the heart of Sharahbil, that his soul rushed instantly
to hell. She then called her father, and pointing to the corpse before her, said,
"To-morrow morning, let the most influential men of the city, and also some chiefs
of the army, be commanded, in the king's name, to send him their daughters. This
will produce a revolt, which we shall improve to our advantage."
Balkis was not mistaken in her conjecture; for the men, whose daughters were
threatened with infamy, called their kinsmen together, and marched in the evening
to the palace of the vizier, threatening to set it on fire unless the king should
be delivered up to them.
Balkis then cut off the king's head, and flung it through the window to the
assembled insurgents. Instantly there arose the loud exultations of the multitude;
the city was festively illumined, and Balkis, as protectress of her sex, was proclaimed
Queen of Saba. "This queen," concluded the hoopoo, "has been reigning there since
many years in great wisdom and prudence, and justice prevails throughout her now
flourishing empire. She assists at all the councils of her viziers, concealed
from the gaze of men by a fine curtain, seated on a lofty throne of most skillful
workmanship, and adorned with jewels; but, like many of the kings of that country
before her, she is a worshiper of the sun."
"We shall see," said Solomon, when the hoopoo had concluded the account of
his journey, "whether thou hast spoken the truth, or art to be numbered among
deceivers."
He then caused a fountain to be pointed out by the hoopoo, performed his ablutions,
and, when he had prayed, wrote the following lines: "From Solomon, the son of
David and servant of Allah, to Balkis, queen of Saba, in the name of Allah the
All-merciful and Gracious, blessed are they who follow the guidance of Fate! follow
thou my invitation, and present thyself before me as a believer." This note he
sealed with musk, stamped his signet on it, and gave it to the hoopoo, with the
words, "Take this letter to Queen Balkis; then retire, but not so far as to preclude
thee from hearing what she shall advise with her viziers respecting it."
The hoopoo, with the letter in his bill, darted away like an arrow, and arrived
next day at Mared. The queen was surrounded by all her counselors, when he stepped
into her hall of state, and dropped the letter into her lap. She started as soon
as she beheld Solomon's mighty signet, opened the letter hurriedly, and, having
first read it to herself communicated it to her counselors, among whom were also
her highest chieftains, and entreated their counsel on this important matter.
But they replied with one voice, "You may rely on our power and courage, and
act according to your good pleasure and wisdom."
"Before, then, I engage in war," said Balkis, "which always entails much suffering
and misfortune upon a country, I will send some presents to King Solomon, and
see how he will receive my ambassadors. If he suffers himself to be bribed, he
is no more than other kings who have fallen before our power; but if he reject
my presents, then is he a true prophet, whose faith we must embrace."
She then dressed five hundred youths like maidens, and as many maidens like
young men, and commanded the former to behave in the presence of Solomon like
girls, and the latter like boys. She then had a thousand carpets prepared, wrought
with gold and silver; a crown, composed of the finest pearls and hyacinths; and
many loads of musk, amber, aloes, and other precious products of South Arabia.
To these she added a closed casket containing an unperforated pearl, a diamond
intricately pierced, and a goblet of crystal.
"As a true prophet," she wrote to him, "thou wilt no doubt be able to distinguish
the youths from the maidens, to divine the contents of the closed casket, to perforate
the pearl, to thread the diamond, and to fill the goblet with water that has neither
dropped from the clouds nor gushed forth from the earth."
All these presents and her letter she sent to him by experienced and intelligent
men, to whom she said at their departure, "If Solomon meet you with pride and
harshness, be not cast down, for these are indications of human weakness; but
if he receive you with kindness and condescension, be on your guard, for you then
have to do with a prophet."
The hoopoo heard all this, for he had kept close to the queen until the ambassadors
had departed. He then flew in a direct line, without resting, to the tent of Salomon,
to whom he reported what he had heard. The king then commanded the genii to produce
a carpet which should cover the space of nine parasangs, and to spread it out
at the steps of his throne toward the south. To the eastward, where the carpet
ceased, he caused a lofty golden wall to be erected, and to the westward, one
of silver. On both sides of the carpet he ranged the rarest foreign animals, and
all kinds of genii and demons.
The ambassadors were greatly confused on arriving in Solomon's encampment,
where splendor and magnificence were displayed such as they had never conceived
of before. The first thing they did on beholding the immense carpet, which their
eyes were unable to survey, was to fling away their thousand carpets which they
had brought as a present for the king. The nearer they came the greater waxed
their perplexity, on account of the many singular birds, and beasts, and spirits
through whose ranks they had to pass in approaching Solomon; but their hearts
were relieved as soon as they stood before him, for he greeted them with kindness,
and inquired with smiling lips what bad brought them to him.
