And when He, glorified and exalted is He, completed what He wanted from the signs of Dawud, peace be upon him, and concluded it with iron, He followed him with his son Sulayman, peace be upon him, for his participation in repentance. He began with His signs with what is from the causes of His creation, glorified and exalted is He, for iron. He said: "And for Sulayman," meaning as a substitute for the horses that he sacrificed for Allah. "The wind," meaning it was made subservient to him according to the reading of Shu'bah, and the interpretation according to the reading of the majority is: We made it subservient to him while it was "its morning journey a month," meaning it carries him and goes with him and all of his army in the morning, and it is from the dawn until noon, a journey of a month. He would set out from Ilya and take a rest in Isṭakhr. "And its evening journey" means from noon until the end of the day, "a month," meaning its journey. This is a heavenly sign indicating that just as He raised the carpet of Sulayman, peace be upon him, with what he had of his soldiers and their tools, then He placed it, capable of placing whatever He wills from the heavens to destroy whoever it falls upon. This is as Allah made the wind subservient to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in the Battle of the Confederates, so it would blow down their tents, overturn their food, and strike their faces with stones and dust, and it did not go beyond their army until Allah defeated them with it. And just as it carried two persons from his companions, may Allah be pleased with them, in the Battle of Tabuk and cast them in the mountains of Ṭayy. It carries whom Allah wills from the saints of his nation as it is in the utmost fame and the end of abundance. As for the matter of the Isra and Mi'raj, it is from the majesty and greatness such that none knows it except Allah, although Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has made it manifest in the signs of the heavens by withholding the rain at times and sending it at others.

And when He mentioned the wind, He followed it with what it is from the causes of His creation. He said: "And We caused to flow for him," meaning by Our greatness, "a fountain of molten copper," meaning we melted the copper for him until it became as if it were a fountain of water. This indicates that He, glorified and exalted is He, does what He wills on the earth. If He willed, He could have caused it to flow entirely, and whoever was on it would perish. If He willed, He could have made instead of the flowing, sinking and removal.

And when He mentioned the wind and the copper which is not usually melted except by fire, He mentioned what is predominant in its elements, which is fire, and it is light and capable of flying like the wind. He said: "And from" meaning We made subservient to him "the jinn," meaning those whom We concealed from the eyes, from the devils and others. "Who would work," and when Allah had enabled him from them to the utmost possibility in his absence and presence, He said: "before him." And when the thought of a thinker was that they had autonomy in their actions, He negated it with His saying: "By the permission of his Lord," meaning by the enabling of the one who does good to him and to them by what he intends to do.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, established that this is by His will, it is in reality by His command. This was further confirmed by His saying, adding to what He decrees: "So whoever acts according to Our command, We will admit him to the Gardens of Delight." And "whoever deviates" means to lean, from the root word zagh which means to deviate or stray. "From them" refers to those who exceed and are unjust "from Our command" [meaning from that which We have commanded them regarding the obedience of Solomon]. That is, His command which is from Our command. "We will make him taste" means by that which We have of the greatness that We enabled Solomon, peace be upon him, with, from that which We granted him of it, "from the punishment of the blazing fire" meaning in this world as a metaphor and in the Hereafter as a reality. This is as Allah enabled our Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, against that jinn and he strangled him and intended to tie him up so that the children of the city could play with him. Then he left him out of respect for his brother Solomon, peace be upon them both, in what he asked Allah, the Most High, regarding it. As for the actions that revolve around establishing the religion, Allah sufficed him in them with the noble angels, and He empowered a group of his companions, may Allah be pleased with them, over a group of the rebellious jinn. Among them was Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, when the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, entrusted him with the preservation of the Zakat of Ramadan. Among them was Ubayy ibn Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him, who caught a person from them who was stealing from his dates and said: "The jinn have known who is more severe than me." Among them was Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, when the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, appointed him over the charity of the Muslims. A devil from them came to him to steal and took on forms, one of which was the form of an elephant, and he subdued him with it. His hands wrapped around him and he said to him: "O enemy of Allah!" He complained to him of poverty and informed him that he was from the jinn of Nusaybin and that they had the city. When the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, was sent, he expelled them from it and asked him to leave him alone on the condition that he would not return. Among them was Buraydah, may Allah be pleased with him, and among them was Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, may Allah be pleased with him, and among them was Zayd ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him, and among them was Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, and all of them [fought the devil and Umar overcame him]. Among them was Ammar ibn Yasir, may Allah be pleased with him, who fought the devil and overcame him, and he wounded the devil's nose with a stone. For this reason and others, Abu Hurairah used to say: "Ammar is the one whom Allah protected from the devil by the tongue of His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him." Al-Bayhaqi mentioned all of this in his proofs, and I have mentioned the transmission of most of it in my book, Masaa'id al-Nazar, for the overview of the objectives of the surahs. As for the eye of the qitr, it is what the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, included in his saying: "I was given the keys to the treasures of the earth and the kingdom in this world and eternity in it, then Paradise. I chose to be a prophet and a servant, to be hungry one day and full another day." The hadith includes that from the garden of moist pearls to the eye of refined gold to what is less than that. Al-Tirmidhi narrated and said: "Hasan" from Abu Umamah, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, who said: "My Lord offered me to make the valley of Mecca gold. I said: No, O Lord! But I would be full one day and hungry another day, or he said three times or something like that. When I am hungry, I supplicate to You and remember You, and when I am full, I thank You and praise You." And for al-Tabarani with a good chain and al-Bayhaqi in al-Zuhd and others from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, "that Israfil, peace be upon him, came to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, with the keys to the treasures of the earth and said: Allah has commanded me to present to you to either make you a prophet-king or a prophet-servant. Gabriel, peace be upon him, gestured to him to be humble, so he said: A prophet-servant."

It was narrated by Ibn Hibban [in his Sahih] in a summarized form from the hadith of Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him. And there is also in the Sahih from Jabir ibn Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with them, who said: The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "I was given the keys of the world on a dappled horse on a carpet of silk." And in Al-Bukhari regarding the Battle of Uhud from Uqbah ibn Amir, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "I was given the keys to the treasures of the earth or the keys [to the earth]." This is what relates to the earth. And it has been added that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, was supported by his Lord, glorified and exalted is He, in the management of the treasures of the heavens, sometimes by splitting the moon, sometimes by stoning the stars, sometimes by piercing the heavens, sometimes by withholding rain, and sometimes by sending it - in addition to other things with which Allah honored him.