{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/dav02.htm","path":"isl/pro/dav02.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/dav02.htm","text":"Sacred Texts\u00a0\nIslam\u00a0\nIndex\u00a0\nPrevious\u00a0\nNext\u00a0\nClimbing Into The Champer and Straying of Sheeps\nInto The Farm\nIn the chapter of Al-Anbiy\u00e2': And David and Solomon, when they gave\njudgment concerning the field, when people's sheep had strayed and browsed\ntherein by night; and We were witnesses to their judgment. And We made\nSolomon to understand (the case); and unto each of them We gave judgment\nand knowledge(Al-Anbiy\u00e2':78-79) and in the chapter of S\u00e2d:\nAnd hath the story of the litigants come unto thee? How they climbed the\nwall into the royal chamber; How they burst in upon David, and he was afraid\nof them. They said: Be not afraid! (We are) two litigants, one of whom\nhath wronged the other, therefor judge aright between us; be not unjust;\nand show us the fair way. Lo! this my brother hath ninety and nine ewes\nwhile I had one ewe; and he said: Entrust it to me, and he conquered me\nin speech(S\u00e2d:21-23).\nHere we have to cases: the straying of the sheeps into the field and\nthe climbing into the royal champer. The first is shared by David and his\nson Solomon (PUT) and the second is special for David, and about the case\nof the straying of sheeps it is as attributed to Al-S\u00e2diq (PUH) about\nthis holy phrase is that the rules of prophets before David upto his time\nwas that the sheeps and other domestic animals like camels and cows, if\nthey grazed upon some plants then the owner of these plants or agriculture\nwill be the owner of them and the straying is only done at night for the\nowner of the farm must guard his farm at daytime and the owner of the sheep\nmust guard his sheeps at night time, so David judged with what the prophets\nhad judged with before him, so then God inspired to Solomon and he was\neleven years old at that time, as it was mentioned: any sheep that graze\nin other's farm, then the owner of the farm has only the right to get what\nis formed in their bodies, and this is how it went (for judges) after Solomon,\nso Solomon ordered to get the sheeps back for the owner of the farm and\nget benefit of their milk and their offsprings and their wools, and the\nfarm shall be in the hands of the sheeps owners to fix it and get it back\nas it was before it was grazed upon, and then after that everything gets\nback to how it was and the sheeps get back to their owners and the farm\nto its owner and this is the judgement of Solomon that God made him understand,\nso everyone of them, David and Solomon, judged with the commands of God\nand they did not disobey the commandments of God, and it is by God's saying:\nand unto each of them We gave judgment and knowledge(Al-Anbiy\u00e2':79).\nIn another narration it is mentioned that God inspired to David to\nmake a successor for himself from his family because I knew in My ancient\nknowledge that I do not send a prophet except with a successor from his\nown family, and David had many children that time and the one that was\nassigned to be by God was Solomon, and then directly two men came to David\nto judge for their farm and sheeps and then God inspired to David to gather\nall his sons and whoever judges with a rightful judgement in this case\nthen he is your successor, so then David gathered all his sons and when\nthe two men told their stories Solomon said to the farmer: O farmer, when\ndid this man's sheeps go into your farm? He answered: they went into it\nby night, then he said: I judge you O owner of the sheeps to give the offsprings\nof your sheeps and their milk and their wools for the owner of the farm\nin this year, and then David said to him: how come you did not judge with\ngiving the sheeps and the scholars of the Israelites did assure that before\nand the price of the eaten plants is the price of the sheeps? Then said\nSolomon: the plants were not taken out from the roots but the sheeps did\neat its top and this would return back in the future, and then God inspired\nto David that the judgement in this case is what Solomon did judge with.\nThere are other narrations of the Household (PUT) with the same meaning\nand some of them include the addition of the two judgements together where\nthe sheeps did eat the root and the branch then the farm owner would have\nthe sheep, or otherwise it is as Solomon did judge with. Solomon also judged\nto keep the sheeps by their owners at night and to keep the farm by its\nowners at daytime, as it was mentioned before. Meditate!\nAs for the case of the climbing into the royal champer they said: David\ndivided his time and made one day for worshipping and a day for advising\nand sermons and a day to judge for the people and a day for his ownself,\nand he put some guards on his door so that no one could go inside without\nhis permission and no one would dare to go inside except by his agreement.