Tafseer of The letter Saad · Saad · 38:26
[We said], "O David, indeed We have made you a successor upon the earth, so judge between the people in truth and do not follow [your own] desire, as it will lead you astray from the way of Allah." Indeed, those who go astray from the way of Allah will have a severe punishment for having forgotten the Day of Account.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
His saying yā Dāwūdu innā jaʿalnāka khalīfatan fī l-arḍ ("O Dāwūd, We have made you a vicegerent upon the earth"): the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and We said to Dāwūd: O Dāwūd, We have made you a vicegerent upon the earth after those of Our messengers who were before you, as a judge among its inhabitants.
As Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: innā jaʿalnāka khalīfa ("We have made you a vicegerent"): He gave him sovereignty upon the earth. fa-ḥkum bayna l-nāsi bi-l-ḥaqq ("so judge between the people with the truth"): that is to say: with justice and equity. wa-lā tattabiʿi l-hawā ("and do not follow desire"): he says: and do not, in your judgment between them, prefer your desire over the truth and the justice therein, so that you deviate from the truth. fa-yuḍillaka ʿan sabīli llāh ("so that it leads you astray from the path of Allah"): he says: so that following your desire in your judgment leads you to deviate from justice and from acting according to the truth, away from the path of Allah which He has appointed for the people of faith (īmān) therein, so that you become one of the lost through your straying from the path of Allah.
And His saying inna lladhīna yaḍillūna ʿan sabīli llāhi lahum ʿadhābun shadīdun bimā nasū yawma l-ḥisāb ("verily, those who stray from the path of Allah, for them there is a severe punishment because they forgot the Day of Reckoning"): the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: verily, those who deviate from the path of Allah — and that is the truth which He has prescribed for His servants and which He has commanded them to act upon —, so that they deviate from it in this worldly life, for them in the Hereafter, on the Day of Reckoning, there is a severe punishment (ʿadhāb) for their straying from the path of Allah, because they forgot the command of Allah; he says: because they neglected judging with justice and acting in obedience to Allah. yawmi l-ḥisāb ("the Day of Reckoning") belongs to the severe punishment.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning the interpretation of this, the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: al-ʿAwwām informed us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning his saying ʿadhābun shadīdun bimā nasū yawma l-ḥisāb ("a severe punishment because they forgot the Day of Reckoning"): he said: this belongs to the cases of preposition and postposition (al-taqdīm wa-l-taʾkhīr); he says: for them on the Day of Reckoning there is a severe punishment for what they forgot.
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning his saying bimā nasū yawma l-ḥisāb ("because they forgot the Day of Reckoning"): he said: nasū ("they forgot") means: they neglected.
