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ʾinna hādhā ʾakhī lahū tisʿun wa-tisʿūna naʿjatan wa-liya naʿjatun wāḥidatun fa-qāla ʾakfilnīhā wa-ʿazzanī fī l-khitābi
‘This brother of mine has ninety-nine ewes, while I have only a single ewe, and [yet] he says, ‘Commit it to my care,’ and he browbeats me in speech.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Sad - Verse 23
23. “Verily this my brother has ninety nine ewes, and I have (only) one ewe, but he says: ‘Give her into my charge’ and he overcame me in the argument.”
This verse indicates that they did not give so much respite to David and one of them preceded the other to tell him their complain. He said:
The Arabic word /na‘jah/ means ‘ewe’; it is also used for female wild cow and wild sheep. The Qur’anic term /’akfilniha/ is derived from /kifalat/ which here ironically means ‘to abandon’. (The sentence means that you do abandon the charge of it to me, or give it to me.) The Arabic term /‘azzani/ is derived from /‘izzat/ in the sense of ‘overcome’, and the concept of the sentence is: ‘He overcame me’. However, man is usually greedy and solicitous, and he never satiates from the wealth of the world.