Continuation of the explanation: And he recited: “And [mention,] when David and Solomon were judging concerning the field when the people’s sheep had grazed in it, and We were witnesses to their judgment. We gave Solomon understanding, and to both of them We granted judgment and knowledge.”

The Shaykh : In any case, we understood this story: David ruled that the sheep belonged to the owners of the field. There is no doubt that the value of the sheep was close to the value of the field that was eaten. But Solomon saw another view, which was better, so that the owners of the sheep would not be deprived of their sheep. His ruling was that they should take care of the field until it returned to its original state, and the owners of the field would take these sheep and benefit from them as compensation for what they lost from their field. Thus, he combined the two benefits. Some scholars adopted the ruling of each of the two judges. Some scholars said that the crop is guaranteed by the amount it decreased; so if the value of the sheep is equal to the amount the crop decreased, the owners of the field take them. If it is more or less, it is according to that amount. And some of them held that the ruling should be as Solomon said. The important point is that the verse did not address the incident itself; rather, it addressed the ruling. He said: This is called by the scholars of rhetoric "al-ihtiraz" (caution or reservation), because if he had only said "We gave Solomon understanding," it might occur to the mind that David was deficient. So he said: meaning the ability to judge and knowledge by which they are guided to the ruling. In the verse is evidence that understanding (fahm) is not the same as knowledge ('ilm), and that is indeed the case. For among people, there are those to whom Allah grants knowledge but He deprives them of understanding, and there are those who are the opposite. He said: "So Solomon praised [David], and he did not blame David." Solomon praised [David] for his saying: And he did not blame David, but rather he praised him in his saying: This indicates that if a person exerts his effort (ijtihad) and makes a mistake, he is not to be blamed. And were it not for what Allah mentioned regarding the matter of these two, I would have thought that the judges had perished. That is correct, meaning were it not that Allah mentioned the story of David and Solomon, and that understanding was for Solomon, and David was not blamed, the judges would have perished, because they often exert their effort and make mistakes. For He praised this one for his knowledge and excused this one for his ijtihad. May Allah have mercy on him.