Sad · Makki · ayah 22 of 88

Sad 38:22

إِذْ دَخَلُوا۟ عَلَىٰ دَاوُۥدَ فَفَزِعَ مِنْهُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ لَا تَخَفْ ۖ خَصْمَانِ بَغَىٰ بَعْضُنَا عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ فَٱحْكُم بَيْنَنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَلَا تُشْطِطْ وَٱهْدِنَآ إِلَىٰ سَوَآءِ ٱلصِّرَٰطِ

“When they entered upon David and he was alarmed by them? They said, "Fear not. [We are] two adversaries, one of whom has wronged the other, so judge between us with truth and do not exceed [it] and guide us to the sound path.”

Saheeh International

Essence

A startled prophet-king is told 'do not fear' by intruders who then tell him how to judge, and he bears it and listens.

A reflection

A prophet who was afraid

Fa-faziʿa minhum: and he was alarmed by them. The Quran does not hide it. A king given strength, whose mountains glorified with him, felt his heart jump when strangers dropped into his room.

The commentators ask the obvious question. How could a prophet, steadied by revelation and famed for courage, be afraid? Their answer is plain. This was the way of the prophets before him. Mūsā and Hārūn said, 'Our Lord, we fear he will rush against us' (20:45). The messengers told Lūṭ, 'Do not fear' (29:33). Prophets were not promised that no one would try to harm them, so they felt harm approaching.

Fear, then, is not a failure of faith. It is the body's honest report that something is wrong. What matters is where the fear runs.

The root shows this beautifully. The lexicons give fazaʿ two origins: terror, and rescue. It is the heart's jolt at a night raid or a crash. It is also running to a helper in fear, and the helper answering. One word holds both the alarm and the run for help.

A woman's phone lights up at four in the morning with her brother's name on the screen. Her heart pounds before she has even answered. In that half-second, what she does reveals her. Some freeze; some begin imagining the worst. A believer can train that first breath to become bi-smi Allāh, or ḥasbiya Allāh.

Dāwūd's fear was met with words of reassurance: do not fear. Ours often has no such visitor. But it has an address. Allah tells His servants that He is near and answers the one who calls (2:186).

If you feel afraid, do not despise yourself for it. Prophets felt it. Let it be the kind of fazaʿ that runs somewhere, and let that somewhere be Allah.

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.