Assalaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullaah
Ukhti, all I say below is only of my limited findings and notes, so it is all I can say.
To begin with, it must be noted that the word "Jasad" does indeed literally mean body. As my teacher put it, coming from the root of Jeem-Seen-Daal it refers to a physical body, something not transparent – and it may also be used to refer to a very weak body, like it is lifeless.
So that refers to the literal meaning of it. In correlation, different opinions for the ayaat are that it was :
1) a weak human being
2) a shaytaan (among the jinn with a real body)
upon the kursi (throne / or in indication of position or power) of Sulayman 'alayhis salaam as a test to him. And yes my teacher also mentioned that it was said to have caused him to lose his kingdom/position for a while after which he turned back to Allaah and it came back to him.
Now obviously the question comes to -what or why this occured, what it means. And the teacher who gave us tafseer, said that there is nothing more that can be derived from this ayah. Not the when's or how's of it. Being unsatisfactory for my curiosity I looked in an abridged version of Tafseer ibn Katheer and it said similar in the footnote to this, as is related below:
[1] Allah does not explain exactly what this Jasad was which He placed on his throne. We believe that Allah tested him by placing this Jasad on his throne, even though we do not know what it was. Everything that has been said concerning it has been taken from the 'Isra'iliyat, and we do not know what is true. (Since the word means "corporeal" interpretations centered around some type of Jinn.) Allah knows best Source page
Therefore it might be in this instance that the best outcome is to curb our curiosity and take it that Allaah knows best!
Just a few points - The translation of Muhsin Khan and Muhammad Taqi ud-Din al-Hilali, although very good, as was said before does inject into it's translations explanations from certain tafseer - such as indicating if an ayah was meant in regards to the Jews or Christians or fire worshipers - and here in this case incorporating the opinion of the body being of the shaytan / jinn... So in some cases if something is confusing it's also good to double reference it, and I usually would second nominate Sahih International's translation for this position, and for this ayah they have:
"34. And We certainly tried Solomon and placed on his throne a body; then he returned." Source
Which certainly clarifies the meaning as being 'body' rather than directly 'devil'.
Secondly, my teacher also mentioned that it was assumed before that a certain hadeeth related to Sulayman 'alayhis salaam - about him going to each of his wives in a night to have a child from them to fight in Allaah's way - is often put together with explanation of this ayah, but that it has no correlative base, and muhadditheen do not ever put this narration with this ayah.
Best I can do for you I'm afraid. And I'd just like to advice that it's easy to say a book is empty, but harder to be the one to fill it. Since this is a mutual forum, it's not the failure of just one or two people which brings about a lack, but of the community in general. This also means it's not the job of one or two people to find and learn and make this place better and more focused for khayr - but all of us in general. So if blame is to be put anywhere, it will unfortunately also fall on our own shoulders.
Rather than thus, let's work together to try to gain knowledge in order to be able to share it. I speak on my own behalf when I say I don't have nearly enough knowledge as I should, and of course of all of us here there may be nobody who knows an answer to certain things...as it's only a true fact that none of us here are scholars, and offense should not be taken when that is pointed out. If the great Imams were not ashamed to say "I don't know" then we should not also be ... NOT to say it is not important to learn Qur'aan! Laa wallaahi, just that better than making up answers or giving faulty interpretations, it's better understand the limits of one's knowledge and say they don't know.
And while I can understand the general thought behind the words spoken -in efforts that a greater attention on TTI be for learning and gaining, but still let's work ourselves for a positive change and help each other out - without being overly critical of each other.
Brothers and Sisters may fight and be upset, but at the end of the day they should be pulling each other up, not asking why the other's still on the ground.
May Allaah increase all of us in 'Ilm and help us in understanding His kalaam and May He forgive me if I have said anything wrong!
wasalaamu 'alaykum
