ibn Sa‘id, from Abu Qays, the freedman of Amr ibn al-As, from Amr ibn al-As, who heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “When a judge passes judgment and strives to reach the correct ruling, and is correct, he will have two rewards. When he passes judgment and strives to reach the correct ruling, but errs, he will have one reward.” (1)

Others said: David and Solomon judged by revelation, and Solomon’s judgment abrogated David’s judgment. Those who hold this view say that it is not permissible for the prophets to judge through independent legal reasoning, since revelation renders them independent of such reasoning. They further said that error is not possible on the part of the prophets. (2)

Those who held that every qualified legal reasoner reaches the correct ruling cited the apparent meaning of the verse and this report as evidence, since it promises reward to one who exercises independent legal reasoning even when he errs. This is the view of the proponents of reasoned opinion. A group, however, held that not every qualified legal reasoner reaches the correct ruling. Rather, when the independent reasoning of two legal scholars differs concerning a case, the truth lies with one of them, though not with any one specifically identifiable. If each of them were correct, this distinction would be meaningless. The Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him, “but errs, he will have one reward,” does not mean that he is rewarded for the error itself. Rather, he is rewarded for his effort to seek the truth, because his independent legal reasoning is an act of worship. The sin of error is lifted from him, provided that he has spared no effort. (3)

Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi related to us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Nu‘aymi related to us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf related to us; Muhammad ibn Isma‘il related to us; Abu al-Yaman related to us; Shu‘ayb related to us, from al-Zuhri; Abu al-Zinad related to us, from Abd al-Rahman al-A‘raj, who heard Abu Hurayra say that he heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “Two women were with their two sons when a wolf came and carried off the son of one of them. One said to the other, ‘It carried off your son,’ while the other said, ‘It carried off your son.’ They brought their dispute before David, and he ruled that the child belonged to the elder woman. They then went to Solomon and informed him. He said, ‘Bring me a knife so that I may divide him between them.’ The younger woman said, ‘Do not do so—may Allah have mercy on you! He is her son.’ So he ruled that the child belonged to the younger woman.” (4)

His saying—glorified is He—“And We subjected the mountains and the birds to glorify along with David” means: We subjected the mountains and the birds to glorify along with David whenever he glorified Allah. Ibn Abbas said: “He understood the glorification of stones and trees.” Wahb said: “The mountains would respond to him in glorification, as would the birds.” Qatada said: “They glorified—that is, they prayed—with him whenever he prayed.” It was also said that whenever David grew weary, Allah would let him hear the glorification of the mountains and birds, so that he would regain vigor in glorifying Allah and long for it. “And We were the Doer of that.”