The Shaykh mentioned the story of Dawud (peace be upon him) as mentioned in Surat Sad.

The Shaykh : As for the second topic from what we heard from the recitation of our imams, it is the story of Dawud (peace and blessings be upon him). Dawud (peace and blessings be upon him)—Allah says in this story that we heard: And I am asking now: is the interrogation here a question of seeking information and inquiry, or is something else intended by it?

The questioner : Seeking information.

The Shaykh : Because seeking information means that Allah is asking the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) whether the news reached him or not? And Allah knows that the news did not reach him. So it is not a question of inquiry and seeking information, but it has another meaning. What is that other meaning? It is to create anticipation and open the mind, because when a person is addressed in the form of a question, he desires it and his mind opens to it. For this reason, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about selling fresh dates for dried dates, he said, "Does it decrease when it dries?" They said, "Yes." So he prohibited it. This story is not about selling dates for dates; it requires two conditions: the first condition is equality, and the second condition is taking possession in the place of the contract. So if you sell fresh dates for dried dates, and the dried dates are the dry ones, does the fresh date decrease when it dries? The answer is yes; it shrinks, becomes smaller, and its weight also decreases, becoming lighter. When the Companions said, "O Messenger of Allah, can dried dates be sold for fresh dates?" he did not say "No," but he said, "Does it decrease when it dries?" They said, "Yes." So he prohibited it. Did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) know that fresh dates decrease when they dry? Yes, without a doubt. But he wanted to clarify the cause in this manner that creates anticipation in the listener. And I am directing a question now to the scholars of grammar: Is "al-khasm" (the litigant) singular or plural? It is singular, and the plural is "khasma'" and the dual is "khasman." Here it says "al-khasm" when they climbed over the mihrab. This "waw" is the "waw" of what? The plural. How does the "waw" of the plural return to a singular? The answer is that it is singular in form but plural in meaning. And it can be dual in form and plural in meaning. Allah the Exalted said: So He considered the plural. He considered the form and did not say "between them." So "al-khasm" is singular in form and plural in meaning. And the mihrab is not the mihrab that is found in mosques now, but the mihrab is the place of worship. For this reason, I saw in some mosques that they wrote on the mihrab, on the arch of the mihrab, but they did not write "He found provision with her," fearing that people would claim provision in this place. They just think that the mihrab is this arch, the arch of the qiblah, and that is not the case. The mihrab is the place of worship. They climbed over the mihrab and entered upon Dawud, so he was startled by them. What was the reason for his startle? That these people entered without using the door and climbed over him while he was occupied with his worship, and they were a group, a group, so he was startled by them, as is the psychological habit of humans. And the Prophets (peace and blessings be upon them) do not differ from people in human natures. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: They entered upon Dawud, so he was startled by them. They said, "Do not be afraid. What is the need for fear? Two litigants, one of us wronged the other, so judge between us with truth and do not deviate, and guide us to the straight path." Up to here, the verse is clear. "Tashutta" means do not lean and do not drag. And "guide us to the straight path" means show us the straight road in which there is no injustice or tyranny. Then they began the story, and one of the litigants said: What is the ewe?

The questioner : The sheep.

The Shaykh : The sheep or the woman?

The questioner : The sheep.

The Shaykh : Some exegetes think it is the woman. If you said to a woman, "O ewe," she would argue with you. But the ewe is the sheep. "I have ninety-nine ewes, and I have one ewe." He said, "Let me have her," meaning, give me her and grant her to me. If he gave her to him, and he had ninety-nine, how many did he have?

The questioner : One hundred.

The Shaykh : And the other had nothing. So this one who had ninety-nine asked the owner of the one to give him his sheep to complete the hundred. "Wa 'azzani fi al-khitab" means "he overpowered me in speech." "I 'azzani" means he defeated me, he defeated me in speech, because he was a good litigant in the dispute, and that one was not good. What did Dawud say? "He wronged you by asking for your ewe to be added to his ewes." There is a problem for me from the grammatical perspective. "Sala" (asked) is not transitive with "ila" (to), and here it was made transitive with "ila." May Allah reward you, O scholars of grammar, why was "sala" made transitive with "ila" when it is not transitive with "ila"? Well, there is nothing there. There is something in the science of grammar called "ilm al-tadman" (the science of implication), which means that a word implies the meaning of another word that indicates this related meaning. So here, "bi-sala'i na'jatik" (by asking for your ewe) implies adding it to his ewes, as if he implied the meaning of asking with the meaning of adding, meaning he asked you to add your ewe to his ewes. And this sentence, some exegetes said: it is from the speech of Allah. And some said it is from the speech of Dawud. Then he said: "Fa tannaha" means we tested him, so he sought forgiveness from his Lord and fell prostrate and turned back. "Wa anab" means he prostrated and turned back to Allah. And may Allah reward our imam with good for this night, where he prostrated, even though the prescribed ruling according to the jurists is that one does not prostrate in prayer in this prostration, saying that it is a prostration of gratitude, and if a person prostrates the prostration of gratitude while praying, his prayer is invalidated. And the correct view is that it is a prostration of recitation, because if it were not for our recitation of the Book of Allah, we would not have prostrated. So it is a prostration of recitation, and if a person recites it, even in prayer, he prostrates.