Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
36 So when he 1 came to Solomon,
he said, ‘Are you aiding me with wealth?
What Allah has given me
is better than what He has given you.
Rather you are exultant over your gift!
37 Go back to them,
for we will come at them with hosts
which they cannot face,
and we will expel them from it, abased,
and they shall be degraded.’
38 He said, ‘O [members of the] elite!
Which of you will bring me her throne
before they come to me in submission?’
39 An afreet 2 from among the jinn said,
‘I will bring it to you
before you rise from your place.
Indeed I have the power for it and am trustworthy.’
40 The one who had knowledge of the Book 3 said,
‘I will bring it to you
in the twinkling of an eye.’
So when he saw it set near him,
he said, ‘This is by the grace of my Lord,
to test me if I will give thanks or be ungrateful.
And whoever gives thanks,
gives thanks only for his own sake.
And whoever is ungrateful [should know that]
my Lord is indeed all-sufficient, all-generous.’
1 That is, the envoy.
2 Ifrīt (noun): devil, demon, giant, rebel; (adj.) cunning, sly, wily, smart, mischievous, rebellious, defiant.
3 He is said to have been Solomon’s vizier and successor, Āṣif ibn Barkhiyā.
