Ancient chroniclers have related that whilst the lord Dâud was weeping and repenting, he did not lift up his head from adoration, so that the affairs of his kingdom and the circumstances of his subjects fell into disorder. Therefore some of the ignorant among the children of Esrâil deceived Shalûm, the son of Dâud, whom he had begotten with the daughter of Tâlut, and said to him: ‘Thy father is unable to attend to the affairs of the government; thou art the eldest son of the house of prophets; thou art the most worthy to rule, and therefore thou must take possession of the government, and we thy servants shall not fail to assist and obey thee with all our might. Should thy excellent father reprove thee in this matter, thou must say that thou hast taken this heavy responsibility upon thy shoulders lest the enemies of the monarchy should attempt to get possession of the treasury, and of the supreme power.’ They repeated these, and similar suggestions to him, till he complied with the wishes of those flagitious men, and assumed the reins of government. When Dâud—u. w. b., etc.—was informed of this event, he became highly displeased with the proceedings of his son; he departed from the children of Esrâil in the company of his sister’s son, Thoâb, and with his commander-in-chief, who was wise in council as well as brave to such a degree that no one was able to cope with him. When Shalûm heard of the flight of his father he made efforts to capture him. His lordship, however, despatched his sagacious commander-in-chief to Shalûm, enjoined him not to divulge that he had been sent, but to endeavour, according to his perfect shrewdness, to admonish Shalûm to return from his attitude of hostility to that of concord. The wise general then waited on Shalûm and induced him by fair speeches as well as judicious arguments to desist from rebelling against his father. After that his lordship the prophet returned honourably to his residence, but his rebellious son was awed, and deservedly fled from the sight of the Khalifah [i.e., Dâud]. His lordship ordered Thoâb [Joab] to induce his darling son to come back, and enjoined him to spare his life, under the penalty of atoning for it with his own. Thoâb [Joab] then pursued and overtook Shalûm, but disregarding the injunction of Dâud, deprived him of life, and informed the king on his return of what he had done. Dâud, being much grieved, menaced Thoâb with retaliation in the same way for the unrighteous deed he had perpetrated; he refrained, however, from political reasons to carry out his intention, because Thoâb was a victorious general who had greatly distinguished himself, and had become very celebrated; on his death-bed, however, Dâud ordered Sulimân not to spare him. Therefore, when Dâud had been interred, Sulimân executed his command, and avenged his brother’s death by relieving Thoâb of the encumbrance of his head.
It is said that in Dâud’s time the children of Esrâil had increased to such numbers as to astonish his lordship, whereon the allocution reached him: ‘O Dâud, when Ebrahim was about to sacrifice his son, I told him that I would multiply his posterity. After this promise I determined to afflict the children of Esrâil with a calamity, for the purpose of diminishing their numbers. Select, therefore, one of these three misfortunes*: The first is famine, the second conquest by an enemy, and the third is the plague.’ Dâud assembled the people, and told them what was in store for them. The Jews replied: ‘Thou art our prophet and our king, we shall agree to whatever thou mayest choose.’ Dâud said: ‘Famine extinguishes mercy, and severs the ties of consanguinity; therefore I do not select it. To be conquered by an enemy is a dreadful calamity; no one who possesses any self-esteem would bear it; the high and the low are exterminated. Therefore I think it will be best for you to die in your own houses by the plague, and to abandon all your affairs to the care of God, the Most Wise; for He is the most merciful of the merciful.’ The Jews having agreed to the proposal of Dâud, he ordered them to put on their shrouds, and they assembled in one place. Dâud proceeded with the theologians and priests of the children of Esrâil to the plains around the Holy House [i.e., Jerusalem]; all of them bowed their heads in adoration, wailing, and lamentation, and the prayers of his lordship with those of the priests were responded to on the very same day; therefore Dâud raised his head, and informed the priests of the glad tidings.
After the plague had ceased the heads were numbered, and one hundred and seventy thousand were found to have died from sunrise till sunset:
Distich: Praised be the Creator whose wonderful properties
Prostrate the wisdom of prophets on the soil of weakness.
When most of the people had been freed of the wrath of God, Dâud said to them: ‘Gratitude to the Lord God, whose benefits are universal, is incumbent upon you, nor can you offer any better thanks than by building a mosque in this pure region.’ The children of Esrâil girded the loins of obedience, Dâud prayed with reference to this subject, and after obtaining the Divine permission, his lordship set the people to lay the foundations of the farther mosque* with the greatest diligence and expedition. It is said that the ground belonged to several of the children of Esrâil, all of whom voluntarily surrendered their portions, except an indigent man, who refused to do so. The people then said angrily to him: ‘If thou wilt sell thy portion, we shall pay the price, or we will in spite of thee take possession of it for the mosque.’ Therefore the said individual went to Dâud to complain, and the latter said: ‘We shall buy thy portion with thy consent; tell us now for what price thou wilt sell it.’ The poor man replied: ‘For whatever your lordship’s prophetic mind decides upon.’ Dâud said: ‘If thou wilt, we shall fill thy plot of ground with sheep and camels, and give them to thee; but if thou askest more than this, we will make a bargain for it too.’ The owner said: ‘If you will build a wall as high as my stature around the ground belonging to me, and will fill it with dinârs to obtain my consent, I shall surrender it.’ Dâud —u. w. b., etc.—spoke with the children of Esrâil about making an arrangement with the man concerning the price of his land, but the poor man said: ‘O prophet of Allah, who knows what is hidden and what is patent, and is aware of the secrets of our minds, He knows that the pardon of one of my sins is more dear to me than all the treasures of the world. My object was only to try the people, and not to take any money. Now set about with good cheer and luck to build the mosque. I most willingly renounce accepting any price for my small plot of ground.’ After that Dâud began with the chiefs and nobles of the people to lay the foundations of the mosque, and raised it to the height of a man’s stature, whereon the revelation descended from the Lord of Lords: ‘Your work is accepted, and your gratitude likewise. Cease, however, now to continue to build, because this noble structure is to be finished by the efforts of one of the excellent sons of Dâud, that a memorial and a monument of him may remain among the people for a long time.’ Accordingly they left off working at the edifice, which was, after the demise of Dâud, in consequence of the mandate of the Benign Sovereign, completed by King Sulimân.
After one hundred, or according to the tradition of the author of the Ma’aruf, one hundred and twenty, years had elapsed of the life of Dâud, he surrendered his pure spirit in some of his private apartments, according to the orders of the Almighty who gives and takes away life, and departed to the gardens of paradise. To God belongs the power over the past and the future. Wuhub Bin Muniah states that his lordship’s coffin was taken to be buried on a very warm day. The people suffered so much from the heat that they complained to Sulimân, who thereon ordered birds so to entwine their wings that even the wind could not penetrate through them; but as this circumstance also distressed the funeral procession, Sulimân commanded the birds to shelter the crowd on the side of the sun only, and to open the other side so as to allow the wind to blow upon the people. It is recorded that on the said day forty thousand priests escorted the coffin of Dâud, and that no one knew the numbers of the other mourners, except the Creator of [all] beings.