Make it disguised, change it from its form and shape, just as a man disguises himself from people so that they do not recognize him.

They said: They widened it and made its front its back, and its top its bottom. And it was read: 'We look,' with a jussive for the answer, and with a nominative for the continuation. 'Will you recognize it?' or for the correct answer if you are asked about it, or for the religion and faith in the prophethood of Solomon, peace be upon him, when she saw that clear miracle, of the throne being brought forth and she had left it and the doors were closed upon it and guards were set upon it. Thus, there are three words: the particle of indication, the 'kaf' of comparison, and the demonstrative pronoun. He did not say: 'Is this your throne?' but: 'Is this like your throne?' so that it would not be a direct response. She said: 'As if it is he,' and did not say: 'It is he,' nor 'it is not he,' and that is from the soundness of her intellect, as she did not fall into the ambiguous.

[Muhammad said: 'He did not say: Is this your throne? so that it would not be a direct response. She said: As if it is he, and did not say: It is he, nor it is not he, and that is from the soundness of her intellect, as she did not fall into the ambiguous. Ahmad said: And in her saying: As if it is he, and her deviation from matching the answer to the question, by saying: Thus it is, is a good point. And perhaps someone will say: Both expressions are comparisons, as the 'kaf' of comparison is in both, even though in one it is included with the demonstrative pronoun, and in the other it is included with the implied subject, and both—namely, the demonstrative pronoun and the implied subject—are referring to the compared entity. At that point, the two expressions are equal in meaning, and her saying: Thus it is, is preferred for its correspondence to the question. Therefore, there must be wisdom in choosing 'As if it is he.' And we say: Its wisdom, and Allah knows best, is that 'As if it is he' is an expression that brings the likeness close to the point of doubt in the difference between the two matters, so she almost said: It is he, and that is the state of Bilqis. As for 'Thus it is,' it is a decisive expression indicating the difference between the two matters, ruling on the occurrence of likeness between them and nothing else. For this reason, she shifted to the mentioned expression in the recitation for its correspondence to her state, and Allah knows best. And the saying of Al-Zamakhshari: 'nor it is not he,' if it is from him, is an error, and the correct is: 'nor it is not he,' and Allah, the Exalted and Glorified, knows best.]

And we were given knowledge from the words of Solomon and his assembly: If you say: What is this speech connected to, and how is it related? I say: Since the situation—in which she was asked about her throne and she responded as she did—was a situation in which Solomon and his assembly conducted what is suitable for their saying: 'And we were given knowledge,' as if they were saying at her saying: As if it is he: She was correct in her response and matched the detail, and she is wise and intelligent, and she has been granted Islam, and she recognized the power of Allah and the truth of prophethood through the signs that preceded at the delegation of Al-Mundhir, and with this amazing verse regarding her throne—they connected their saying: 'And we were given knowledge of Allah and His power, and the truth of what came from Him before her knowledge, and we have remained on the religion of Islam, thanking Allah for His favor upon them and their precedence in the knowledge of Allah and Islam before her. And it prevented her from advancing to Islam the worship of the sun and her upbringing among the disbelievers. It may also be from the words of Bilqis connected to her saying: As if it is he, and the meaning is: 'And we were given knowledge of Allah and His power and the truth of the prophethood of Solomon, peace be upon him, before this miracle or before this state,' meaning: what became clear to her from the signs at the delegation of Al-Mundhir, and we entered into Islam. Then Allah, the Exalted, said: And He prevented her before that from what she entered into, her misguidance from the right path. And it was said: And Allah prevented her—or Solomon—from what she used to worship, by assuming the omission of the preposition and connecting the verb.

And it was read: 'that she,' with the opening, as it is an alternative to the subject of 'prevented.' Or meaning: because she.