Saba (Sheba)

10. “And certainly We gave David an excellence from Us, (saying:) ‘O’ mountains! Sing you (the praise of Allah) along with him, and (you) the birds (too), and We softened the iron for him,”

Since in the previous holy verse the words were about the penitent servant, and we know that this quality has been mentioned in some verses of the Qur’an1 about David, the Divine prophet (as), and, Allah willing, we will explain it later.

Therefore, it is better that a part of the story of this great prophet and his son, Solomon, should be explained as a sample, and the former discussion might be completed.

By the way, it can be a warning for all those who neglect the blessings of Allah, and when they sit on the throne of power, they do not obey Allah.

At first, it says:

“And certainly We gave David an excellence from Us…”

The Arabic word /fadl/ has a vast concept which envelops all of the bounties Allah (s.w.t.) had bestowed on David (as), and mentioning it in an indefinite form, is evidence upon its greatness.

David was bestowed many merits, whether material or spiritual ones, from the side of Allah that the verses of the Qur’an explain them.

Once it says:

“And certainly We gave David and Solomon knowledge and they both said: ‘Praise belongs to Allah, Who has favoured us above many of His believing servants’.”2

In another occurrence, the Qur’an emphasizes particularly on their awareness from animals’ communication and it refers to it as a great favour, where it says:

“…‘O’ people! We have been taught the languages of the birds, and we have been granted of everything; verily this is the manifest favour’.”3

The different miracles, which will be mentioned in the commentary of the verse under discussion, are a part of those favours. Moreover, the beautiful song, the ability of judging justly, which is referred to in Surah Sad, are counted as another part of this divine favour. And most important of all is the favour of prophethood and messengership that Allah granted to David.

However, after this ambiguous hint, the holy Qur’an explains it, and a part of the spiritual favours and some things of the material favours of David are detailed as follows:

“…(saying:) ‘O’ mountains! Sing you (the praise of Allah) along with him, and (you) the birds (too)…”

The Arabic word /’awibbi/ originally is derived from the term /ta’wib/ in the sense of preponderance and turning the sound in the throat of a person. This Arabic term is sometimes used in the sense of repentance, too, because its reality is returning unto Allah.

All the particles of the world, of course, entirely say the glorification of Allah and praise Him, whether someone like David does the same with them, or not, yet the privilege of David was in this that at the time of singing loudly and changing his inward murmuring into outwardly singing in the same way that concerning the glorification of pebbles in the Prophet’s hand has also been mentioned in the Islamic narrations.

Imam Sadiq (as) in a tradition said:

“Verily David went out (to the farms and deserts) while he was reciting Zabur, and when he was reciting Zabur there was no mountain, no stone, and no bird but murmured it with him.”4

Next to mentioning this spiritual favour, the Qur’an refers to a material favour, where it says:

“…and We softened the iron for him,”

It may be said that Allah taught David, in a miraculous way, how to soften the iron in a manner that he could produce some thin but strong iron bars for waving and making a coat of mail.

Or it may be said that before David, in order to defend in the battles, the plates of iron were used which were both heavy and when they fastened them to their bodies, they were so stable and inflexible that made the strivers very inconvenient.

Until then, none could make anything like armour from some stable narrow iron bars that could be put on easily over the body like clothing and could be harmonious and soft with the movements of the body. But the apparent of this holy verse shows that it was by the command of Allah that iron became miraculously soft in the hand of David.

It does not matter that the same One Who gave the property of softening the iron to the hot furnace, gave the same property in another form to the David’s fingers. Some Islamic narrations have pointed to this meaning, too.5

In a tradition it is cited that Allah sent revelation to David, saying:

“You are a good servant save that you get your sustenance from public treasury.”

Then David wept for forty days (and asked Allah to lead him somehow). So, Allah softened iron for him and he made armour… and in this way he did not need to use from public treasury.6

It is true that the use of public treasure is for those who serve the society without demanding any wage, and remove the important difficulties, but it is better that a person both deliver this service and, if it is possible for him, subsists through manual labour, David wanted to be such a kind of outstanding servant.

However, David utilized this ability that Allah had granted him in the best way, i.e., making a means used in the Holy war for protection against the enemies. He never profited from it in the ordinary means of life, but on the contrary, according to some narrations, besides running his own simple life, he spent a part of his income as a charity for the needy.7

In addition to all of these things, there was another benefit in this job of his which was counted as a manifest miracle for him.

Some of the commentators have said that Luqman came to David when he was weaving the first armour. David was changing iron into iron bars and formed them as numerous rings and joined the rings into each other.

This scene attracted Loqman’s attention very much. He fell into a deep thought while he was still watching and saying nothing until when David finished weaving the armour.

He stood up and put the armour on and said:

“What a good defensive means it is for fighting!”

Luqman, who had found out the final aim, said:

“Silence is wisdom, but there are a few persons who do it.”8