"We are the bearers of a letter from Queen Balkis," replied the most eloquent
of the embassy while he presented the letter.
"I know its contents," replied Solomon, "without opening it, as well as those
of the casket which you have brought with you; and I shall, by the help of Allah,
perforate your pearl, and cause your diamond to be threaded. But I will first
of all fill your goblet with water which has not fallen from the clouds nor gushed
from the earth, and distinguish the beardless youths from the virgins who accompany
you." He then caused one thousand silver bowls and basins to be brought, and commanded
the male and female slaves to wash themselves.
The former immediately put their hands, on which the water was poured to their
faces; but the latter first emptied it into their right hands as it flowed from
the bowl into their left, and then washed their faces with both their hands. Hereupon
Solomon readily discovered the sexes of the slaves, to the great astonishment
of the ambassadors. This being done, he commanded a tall and corpulent slave to
mount on a young and fiery horse, and to ride through the camp at the top of his
speed, and to return instantly to him. When the slave returned with the steed
to Solomon, there poured from him whole torrents of perspiration, so that the
crystal goblet was immediately filled.
"Here," said Solomon to the ambassadors, "is water which has neither come out
of the earth nor from heaven." The pearl he perforated with the stone, for the
knowledge of which he was indebted to Sachr and the raven; but the threading of
the diamond, in whose opening there was every possible curve, puzzled him, until
a demon brought him a worm, which crept through the jewel, leaving a silken thread
behind. Solomon inquired of the worm how he might reward him for this great service,
by which he had saved his dignity as a prophet. The worm requested that a fine
fruit-tree should be appointed to him as his dwelling. Solomon gave him the mulberry-tree,
which from that time affords a shelter and nourishment to the silk-worm forever.
"You have seen now," said Solomon to the ambassadors, "that I have successfully
passed all the trials which your queen has imposed on me. Return to her, together
with the presents destined for me, of which I do not stand in need, and tell her
that if she do not accept my faith and do homage unto me, I shall invade her country
with an army which no human power shall be able to resist, and drag her a wretched
captive to my capital."
The ambassadors left Solomon under the fullest conviction of his might, and
mission a prophet; and their report respecting all that had passed between them
and the king made the same impression on Queen Balkis.
"Solomon is a mighty prophet," said she to the viziers who surrounded her,
and had listened to the narrative of the ambassadors. "The best plan I can adopt
is to journey to him with the leaders of my army, in order to ascertain what he
demands of us." She then commanded the necessary preparations for the journey
to be made; but, before her departure, she locked up her throne, which she left
with the greatest reluctance, in a hall which it was impossible to reach without
first stepping through six other closed halls; and all the seven halls were in
the innermost of the seven closed apartments, of which the palace, guarded by
her most faithful servants, consisted.
When Queen Balkis, attended by her twelve thousand captains, each of whom commanded
several thousand men, had come within a parasang of Solomon's encampment, he said
to his hosts, "Which of you will bring me the throne of Queen Balkis before she
come to me as a believer, that I may rightfully appropriate this curious piece
of art while yet in the possession of an infidel?"
Hereupon a misshapen demon (who was as large as a mountain) said, "I will bring
it to thee before noon, ere thou dismiss thy council. I am not wanting in power
for the achievement, and thou mayest intrust me with the throne without any apprehension."
But Solomon had not so much time left, for he already perceived at a distance
the clouds of dust raised by the army of Saba.
"Then," said his vizier Assaf, the son of Burahja, who, by reason of his acquaintance
with the holy names of Allah, found nothing too difficult, "raise thy eyes toward
heaven, and before thou shalt be able to cast them down again to the earth, the
throne of the Queen of Saba shall stand here before thee."
Solomon gazed heavenward, and Assaf called Allah by his holiest name, praying
that he might send him the throne of Balkis. Then, in the twinkling of an eye,
the throne rolled through the bowels of the earth until it came to the throne
of Solomon, and rose up through the opening ground, whereupon Solomon exclaimed,
"How great is the goodness of Allah! this was assuredly intended as a trial whether
I should be grateful to him or not; but whosoever acknowledgeth the goodness of
Allah, does it to himself, and whoever denieth it, does no less so. Allah has
no need of human gratitude "
After having admired the throne, he said to one of his servants, "Make some
change on it, and let us see whether Balkis will recognize if again." The servants
took several parts of the throne to pieces, and replaced them differently; but
when Balkis was asked whether he throne was like it, she replied, "It seems as
if it were the same."
