Surah Sad 38:15-26 - Quran Translation Commentary

22. When they burst in upon Dawood, he was afraid of them.²⁵ They said: “Have no fear, we are two litigants, one of whom has wronged the other Judge rightly between us, and do not be unjust; guide us to the right path.²⁶

23. “He is my brother, he has ninety-nine ewes and I have only one ewe; and he demanded it to be entrusted to him, and he has prevailed upon me in speech.”²⁷

24. Dawood said: “He has wronged you in demanding your ewe in addition to his ewes,²⁸ and verily many partners are unjust to one another ,²⁹ except such as believe and do good acts,³⁰ and they are few.”³¹ And Dawood realised that We had tried him, and he sought forgiveness of his Lord, and he bowed himself and fell down prostrate and repented.³²

25. So We forgave him that; ³³ and verily, he had access to Our presence and an excellent place to return.

26. (Allah said): ‘O Dawood ! We have made you ruler ³⁴ on the earth. So judge among men rightly and do not yield to lust, lest it should turn you away from Allah’s path³⁵. Those that stray from Allah’s path shall be sternly punished, because they forget the Day of Reckoning.”³⁶

Commentary

14. ‘Saihah’ (terrific sound) means the second blowing of the bugle of the Doomsday, This terrific sound will be so loud that all dead persons will become alive and will rise to account before their Lord for their acts. After this shout or sound they will not be allowed any respite for anything but everyone will have to present himself or herself before Allah at once.

15. When the subject of the Day of Reckoning comes before the deniers, they become nonserious and say that whatever is their due punishment, it should be given them here in the world, why should they wait till the Day of Reckoning.

16. The personality of prophet Dawood (David) was very powerful. Physically also he was very powerful and strong, that is why he could defeat the strongest wrestler Jalot (Goliath) single-handed, (Surah Baqarah, Ayah No.251). His personality came into prominence after his achievements in this battle. Then for him iron was made soft, from which he used to make coats of arms. Thus he was very powerful even politically, as his government was very strong.

17. Turning towards Allah means to think about Him, to turn to Him in every matter, to repent before Him for one’s mistakes, and to adopt the path of His worship and obedience. By depicting these attributes of Prophet Dawood the idea is to clarify that the destroyed nations of A’d, Tahmud, and Firaun, etc., were made strong and powerful by Allah, but in their pride and vanity on account of power they rebelled against Allah, As against this the personality of Prophet Dawood was such that inspite of so much power, he turned towards Allah. If these people keep the ideal personality of Prophet Dawood before them, they will not feel proud of their strength but will turn to Allah.

18. For explanation please see Surah Anbia, Note No.106.

19. When Prophet Dawood used to say hymns (tasbeeh) in his melodious voice, similar sounds used to emanate from the hills around him. And the birds also used to flock near him and sing with him. In this way a very enchanting atmosphere used to be created. This was the manifestation of a miracle from Allah in favour of Prophet Dawood.

20. That is: Not only Dawood, but the mountains and the birds also used to engage themselves in remembering and singing praises of Allah.

21. On entering the holy land (Palestine) the Bani Israil had to fight many battles continually, and gradually they went on conquering one region of Palestine after another, till Prophet Dawood was able to establish a strong kingdom, and its area became very wide.

22. That is: Understanding and intelligence.

23. He was granted the attribute of taking a firm and quick decision and giving judgment without delay. That is why there was an influencing effect in his speech and deciding the disputes brought before him. This characteristic was very prominent.

24. Here the story of those disputants or parties to a dispute is related who had entered his bed room unauthorisedly climbing over the wall.

The word ‘Mehrab’ used here means a private chamber which was reserved for worship. Possibly Prophet Dawood was busy praying when the litigants entered his chamber.

25. They went to Prophet Dawood at an odd hour, and seeing the door of his chamber closed, they jumped over the wall. By this odd entrance of theirs at the unusual hour, Prophet Dawood was frightened, wondering with what intention they might have come. His being frightened was quite natural.

26. The litigants reassured the prophet that their purpose was nothing but their desire that their dispute should be settled. Their way of talking was improper. They asked him not to be unjust to them, although he was a prophet and none could doubt his integrity.

