38قالَ يا أَيُّهَا المَلَأُ أَيُّكُم يَأتيني بِعَرشِها قَبلَ أَن يَأتوني مُسلِمينَMuhammad Asad[WHEN SOLOMON learned that the Queen of Sheba was coming,1] he said [to his council]: "O you nobles! Which of you can bring me her throne ere she and her followers come unto me in willing surrender to God?"2I.e., evidently in response to his message (Razi, Ibn Kathir).Lit., "before they come unto me as people who surrender themselves (muslimin)" i.e., to God (see verse 31 above). The term "throne" ('arsh) is used here and in the sequence - as well as at the end of verse 23 - in its metonymic sense of "dominion" or "regal power" (Raghib). It appears that Solomon intends to confront his guest with an image of her worldly power, and thus to convince her that her "throne" is as nothing when compared with the awesome almightiness of God.