Dawood or Dawud (also David – PBUH) is very important among the prophets. The prophet Ibrahim (PBUH) started a new dispensation (ie the way that Allah relates to people) with the promise of descendants and a great nation – and then gave a great sacrifice. The Prophet Musa (PBUH) freed the Israelites from slavery – through the Passover sacrifice – and then gave them a Law so they could be a nation. But what was lacking was a King who would rule in such a way that they would receive blessings instead of curses from Allah. Dawood (PBUH) was that king and prophet. He started another dispensation – that of the Kings ruling from Jerusalem.
Who was King Dawood (David – PBUH)?
You can see from the timelines in History of the Israelites, that Dawood (PBUH) lived about 1000 BCE, a thousand years after Ibrahim (PBUH) and 500 years after Musa (PBUH). Dawood (PBUH) started out as a shepherd tending his family’s sheep. The giant and great enemy of the Israelites – Goliath – led an army to conquer the Israelites, and in doing so, discouraged and defeated them. Dawood (PBUH) however challenged Goliath and killed him in battle. It was so remarkable that a young shepherd boy could kill a giant soldier that Dawood (PBUH) became famous. Then the Israelites went on to defeat their enemies. The Qur’an informs us of this battle between Dawood (PBUH) and Goliath in the following ayah:
By God’s will they routed them; and David slew Goliath; and God gave him power and wisdom and taught him whatever (else) He willed. And did not God Check one set of people by means of another, the earth would indeed be full of mischief: But God is full of bounty to all the worlds.
(Surah 2:251 – The Cow)
Becoming King
Dawood’s fame as a warrior grew after this battle. However, he became King only after long and difficult experiences because he had many enemies, both abroad and among the Israelites, who opposed him. The books of I and II Samuel in the Bible (al Kitab) recount these struggles and victories of Dawood (PBUH). Samuel (PBUH) was the prophet who anointed Dawood (PBUH) as King.
Dawood (PBUH) was also famous as a musician that composed beautiful songs and poems to Allah. Surah Sad (Surah 38 – The Letter Saad) mentions this in the following ayat:
Have patience at what they say, and remember our servant David, the man of strength: for he ever turned (to God). It was We that made the hills declare, in unison with him, Our Praises, at eventide and at break of day, And the birds gathered (in assemblies): all with him did turn (to God). We strengthened his kingdom, and gave him wisdom and sound judgment in speech and decision.
(Surah 38:17-20 – SAD the Letter)
These ayat affirm the warrior’s strength of Dawood (PBUH), but also the ‘Praises’ which were as beautiful as the songs of birds to their Creator. And as King, he was ‘given’ wisdom in ‘speech’ by Allah himself. These songs and poems of Dawood (PBUH) were recorded and form the first book of the Zabur (or Zaboor) – what is known as the Psalms. Because the wisdom of his words was given to him by Allah, these records of Dawood (PBUH) were also Holy and inspired like the Taurat. The Qur’an explains it like this:
And it is your Lord that knoweth best all beings that are in the heavens and on earth: We did bestow on some prophets more (and other) gifts than on others: and We gave to David (the gift of) the Psalms. (Surah 17:55 – Isra)
Suleiman – continuing Zabur
But these inspired writings did not end with Dawood (PBUH) who died at an old age as King. His son, and heir, was Suleiman (or Solomon – PBUH), also inspired by Allah for his wisdom. Surah Sad describes it like this:
To David We gave Solomon (for a son),- How excellent in Our service! Ever did he turn (to Us)! (Surah 38:30 – SAD the Letter)
And
And remember David and Solomon, when they gave judgment in the matter of the field into which the sheep of certain people had strayed by night: We did witness their judgment. To Solomon We inspired the (right) understanding of the matter: to each (of them) We gave Judgment and Knowledge; it was Our power that made the hills and the birds celebrate Our praises, with David: it was We Who did (all these things). (Surah 21:78-79 – The Prophets)
We gave (in the past) knowledge to David and Solomon: And they both said: “Praise be to God, Who has favoured us above many of his servants who believe!” (Surah 27:15 – The Ants)
So Suleiman (PBUH), continued adding inspired books of wisdom to the Zabur. His books are Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.
