A Flute of the Family of Dāwūd

And now the children of Israel are going to enter their golden age, under the leadership of Dāwūd (peace be upon him) and Sulaymān (peace be upon him). But this was built on the shoulders of these 314 men who fought in that battle — just as the khilāfah was established on the shoulders of the three hundred and odd who fought in the battle of Badr. That is how you establish khilāfah: it is not by talking; you establish it by sacrifice. And it is not an issue of numbers; it is an issue of īmān and strength in the hearts.

That is the best era Banū Isrāʾīl ever had. After that was their downfall; after that came the curse of their anbiyāʾ upon them, and it was their downfall, and it was the end, until they eventually became the nation with whom Allah (swt) was angry. Even though we are done with the story of Mūsā, we are not done with the story of Banū Isrāʾīl; Banū Isrāʾīl are going to continue with us until we end this series on the lives of the prophets. Until the end of the series we are still going to be talking about this ummah, because every other nabī we are going to talk about from now on is from this nation, Banū Isrāʾīl. Allah (swt) made them the nation of the anbiyāʾ, and the nation of the ʿulamāʾ: out of them were the best scholars of their age and the best people of their time. It was not until they neglected the book of Allah and threw it behind their backs that Allah (swt) put His wrath and anger upon them.

Allah (swt) says: so they routed them by Allah's leave, and Dāwūd killed Jālūt. And Allah gave him — Dāwūd — the kingdom after the death of Jālūt, and Allah (swt) also taught him wisdom, and He taught him other things that He willed. Allah (swt) gave Dāwūd kingdom, and He gave him ḥikmah, wisdom, and Allah (swt) taught him knowledge. Ḥikmah was interpreted as good judgement and the ability to run the affairs of the people.

Allah (swt) gave Dāwūd (peace be upon him) some miracles and unique qualities. First of all, Dāwūd (peace be upon him) had a beautiful voice. When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was hearing Abu Mūsā al-Ashʿarī — who had the most beautiful voice among the Companions in the recitation of the Qur'an; Abu Mūsā al-Ashʿarī had the most beautiful voice in reading the Qur'an — when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) heard him read the Qur'an, he said: la-qad ūtīta mizmāran min mazāmīri āli Dāwūd — you have been given a flute of the flutes of the family of Dāwūd. This does not mean a flute literally; it means the beauty of the sound. The sound was so beautiful. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is telling Abu Mūsā al-Ashʿarī: you have part of that beautiful sound.

The voice of Dāwūd was so beautiful — in his tasbīḥ, and in the reading of their book, the book of Dāwūd, because Dāwūd (peace be upon him) received a book from Allah. We know five books. There are many others who received books from Allah (swt), but we know the names of five: al-Qur'an, which was revealed to Muhammad (peace be upon him); al-Injīl, the Gospel, which was revealed to ʿĪsā; al-Tawrāh, the Torah, which was revealed to Mūsā; and then al-Zabūr, which was revealed to Dāwūd; and then the final one, ṣuḥuf Ibrāhīm, the scrolls which were revealed to Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him).