Sad · Makki · ayah 30 of 88

Sad 38:30

وَوَهَبْنَا لِدَاوُۥدَ سُلَيْمَـٰنَ ۚ نِعْمَ ٱلْعَبْدُ ۖ إِنَّهُۥٓ أَوَّابٌ

“And to David We gave Solomon. An excellent servant, indeed he was one repeatedly turning back [to Allāh].”

Saheeh International

Essence

Before the Quran shows Sulayman's wealth, it gives its verdict in two words, an excellent servant, and names one reason: he kept turning back.

A reflection

A king's citation: two words and a reason

The next ten ayat describe the most remarkable kingdom in the Quran. Fine horses, the wind, builders and divers, a gift given without reckoning. Yet before any of it, the ayah gives its verdict. Niʿma al-ʿabd: what an excellent servant.

The grammar is spare. The one being praised is not even named after the verb; the sentence leaves him to be understood. One commentator reasons that it must be Sulayman, the nearer of the two names. The same description had already been given to Dawud a few ayat earlier (38:17). So the son now carries his father's word.

Then comes the reason, introduced by innahu: because he was awwāb, one who returns again and again. The same commentator draws the conclusion plainly. The word gives a cause. So anyone who returns to Allah often, in most of their hours and most of their affairs, earns the same description. He calls this a truth with no doubt in it.

Notice what is not given as the reason. Not the kingdom. Not the wisdom, the armies or the wind. The citation names one habit, and it is a habit open to a cleaner as much as to a king.

At a memorial for a retired judge, the order of service ran to four pages. Senior counsel, chair of two public inquiries, honorary doctorates. The hall went quiet only once. Then his granddaughter spoke. When he was wrong, she said, he always came back and said so. That was the line people repeated in the car park afterwards.

Allah's own citation for His most powerful king reads more like the granddaughter's line than the four pages. The titles were real. They were simply not the reason.

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.