Surah 38. Sad, Ayah 26
| يَا دَاوُودُ إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاكَ خَلِيفَةً فِي الْأَرْضِ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعِ الْهَوَىٰ فَيُضِلَّكَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَضِلُّونَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ بِمَا نَسُوا يَوْمَ الْحِسَابِ |
| Transliteration | : | yaa daawod 'in(na) -naa jacalnaa -ka khalefah fe al- 'ard. fa- uh.kum bayna an- naas bi- al- h.aqq wa- laa tattabic al- hawaa fa- yud.ill -ka can sabel 'allaah 'inna 'alladhena yad.illon can sabel 'allaah la- -hum cadhaab shaded bi- maa naso yawm al- h.isaab |
| Pickthall | : | (And it was said unto him): O David! Lo! We have set thee as a viceroy in the earth; therefor judge aright between mankind, and follow not desire that it beguile thee from the way of Allah. Lo! those who wander from the way of Allah have an awful doom, forasmuch as they forgot the Day of Reckoning. |
| Asad | : | [And We said:] "O David! Behold, We have made thee a [prophet and, thus, Our] vicegerent on earth: judge, then, between men with justice, and do not follow vain desire, lest it lead thee astray from the path of God: verily, for those who go astray from the path of God there is suffering severe in store for having forgotten the Day of Reckoning!" |
| Malik | : | We said: "O Dawood! We have made you a vicegerent in the earth, so rule among the people with justice and do not follow your own desires lest they mislead you from the Way of Allah. As for those who go astray from the Way of Allah, they shall surely have a severe punishment because of forgetting the Day of Reckoning. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | O David! We did indeed make thee a vicegerent on earth: so judge thou between men in truth (and justice): nor follow thou the lusts (of thy heart) for they will mislead thee from the Path of Allah: for those who wander astray from the Path of Allah is a Penalty Grievous for that they forget the Day of Account. 4177 4178 |
Note - 4177Cf. ii. 30, and n. 47. David's kingly power, and the
gifts of wisdom, justice, psalmody, and prophethood were
bestowed on him as a trust. These great gifts were not to
be a matter of self-glory.
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Note - 4178As stated in n. 1471 above, this vision and its moral are
nowhere to be found in the Bible. Those who think they
see a resemblance to the Parable of the prophet Nathan (2
Samuel, xii. 1-12) have nothing to go upon but the
mention of the "one ewe" here and the "one little
ewe-lamb" in Nathan's Parable. The whole story is here
different, and the whole atmosphere is different. The
Biblical title given to David, "a man after God's own
heart" is refuted by the Bible itself in the scandalous
tale of heinous crimes attributed to David in chapters xi
and xii. of 2 Samuel, viz., adultery, fraudulent dealing
with one of his own servants, and the contriving of his
murder. Further, in chapter xiii, we have the story of
rapes, incest, and fratricide in David's own household!
The fact is that passages like those are mere chroniques
scandaleuses, i.e., narratives of scandalous crimes of
the grossest character. The Muslim idea of David is that
of a man just and upright, endowed with all the virtues,
in whom even the least thought of self-elation has to be
washed off by repentance and forgiveness.
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Cf. ii. 30, and n. 47. David's kingly power, and the gifts of wisdom, justice, psalmody, and prophethood were bestowed on him as a trust. These great gifts were not to be a matter of self-glory. |
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As stated in n. 1471 above, this vision and its moral are nowhere to be found in the Bible. Those who think they see a resemblance to the Parable of the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel, xii. 1-12) have nothing to go upon but the mention of the "one ewe" here and the "one little ewe-lamb" in Nathan's Parable. The whole story is here different, and the whole atmosphere is different. The Biblical title given to David, "a man after God's own heart" is refuted by the Bible itself in the scandalous tale of heinous crimes attributed to David in chapters xi and xii. of 2 Samuel, viz., adultery, fraudulent dealing with one of his own servants, and the contriving of his murder. Further, in chapter xiii, we have the story of rapes, incest, and fratricide in David's own household! The fact is that passages like those are mere chroniques scandaleuses, i.e., narratives of scandalous crimes of the grossest character. The Muslim idea of David is that of a man just and upright, endowed with all the virtues, in whom even the least thought of self-elation has to be washed off by repentance and forgiveness. |
