The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: David: The Awaited Manifesto

Sacred Texts Islam Index Previous Next

The Awaited Manifesto God did say: And assuredly We gave David grace from Us, (saying): O ye hills and birds, echo his psalms of praise! And We made the iron supple unto him(Saba':10), and He spoke to His prophet (PUH) by saying: Bear with what they say, and remember Our bondman David, lord of might, Lo! he was ever turning in repentance (toward Allah). Lo! We subdued the hills to hymn the praises (of their Lord) with him at nightfall and sunrise, And the birds assembled; all were turning unto Him. We made his kingdom strong and gave him wisdom and decisive speech(Sâd:17-20), and He said in another chapter: And we preferred some of the prophets above others, and unto David We gave the Psalms(Al-Isrâ':55), and also He mentioned as attributed to him (David): And he said: O mankind! Lo! we have been taught the language of birds, and have been given (abundance) of all things. This surely is evident favour(Al-Naml:16) [I belive in this point the author was mistaken because it seems the Solomon is the one who said this sentence as mentioned in Quran and not David], and there are lot of other holy phrases, so check them out. It is mentioned that when David used to read the psalms and come cross the lands you would see the beasts and birds would sanctify with him and all would say as he is saying as if it was not possible to help about it but to follow him with what he was saying even if it was about a non-living object, and that is the miracle of David, or the thing that should be put under the question, and that is the clue for others to follow him and believe in him and in his message, because it is heard from the mountains and the birds their sanctification whenever David does and none before did hear their way of sanctification, thus it should be known that this is something from God for him, and all of these things point out to his highness and his power where He made the mountains under his command and also the birds when they gather around him when he reads the book of his Lord, either listening with care or attracted with humiliation and for the command of their Lord going forth, and driven by the sound of miracle and the words of the Giver, the Lord of angels and soul.
He also made the iron supple unto him and made it like wax in his hands to take whatever he likes from and leave whatever he likes without putting it to fire and striking by tools and force, and he used to do the shields with his hands as a miracle for him and abnormal thing, otherwise it would not be a special thing if he used to use fire to make it and the miracle of God would not be apparent, and he used to make the shields out of the iron rings and not iron sheets so they can become lighter for anyone who wear them and protect him against his enemies and also to allow some air to go through his body thus he can stay in rest and safe and never be annoyed with it. God did say: And We taught him the art of making garments (of mail) to protect you in your daring. Are ye then thankful?(Al-Anbiyâ':80) so meditate, may God reveal a mercy upon you, in the way that God mentions His favours, and concentrate on understanding the wisdom from the speech of your Lord, the Wise, the Almighty that He pointed out about this, and He also said: We made his kingdom strong and gave him wisdom and decisive speech(Sâd:20). So, He made him a wise judge and a prophet and a messenger and a victorious king against his enemies, before he comes a prophet and a king and then after as well.
He remained for long time without any opposition from anyone unless he had defeated it and God made him strong with his respect and made him victorious by His strength and by his will and by the believers, and they say that he prayed to God to teach him how to judge among people with what God has of facts and realities so then God inspired to him: O David people won't bear that and I will show you. Then a man came to him and claimed that another man had wronged him and been aggressive towards him, so then God inspired to him that the one who is claiming killed the father of the one who was claimed on without having a right to do so, and so He commanded him to command the man who was claimed on to kill the claiming man as a revenge for his father, and so when he did so the Israelites took that for great and they said: a man came to him (to David) to complain and he ordered the aggressive one to kill the one of complaint! and there were lot of sayings and gossip about it and claimed that David is wrong-doer and ignorant and so on, and then David asked God to give him a relief from this trouble and said: O Lord save me from what I fell in, so God then inspired to him: O David, you asked Me to inspire you with the judgement with the right I have and so the rightful judgement was that the (aggressive) man should kill the claiming man as a revenge for his father, and he (the father) is buried in that place in a garden under that tree so go one with the Israelites and call him with his name and he shall answer you and ask him about the one who killed him and let the Israelites hear his speech so that you will be excused and your situation is fixed among them and stop to doubt about you, and so he took them with him to the place of his grave and he called him with his name and the man answered: here I am O prophet of God, and he asked him: who killed you? He answered: that man (naming the killer), so then the Israelites believed in him again and obeyed him when they heard that. Then God inspired to him: O David the servants will not be able to bear the judgement with what right I do have so ask the one claiming to give the clues and swear by My name.
And God gave him the wisdom and the decisive speech, and the meaning of "wisdom" as it is defined by the language is to put everything in its right place and doing the right thing that has no mistakes in it and no one is able to criticise it, so it has no mistakes and is not accompanied with regret and sorrow, but it is a complete act, so God gave him the prophecy and also the wisdom in addition to it. the prophecy is to receive the commands and the regulations from God by inspirations and by heart, and the wisdom is something else that God did give to him as a gift from Him for him without studying or researching or competing with the soul, and the prophecy can be a road to the wisdom that God made it special for whom He chose from His servants and He is the Passionate the Knower.
We do not about the wisdom of the prophets, and they are the most complete men at their time among their own people [some words here I couldn't understand] and for this David said to Luqmân the wise: joy for you O Luqmân, you were given the wisdom and the adversities were drawn away from you, and it is the leadership and the prophecy. David had a nice voice and a nice reading and his reading for the psalms had a passion that would take the hearts of the listeners away and attract them without their choice and their souls would be affected, I imagine it as if the legs of the listeners stopped and their hands stopped doing their jobs and the senses and all the feelings are attracted to what the ear is listening to of the melodies of David and his passion to be for his Lord and how he is feeling safe under the protection of his Lord and how he is in love with his Lord as if his mind is lost for his Lord when he speaks to Him seeking His satisfaction and afraid of His punishment and eager for His paradise and its luxuries and whatever the Giver did make in it for His faith followers who are faithful and eager for His gifts. In the Zabur there are the sermons and the tidings about what happened and what will be happening, and in them there is the sanctifications and the praises for God and humiliations before Him and before His might and power. The Zabur is the psalms and it is made of one hundred and fifty psalms.
About this matter, there are some opinions for people of the scriptures (Jews,Christians) and others that are not true at all because such opinions oppose the place of prophecy and its holiness, so there is no infallibility except for him who did God made him infallible and the guidance is by God and no power except by Him, the Exalted. As attributed to Ibn Abi-Al-Hadeed he said that David was given the nice voice and the nice reading which made the birds fall down for him on his praying niche and the beasts would hear him and get along among the people without fearing them because of his nice voice, and in a speech for the prince of believers (PUH) in Al-Nahj [a book's name]: if you desired I shall make a third for David, the owner of the psalms and the reader of paradise, for he used to work with the palm leaves with his hands and then say to his companions: who would be able to sell it and eat the bread of barley out of its price. They say that David divided the times of day and night for his family so that no hour passed by unless one of his children is in prayer, so that God did say: Give thanks, O House of David!(Saba':13). It is mentioned that the power of David made him able to take a sheep from his cattle that would be captured by a lion, out of the lion's mouth by his bare hands, and it is mentioned that he was a short man with not so much hair, this is what was mentioned in Safinat Al-Bihâr for Al-Muhaddiþ Al-Qummi.

Next: Climbing Into The Champer and Straying of Sheeps Into The Farm