Reports on the affair of Dawud (peace be upon him) and his humility

Urwah said: Dawud (peace be upon him) would deliver sermons to the people while in his hand was a basket made of leaves. When he finished, he would give it to someone sitting nearby so that he could sell it.

It is narrated from Mujahid that he said: When the error occurred from Dawud (peace be upon him), and his error was only that when he saw that woman he had her moved away and did not go near her, two disputants came to him, climbing over the wall. When he saw them, he stood, went to them and said: "Leave me. For what purpose have you come here?" They said: "We wish to speak with you only briefly. This brother of mine has ninety-nine ewes and I have one ewe, and he wants to take that one from me as well." Dawud (peace be upon him) said: "By Allah, he deserves to have his body broken from here to here," meaning from the nose to the chest. That man said: "Dawud has done this very thing." So Dawud (peace be upon him) realized what he meant by that and became aware of his sin. He remained in prostration for forty days and nights, and his sin stayed written on his hand, and he would look at it lest he forget it at any moment, until wild plants grew around him from his tears and covered his head. After forty days he called out: "The forehead has become wounded and the eye has run dry, and nothing has been said about the error of Dawud." Then it was called out: "Are you hungry, that you may be fed? Or naked, that you may be clothed? Or wronged, that you may be helped?" So when his sin was not mentioned, he wept so much that the plants near him turned yellow, and at that point Allah forgave him. When the Day of Resurrection comes, Allah Almighty will say: "Come before Me." He will say: "My sin!" Allah will say: "Come behind Me." He will say: "O my Lord, my sin!" Allah will say to him: "Take hold of My foot," and he will take hold of His foot.

Thabit al-Bunani said: It has reached us that the Prophet of Allah Dawud (peace be upon him) had divided the prayer among the women of his household and his children, so that there was no hour of the night or day in which someone from the family of Dawud was not praying. So this verse came concerning them: "Work, O family of Dawud, in gratitude; and few of My servants are grateful." [Saba: 13]

Al-Hasan said that Dawud (peace be upon him) said: "If every hair of mine were given two tongues, and they were to glorify You day and night, even then I could not fulfill the due of a single one of Your blessings."

Abu al-Ahwas said: Two disputants came to Dawud (peace be upon him), and each of them was holding the other's head.

It is narrated from Sa'id bin Jubayr that he said: The trial of Dawud (peace be upon him) was the falling of his gaze.

Ata bin al-Sa'ib reports from Abu Abdullah al-Jadali that he said: Dawud (peace be upon him) did not raise his face toward the sky until his death.

Al-Ahnaf bin Qays reports from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that Dawud (peace be upon him) said: "O Lord, the Children of Israel make supplication to You by means of Ibrahim, Ishaq and Ya'qub. O Allah, make me the fourth among them." So Allah Almighty revealed to him: "Ibrahim was thrown into the fire because of Me, and he was patient, and such a trial has not come to you. And Ishaq sacrificed his life for Me and was patient, and this trial too has not come to you. And I took away the beloved of Ya'qub until his eyes turned white, and he too was patient, and this trial too has not come to you."

