as well as to the masculine and feminine. The sense of plurality is also found in the dual, for plurality means joining one thing to another. This is like the saying of Allah, exalted is He: “For your hearts have deviated” (al-Tahrim, 4).

“When they entered upon David, he was alarmed by them. They said, ‘Do not fear. We are two litigants, one of whom has wronged the other; so judge between us with truth, do not be unjust, and guide us to the even path. Indeed, this brother of mine has ninety-nine ewes, while I have one ewe. He said, “Entrust her to me,” and he overpowered me in speech.’” (22–23)

“ When they entered upon David, he was alarmed by them”: he feared the two of them when they suddenly came upon him in his prayer chamber without his permission. He said, “What has brought you two before me?” They said, “Do not fear. We are two litigants”—that is, “We are two disputants” (1)—“one of whom has wronged the other. We have come to you so that you may judge between us.” If it is asked, “How could they say, ‘One of us has wronged the other,’ when they were two angels who do not commit wrongdoing?” the answer is that it means: “Consider two litigants, one of whom has wronged the other.” This is an indirect mode of expression, not an assertion that either of them had actually committed wrongdoing.

“So judge between us with truth, and do not be unjust”: that is, do not act unfairly. In Arabic, it is said that a man has shaṭṭa or ashaṭṭa when he acts unjustly in his judgment. (2) Its meaning is to exceed the proper bounds. The word originally derives from saying that a dwelling has become distant when it is far away. “And guide us to the even path”: guide us to the way of sound judgment and justice. David then said to them, “Speak.”

One of them said: “Indeed, this brother of mine”—that is, my brother in religion and way—“has ninety-nine ewes,” meaning ninety-nine wives, “while I have one ewe,” that is, one wife. The Arabs use “ewe” as a euphemism for a woman. (3) Al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl said: This is an allusive representation intended to alert and make the matter understood, for there were in fact no ewes and no wrongdoing involved. It is like their saying, “Zayd struck Amr,” or, “Bakr bought a house,” although there was neither any striking nor any purchase.

“He said, ‘Entrust her to me.’” Ibn Abbas said: “Give her to me.” Mujahid said: “Yield her to me.” Its literal sense is: “Join her to me and make me responsible for her,” for the one responsible for her is the one who supports and spends on her. The meaning is: divorce her so that I may marry her.

“And he overpowered me in speech”: that is, in argument. It was also said that he subdued me through the strength of his dominion. Al-Dahhak said: He means that when he spoke, he was more eloquent than I; and when he fought, he was mightier in battle than I.

The true sense is that he had the upper hand over me because of my weakness before him, even though the right was on my side. All of this is a representation of the matter of