An-Naml · Makki · ayah 15 of 93

An-Naml 27:15

وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا دَاوُۥدَ وَسُلَيْمَـٰنَ عِلْمًا ۖ وَقَالَا ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى فَضَّلَنَا عَلَىٰ كَثِيرٍ مِّنْ عِبَادِهِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“And We had certainly given to David and Solomon knowledge, and they said, "Praise [is due] to Allāh, who has favored us over many of His believing servants."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah gave two prophet-kings knowledge, and they answered with deeds, then praise, then humility: favoured over many, never over all.

A reflection

Knowledge, handed over

An old violin maker can tap a plank of spruce and hear whether it will sing. Customers watch him do it and laugh in disbelief. Asked where the ear came from, he says: forty years. That is true, but it is not the whole truth. The forty years were given to him, and so were the hands, the hearing and the patience. Plenty of people spend forty years and never hear the plank.

The ayah begins with Allah speaking of His own giving. Wa-laqad ātaynā: and We certainly gave. One commentary notes that the opening carries the force of an oath, to show how much care the matter deserves. What was given was ʿilm, knowledge, to Dawud and Sulayman.

The word comes without "the", and the commentaries read that in two ways. One view: a portion of knowledge, since beside His knowledge all knowledge is small. Another view: knowledge, and what knowledge, great and abundant, as befits a gift from the King. The same commentary weighs both and leans towards the second.

Either reading puts the expert in his place. Your knowledge is a small portion of His, or a great gift from Him. It is never simply yours.

This is where the ego shrinks. Expertise is the most respectable form of pride. We rarely boast of money, but we make sure people know what we know. This ayah quietly moves the source. A prophet's knowledge, the speech of birds included, began with ātaynā. So did your degree, your trade and the instinct that finds the fault in a machine.

Why would Allah tell us that He gave? Not to collect thanks He needs; He is free of all need (35:15). He tells us so that the knower stops guarding knowledge as a possession, and carries it as a trust.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.