This and other replies of the queen convinced Solomon of her superior understanding,
for she had undoubtedly recognized her throne; but her answer was so equivocal
that it did not sound either reproachful or suspicious. But, before he would enter
into more intimate relations with her, he desired to clear up a certain point
respecting her, and to see whether she actually had cloven feet, as several of
his demons would have him to believe, or whether they had only invented the defect
from fear lest he might marry her and beget children, who, as descendants of the
genii, would be even more mighty than himself.
He therefore caused her to be conducted through a hall whose floor was of crystal,
and under which water, tenanted by every variety of fish, was flowing. Balkis,
who had never seen a crystal floor, supposed that there was water to be passed
through, and therefore raised her robe slightly, when the king discovered, to
his great joy, a beautifully-shaped female foot. When his eye was satisfied, he
called to her, "Come hither! there is no water here, but only a crystal floor;
and confess thyself to the faith in one only GOD
." Balkis approached the throne, which stood at the end of the hall, and in
Solomon's presence abjured the worship of the sun.
Solomon then married Balkis, but reinstated her as Queen of Saba, and spent
three days in every month with her.
On one of his progresses from Jerusalem to Mareb, he passed through a valley
inhabited by apes, which, however, dressed and lived like men, and had more comfortable
dwellings than other apes, and even bore all kinds of weapons. He descended from
his flying carpet, and marched into the valley with a few of his troops. The apes
hurried together to drive him back, but one of their elders stepped forward and
said, "Let us rather seek safety in submission, for our foe is a holy prophet."
Three apes were immediately chosen as ambassadors to negotiate with Solomon.
He received them kindly, and inquired to which class of apes they belonged, and
how it came to pass that they were so skilled in all human arts. The ambassadors
replied, "Be not astonished at us, for we are descended from men, and are the
remnant of a Jewish community, which, notwithstanding all admonition, continued
to desecrate the Sabbath until Allah cursed them, and turned them into apes.
3 Solomon was moved to compassion and, to protect them from all
farther animosity on the part of man, gave them a parchment, in which he secured
to them forever the undisturbed possession of this valley.
[At the time of the Calif Omar, there came a division of troops into this valley;
but when they would have raised their tents to occupy it, there came an aged ape,
with a scroll of parchment in his hands, and presented it to the leader of the
soldiers. Yet, as no one was able to read it, they sent it to Omar at Medina,
to whom it was explained by a Jew, who had been converted to Islam. He sent it
back forthwith, and commanded the troops to evacuate the valley.]
Meanwhile, Balkis soon found a dangerous rival in Djarada, the daughter of
King Nubara, who governed one of the finest islands in the Indian Ocean. This
king was a fearful tyrant, and forced all his subjects to worship him as a god.
As soon as Solomon heard of it, he marched against him with as many troops
as his largest carpet could contain, conquered the island, and slew the king with
his own hand. When he was on the point of leaving the palace of Nubara, there
stepped before him a virgin who far surpassed in beauty and grace the whole harem
of Solomon, not even the Queen of Saba excepted. He commanded her to be led to
his carpet, and, threatening her with death, forced her to accept his faith and
his hand.
But Djarada saw in Solomon only the murderer of her father, and replied to
his caresses with sighs and tears.
Solomon hoped that time would heal her wounds, and reconcile her to her fate;
but when, at the expiration of a whole year, her heart still remained closed against
love and joy, he overwhelmed her with reproaches, and inquired how he might assuage
her grief.
"As it is not in thy power," replied Djarada, "to recall my father to life,
send a few genii to my home: let them bring his statue, and place it in my chamber:
perhaps the very sight of his image will procure me some consolation."
Solomon was weak enough to comply with her request, and to defile his palace
with the image of a man who had deified himself and to whom even Djarada secretly
paid divine honors. This idol worship had lasted forty days, when Assaf was informed
of it. He therefore mounted the rostrum, and, before the whole assembled people,
pronounced a discourse, in which he described the pure and God-devoted life of
all the prophets, from Adam until David. In passing to Solomon, he praised the
wisdom and piety of the first years of his reign, but regretted that his later
courses showed less of the true fear of God.
As soon as Solomon had learned the contents of this discourse, he summoned
Assaf, and inquired of him whereby he had deserved to be thus censured before
the whole people.
Assaf replied, "Thou hast permitted thy passion to blind thee, and suffered
idolatry in thy palace."
