Qasas-un-Nabiyeen, volume 4. Story of Dawood and Suleman peace be upon both of them. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

قصر عظيم من زجاج

The great glass palace

VOCABULARY

Made (water) run	أجروا	builders	بنائين
walker	ماشي	intervenes	يَحُول
She suspects	تتوهم	certain	مؤكد
Her two shins	ساقيها	Displays (lifts up the lower garment to reveal the shin)	تَكشِفُ
It is or it will be recognized	تُدرِكُ	Becomes obvious	تتبينُ
Outer looks, appearances	مَظاهر	deception	اِنخداع
cover	غطاء	It is exposed	يَنكَشِفُ
		More eloquent	أبلَغ

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Suleman, peace be upon him, ordered the builders from the human beings and the Jinns to build a great palace made of glass. They built it and made the water flow underneath it. One who was not aware of the actual matter, would think that this was all water, although the glass was intervening between the walker (on the glass) and the water. It was certain that the queen would also suspect that it was water and she would lift up her lower garment exposing her two shins (in order to avoid it getting wet). There and then her mistake would become obvious, and her shortsightedness and easy deception by the outward phenomena would be recognized.

She and her people used to prostrate before the sun because it was the greatest outward source of light and life, even though it is simply one of the characteristics of Allah. At that time the covering over her eyes will be lifted and she will recognize that she had made an error in the matter of the glass mistaking it for water and hence displaying her two shins. Likewise, she had erred by treating the sun as the Creator and prostrating before it and worshipping it. This would be a more effective argument than a hundred speeches and a thousand evidences.