And when the decree was: So she sent with the gift, and it is said to be five hundred (p-161) young boys, adorned in the attire of maidens. She commanded them to soften their speech, and five hundred maidens in the attire of young boys, and she commanded them to be harsh in their speech, and a twisted branch of a tree, and a pearl that is not pierced [and others], and she asked him to distinguish between the young boys and the maidens, and to pierce the pearl, and to insert a thread into the twisted branch. So he commanded them to wash their faces and hands. The maiden would take water with one of her hands, then transfer it to the other, then strike her face and pour the water on the inside of her forearm. And the young boy, as he took the water, would strike his face with it and pour the water on the back of his forearm and let it flow down to his hands. He commanded the worm, so the pearl was pierced, and the worm entered the thread into the twisted hole. He arranged his words indicating with the letter 'fa' to the speed of sending: ﴿So when the messenger came﴾, meaning: the messenger whom she sent and dispatched, and what is meant by it is the type; Abu Hayyan said: It applies to both singular and plural, masculine and feminine.

﴿Sulaiman﴾, so he handed that over to him. ﴿He said﴾, meaning: Sulaiman, blessings and peace be upon him, to the messenger and to those in his service, belittling what he had: ﴿Do you aid me﴾, meaning: you and those with you and those who sent you ﴿with wealth﴾ [and my intention is for you for the sake of religion], belittling the matter of this world and informing that there is no attention (p-162) towards it in any way, nor is anything pleasing to him except the obedience of Allah. Then he caused to arise from him what necessitated the belittling of what he had, so he said: ﴿So what Allah has given me﴾, meaning: the greatest king who has all perfection of wealth and majesty through prophethood and kingship and closeness to Him, glorified and exalted is He. And He is the One who enriches His obedient servant from all else. So whatever he asks of Him, He gives him. And that is because He has lined up the devils and humans and beasts and wild animals and birds and insects in firm rows, and He spread the whole place with soft gold and other things that befit him. ﴿Better than what you have been given﴾, meaning: from the [kingship] that has no prophethood in it, nor support from Allah.

And when the decree was: But you do not know that your gift is of that which he is disinterested in due to your attachment to the apparent [of] worldly life, he followed that with his saying: ﴿Rather you﴾, meaning: by your ignorance of that you consider what you are in to be great. So you ﴿rejoice in your gift﴾ by your assumption that the world will turn me away from you because it is the ultimate goal of my intention. And it may be intended that you rejoice in what is guided to you, so you abandon whom you intended to conquer for the sake of what He has given you [from] the world. My state is contrary to your state, for nothing pleases me except religion.