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iṣbir ʿalā mā yaqūlūna wa-dhkur ʿabdanā dāwūda dhā l-ʾaydi ʾinnahū ʾawwābun
Be patient over what they say, and remember Our servant, David, [the man] of strength. Indeed he was a penitent [soul].
— Ali Quli Qarai
38ṢādصVerse 17 of 88
Sad38. Ṣādص
Ṣād
Saad
MeccanVerse 17 of 88
Surah Sad - Verses 17-20
17. “Bear patiently what they say, and remember Our servant David, the possessor of power, verily he ever turned (to Allah).”
18. “Verily We subjected the mountains to give glory with him at the evening and the sunrise,”
19. “And the birds assemble together, every one to him reverting;”
20. “And We strengthened his kingdom, and gave him wisdom and a clear judgment.”
The requisite of leadership is tolerance and patience in the face of the bitter words of others. David used to turn to Allah very much, and in all his affairs in his life he turned to Him. This permanent attention was the cause of his power. David (as) was one of the great prophets of the Children of Israel who had a very large government, and his high rank has been praised in many verses of the Qur’an.
Following the discussions mentioned in the former verses about the hindrances of polytheists and idolaters and their undue accusations to the Prophet of Islam (S), in order to console the holy Prophet (S) and the small group of the believers of that day, here the Qur’an explains the story of David, the one to whom Allah gave those many forces and He even made the mountains and birds subjected to him, in order to show that when His favour comes to someone, the mass of enemies can do nothing.
But this great prophet, with those many apparent forces, was not secure from the people’s sarcasm, so that he would be a comfort and solace for the Prophet (S), because this matter was not only for him but the great men of the world had had a share of it. At first, it says:
The Qur’anic word /’ayd/ has been used both in the senses of ‘power’ and ‘bounty’, and David had both of them. His bodily power was so that he could defeat Jalut, the tyrant, in the battle-field by a strong strike that he left the stone by his sling toward him and Jalut fell bloody on the ground. Some writers have written that the stone cleft his chest and came out from other side. And from the point of political power, he had a powerful government so that he could stand with full power against the enemies. And from the point of spiritual and ethical power and the strength of worship, it was such that he was vigilant a great part of the night busy worshipping Allah, and half of the days of the year he was fast.
From the point of the bounties of Allah, he had been bestowed kinds of apparent and hidden bounties. In short, David was a strong man in fights, in worship, in knowledge, and in government, and also he had abundant bounties. The Arabic word /’awwab/ is derived from /’aub/ with the sense of voluntary return toward something, and since the word /’aub/ is an Arabic amplification form, it indicates that he turned to his Lord very much and repented for the slightest negligence and leaving the better.
Then in the second verse, after shortly referring to the Divine bounties to David, in order to explain a part of them, He says:
In the third verse He implicitly says that not only the mountains were subjected to him, but also the birds did in order that they glorify Him with him. It says:
All the mountains and birds obeyed the command of David and joined in singing with him. The pronoun in the Arabic word /lahu/ may refer to David. If so, the meaning of the sentence is the same which was said in the above. It is also probable that it refers to the Pure Essence of Allah, which means all the particles of the world return to Him and are obedient to Him. Concerning the quality of the act of birds and mountains joining in singing with David (as), it has been said that this glorification of God had been together with the apparent sound accompanied with a kind of understanding which is in the innate of the particles of the world.
According to this idea all of the beings of the world have a kind of wisdom and understanding, and when they heard the delightful sound of this great prophet at the time of his worship, they accompanied him and the sound of their glorification were heard with together. And this is not far from the power of Allah. It was a murmur which was always current in the inside of the innate of the beings of the world, but Allah caused it to be appear for David by the power of miracle, in the same way which was seen in respect to the glorification of the pebbles in the hand of the Prophet (S).
The fourth verse again continues mentioning the bounties of Allah unto David. It says:
This was in a way that all the haughty ones, disobedient persons and the enemies would take heed of him. Besides that, Allah gave him wisdom; the same wisdom about which the Qur’an says:
The verse says:
The Qur’anic term /hikmat/ here means knowledge and the ability of managing the affairs of country, or the rank of prophecy, or all of them. This word has sometimes the scientific aspect which is rendered into ‘excellent sciences’; and sometimes it has the practical aspect which is rendered into ‘ethic and righteous deed’, and David had enjoyed all of them abundantly. The last bounty of Allah unto David was that he was given the knowledge of correct and just judgment.
The holy verse continues saying:
The application of the Arabic phrase /fasl-ul-xitab/ as an attribute for judgment is for the sake that the word /xitab/ is the debate of two parties of quarrel, and /fasl/ means: ‘cut and separation’. And we know that the talks of a person who quarrels may be ceased when a correct judgment is done between the two parties, therefore this phrase has been meant in the sense of a just judgment. There is also this probability in the commentary of this phrase that Allah gave David a strong logic which contained an excellent thought and deep meditation. Not only in the occasion of judgment, but also everywhere David would say the last word and the best statement.
Truly, with the existence of such a Lord Who is able to give an eligible man so many powers and abilities, there is no room for anybody to be despair from His grace, and this was not only the cause of comfort for the Prophet (S) and the believers who were under a hard pressure on those days, but it is the cause of solace for the whole captured believers in all centuries. Some commentators have extracted ten great Divine merits from the above mentioned verses for David which clear both the high rank of this prophet and the specialties of a complete man.
1- The Prophet of Islam (S), with that great glory, is ordered to imitate David in patience and to get help from his history:
2- Allah qualifies him by the rank of servitude and, in fact, He counts his first specialty this very rank of his servitude:
Similar to this meaning is said concerning the holy Prophet of Islam (S) relation to the subject of Muhammad’s ascension to Heaven where the Holy Qur’an says:
3- Having power:
4- Returning to Allah and his turning to Him constantly:
5- The mountains being subjected to him and that they gave glory with him:
6- Allah counts the birds’ glorification with him as one of his god-given merits:
7- That all of them joined in singing with him:
8- Sovereignty and government:
9- The Divine wisdom:
10- His ability of giving just judgment and putting an end to the conflicts:
And verily the bases of no government are firm without these qualities: knowledge, power, logic, godly piety, ability of controlling the carnal desire, and also approaching the rank of servitude to Allah. By the way, David was one of the prophets who had had prophethood and kingdom with together.
Footnotes