\nIn the day of his worshipping while he stayed away from the people and\npraying in his champer, then two men climbed the wall and got inside while\nhe thought he is in safe from anyone that desires to go inside because\nthere were guards, so they went down to him from the roof or the ceiling\nand he got afraid and they said to him then: do be afraid we are two men\nin fight that one had wronged the other so judge between us with just and\ndo not wrong, meaning do not wrong us with your judgement, and guide is\nto the righteous path of just, this is my brother he has ninety nine ewes\nand I have only one ewe, and it is the female of the sheep, and he said\nto me: entrust it to me, meaning to be of my own, so that I would have\na complete one hundred ewes, and he conquered me in the speech, so that\nhe won against me and defeated me and I couldn't do anything, and then\nDavid said to the owner of one ewe: he wronged you by asking you for your\nonly ewe, and David denied the greed of the owner of many ewes and he described\nhim as a wrong-doer and made it as a great awful thing is to attack the\nowner of the one ewe and he said: many partners oppress one another, save\nsuch as believe and do good works, and they are few(S\u00e2d:24), and\nthen David looked back to the two of them and found them as angels and\nnot human beings and that God sent them to him to warn him for something\nhe had done.\nGod had tested him with their imaginary fight and in fact there were\nno fight and they had nothing but to warn him for what he had done: And\nDavid guessed that We had tried him(S\u00e2d:24), meaning We tested him\nby that case and he was aware, and he sought forgiveness of his Lord, and\nhe bowed himself and fell down prostrate and repented(S\u00e2d:24), meaning\nhe prostrated to his Lord with humiliation and he felt that he judged so\nfast for the owner of the one ewe and called the owner of many ewes as\na wrong-doer and did not ask the man under the charge and did not ask for\nclues from the claiming man, and he felt that he did something wrong against\nthe regulations and what the sacred law did regulate. For this he did prostrate\nwith regret and humiliation for his Lord and asking for forigveness. This\nwhat happened with him and from him since the time of angels revelation\nwhile he was in his champer. They said about the reason for revealing these\nholy phrases is that David was inclined to marry a woman that her husband\ndied and she completed her mourning period. The situation is that he is\nin no need to marry her because he already had many wives, and for the\nIsraelites that was prohibited before the time of David but God made it\nlegal for him. What happened with him is that he married the wife of Uriah\nafter his death and after she completed the time of mourning , and Uriah\nwas a faithful man and the neighbour of David and he was killed in the\ncamp of David, so David married his wife after she had completed the time\nof her mourning but the Israelites denied doing this as we mentioned before.\nIt is mentioned by Al-Ridh\u00e2 (PUH) in a speech for him about the\ninfallibility of prophets and he mentioned David and made him infallible\nand away from any wrong doing and mentioned him with great deeds and then\nthe Im\u00e2m (PUH) asked someone that was attending and he (PUH) knows\nbetter what he is asking about but that was only to make a way for the\nspeech to come and to obtain the things. So he (PUH) said: what do people\nsay about the case of David and his mistake? They said: they say that David\nwas praying in his champer when Iblis (Satan) had the shape of a bird that\nno other bird had its beauty, so David then cut off praying and went to\nthe bird trying to catch him, but the bird went out into the house and\nhe kept on behind it, but the bird flew to the roof and he went up there\ntrying to catch him and the bird down to the house of Uriah (ben Hayy\u00e2n)\nand David looked at him there and he found the wife of Uriah washing herself\nand she was naked and when he looked at her he loved her and desired her,\nand at the time he (David) sent Uriah for some invasions, so he sent to\nhis friend and the high commander of the army to make Uriah at the front\nof the ark, and so he did and he defeated the enemies and that was hard\nfor David, so he sent again and commanded to make Uriah at the front again,\nand so he did and he was killed then and David married his wife. The narrator\nthen said: then the Im\u00e2m struck his holy forehead with his hand and\nsaid: Inn\u00e2 Lill\u00e2h Wa'Inn\u00e2 Ilayhi Raji`un (we are for\nGod and to God we will return) [a phrase said when something horrible happens]\nyou claimed that a prophet of God took his praying with easiness for a\nbird and then he commited adultery and then killed someone. Then they said:\nO son of the prophet what was his mistake then? Then he (PUH) said: woe\nto you! David only thought that God did not create someone wiser than him\nso God sent down for him the two angels and they climbed the wall of the\nchamper and said to him: two men fought against each other...etc, and David\nthen made a fast decision against the charged man and said to him (the\nman claiming): he had wronged you for asking you for your only ewe, and\nhe did not ask the claiming man for clues and did not ask the charged man\nfor explanations, and that was the mistake of David and not what others\ndo say, didn't you hear God's saying: O David! Lo! We have set thee as\na viceroy in the earth; therefor judge aright between mankind..etc(S\u00e2d:26).