35 Preface وَإِنّي مُرسِلَةٌ إِلَيهِم بِهَدِيَّةٍ فَناظِرَةٌ بِمَ يَرجِعُ المُرسَلونَAhmed AliBut I will send them a gift and see1 what the envoys bring back (in return).” The language of the Surah being both metaphorical and metonymic, as in Surah 38, and others, the words and expressions carry a broader spectrum of meaning. Apart from the metonymic use of Hud-hud, the throne itself has been used metonymically in verse 38 and 41 for its replica as the gift sent to Solomon by the Queen, as no other single gift could have been worthy of the position and greatness of Solomon who had sent an ultimatum of surrender to the Queen. And Hud-hud had described it covetously as ‘magnificent’ (v. 23). Thus, when Solomon asked his courtiers to bring the Queen’s throne, it was obviously the replica that was produced by ‘one who had knowledge of the letter,’ the jinn’s plea to bring it having been ignored. It is notable that the whole episode has the nature of ascertainment and trial, and is marked by a transcendental element, and emphasises the distinction between illusion and reality. The true and the false are high-lighted in the apostolic person of Solomon and the fact of Sheba’s being a sunworshipper, the rejection of the jinn in favour of one who had knowledge, and the replica in place of the original. Illusion and reality are implicit in the altered and the real throne, and the sheet of water and the tiles of glass, the recognition of which lead to the Queen of Sheba’s conversion at the hands of Solomon. There are enough indications for the wise.