Khalifah reports from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: It occurred to the heart of Dawud (peace be upon him) that if he were put to trial, he would remain safe. He was told: "You will soon be put to trial, and you will come to know the day on which you will be tried, so be on your guard." Then he was told: "Today you will be tried." So he took the Zabur, held it under his arm, closed the door of the prayer chamber, seated a servant at the door and said: "Do not let anyone come in today." While he was reading the Zabur, a beautiful golden bird came, in which there were many colours. It began to come toward him and drew near, until he was able to pick it up. He meant to take it in his hand, but it hopped away behind him. So he closed the Zabur and stood up to catch it, but it flew and perched on the skylight of the prayer chamber. He went near it, and it settled on a hut. He looked down over it to see where it had gone, and suddenly his sight fell upon a woman beside her pool, taking the ritual bath after menstruation. When she saw his shadow, she moved her head and covered her body with her hair. Dawud (peace be upon him) said to the servant: "Go and tell such-and-such woman to come to me." He went and said to that woman: "The Prophet of Allah is calling you." She said: "What business do I have with the Prophet of Allah? If he has some need, let him come to me; as for me, I will not go to him." The servant came to him and told him what she had said. He went to her, and she shut the door and said: "O Dawud (peace be upon him), what has happened to you? Do you not know that whoever does this, you people stone her?" And she admonished him, so he went back. Her husband was a fighter in the path of Allah, so Dawud (peace be upon him) ordered the commander of the expedition: "Put Awriya among the 'Bearers of the Ark'." The 'Bearers of the Ark' were the troops who would either gain victory or be killed. So he placed him among the 'Bearers of the Ark' and sent him forward, and he was killed. When that woman's waiting period ended, he sent her a proposal. She set the condition that if she bore a son, he would make him caliph after himself, and she made fifty people of the Children of Israel witnesses to that and wrote a document concerning it. He did not even sense his trial until she gave birth to Sulayman (peace be upon him) and he grew into a young man. Then two angels came to him, climbing over the prayer chamber, and Allah has related their story in the Qur'an. Dawud (peace be upon him) fell down in prostration, and Allah forgave him and accepted his repentance. Then he divorced her and kept Sulayman (peace be upon him) away. During that time he was once passing through an open field when he reached some of his boys who were playing and saying: "O Ladin! O Ladin!" Dawud (peace be upon him) stopped and asked: "Why has this one been named Ladin?" Sulayman (peace be upon him), who was off to one side, said: "If he were to ask me, I would tell him." Dawud (peace be upon him) was told: "Sulayman is saying such-and-such." He called him and said: "Why has this boy been named Ladin?" He said: "I will tell you about it." Sulayman asked the boy about the story of his father, and he was told that the boy's father had gone on a journey with his companions and was very wealthy. They resolved to kill him, so he left them this instruction: "I have left my wife pregnant. If she bears a son, tell her to name him Ladin." So Sulayman summoned his companions, and when they came he took one of them aside and kept speaking with him until he confessed, and he took the others aside and kept speaking with them until they had all confessed. He then sent them to Dawud (peace be upon him), and he had them killed. After this he became somewhat kind toward him. There was a devout woman among the Children of Israel who had adopted a life of monastic seclusion. She had two beautiful slave girls, and that woman kept no connection with men. One of the slave girls said to the other: "This hardship of ours has gone on for a long time. She does not want men, and as long as we stay with her we will remain in a bad state. How good it would be if we were to disgrace her, so that she is stoned and we get to men." So they took egg white and came to her while she was in prostration. They lifted her garment off her, sprinkled the egg white on her backside and cried out: "She has committed fornication!" Among them the prescribed punishment for whoever committed fornication was stoning. So she was brought to Dawud (peace be upon him) with the egg white on her clothes, and he meant to have her stoned. Sulayman said: "If he were to ask me, I would inform him." Dawud was told: "Sulayman is saying such-and-such." He called him and said: "What is the matter with this woman? What is her case?" He said: "Bring me fire. If it is the fluid of men, it will scatter, and if it is egg white, it will gather together." So fire was brought, and he placed it on the fluid, and it gathered together. So he averted the stoning from her, and he became somewhat kind toward him and came to love him. Then after that came the case of the owners of the field and the owners of the sheep. Dawud (peace be upon him) gave judgment granting the sheep to the owners of the field. They went out, and the shepherds went out with them, with their dogs. Sulayman said: "How was the judgment made between you?" They told him. He said: "If their matter had been entrusted to me, I would have judged between them differently from this judgment." Dawud was told: "Sulayman is saying such-and-such." He called him and said: "How would you judge?" He said: "Hand over the sheep to the owners of the field for this year. Their young, their ghee, their milk and their benefits will belong to them for this year. And these others will sow the like of their field, and when the field reaches the state it was in, these will take back the field and those will hand back the sheep to them." He said: So he became kind toward him.

Hammad said: I heard Thabit say: He is Awriya.

Abdullah bin al-Harith reports from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: Allah Almighty revealed to Dawud (peace be upon him): "Tell the wrongdoers not to make mention of Me, for the right of the one who remembers Me upon Me is that I make mention of him, and My mention of the wrongdoers is that I curse them."

Sa'id bin Jubayr reports from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: Dawud (peace be upon him) died suddenly on a Saturday, and he used to devote Saturdays to worship. So the birds gave him shade.

Sa'id bin Jubayr also reports from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that "O mountains, repeat with him" means: O mountains, glorify Allah.

Abu Husayn reports from Abu Abd al-Rahman that "O mountains, repeat with him" [Saba: 10] means: O mountains, glorify Allah.

Mujahid said: He wept so much over his error that the grass around him turned yellow from his tears.

Abu Maysarah said: The meaning of "repeat" is: glorify Allah.