The Quran Verse
Surah 27:20–23:
[Solomon] inspected the birds and said, 'Why do I not see the hoopoe?... I will surely punish him... unless he brings me a clear authorization.' But the hoopoe... said, 'I have encompassed which you have not... I found a woman ruling them ...'"
The Relevant Source Text (Jewish Folklore)
Targum Sheni to Esther (approx. 4th–6th Century AD):
This late Aramaic commentary on the Book of Esther contains an almost identical story: Solomon holds a feast for the beasts and birds. The hoopoe (wild cock) is missing. When it returns, it tells Solomon about a land in the East called Kitor and its queen (the Queen of Sheba). Solomon then sends a letter via the bird to the Queen.
The details of the talking bird, the scout mission, and the specific correspondence are entirely absent from the Hebrew Bible (1 Kings 10). They exist only in late Jewish folkloric expansions.
Critics argue that the author of the Quran could not distinguish between the actual historical records of the Jews (the Tanakh) and their imaginative sermons and fairy tales (Haggadah). By canonizing the Targum Sheni as divine revelation, the Quran reveals its source to be 7th-century oral storytelling rather than an omniscient God.