Dāwūd (David) — داود

After the defeat of Jālūt (Goliath) at the hands of Ṭālūt's army — in which the young Dāwūd killed him — Allah gave Dāwūd kingship and wisdom, and taught him what He willed. The Qur'an states plainly that had Allah not repelled some people by means of others, the earth would have been corrupted, situating Dāwūd's rise within a wider principle of how tyranny is checked in history.

He was thus given a rare combination: political authority and prophetic revelation together, a station also given later to his son Sulaymān. The Qur'an calls him a khalīfah upon the earth and commands him, as it commands every judge, to rule between people in truth and not to follow desire, for desire will lead one astray from the way of Allah.

Allah gave Dāwūd the Zabūr, and the Qur'an notes that some prophets were given preference over others in this way. His voice was such a sign of Allah's power that the mountains and the birds were made to glorify Allah along with him, repeating his praise (tasbīḥ) morning and evening, and were commanded: O mountains, echo his praise along with him, and the birds too.

Alongside this, iron was made soft in his hands without fire or forge, and he was taught to make coats of mail, measuring the links properly, to protect people in battle — one of the earliest crafts the Qur'an attributes directly to a prophet's God-given skill, paired with the instruction to work righteousness, for Allah sees all that is done.

The Qur'an relates that two disputants climbed into Dāwūd's private chamber, startling him. One said his brother had ninety-nine ewes while he had only one, and the brother had demanded to add it to his own, overpowering him in speech. Dāwūd, hearing only one side, quickly judged that the man had wronged his brother, adding that many partners do wrong one another except those who believe and do righteous deeds.

He then realized he had been tested — the account describes him understanding that We had tried him — and he fell down bowing in repentance. Allah forgave him, and the Qur'an draws the lesson directly: this is why a judge must hear both sides fully and never rule from a single account, however honest and quick-witted he is, and why swift judgment, even from a prophet, needed correction through repentance.

The Prophet ﷺ described Dāwūd's worship as the most beloved fasting and prayer to Allah: he would fast every other day, and sleep half the night, then stand for a third, then sleep a sixth — a balanced pattern of devotion that the Prophet ﷺ held up as an example of moderation between excess and neglect.

The Qur'an itself calls his house to give thanks — work, O family of Dāwūd, in gratitude — and few among the righteous servants are given a title as concise and complete as the one given to him: what an excellent servant, indeed he was one who constantly turned back to Allah.