Solomon hastened to the apartments of Djarada, whom he found prostrate in prayer
before the image of her father, and exclaiming,
"We belong unto Allah, and shall one day return to Him!" he shivered the idol
to pieces, and punished the princess. He then put on new robes, which none but
pure virgins had touched, strewed ashes on his head, went into the desert, and
implored Allah for forgiveness.
Allah pardoned his sin; but he was to atone for it during forty days. On returning
home in the evening, having given his signet into the keeping of one of his wives
until he should return from an unclean place, Sachr assumed his form, and obtained
from her the ring. Soon after, Solomon himself claimed it; but he was laughed
at and derided, for the light of prophecy had departed from him, so that no one
recognized him as king, and he was driven from his palace as a deceiver and impostor.
He now wandered up and down the country, and wherever he gave his name he was
mocked as a madman, and shamefully entreated. In this manner he lived nine-and-thirty
days, sometimes begging, sometimes living on herbs.
On the fortieth day he entered into the service of a fisherman, who promised
him as his daily wages two fishes, one of which he hoped to exchange for bread.
But on that day the power of Sachr came to an end; for this wicked spirit had,
notwithstanding his external resemblance to Solomon, and his possession of the
signet ring, by which he had obtained power over spirits, men, and animals, excited
suspicion by his ungodly deportment, and his senseless and unlawful ordinances.
The elders of Israel came daily to Assaf, preferring new charges against the
king; but Assaf constantly found the doors of the palace closed against him.
But when, finally, on the fortieth day, even the wives of Solomon came and
complained that the king no longer observed any of the prescribed rules of purification,
Assaf, accompanied by some doctors of the law, who were reading aloud in the Thora,
forced his way, spite of the gate-keepers and sentinels, who would have hindered
him, into the hall of state, where Sachr sojourned. No sooner did he hear the
word of God, which had been revealed to Moses, 4 than he shrunk
back into his native form, and flew in haste to the shore of the sea, where the
signet ring dropped from him.
By the providence of the Lord of the universe, the ring was caught up and swallowed
by a fish, which was soon afterward driven into the net of the fisherman whom
Solomon served. Solomon received this fish as the wages of his labor, and when
he ate it in the evening he found his ring.
He then commanded the winds to take him back to Jerusalem, where he assembled
around him al the chiefs of men, birds, beasts, and spirits, and related to them
all that had befallen him during the last forty days, and how Allah had, in a
miraculous manner, restored the ring which Sachr had wilily usurped.
He then caused Sachr to be pursued, and forced him into a copper flask, which
he sealed with his signet, and flung between two rocks into the Sea of Tiberias,
where he must remain until the day of the resurrection.
The government of Solomon, which after this occurrence lasted ten years, was
not clouded again by misfortune. Djarada, the cause of his calamity, he never
desired to see again, although she was now truly converted. But Queen Balkis he
visited regularly every month until the day of her death.
When she died, he caused her remains to be taken to the city of Tadmor, which
she had founded, and buried her there. But her grave remained unknown until the
reign of Calif Walid, when, in consequence of long-continued rains, the walls
of Tadmor fell in, and a stone coffin was discovered sixty cubits long and forty
wide, bearing this inscription:
"Here is the grave of the pious Balkis, the Queen of Saba and consort of the
Prophet Solomon, the son of David. She was converted to the true faith in the
thirteenth year of Solomon's accession to the throne, married him in the 14th,
and died on Monday, the second day of Rabi-Awwal, in the three-and-twentieth year
of his reign."
The son of the calif caused the lid of the coffin to be raised up, and discovered
a female form, which was as fresh and well preserved as if it had but just been
buried. He immediately made a report of it to his father, inquiring what should
be done with the coffin.
Walid commanded that it should be left in the place where it was found, and
be so built up with marble stones that it should never be desecrated again by
human hands.
This command was obeyed; and, notwithstanding the many devastations and changes
which the city of Tadmor and her walls have suffered, no traces have been found
of the tomb of Queen Balkis.
A few months after the death of the Queen of Saba, the Angel of Death appeared
unto Solomon with six faces: one to the right, and one to the left; one in front,
and one behind; one above his head, and one below it. The king, who had never
seen him in this form, was startled, and inquired what this sixfold visage signified.
"With the face to the right," replied the Angel of Death, "I fetch the souIs from
the east; with that to the left, the souls from the west; with that above, the
souls of the inhabitants of heaven; with that below, the demons from the depths
of the earth; with that behind, the souls of the people of Madjudj and Jadjudj
(Gog and Magog); but with that in front, those of the Faithful, to whom also thy
soul belongs."
"Must, then, even the angels die?"