Zabur continues with further prophets
But with the passing of Suleiman (PBUH), the succeeding Kings did not follow the Taurat and none of these later kings were given inspired messages. Only Dawood and Suleiman (PBUT), out of all the Kings of Israel, had writings inspired by Allah – they were prophets as well as kings. But to the kings that followed Suleiman, Allah sent prophets with messages or warnings. Yunus (or Jonah) the prophet swallowed by a large fish was one of these prophets (Surah 37:139-144).
This continued for about 300 years – with many prophets being sent. Their warnings, writings and prophecies were also added to the inspired Books of Zaboor. The Israelites were finally conquered and deported by the Babylonians to Babylon. They then returned to Jerusalem under Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire. Through this time prophets continued to be sent and give messages. These messages were written in the last books of Zabur.
Zabur – anticipating the coming of the Masih
All these prophets are important to us because, in the midst of their warnings, they also lay the foundation for the Injil. In fact, Dawood (PBUH) introduces the title ‘Masih’ early in the Psalms (the part of Zabur that he wrote) and the later prophets prophesied in more detail about the coming Masih. This was especially important with the failure of the later Kings to follow the Taurat, and the failure of the Israelites to obey the Commands.
The promise, hope and longing of the coming Masih were prophesied in the context of the failures of the people of that day. As prophets, they were looking to the future, just as Musa (PBUH) had required in the Taurat. And these prophecies speak to us in our modern-day for those of us who have also failed to live the right way we know we should. The Masih was to be a beacon of hope in the midst of failure.
How Isa al Masih (PBUH) viewed and used the Zabur
In fact, the prophet Isa al Masih himself used the Zabur to help his companions and followers understand the Injil and the role of the Masih. It states the following about Isa:
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:27
The phrase ‘and all the Prophets’ refers to these prophets of Zabur that followed the Taurat of Musa (PBUH). Isa al Masih (PBUH) wanted his companions to understand how the Zabur taught and prophesied about him. Isa al Masih (PBUH) then continued teaching them by:
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:44-45
When it refers here to the ‘the Prophets and the Psalms’ it means the first book of Zabur that Dawood wrote (the Psalms) and then the later books that were included (‘the Prophets’). Isa al Masih (PBUH) needed to ‘open their minds’ and only then would they be able to ‘understand the scriptures‘ (ie the Inspired Books of Taurat and Zabur). Our goal in the next series of articles is to follow what Isa al Masih (PBUH) showed from these books so we too can open our minds and then understand the Injil.
Dawood (PBUH) and the Prophets of Zabur in a Historical Timeline
The image below summarizes most (but not all as there is not room for all) of these prophets. The width of the bars shows the lifespan of each particular prophet. The colour code of the Timeline follows the status of the Israelites in the same manner as when we followed their history from the Blessings and Curses of Musa.
We continue in the Zabur by looking at the prophecy of the coming son of the virgin.
no comment salamalaikom
Stop talking about psalms, you muslims that have a dirty mouth because you are praising the moon god and you have dirty hands because you are killing Christians and innocent people. Stop talking about our Lord Jesus and repent or at least let the Christians live peacefully in their lands. Don’t talk about the Gospel, close your mouths and think. What are you doing? Is Islam a religion of peace? Are you kidding me? Open your eyes!!!
Hi there. I am not sure if you took the time to actually read the article but it explains the Zabur – or what you would refer to as the Psalms. Is there anything in this article that you disagree with?
Who is this innocent fellow who knows nothing about the mighty religion of Islam but to ridicule it with inherent hatred and who adores human prophet as the son of god, who himself denied it?
you won’t post it… yeah… that’s the freedom of the moon god and his messenger Muhamed, better known as “the killer and rapper”
did you know that he rapped a lot of women, that he killed a lot of innocent people, that he didn’t forgive women caught in adultery…compare our Lord Jesus to your messenger muhamed!! please read about him. I will be praying for you because we’re brothers… God loves you and Jesus wants to forgive you. Hallelujah!
read the Gospel please… read it.
Comments are welcome but they serve the purpose if they are on topic. This site is AL Injil (= the Gospel) so there is lots of opportunity to read the gospel here. Did you not browse them?
