Sulaiman b. Dawood was a Prophet and a King. In the Bible, he is named Solomon. The Holy Qur'an says that the kingdom given to Prophet Sulaiman had no equal in the history of mankind. He ruled over the wind and the waves. All men, jinn and animals were made subservient to his rule.

'And (We made) the wind (subservient) to Sulaiman, which made a month's journey in the morning and a month's journey m the evening, and We made a fountain of molten copper to flow out for him, and of the jinn there were those who worked before him by the command of his Lord; and whoever turned aside from Our command from among them, We made him taste of the punishment of burning.' (Quran 34:12)

Once Prophet Sulaiman decided to survey his rule. He ordered his subjects to arrange themselves in a manner that would enable him to view them. He went to his palace and there from a loft he stood alone to inspect. None was permitted to come nearby. Right then, a person appeared.

"Who are you? Don't you know that none is supposed to enter here?" Sulaiman said.

"I need no permission for entry. It is your Lord's command that your time on earth is fulfilled," answered the angel.

So Sulaiman was dead. But his subjects did not know. They thought Prophet Sulaiman was still making an appraisal. Then Allah sent some worms who ate through the staff against which Sulaiman was reclining.

The staff broke and Prophet Sulaiman's corpse fell to the ground.

'But when We decreed death for him, naught showed them his death but a creature of the earth that ate away his staff; and when it fell down, the jinn came to know plainly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in abasing torment.' (Quran 34:14)

Thus died an absolute monarch of all he surveyed.

"Scepter and crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made,
With poor scythe and spade."