\nThen they asked the Im\u00e2m (PUH): O son of prophet of God then what\nis the story of David with Uriah, so Al-Ridh\u00e2 (PUH) then said: the\nwoman at the time of David was never to be married after the death of her\nhusband, and the first man that God allowed him to marry a woman that her\nhusband was killed was David, so he married the wife of Uriah when he was\nkilled and her mourning was over, and for this was hard for the people.\nFor this it is mentioned by Al-S\u00e2diq (PUH): the satisfaction of people\nis not to be owned and their tongues are not to be fixed, did not they\nclaim that David followed the bird until he looked at the wife of Uriah\nand loved her and he made her husband at the front of the ark until her\nhusband got killed and he married her then after? They mentioned that the\nprince of believers (PUH) said: who talked about the narration of David\nas the narrators say it shall be whipped one hundred and sixty times for\nclaiming killing with attacking the high place of prophecy. It was one\npunishment with emphasis on attacking the prophet's name with lies.\nIt is narrated that David (PUH) climbed up a mountain and there was\na prophet called Ezekiel on it and he used to worship God there, so David\ntook a permission from Ezekiel and God inspired him (Ezekiel) to go and\nmeet him so he went down to him and took him from his hand and climbed\nwith him up, and then David said: O Ezekiel, ever thought of doing a sin?\nHe answered: no, then he (David) said: are you wondering about your own\nworshipping for God? He answered: no, then he (David) said: ever thought\nof life and desired some of its ornaments? He answered: yes, maybe that\nwas in my heart, then said he (David): and what do you do then? He answered:\nI go into that room and think about what is inside, so then David went\ninto the room and found a bed made of iron with an old skull on it and\nold bones and there were a plate of iron with a scripture: I am Uri ben\nS\u00e2lim, ruled for one thousand years and built one thousand cities\nand deflowered one thousand maidens, and my end was that my bed was to\nthe dust and the stones were my pillow and snakes with worms were my neighbours,\nand whoever sees me let him never be tricked by this life.\nIt is mentioned before that David married the woman of Uriah after\nher husband's death and ending her mourning, and she gave birth to Solomon\nfor him, and that was mentioned for sure. In God's speech: So We forgave\nhim that; and lo! he had access to Our presence and a happy journey's end(S\u00e2d:25),\nas it is mentioned by Al-Tabarsi: they differed in what was the purpose\nof this forigveness, and for why David did ask for forgiveness, so it was\nsaid that he got that by isolation to God and humiliation to Him by worshipping\nas it did happen with Abraham as God did tell it: And Who, I ardently hope,\nwill forgive me my sin on the Day of Judgment(Al-Shu`ar\u00e2':82), and\nthis is the most probable for the high level of infalliblity of prophet\nin all conditions and against all sins as it was proved before, while some\nsaid: it is allowed to say that they (prophets) do the little sins as it\nis apparent from God's saying: and he sought forgiveness of his Lord, and\nhe bowed himself and fell down prostrate and repented(S\u00e2d:24), and\nthen from God's acceptance for his forgiveness' seeking: So We forgave\nhim that(S\u00e2d:25), and according to this they differed also in the\ncase of David, some said: it is that Uriah asked for proposal to a woman\nand her family accepted that marriage but David then went and ased for\nproposal to her after him (Uriah) and because of his holiness they made\nhim marry the woman instead of Uriah, and that was a sin and he was blamed\nfor it, another saying is that David sent Uriah to some place and he was\nkilled but he didn't turn sad for him because he was inclined to marry\nhis wife, and that was a sin so he was blamed by sending down on him the\ntwo angels. A third saying is that when a man was to be dead and leave\na woman then his masters are the ones to take care of her, and thus when\nUriah died, David married his wife and her family did not forbid him from\ndoing so because of his high place, and that was a sin and so he was to\nbe blamed, and a fourth saying is that he was blamed for his fast decisions\nin judging people when the two men came to him and this is what was explained\nafore, and there are other sayings that are needless to say and what we\nhad mentioned has enough for you, and God is the Bringer of sucesss.\nNext: Some of What Was Inspired to David (PUH) and Some of What Was\nCopied From His Sermons","title":"The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: David: Climbing Into The Champer and Straying of Sheeps Into The Farm","type":"page"}