27. One party presented his case that the opposite party was his brother and possesses ninety nine ewes, and he himself has only one ewe, and his brother is demanding that it should also be handed over to him. He does not approve of his proposal, but his brother gets the better of him in discussion and in a quarrel. Therefore he demanded that he should be given justice and judgment whether the demand of his brother was right.

It may be noted that the second party to the dispute did not demand that the first party should give it away to him but merely to hand it over in his care as is clear from the word ‘akfilniha’. Possibly his intention might have been to finally usurp the ewe so that he may have the round figure of hundred ewes. But he presented his demand in such a way as if he wanted to take care of the one ewe with his ninety-nine ewes, as it would be easier, and since he was his brother he might have put up this demand forcefully. He argued that a single ewe was easier to be stolen and it would be difficult for his brother to keep it safely. But his brother understood that his intention was not good. He refused and his brother insisted and this dispute became a regular quarrel, so they approached the Prophet Dawood for justice.

28. Prophet Dawood must have heard the case of the other brother also, since it is not expected of a good judge to hear only one side of a dispute. But Quran has not quoted his statement, because by that statement the case of the other party was not being proved to be wrong, as the claim of the party concerned was not that the ewe belonged to him as has been made clear in the above note. He wanted the custody of the ewe for taking its care.

Prophet Dawood gave the judgment that the demand of the second party was absolutely wrong and amounts to the usurpation of this man’s right. When the first party does not want to hand over his ewe to the second party, then to insist on it by the second party is not proper and he has no right to do so. This was the right judgment and quite reasonable.

29. Generally the excesses the partners commit against one another in that connection what is the legal position was observed by Prophet Dawood, which was a hint of the point that the demand to join the one ewe with his ninety-nine ewes was a trick of usurping that ewe.

30. The litigants had also requested Prophet Dawood to show them the right path. So while giving his judgment, Prophet Dawood gave them this guideline that a life of faith and righteousness only saves man from indulging in usurping rights of others.

31. That is: Such slaves of Allah as are sincere in their faith and righteous in their practical life are very few, and it is a fact that such persons had been very few in every age, for to develop good attributes in one’s self is a very difficult task, and in the world things of high quality are few and far between. Diamonds and gems are rarely found but there is no dearth of stones. Similarly gold is not easily available, while other metals are easily found and in larger quantities. Therefore, whoever is guided by Allah, he becomes a true Momin and a man of righteous character.

32. Although the litigants had come to him at an odd hour and by the unusual way of jumping over the wall, and had also used rather impolite language, yet Prophet Dawood bore that with patience and with much fortitude, and gave his judgment most properly and in a just way. He also thought that this daring of the litigants was a trial for him from Allah. When an intelligent person is confronted with some difficulty, he at once remembers his own defects. Prophet Dawood also remembered his own mistake on this occasion. Accordingly he at once prayed to Allah to forgive him, bowing before Him and prostrated himself before Him, and turned to Him sincerely.

This was Prophet Dawood’s ideal character that inspite of being a great ruler his sincerity of faith and fear of Allah was so great that he always used to check his own defects, and feeling sorry for his own mistake prayed for forgiveness from Allah always.

In his kingdom, the poor could get justice, and his style of ruling was just and righteous.

“This is the ayat-e-sajdah, therefore, on reading or hearing it one must offer sajdah (prostrate himself before Allah), so that the reader or hearer may be moved sufficiently to turn to Allah, the Last Prophet’s offering sajdah on this occasion is confirmed.” -(Bukhari Abwabus Sujud ul Quran).

33. What was the mistake of Prophet Dawood this has not been explained by the Quran, but from the following ayah it is surmised that he might have committed some mistake in his duties of ‘khilafat’, (rule), of which he was reminded at this time. Quran has kept this mistake veiled, then where is the necessity for us to try to unveil it. The commentators who have tried to trace the mistake have explained it by attempting out of the way interpretations, and have ascribed such acts to Prophet Dawood as are below the dignity of a Divine messenger. The well known commentator, Ibn Jarir Tabari, had committed the sorrowful error of copying the absurd tale of the marriage of Uriah Hitti’s wife to Prophet Dawood. May Allah forgive him. The tale of the marriage of Uriah Hittie’s wife with Prophet Dawood is narrated in the Bible. (2- Samual- Chapter 11-12). It is full of false allegations and charges and so absurd that it cannot be copied by us. (God forbid!) Some narrators have taken this story with little modification and copied it. But various commentators have refuted this also. For example, Allama Razi has termed this story as very shameful and has rejected it. Allama Katheer writes :

“On this occasion commentators have narrated a story whose major portion is extracted from Israili sources and there is no authentic hadith from the Last Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) which may be considered reliable.” - (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, Vol. 4, page 31).

