The Judgement and the Prostration

Dāwūd (peace be upon him) gave his judgement. He said: he has wronged you in demanding your ewe in addition to his ewes; and verily, many partners oppress one another, except those who believe and do righteous good deeds — and they are few. Dāwūd (peace be upon him) said that he has wronged you; he should not have taken your sheep away from you. And then Dāwūd said: and partners always wrong each other, except the few believers.

Dāwūd (peace be upon him) is telling us — this is thousands of years ago — that most of the time partners wrong each other. In partnership you usually find that every partner is trying to take over the other, and every partner is trying to outwit or outsmart the other one, and everyone is trying to work out the best deal for himself. That always happens between partners; and there is an exception to that, and these are the ones who believe. And this is a warning to us: whenever you have a partnership, have it very clear; have the terms clear and written down. That is very important in partnerships — to have clear agreements.

When Dāwūd said that, the two men standing in front of him disappeared and vanished. Without saying anything, they suddenly disappeared. Dāwūd immediately knew that this was a test from Allah, and that he had committed a mistake. He knew; he did not need anybody to tell him.

What was the mistake of Dāwūd? He did not listen to the other side. He heard the story, and it sounded very appealing: ninety-nine sheep, and you have only one, and he took it away from you — clear oppression. He stole it; I mean, this man has ninety-nine sheep and you have only one, and he took it away from you. And he gave his judgement; he did not hear from the other side.

And this was a test from Allah (swt). Allah wants to test him. Why? Because Dāwūd is going to assume a very important responsibility, and he needs to have patience in giving out his judgement. And that is why they surprised him: that element of surprise and shock was to knock Dāwūd off his guard, and to present the case to him suddenly, very fast. So Dāwūd (peace be upon him) also gave his answer very fast. The whole setup was designed to push Dāwūd (peace be upon him) into giving a fast, hasty judgement — and that is what happened.

It was a test from Allah (swt), but Dāwūd immediately realised that it was a test from Allah, and that he had committed a mistake. What was his reaction? He made sujūd to Allah (swt). Wa ẓanna Dāwūdu annamā fatannāhu fa-istaghfara rabbahu wa kharra rākiʿan wa anāb — and Dāwūd guessed that We had tried him, and he sought forgiveness of his Lord, and he fell down prostrate and turned to Allah in repentance.