Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir, in his biography of David—peace be upon him—records many pleasing aphorisms, among them:
“Be to the orphan like a compassionate father, and know that as you sow, so shall you reap.”
He also transmits, with an unusual elevated chain, that David said:
“O sower of misdeeds, you shall harvest only their thorns and brambles.”
It is related from David, peace be upon him, that he said:
“The likeness of a foolish preacher addressing a gathering is that of a singer chanting at the head of a corpse.”
He further said:
“How unsightly is poverty after wealth—and uglier still is misguidance after guidance.”
And he said:
“Reflect on whatever you would hate to be mentioned about you in public; then avoid doing it when you are alone.”
And he said:
“Do not promise your brother what you will not fulfil, for that breeds enmity between you.”(1)
Muhammad ibn Saʿd reports: Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Wāqidī told us; Hishām ibn Saʿd narrated to me, from ʿUmar, the client of Ghafrah, who said:
When the Jews saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ marrying women they exclaimed, “Look at this man who is never satisfied with food, and by Allah his only concern is women!” They envied him for having many wives and censured him, saying, “If he were a prophet, he would not desire women.” The most vehement of them was Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab. Allah, Exalted is He, refuted them and made known the breadth of His grace upon His Prophet—blessings and peace be upon him—saying:
“Or do they envy people for what Allah has given them of His bounty? Yet We gave the family of Abraham the Scripture and wisdom, and We granted them a mighty kingdom.” (Q 4:54)
“The people” here refers to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The “mighty kingdom” alludes to what Allah granted Solomon son of David: he possessed one thousand women—seven hundred free wives(2) and three hundred concubines. David—peace be upon him—had one hundred wives, among them the wife of Uriah, mother of Solomon son of David, whom he married after the trial. This exceeded what Muḥammad ﷺ possessed.
Al-Kalbī reports something similar: David, peace be upon him, had one hundred wives, whereas Solomon had one thousand, including three hundred concubines.
Al-Ḥāfiẓ also relates in his History(3) in the entry on Ṣadaqah al-Dimashqī—who transmits from Ibn ʿAbbās via al-Faraj ibn Faḍālah al-Ḥimṣī, from Abū Hurayrah al-Ḥimṣī, from Ṣadaqah al-Dimashqī—that a man asked Ibn ʿAbbās about fasting. He replied:
“I shall recount for you a report I have long kept stored away.(4) If you wish, I will tell you about David’s fast. He was ever fasting and standing in prayer; he was courageous and never fled when confronting the enemy; he would fast one day and break fast the next. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘The best of fasting is the fast of David.’ He used to recite the Zabur in seventy distinct melodies. In the final portion of the night he performed a single rakʿah in which he wept for himself; everything wept with his weeping, and the resonance of his voice dispelled sorrows.”(5)