THE GREAT TRIAL

      In the above passage a story of David's judgement is narrated which has raised up a hot dispute among commentators. The story in brief is as follows:-

      Once David retired from his daily work, to perform his prayer when two men invaded his privacy by climing a wall and reaching the sanctuary.

      David was frightened by their appearance, but soon they said:- ``Don't be afraid. We are two complainant brothers who have come to you to judge between us, for; one of us has wronged another. We have come to seek your justice as our king. He continued his complain thus:- This brother of mine has a flock of ninety nine female sheep, and I have only one. He has compelled me to hand over my ewe to him to keep it in his flock, and has also been harsh to me in speech. What can I do now?''

      At first David was so occupied by his kingly pride that he did not apprehend the note to make a nice distinction. He took the complain literally and said:- ``Verily your brother has been unjust to you by asking to add your ewe to his ewes, and most of the partners in the business transgress the rights of the other parties. The exceptionals here are the righteous men who are very few.''

      When David issued his decree, the brothers disappeared suddenly, and as mysteriously as they had come! David came to himself and knew that Allah had put him under a test! He made sure that what he saw, it was a vision. So, once again he trembled with a fear and was filled with an ewe of his Lord. He therefore bowed down and prostrated himself before God, and in a state of penitence, he begged his Lord to pardon him.

      God accepted his repentance and forgave him, and by His Grace and Mercy promoted him spiritually as well as physically and extended his kingdom widely.

      In the above mentioned hot dispute, that was among the expounders of Qurän, reference is mainly to two points in this story:- 1) That David realized that God had him tested and tried. 2) And that he asked his Lord to forgive him by bowing down in penitence.

      The trial might have been for a little mistake that David might have done in his former judgements that our Lord intended to warn his apostle, so as to be more careful in his future judgements.

      The root of the unjust comments about the above story is found in some superstitious incidents and forgeries that have been narrated in the Bible about David, who indeed was an innocent, guiltless, and infallible prophet of God. As an instance, let us have a look in one of these stories that has been forged by the writers of the BIBLE, in the 2 SAMUEL 11:2ِ27:-

DAVID AND BATHSHEBA

      One day, late in the afternoon, David got up from his nap and went to the palace roof. As he walked about up there, he saw a woman having a bath. She was very beautiful. So he sent a Messenger to find out who she was, and learnt that she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of URIAH the HITTITE. David sent messengers to fetch her: they brought her to him and he made love to her. Then she went back home. Afterward she discovered that she was pregnant and sent a messenger to David to tell him.

      David then sent a message to JOAB: ``SEND ME URIAH THE HITTITE'' So Joab sent him to David. ...then he said to URIAH; go home and rest a while. URIAH left, and David sent a present to his home. But Uria did not go home. Instead he slept at the palace gate with the kings guards. When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he asked him; ``You have just returned after a long absence; why didn't you go home? Uriah answered; ``The men of Israel and Judah are away at war, and the Covenant Box is with them; my commander Joab and his officers are camping out in the open. How could I go home, eat and drink and sleep with my wife? By all that's sacred, I swear that I could never do such a thing!''

      ...14- The next day David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. He wrote: ``Put Uriah in the front line, where the fighting is heaviest, then retreat and let him be killed.'' So while Joab was besieging the city he sent Uriah to a place where he knew the enemy was strong. The enemy troops came out of the city and fought Joab's forces. Some of David's officers were killed, and so was Uriah.

      When Bathsheba heard that her husband had been killed, she mourned for him. When the time of mourning was over, David sent for her to come to the palace. She became his wife and bore him a son, but the Lord was not pleased with what David had done.

DAVID AND PROPHET NATHAN (FROM 2 SAMUEL 12)

      The Lord sent prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said:- ``There were two men who lived in the same town. One was rich and the other poor. The rich man had many cattle and sheep, while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it with some of its own food, let it drink from his cup and hold it in his lap... One day a visitor arrived at the rich man's home. The rich man didn't want to kill one of his own animals to prepare a meal for him; instead, he took the poor man's lamb and cooked a meal for his guest.''

      David was very angry with the rich man and said:- ``I swear by the living Lord that the man who did this ought to die! For having done such a cruel thing, he must pay back four times as much as he took.''

      You are the man said Nathan to David, and this is what the Lord of Israel said:- ``I made you king of Israel and rescued you from Saul. I gave you his kingdom and his wives; I made you king over Israel and Judah...why then have you disobeyed me. Why did you do this evil things? Why you had Uriah killed in the battle. You let the Ammonites kill him and then you took his wife! Now in every generation some of your descendants will die a violent death because you have disobeyed me and have taken Uriah's wife. I swear to you that I will cause some one from your own family to bring trouble on you. You will see it when I take your wives from you and give them to another man, and he will have intercourse with them in broad daylight. You sinned in secret, but I will make this happen in broad daylight for all Israel to see.''

      The Lord caused the child that Uriah's wife had born to David became very ill. David prayed to God for the child's health, but a week later the child died. After that Bathsheba born another son to David whom they named Solomon.

      The incident of judgement of David narrated by Bible has nothing to do with that of the Glorious Qurän. In the Bible's story there is no complainants to have asked him for a judgement. Only a prophet called Nathan, goes to David to warn him. In Qurän the object of the short story are two brothers, but in the Bible, there are a poor and a rich man with only one; and the other with many cattle and sheep.

      David in his judgement at first condemns the rich man for the slaughter of only one sheep, but soon after he changes his mind, and decrees that he has to pay back four times as much as he took!

      The Bible says that God forgave David for that heinous sin of which he was unmanly accused.

      But soon after God forgets his forgiveness and severely punishes him a curious punishment, by giving his wives to other men to make love with them! And eventually Bethsheba with her so excellent and noble record becomes the mother of Solomon! What sort of a holy and Divine Book the Bible really is!!

      In the Islamic traditions the ugly and indecent story that is forged about David in the Old Testament has been strictly condemned and denied.

      Hazrat Imam Ali (AS) has said:- ``If anybody is brought to me who has said David the prophet of God has married the wife of Uriah as narrated by the Jews, I will strap him 160 lashes, once for the prophethood and once for Islam as twofold penance.''

      We think that Uriah had been martyred in a sacred war accidentally and king David has after that married his wife if he ever has done that in order to protect her and his household. Such marriage which is lawful was not approved in customs of the Day and there was much ado about nothing caused by David's enemies.