The Queen of Sheba's Conversion in Q. 27:44: A Problem Examined

Abstract

In a thought-provoking paper presented at a conference in London in 2003, Oliver Leaman raised the problem of the all-too-sudden conversion of the Queen of Sheba as mentioned in Q. 27:44. Leaman's suggested solution to the problem was that the queen, probably analogising from her mistake of regarding the glass for water, concluded that she was mistaken, too, in regarding idolatry as the right religion. Taking a line of interpretation different from Leaman's, this paper argues that Q. 27:44 represents not a moment of ‘illumination’ leading to sudden conversion on the queen's part but a logical culmination of a process of change of heart the queen had been undergoing long before her visit to Solomon's palace. The paper is divided into four sections. The first section summarises the conversion passage in Sura 27; the second section discusses, with reference to the argument of this paper, the conversion of Pharaoh's magicians in Sura 20; the third section compares the Qur'anic account of the Queen of Sheba with the Biblical; the final section offers brief remarks about the Qur'anic mode of reasoning, an ancillary issue which the queen's conversion seems to raise.