41 Preface قالَ نَكِّروا لَها عَرشَها نَنظُر أَتَهتَدي أَم تَكونُ مِنَ الَّذينَ لا يَهتَدونَYusuf AliHe said: “Transform her throne out of all recognition by her: let us see whether she is guided (to the truth)1 or is one of those who receive no guidance.”The throne having been transformed, it will be a test to see whether Bilqis recognises it as her own and accepts it of her own free will as her own, or rejects it as something alien to her, something she will not accommodate herself to. So in our life. We get used to certain habits and customs and certain ways of thought. God’s message comes to transform us and set us on a different kind of throne, with our own active and willing consent. If we are wise, we feel honoured and grateful- If we are “obstinately rebellious”, we reject it as not our own, and pine for the old slavery, as the Israelites pined for Egypt when they were under God’s guidance in the wilderness.