Commentators on the Kuran state that while Solomon was still a mere youth he frequently upset the decisions of the judges in open court, and they became displeased with his interference, though they could not but confess to themselves that his judgment was always superior to theirs.  Having prevailed upon King David to permit the sagacity of his son to be publicly tested, they plied him with what they deemed very difficult questions, which, however, were hardly uttered before he answered them correctly, and at length they became silent and shame-faced.  Then Solomon rose and said (I take the paragraph which follows from the English translation of Dr. Weil’s interesting work, The Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud, 1846, p. 165 f.): 

“You have exhausted yourselves in subtleties, in the hope of manifesting your superiority over me before this great assembly.  Permit me now also to put to you a very few simple questions, the solution of which needs no manner of study, but only a little intellect and understanding.  Tell me:  What is Everything, and what is Nothing?  Who is Something, and who is less than Nothing?” Solomon waited long, and when the judge whom he had addressed was not able to answer, he said:  “Allah, the Creator, is Everything, and the world, the creature, is Nothing.  The believer is Something, but the hypocrite is less than Nothing.”  Turning to another, Solomon inquired:  “Which are the most in number, and which are the fewest?  What is the sweetest, and what is the most bitter?” But as the second judge also was unable to find proper answers to these questions, Solomon said:  “The most numerous are the doubters, and they who possess a perfect assurance of faith are fewest in number.  The sweetest is the possession of a virtuous wife, excellent children, and a respectable competency; but a wicked wife, undutiful children, and poverty are the most bitter.”  Finally Solomon put this question to a third judge:  “Which is the vilest, and which is the most beautiful?  What is the most certain, and what is the least so?” But these questions also remained unanswered until Solomon said:  “The vilest thing is when a believer apostasises, and the most beautiful is when a sinner repents.  The most certain thing is death and the last judgment, and the most uncertain, life and the fate of the soul after the resurrection.  You perceive,” he continued, “it is not the oldest and most learned that are always the wisest.  True wisdom is neither of years nor of learned books, but only of Allah, the All-wise.”

The judges were full of admiration, and unanimously lauded the unparalleled sagacity of the future ruler of Israel.—­The Queen of Sheba’s “hard questions” (already referred to, p. 218) were probably of a somewhat similar nature.  Such “wit combats” seem to have been formerly common at the courts and palaces of Asiatic monarchs and nobles; and a curious, but rather tedious, example is furnished in the Thousand and One Nights, in the story of Abu al-Husn and his slave Tawaddad, which will be found in vol. iv of Mr. John Payne’s and vol. v of Sir R. F. Burton’s complete translations.