What Queen Bilqis Can Teach Us About Leadership in an Age of Certainty

The story of the Queen of Sheba in Surah An-Naml is brief, but its political wisdom is remarkable. When a threatening letter arrived from Solomon, Bilqis did not react. She did not convene a war council to confirm what she had already decided. She gathered her advisors, laid the matter before them honestly, and said something that leaders across the centuries have found surprisingly difficult: I will not decide without you.

Her chiefs responded confidently — they had the military strength, the capacity to fight. The decision, they said, was hers. And here is where the story turns: she chose not to use that strength. She observed that when kings conquer by force, they tend to corrupt what they enter and humiliate those they defeat. So she opted for diplomacy instead. The Quran presents this not as weakness but as discernment — the ability to distinguish between having power and being right to use it.

This moment sits in interesting contrast to the world as it currently stands. The Strait of Hormuz remains blocked. Oil markets are edging higher. Naval assets are repositioning across oceans. The pressure to act decisively — to demonstrate strength — is visible in almost every major geopolitical flashpoint. Decisive action is often equated with leadership, and consultation with hesitation.

But Bilqis modelled something different: genuine consultation combined with independent moral reasoning. She did not defer blindly to her advisors — she weighed their counsel and then applied her own judgment about what kind of outcome she actually wanted. She was asking not just “can we win?” but “what are we trying to build?” That second question is rarer than it should be among those who hold real power.

The hadith shared today adds another dimension. It reminds us that what we are shaped into depends enormously on those around us — that environment and community influence who we become. The Queen of Sheba had advisors who were honest about their capabilities and honest that the decision was hers. That kind of surrounding — people who are truthful rather than merely agreeable — is itself a form of grace. Building such an environment around us, whether in a family, an organisation, or a government, may be one of the most consequential choices we ever make.