The Quran

247

Preface

وَقالَ لَهُم نَبِيُّهُم إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَد بَعَثَ لَكُم طالوتَ مَلِكًا ۚ قالوا أَنّىٰ يَكونُ لَهُ المُلكُ عَلَينا وَنَحنُ أَحَقُّ بِالمُلكِ مِنهُ وَلَم يُؤتَ سَعَةً مِنَ المالِ ۚ قالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصطَفاهُ عَلَيكُم وَزادَهُ بَسطَةً فِي العِلمِ وَالجِسمِ ۖ وَاللَّهُ يُؤتي مُلكَهُ مَن يَشاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ واسِعٌ عَليمٌ

Yusuf Ali

Their Prophet said to them: “God hath appointed Talut¹ as king over you.” They said: “How can he exercise authority over us when we are better fitted than he to exercise authority, and he is not even gifted, with wealth in abundance?” He said: “God hath Chosen him above you, and hath gifted him abundantly with knowledge and bodily prowess: God Granteth His authority to whom He pleaseth. God careth for all, and He knoweth all things.”

Talut the Arabic name for Saul, who was tall and handsome, but belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel. His worldly belongings were slender, and it was when he went out to search for some asses which had been lost from his father’s house that he met Samuel and was anointed king by him. The people’s fickleness appeared immediately after he was named. They raised all sorts of petty objections to him. The chief consideration in their minds was selfishness: each one wanted to be leader and king himself, instead of desiring sincerely the good of the people as a whole, as a leader should do.