Imam Aḥmad said:
“ʿAbd al-Raẓẓāq related to us; Maʿmar related to us, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ heard the voice of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī while he was reciting and remarked, ‘Abū Mūsā has certainly been granted a share of the sweet melodies of the House of David.’ (1)”

This chain meets the criteria of the two Shaykhs, though neither of them recorded it through this route.

Aḥmad likewise said (2): “Ḥasan (3) related to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah related to us, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Abū Mūsā has been endowed with some of the melodies of David.’” This chain fulfills Muslim’s conditions.

We have also transmitted from Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī (4) that he said, “I have heard the barbat (5) and the reed-pipe, yet I have never heard a voice more beautiful than that of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī.”

Along with that exquisite voice, David was swift in reciting his book—the Zabūr. Imam Aḥmad states (6): “ʿAbd al-Raẓẓāq related to us; Maʿmar related to us, from Hammām, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘The recitation was lightened for David: he would order that his mount be saddled, and before it was ready he would have finished reciting the Qur’an; and he would eat only from what his own hands earned.’”

Al-Bukhārī (7) likewise narrated it singly through ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad from ʿAbd al-Raẓẓāq, with the wording:

“It was made easy for David to recite the Qur’an: he would order that his mounts be saddled; before they were ready he would have finished his recitation, and he ate nothing except what he earned with his own hands.” (8)

Al-Bukhārī then added: “Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah also transmitted it, from Ṣafwān—meaning Ibn Salīm—from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ.”

Ibn ʿAsākir, in the biography of David ﵇ in his History, recorded the ḥadīth through several chains: from Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭahmān, from Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah; and from Abū ʿĀṣim, from Abū Bakr al-Saburī, from Ṣafwān ibn Salīm, and others (9).

Here, the term “Qur’an” refers to the Zabūr that was sent down to him and revealed to him. The wording that best reflects the preserved report is that, though he was a king with retainers, he would recite the Zabūr in the brief time it took for the animals to be saddled—yet this rapidity was still accompanied by reflection, chant, and melodious intonation.