that he used to wear, weighed about three hundred pounds. When both armies aligned in the battlefield, Sayyiduna Taloot made an announcement within his army that whoever kills Jaloot, he will marry his princess to him and will also give him half of his kingdom. Listening to this royal offer, Sayyiduna Dawood came forward. At that time, Sayyiduna Dawood was a young boy, his face had become pale out of sickness and he was so poor that he used to earn his living by herding the goats. It has been reported that when Sayyiduna Dawood left his home to participate in the Jihad, a stone in his way called out, 10 Dawood , pick me up as I am the stone of Sayyiduna Musa .’ Then another stone called him and said, ‘O Dawood , pick me up as I am the stone of Sayyiduna Haroon ,’ and then there was a call from a third stone, 1
0 Dawood , pick me up as I am the killer of Jaloot.’
Sayyiduna Dawood took all three stones and put them in his bag. When the battle broke, Sayyiduna Dawood advanced with his catapult and when he saw Jaloot, he loaded the three stones in his catapult and having invoked catapulted the three stones on Jaloot. These three stones hit Jaloot on his nose and skull and after crushing his brain; they went through his head and struck thirty other people of the J aloot army killing each and every one of them. After this, Sayyiduna Dawood dragged the dead body of Jaloot and put it before His Highness Sayyiduna Taloot. Sayyiduna Taloot and the Bani Israel became very happy upon this.
After the death of Jaloot, his army fled away from the battlefield and Sayyiduna Taloot won the war. In compliance to his announcement, Sayyiduna Taloot married his daughter to Sayyiduna Dawood and made him the king of half of his kingdom. After forty years, Sayyiduna Taloot died and thus Sayyiduna Dawood became the king of the entire kingdom.
After the demise of Sayyiduna Shamweel , Allah bestowed Sayyiduna Dawood with Prophethood. Before Sayyiduna Dawood
, no one had held these two positions simultaneously and he was the first person who was bestowed with these two distinctions
simultaneously. He chaired these two positions and fulfilled the responsibilities for seventy years. After him, his son Sayyiduna Sulayman
was also bestowed with this distinction of being a Nabi as well as a king simultaneously.
(I’afseer Jamal ‘alal Jalalayn, vol. 1, pp. 308; part 2, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 251)
A brief description of this event is in Surah Al-Baqarah of the Holy Quran as:
And Dawood (David) killedfaloot, and Allah bestowed upon him the kingdom and wisdom, and taught him whatever He willed.
[Kanz-ul-Iman (Translation of Quran)] (Part 2, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 251)
Livelihood of Sayyiduna Dawood
Despite being an emperor of a large empire, Sayyiduna Dawood used to earn his living by the means of handcraft throughout his life. Allah blessed him with the miracle that whenever he would touch metal, it would turn soft and mild like wax. He used to make armours from it and would sell them to earn his living. Allah also taught him the language of birds.
(Ruh-ul-Bayan, vol. 1, pp. 391; part 2, Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 251)
Moral:
1. Similar to the event of Sayyiduna Taloot, we learnt from the blessed life of Sayyiduna Dawood that whenever Allah bestows His grace and mercy, within an instant a grain can become a mountain and a ray can become a sun. Ponder over the fact that Sayyiduna Dawood was a young boy and a son of a very poor father but all of a sudden, Allah blessed him with such dignity and grandeur that he became a crowned king and was married to a princess.
Furthermore, he was bestowed with the high rank of Prophethood. There cannot be a higher rank than this for human beings. Then witness the display of the munificent power of Allah that He made a young and an ill boy like Dawood to kill the tyrant king Jaloot using just three small stones. Apparently it was not possible as J aloot was wearing a heavy iron helmet weighing three hundred pounds. However, the reality is that if Allah wills, He may empower an ant over an elephant and if Allah wills, an elephant cannot harm an ant.
2. In the abovementioned event, you have read that Sayyiduna Taloot used to tan leather and herd the goats. Similarly Sayyiduna Dawood used to herd the goats in the early years of his life. However when he was blessed by Allah with the kingship and Prophethood, thereafter, he chose to make earning by moulding armours. It can be deduced that adopting any occupation for earning Halal livelihood whether it be leather tanning, transhumance, blacksmithing or weaving should not be considered bad or embarrassing.
Those people who have established notorious opinions about workers of such occupations, they themselves are sunk in the abyss of ignorance. Adopting any lawful occupation for earning Halal income is the blessed
conduct of the reverend Ambiya ‘ and the holy saints . Therefore, we should never consider a Muslim inferior on the basis of his occupation. In fact the professional Muslims are far better than those who earn livelihood by unfair means. In Shari’ah, bad is one who earns his livelihood by unfair or illegitimate means.
