Surah Saba Ayat 10 (34:10 Quran) With Tafsir

Ala-Maududi

(34:10) We bestowed Our favour upon David.^[14] (We commanded): “O mountains, sing Allah’s praises with him”; (and so did We command) the birds.^[15] We softened the iron for him, (saying):

14. This is an allusion to the countless favors with which Allah had blessed the Prophet David (peace be upon him). He was an ordinary young man of the tribe of Judah, living at Bethlehem. In a campaign against the Philistines he slew the giant Goliath, the great enemy of Israel, and suddenly grew in esteem of the Israelites. With this event began his rise to prominence; so much so that after the death of Saul he was first elected king of Judah in Hebron, and then a few years later he was made king over all the tribes of Israel. He took Jerusalem and made it the capital of the kingdom of Israel. It was under his leadership that for the first time in history a God-worshipping kingdom was established, whose boundaries extended from the Gulf of Aqabah to the western banks of the River Euphrates. In addition to these favors, he was further graced with Divine bounties in the form of knowledge and wisdom, and the qualities of justice and mercy and devotion to the truth. For details, see (Surah Al-Baqarah, ayat 251) note 273 and (Surah Bani Israil, ayat 5) note 7.

15. For this refer to (Surah Al-Anbiya, Ayat 79) note 71 thereof.

Ibn-Kathir

10. And indeed We bestowed grace on Dawud from Us (saying): “O you mountains! Glorify with him! And you birds (also)! And We made the iron soft for him.” 11. Saying: “Make you perfect coats of mail, and balance well the rings of chain armor ﴿Sard﴾, and work you (men) righteousness. Truly, I am All-Seer of what you do.”

Here Allah tells us how He blessed His servant and Messenger Dawud (David), peace be upon him, and what He gave him of His great bounty, giving him both prophethood and kingship, and huge numbers of troops. And He blessed him with a mighty voice. Such that when he glorified Allah, the firm, solid, high mountains joined him in glorifying Allah, and the free-roaming birds, who go out in the morning and come back in the evening, stopped for him, and he was able to speak all languages. In the Sahih it is recorded that the Messenger of Allah heard the voice of Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari, may Allah be pleased with him, reciting at night, and he stopped and listened to his recitation, then he said:

(This man has been given one of the sweet melodious voices of the Prophet Dawud.) Abu `Uthman An-Nahdi said, “I never heard any cymbal, stringed instrument or chord that was more beautiful than the voice of Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari, may Allah be pleased with him.”

(Glorify) means, glorify Allah. This was the view of Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and others. The root of this word ﴿Ta’wib﴾ means to repeat or respond, so the mountains and birds were commanded to repeat after him.

And We made the iron soft for him. Al-Hلasan Al-Basلri, Qata0dah, Al-A mash and others said, He did not need to heat it in the fire or beat it with a hammer؛ he could simply twist it in his hands, like a thread. Alla0h said:

Saying: Make you perfect coats of mail… , which means chain mail. Qata0dah said, He was the first person ever to make chain mail؛ before that, they used to wear plated armor.

(and balance well the rings of chain armor ﴿Sard﴾,) This is how Allah taught His Prophet Dawud, peace be upon him, to make coats of mail. Mujahid said concerning the Ayah:

(and balance well the rings of chain armor ﴿Sard﴾,) “Do not make the rivets too loose that the rings (of chain mail) will shake, or make them too tight that they will not be able to move at all, but make it just right.” `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that `Ibn `Abbas said, “Sard refers to a ring of iron.” Some of them said, “Chain mail is called Masrud if it is held together with rivets.”

and work you (men) righteousness. means, with regard to what Alla0h has given you of blessings.

Truly, I am All-Seer of what you do. means, watching you and seeing all that you do and say؛ nothing of that is hidden at all.