And Maulana Hifzur Rehman, in his well researched book, “Qasasul Quran (Urdu) writes :

“But it is a pity, a hundred thousand pities, that despite this holy declaration of Quran some commentators, taking this vulgar story of Uriah Hittie and his wife from the Torah and the Israili sources and quoted it in the commentary of the holy Quran, and provided to the Israili absurdities sanctity of Islamic narrative without any proof of authority. These simpleton elders did not at all think that these vulgar stories which they were quoting as the Israili traditions in the commentaries of the Quran will be considered in coming years as the explanation and commentaries of the Quran and will be a means of mischief in the ummah, and will be a cause for its misguidance. And wonder of wonders that some of the old and new polemicists instead of outright rejecting and throwing away these vulgarities and false allegations, attempted to seek plausible vehicles for them. They over looked the reality that but for their uncalled for good wishes these interpretations of the vulgar narratives are as weak as the wall of sand and the web of a spider, and accepting it with any style or understanding, adversely affects the basic Islamic belief about the innocence of the prophets, and that the holy Quran is absolutely free from any such ideas, it considers this kind of narratives as false allegation of a grave kind, then how does a man get the right of relating this kind of vulgar traditions in the commentary of the holy Quran?” (Qasasul Quran Volume 2, page 179).

But it is amazing that the author of Tafheemul Quran has presented this story of the Bible after having refined it. He has interpreted it in this way: ‘It seems that Prophet Dawood had come to know of the good attributes of this lady from some source, and an idea came to him that a lady of such qualities should be the queen of a country instead of being a wife of an ordinary officer. Being overwhelmed by this idea he requested her husband to divorce her. He did not consider it awkward because such a thing was not thought objectionable by the Bani Israil.” -(Tafheemul Quran, Vol.4, page 328). This reasoning is also wrong and baseless. The point that Prophet Dawood thought of marrying another man’s wife and he expressed his desire to that man that he should divorce her, is morally a very low thing and by ascribing such a thing to a prophet the office of prophethood is thrown into bad light, while the Prophet is on the highest peak of morality. And pray how did this thing came to be known that such a thought was generated in Prophet Dawood’s mind? From the Shariah point of view also such a thing is objectionable that a person be asked to divorce his wife so that he may wed after the divorce. It would amount to effecting discord between a husband and his wife. How can such an act be allowed by the Shariah? Then how can a thing which is neither right morally nor is it lawful according to the Shariah can be ascribed to a prophet? The learned commentator and other commentators had to take the tortuous road in unsuccessfully trying to unveil the error of a prophet which Allah had kept under veil. May Allah forgive them and bless His Prophet, Dawood. (Peace be upon him) with His mercy and favours.

34. Here Khalifa means a man in power or ruler (Khalifa is the word used in the text). The gradual power which Bani Israil gained in the holy land shaped into a firm and strong government in the time of Prophet Dawood. It was a purely Islamic government, whose reins of power were in the hands of a prophet. This ‘khilafat’ (Islamic govt.) was different from that imperialism which is characterised by dictatorship and lust. (For further explanation of the word Khalifa, please see Surah Fatir, Note No.71).

35. After gaining power man does not fulfill the demands of justice and truth, but follows his own wishes and does whatever he likes, right or wrong, which results in misguidance. Therefore, Allah has emphatically directed that all the decisions of the state should be on the basis of truth and justice. This was constant directive to Bani Israil through Prophet Dawood that the power that has been given them should not be misused. And the same directive holds good for the Muslim ummah that after gaining power it should be used on the basis of truth and justice, which also means following the commands of the Shariah.

36. It has become clear that the thing which keep men on truth and justice is the belief in the accountability before Allah on the Day of Judgment. If this concept does not rule the heart then desire and lust take over man, and he starts taking wrong decisions. Thus the path of guidance is lost to him.