I think you are confusing christianity and islam. Moses (Arabic: Musa) was a “muslim”. It says so in the Qur’an. The term muslim is used in the Qur’an, for people since the time of Adam, and the term muslim means in Arabic a “believer” in Allah, the one God. There is no moon God mentioned by Moses, in fact Moses was a muslim, not a pagan. Paganry, idolatry, (i.e. the belief in a moongoddess sungod or other types of man-made god figures other than the one God Allah) was forbidden in the ten commandments of Moses and is forbidden by muslims who are believers in one God Allah. Christianity and islam both believe in Allah. Jesus (Arabic: Isa) was a prophet, pbuh. The nicean council voted as to whether to create a church doctrine of Jesus as divine or messenger. Some church leaders said he was a prophet and others voted that he was divine. The doctrine of divinity came into vogue after that council created the doctrine as part of the church beliefs. But, the Qur’an relates that this was done as a sin because it was not truth and man should not create his own doctrines. Only revelations from Allah can be used to overcone this problem. A problem between christian doctrine and truth. There are still some christian churches that disagree with the divinity doctrine because they did not accept the nicean leadership. And these churches follow the message of Jesus (Isa) that he is not God, rather he came to help people to tell people to worship Allah the one God. That is the message. And we are all muslims. Muslims are not just those who accept prophet Muhammed as last messenger. Muslims are also those christians who believe in worshipping Allah and those jews who worshipped Allah. Muslim is a term as old as Adam. Muhammedism is the term for those following only the teachings of Muhammed pbuh. But, if you read Quran, you will see that all major prophets are mentioned and there is no misinformation. Taurat and injil are mentioned. Isa is mentioned as son of Mary. The early christians who hid from anti-muslims in a cave are mentioned in surah Kahf chapter on the cave. And there is no evidence that muslims are violent people. Muslims are pure heartef believers in Allah who know killing and harming is wrong. There is a verse on battle of Badr that says to go ahead and kill them the idolators when they strike at you. There is a verse also in Qutan that warns never kill or aggress over others even over non-muslims unless they first attack you, then do so in defence. In such cases, if a war errupts, it says to be merciful toward nonmuslims by offering juziya tax to submit them to a compassionate islamic governance whereby money is used to heal sick, care orphans, and widows. But that is to run a compassionate society. Most muslims today disregard the extremist you see on t.v. as wrong, misguided. The extremist is not a muslim, rather is a political group of anti-social psychopaths. Muslims would never aggress over other muslims, christians, jews, pagans, etc. They are warned not to do. Muslims are required to defend themselves. But that is how ibrahim built the kabba at meccah and that is how it was reinstated as a place of worshipa t the time of the last prophet pbu them.
That is to say, in other words, a muslim is a believer in Allah. And anyone since time of Adam who believed was called a muslim. It is wrong to say muslims are just since the last prophet pbuh. Last ten ayas of imran states christians and jews who are muslims believing people who accept the message of belief in one God may go jannah heaven.
I hope Allah forgives u 4 what u said…and blesses u with true knowledge. Ameen
I firmly believe if you all read Qur’an – all of your questions & doubts would be cleared !….
May Allah pave the way for you. Ameen!
thanks for your post, helped me to understand better, may the peace of our Lord be upon us all, without any sectarism. Keep doing your good job, Allah hafiz.
Muslims are not at war. Muslims are in favor of a peaceful compassionate society where all people care for their neighbors as their ownselves.
To the christian, read the history about the church’es nicean council that voted to change the Bible to say Jesus was divine. Then you will understand the Quran is telling the truth that Isa was a messenger, not a man of divinity.
Actually, the Nicean council did not vote to change the bible to say Jesus was divine. We know this since at this council (325 AD) they quoted from passage in the bible that predated 325 AD that we have in existence today. (see here about text of bible). So the council was about how to interpret what the passages in the Taurat/Zabur/Injil already said. It is possible to accuse the Nicean council of inaccurate interpretation (which the Arians – on the other side of the council debate – did) but not that they ‘changed’ the text
Great attempt to bridge building! This is the need of the hour! This is also a divine mission.
Love,
V.A. Mohamad Ashrof
Hey, were you taught in your religion to be critisizing other’s religion? Even if you don’t like the ways they are doing or worshiping their lord, that does not give you the audacity to be saying bad things about them. Let me ask you, how many of your lord commandments have done? As a good christian how many religious goals have you achieved in your life? Instead of doing so, you busy critisizing others. Am neither here to abuse nor to in sult you but to let you know that “ISLAM IS ACTUALLY A RELIGION OF PEACE” you accept it or not that should be within you.This page is an epitome of knowledge and understanding, liking the content or not is non of our business, but please don’t distract others.