Asif ibn Barkhiya

Asif ibn Barkhiya is mentioned in the Quran (Surah al-Naml 27:40) as the one who said: 'I will bring it to you before your glance returns to you' — referring to the throne of Bilqis, Queen of Saba, which was located in Yemen while Sulayman AS was in Palestine. The context was Sulayman's question to those around him: 'Which of you will bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?' A powerful jinn (ifrit) offered to bring it before Sulayman could rise from his session. Then the one described as 'he who had knowledge of the Scripture' — identified by scholars as Asif ibn Barkhiya — offered to bring it in the blink of an eye. He did so, and the throne appeared before Sulayman instantaneously. Sulayman responded: 'This is from the favor of my Lord — to test me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful.' Islamic scholarship has long debated the nature of Asif's gift. The dominant view is that he was a righteous human scholar who knew the Greatest Name of Allah (al-Ism al-Azam) — the name through which supplications are answered immediately when called upon with sincerity and certainty. Others have proposed he was a jinn or a different category of being. The majority position (including Ibn Kathir) is that he was a human scholar, the vizier or secretary of Sulayman, who had extraordinary God-given knowledge. His action is Quranic evidence that Allah grants extraordinary capabilities to His devoted servants who have deep knowledge and certainty, and it is one of the key Quranic references cited in discussions of karamat (miracles of saints).