Prophets Yūshaʿ and Dāwūd: Ṭālūt’s River and the Making of a King
Section 23 of 28 · Lives of the Prophets
Two Men in the Miḥrāb
Dāwūd used to have a miḥrāb, a place of worship, where he would stay in seclusion, in solitude, and worship Allah (swt), away from everything, away from all distractions. And he would not allow anyone to come in.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, two men appeared in front of Dāwūd. Tasawwarū al-miḥrāb — they jumped over, they climbed over, and suddenly Dāwūd saw two men in front of him. So you can see that there was an element of shock and surprise in this, right? Suddenly, out of nowhere — you are in the depths of your tasbīḥ and dhikr, and now you find two men standing in front of you, inside your house. Dāwūd was in a state of shock and surprise. And they saw that he was worried, so they said: lā takhaf — do not fear.
۞ وَهَلْ أَتَىٰكَ نَبَؤُا۟ ٱلْخَصْمِ إِذْ تَسَوَّرُوا۟ ٱلْمِحْرَابَ إِذْ دَخَلُوا۟ عَلَىٰ دَاوُۥدَ فَفَزِعَ مِنْهُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ لَا تَخَفْ ۖ خَصْمَانِ بَغَىٰ بَعْضُنَا عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ فَٱحْكُم بَيْنَنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَلَا تُشْطِطْ وَٱهْدِنَآ إِلَىٰ سَوَآءِ ٱلصِّرَٰطِ إِنَّ هَـٰذَآ أَخِى لَهُۥ تِسْعٌ وَتِسْعُونَ نَعْجَةً وَلِىَ نَعْجَةٌ وَٰحِدَةٌ فَقَالَ أَكْفِلْنِيهَا وَعَزَّنِى فِى ٱلْخِطَابِ
“Has there come to you the story of the litigants, when they entered the sanctuary by climbing over the wall? When they entered upon Dawūd, and he was scared of them, they said, “Be not scared. We are two litigants; one of us has wronged the other, so decide between us with truth, and do not cross the limits, and guide us to the right path. This is my brother; he has ninety nine ewes, and I have a single ewe; still he said, ‘Give it into my charge.’ And he overpowered me in speech.”” (38:21–23)
They said: khaṣmāni baghā baʿḍunā ʿalā baʿḍ, fa-uḥkum baynanā bil-ḥaqqi wa lā tushṭiṭ wa ihdinā ilā sawāʾi al-ṣirāṭ — we are two litigants, one of whom has wronged the other; therefore judge between us with truth, and treat us not with injustice, and guide us to the right way. So Dāwūd (peace be upon him) was presented with a case. These two men said: we have a dispute, and we want you to judge between us with justice and truth.
The case is as follows: inna hādhā akhī lahu tisʿun wa tisʿūna naʿjatan wa liya naʿjatun wāḥidah — verily, this, my brother, has ninety-nine ewes, while I have only one ewe, and he says, hand it over to me, and he overpowered me in speech. One man is saying that this other person standing in front of you has ninety-nine ewes — female sheep — and I have only one, and he took away from me that one single sheep that I have, and he did not give it back to me.
There are many stories about this ayah, but all of them are isrāʾīliyyāt; we are just going to stay away from them, and we are going to stick with the Qur'an, with the authentic. So this man said: he has ninety-nine sheep, so he has much more than I do; he is wealthier than me, and I have only one. And he overpowered me; he fooled me; he took me over with his beautiful words, and I handed over to him my single sheep, and now he does not want to give it back to me.