Sad · Makki · ayah 24 of 88

Sad 38:24

قَالَ لَقَدْ ظَلَمَكَ بِسُؤَالِ نَعْجَتِكَ إِلَىٰ نِعَاجِهِۦ ۖ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ ٱلْخُلَطَآءِ لَيَبْغِى بَعْضُهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَقَلِيلٌ مَّا هُمْ ۗ وَظَنَّ دَاوُۥدُ أَنَّمَا فَتَنَّـٰهُ فَٱسْتَغْفَرَ رَبَّهُۥ وَخَرَّ رَاكِعًا وَأَنَابَ ۩

“[David] said, "He has certainly wronged you in demanding your ewe [in addition] to his ewes. And indeed, many associates oppress one another, except for those who believe and do righteous deeds - and few are they." And David became certain that We had tried him, and he asked forgiveness of his Lord[1325] and fell down bowing [in prostration] and turned in repentance [to Allāh].”

Saheeh International

Essence

Judging another man's greed, Dāwūd recognised his own test, and he did not argue or explain: he sought forgiveness, fell down, and came back.

A reflection

What the Quran says, and what storytellers added

This ayah carries a heavy history. Ask many people what Dāwūd did, and they will repeat a story from old lore. A king sees another man's wife, sends the husband to die in battle, and marries her. Some early storytellers carried that story into the commentaries on this passage. A sceptic might fairly ask: doesn't the Quran confirm it?

It does not, and the careful scholars said so firmly. One major commentator wrote that most of these accounts are taken from the lore of earlier peoples. No sound hadith from the Prophet ﷺ supports them. The one narration attributed to him comes through a narrator the hadith critics judged weak. His conclusion was to recite the story as the Quran tells it, and leave its knowledge to Allah.

Others went further. One said such a tale would be shameful to tell even of an ordinary Muslim known for piety, let alone a prophet. Another set out the case at length. The Quran praises Dāwūd before the story: strength in worship, constant turning back, wisdom and decisive speech (38:17-20). It praises him after it: nearness and a beautiful return (38:25). Then it entrusts him with deputyship on the earth (38:26).

A man who had arranged another's death would not be described this way in the same breath. Imagine a reference letter that reads: 'Outstanding integrity, deeply trusted, arranged a colleague's death; we recommend him for promotion.' Nobody writes such a letter.

So what was the lapse? The Quran does not say. The commentators offered far milder possibilities. He ruled before hearing the other side. He suspected his visitors of meaning him harm. He asked a man to give up something that was rightly his. Some said it was no sin at all, only leaving what was better for someone of his rank.

What remains open is the exact matter. What is not open is the Quran's own portrait: a servant who was tested, and who turned back at once.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.