Eighty Thousand Set Out

Ṭālūt was appointed as a king. Fa-lammā faṣala Ṭālūtu bil-junūd — when Ṭālūt set out with the army. Ṭālūt now recruited all of the men and set out with them. Faṣala means that he separated himself from the rest of Banū Isrāʾīl: all of the children and the women and the elderly are left behind, and now Ṭālūt is with the fighters; he has the soldiers with him. Al-Suddī, one of the mufassirūn, says they numbered 80,000; his army was 80,000 soldiers, men.

Ṭālūt is not looking for numbers. Ṭālūt knows that what he is facing ahead needs an iron will; it needs patience; it needs strength. So he is going to take his ummah, take this army, through a series of tests. He is not going to take them and fight; he is not looking for a crowd. He is looking for strong soldiers who can fight with him. Because Ṭālūt, out of his wisdom, knew that if there are any weak ones among these soldiers with us, they are going to cause us more harm than benefit.