"All that lives becomes the prey of death as soon as Israfil shall have blown
the trumpet the second time. Then I shall put to death even Gabriel and Michael,
and immediately after that must myself die, at the command of Allah. Then God
alone remains, and exclaims, 'Whose is the world?' but there shall not a living
creature be left to answer him! And forty years must elapse, when Israfil shall
be recalled to life, that he may blow his trumpet a third time, to wake all the
dead."
"And who among men shall rise first from the grave?"
"Mohammed, the prophet, who shall in later times spring from the descendants
of Ismael.
"Israfil himself and Gabriel, together with other angels, shall came to his
grave at Medina, and cry, 'Thou purest and noblest of souls! return again to thy
immaculate body, and revive it again.' Then shall he rise from his grave, and
shake the dust from his head. Gabriel greets him, and points to the winged Borak,
who stands prepared for him, and to a standard and a crown which Allah sends him
from Paradise. The angel then says to him, 'Come to thy Lord, and mine, thou elect
among all creatures! The gardens of Eden are festively adorned for thee; the houris
await thee with impatience.'
He then lifts him upon Borak, places the heavenly standard in his hand, and
the crown upon his head, and leads him into Paradise. Thereupon the rest of mankind
shall be called to life. They shall all be brought to Palestine, where the great
tribunal shall be held, and where no other intercession than that of Mohammed
is accepted. That will be a fearful day, when every one shall think only of himself.
Adam will cry, 'O Lord, save my soul only! I care not for Eve, nor for Abel.'
Noah will exclaim, 'O Lord, preserve me from hell, and do with Ham and Shem as
thou pleasest!' Abraham shall say, 'I pray neither for Ismael nor Isaac, but for
my own safety only.' Even Moses shall forget his brother Aaron, and Christ his
mother, so greatly shall they be concerned for themselves.
None but Mohammed shall implore the mercy of God for all the faithful of his
people. They that are risen will then be conducted over the bridge Sirat, which
is composed of seven bridges, each of which is three thousand years long. This
bridge is as sharp as a sword, and as fine as a hair. One third of it is an ascent,
one third is even, and one third is a descent. He alone who passes all these bridges
with success can be admitted into Paradise. The unbelievers fall into hell from
the first bridge; the prayerless, from the second; the uncharitable, from the
third; whoever has eaten in Ramadhan, from the fourth; whoever has neglected the
pilgrimage, from the fifth; whoever hath not commended the good, from the sixth;
and whoso hath not prevented evil, from the seventh."
"When shall the resurrection be?"
"That is known only to Allah; but assuredly not before the advent of Mohammed,
the last of all prophets. Previously to it the prophet Isa (Christ), sprung from
thy own family, shall preach the true faith, shall be lifted up by Allah, and
be born again. The nations of Jadjudj and Madjudj shall burst the wall behind
which Alexander hath confined them. The sun shall rise in the west, and many other
signs and wonders shall precede."
"Suffer me to live until the completion of my temple, for at my death the genii
and demons will cease their labor."
"Thy hour-glass has run out, and it is not in my power to prolong thy life
another second."
"Then follow me to my crystal hall!"
The Angel of Death accompanied Solomon unto the hall, whose walls were entirely
of crystal. There Solomon prayed; and, leaning upon his staff, requested the angel
to take his soul in that position. The angel consented; and his death was thus
concealed from the demons a whole year, till the temple was finished. It was not
until the staff, when destroyed by worms, broke down with him, that his death
was observed by the spirits, who, in order to revenge themselves, concealed all
kinds of magical books under his throne, so that many believers thought Solomon
had been a sorcerer.
But he was a pure and divine prophet, as it is written in the Koran, "Solomon
was no infidel, but the demons were unbelievers, and taught all manner of sorceries."
When the king was lying on the ground, the angels carried him, together with his
signet ring, to a cave, where they shall guard him until the day of the resurrection.
Footnotes
1 These two angels make inquiry of the dead conceming
his God and his faith, and torment him if he be not able to answer properly.
Similar things are said in the "Chibut hakebar" (knocking at the tomb) of the
Rabbis.Compare Maraccius, Prodrom., iii., p. 90.
2 The ancient name of Medina, where Mohammed died.
3 Mohammed mentions this in the Koran as a fact.
4 There is an allusion here to the peculiar ideas which
both Mohammedans and Jews attach to the recitation of scriptural or imagined sacred
words and sentences.
They believe their bare reading or repetition valuable:
1. As being meritorious before God, independent of any reaction which it may
produce on their heart and understanding.
2. Because every letter is supposed to possess a (cabalistic) charm acting
with resistless power upon spirits, und even upon the Lord himself.
