on's ring, that
according to the Kuran, David, Solomon, and all the
Biblical patriarchs and prophets were good Muslims, for
Muhammed did not profess to introduce a new religion,
but simply to restore the original and only true faith,
which had become corrupt.

[78] We are not told here how the demon came to part with
this safeguard of his power. The Muslim form of the
legend, as will be seen presently, is much more
consistent, and corresponds generally with another
rabbinical version, which follows the present one.

Another account informs us that the demon, having cajoled Solomon out of
possession of his magic ring, at once flung it into the sea and cast the
king 400 miles away. Solomon came to a place called Mash Kerim, where he
was made chief cook in the palace of the king of Ammon, whose daughter,
called Naama, became enamoured of him, and they eloped to a far distant
country. As Naama was one day preparing a fish for broiling, she found
Solomon's ring in its stomach, which, of course, enabled him to recover
his kingdom and to imprison the demon in a copper vessel, which he cast
into the Lake of Tiberias.[79]

[79] According to the Muslim version, Solomon's temporary
degradation was in punishment for his taking as a
concubine the daughter of an idolatrous king whom he had
vanquished in battle, and, through her influence, bowing
himself to "strange gods." Before going to the bath, one
day, he gave this heathen beauty his signet to take care
of, and in his absence the rebellious genie Sakhr,
assuming the form of Solomon, obtained the ring. The
king was driven forth and Sakhr ruled (or rather,
misruled) in his stead; till the wise men of the palace,
suspecting him to be a demon, began to read the Book of
the Law in his presence, whereupon he flew away and cast
the signet into the sea. In the meantime Solomon hired
himself to some fishermen in a distant country, his
wages being two fishes each day. He finds his signet in
the maw of one of the fish, and so forth.

It may appear strange to some readers that the Rabbis should represent
the sagacious Solomon in the character of a practitioner of the Black
Art. But the circumstance simply indicates that Solomon's acquirements
in scientific knowledge were considerably beyond