A prophet · link 17 of 25 in the chain
داود
Dawud
The iron-softening king
Slayer of Jalut, given the Zabur and a voice the mountains echoed.
- EraThe kingdom of Bani Israil
- PlaceJerusalem and its lands
- Named in the Qur'an16 times
The story
He enters scripture as a shepherd boy in someone else's war. When the armies of Talut met Jalut's host, it was young Dawud who felled the giant, 'and Dawud killed Jalut, and Allah gave him the kingdom and wisdom' (2:251). Kingship and prophethood met in one man, and neither corrupted the other.
His gifts read like a psalm: the Zabur revealed to him (4:163); a voice so pure that 'We subjected the mountains to glorify with him, and the birds' (21:79); iron made soft in his hands, from which he crafted coats of mail, the armor-maker king who ate only from the work of his own hands. The Qur'an calls him awwab, ever returning to his Lord (38:17), and tells how two disputants climbed into his private chamber and their case, one ewe against ninety-nine, sent him falling into prostration, reading the parable against his own soul (38:24).
His worship became the measuring stick of devotion itself. The final Prophet ﷺ declared Dawud's pattern the most beloved to Allah: sleep half the night, stand a third, sleep a sixth; fast every alternate day. Strength that rests is strength that lasts.
The Qur'an on it
'And Dawud killed Jalut, and Allah gave him the kingdom and wisdom.'
Qur'an 2:251
The mountains and birds subjected to echo his glorification.
Qur'an 21:79
'O mountains, repeat with him, and the birds. And We softened iron for him.'
Qur'an 34:10
The parable of the ewes; the king falls in repentance, judged by his own verdict.
Qur'an 38:24
The narrations
The most beloved prayer to Allah is the prayer of Dawud, and the most beloved fasting is the fasting of Dawud: he slept half the night, stood a third, slept a sixth, and fasted every other day.
Sahih al-Bukhari
Recitation was made easy for Dawud: he would order his mounts saddled and finish reciting before they were ready, and he ate only from the work of his own hands.
Sahih al-Bukhari
In numbers
- Named in the Qur'an16 times
- His bookthe Zabur (4:163)
- His craftiron softened, armor perfected (34:10-11)
The journey
- The shepherd at the battle
- Jalut falls
- Kingdom and wisdom
- The Zabur
- Mountains echo
- The ewe parable
- A worshipper's schedule
Read beside it
The words
On the Path
People beside it
A story