Question 133: What is the meaning of His (SWT) saying: {And verily We tried Solomon and We placed on his throne a body; then he turned (to Allah). He said, My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me. Indeed, You are the Bestower}? [1]
Answer: In the name of Allah, The Merciful, The Intensely Merciful
All praise be to Allah, Lord of the World. May the Mercy of Allah be upon Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad, the Imams and the Mahdis.
It means that Solomon was tested, and this test was in the preference of two acts of worship [over each other] and those are Jihad and Prayer, for Solomon (PBUH) put forward Jihad [at the expense of] prayer until its time passed. So he went to the angels so they returned the sun by the permission of Allah, so Solomon (PBUH) prayed the ‘Asr prayer after he missed it and after the sun disappeared, because he was busy preparing for Jihad for the sake of Allah [2].
Then Allah (SWT) sent down upon Solomon the Angel of Al-Furqan (the criterion or the standard) { and We placed on his throne a body} so that he may inform him [about the difference between] the preferred and the more preferred, and the expedited [what is brought forth] and the delayed. And this angel is (a book in which the truth that Allah (SWT) wants was written). So Solomon (PBUH) learned after the Al-Furqan was sent down upon him that he did a mistake when he put forth Jihad at the expense of Prayer, {then he turned (to Allah)}, and asked for forgiveness from Allah (SWT), {He said, My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me. Indeed, You are the Bestower}
And Solomon asked that the kingdom of the children of Israel to be in his progeny, and the kingdom of the children of Israel after David (PBUH) was accompanied by prophethood, so Solomon (PBUH) asked that who bears giving victory to the religion of Allah to be the ones from his progeny so that he may have a foot in giving victory to the religion of Allah with them, and especially with the Qai’m (the riser) of the family of Ya’qoub (Jacob) and he is Jesus (PBUH), for he asked [that the Qai’m of the family of Ya’qoub] be from his progeny, and indeed [this is what happened] for Mary (PBUH) the mother of Jesus (PBUH) is from the progeny of Solomon, and the kingdom of Jesus (PBUH) is the greatest kingdom in the children of Israel, and they were promised by it and they were waiting for it.
So Solomon’s saying: {and grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me}, meaning the kingdom of the Jews, meaning that he be from his progeny and especially Jesus (PBUH); because the kingdom of Jesus (PBUH) has no similar kingdom in the Jews, for he is the awaited Qai’m (riser) of the family of Jacob. So Solomon asked that the king of the Jews Jesus to be from his progeny, so it can not be that someone like Jesus (PBUH) king of the Jews may be from another progeny than that of Solomon’s, because there is no match (or rival) to him in the children of Israel.
And perhaps some of those ignorant of the truth understand that the kingdom of Allah (SWT) is the one achieved (materialized) in the life of this dunya (world), and this is false, because the kingdom of Pharaoh and Nimrod and their likes is but the kingdom of Shaytan and his supremacy [3] , for the kingdom of Allah is given by Him to anyone whom He wills of his righteous servants, and it’s not necessary that he rules, but actually most of the times throughout the movement of this rebellious (insurgent) humanity against its Creator, the one whom Allah appointed to be king did not rule, He (SWT) says: {or do they envy the people for what Allah has given them of His bounty? For We have given to the family of Ibrahim the Book and wisdom, and We have given them a great kingdom} [4], although most of whom Allah has given the kingdom from the family of Ibrahim did not rule on this Earth, but some of them were killed and oppressed and treated unjustly by the most severe injustice of the tyrants.
So the kingdom that Solomon (PBUH) wanted was a kingdom that Allah (SWT) gives to him, then that it becomes the greatest and best kingdom Allah gives to the Jews from the children of Israel. And as such he asked that the awaited king of the Jews to be from his progeny, and he is Jesus (PBUH), even though Jesus (PBUH) neither ruled nor did he become a king, but he is the king appointed by Allah, and Allah willed for him to be raised so that he descends with Imam Al Mahdi (PBUH), and that he may rule and become a king in the state of Imam Al Mahdi (PBUH).
[1] Surah Sad (surah 38) : 34-35
[2] There are many opinions – as it is the habit of the interpreters in most of the verses of The Holy Qur’an – about the trial and test of Solomon, and in what was that? So some made his (PBUH) trial in sickness, and some made it in that he had a child only a body without a soul and that he was thrown on his bed, and a third one made his trial in his touring among his seventy women in one night like Abu Hurairah narrated, and a fourth one – such as Al-Wahdi- said [that the trial was in] the manifestation of a Shaytan in his (PBUH) image…and so on. And there is no wonderment about them – I mean whoever claims to know the knowledge of the interpretation of the Qur’an from the two parties without a difference – after the opinion was the prevalent approach to them even if they don’t call it as such, that while they recite His (SWT) saying {and none knows its interpretation except for Allah and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge} Al-Imran(surah 3):7, and who among them claim to be from those who are firmly grounded in knowledge?!
[3] For more, read the words the Imam Ahmed Alhasan (PBUH) about the supremacy of Allah in his book (Supremacy of God and not Supremacy of the People)
[4] Al-Nisaa’ (surah 4): 54, and about this verse Al-Kileini narrated on the authority of Abi Abdillah (PBUH) that he said (we are People whom Allah Almighy made it incumbent that we must be obeyed, to us belong the spoils of war, and to us belongs [what is chosen from the money before it’s distributed], and we are those who are firmly grounded in knowledge, and we are the envied in His (SWT) saying: {or do they envy the people for what Allah has given them of His bounty?} Al-Kafi vol 1, page 186, hadith 6
First Mahdi : Yamani : Ahmed Alhasan 