however small they may be, are grave in the sight of Allah.

It was also said that David’s sin was that Uriah had proposed to that woman and set his heart upon marrying her. When he was away on a military campaign, David proposed to her, and she married him because of his high standing. Uriah was distressed by this, so Allah reproved David for not leaving this one woman for her suitor when he already had ninety-nine wives.

Abu Sa‘id al-Shurayhi informed us; Abu Ishaq al-Tha‘labi informed us, saying: Among the reports confirming what we have mentioned from the early authorities is what ‘Aqil ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Faqih related to me: al-Mu‘afa ibn Zakariyya, the judge of Baghdad, informed him from Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, who said: Yunus ibn ‘Abd al-A‘la al-Sayrafi related to me; Ibn Wahb informed us; Ibn Lahi‘ah informed me, from Abu Sakhr, from Yazid al-Raqashi, from Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, whom he heard say: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say:

“David the Prophet, peace be upon him, when he looked at the woman, resolved to mobilize the Children of Israel and instructed the commander of the expedition, saying, ‘When the enemy is encountered, place so-and-so before the Ark.’ In that time, victory was sought through the Ark, and through the one placed before it; he would not return until he was killed or the army was routed from around him. Thus, the woman’s husband was killed.

“Then the two angels descended and presented to him their case. David understood, so he prostrated and remained in prostration for forty nights, until vegetation grew upon his head from his tears and the earth wore away his forehead. 101/b He would say in his prostration, ‘My Lord, David has committed an error as vast as the distance between east and west. My Lord, if You do not have mercy upon David’s weakness and forgive his sin, You will make his sin a subject of discussion among people after him.’

“After forty nights, Gabriel came to him and said, ‘O David, Allah has forgiven you the intention you conceived.’ David said, ‘The Lord is fully able to forgive me the intention I conceived, and I know that Allah is just and does not incline from justice. But what of so-and-so when he comes on the Day of Resurrection and says: “My Lord, the blood owed to me by David”?’ Gabriel said, ‘I have not asked your Lord about that; but if you wish, I shall do so.’ David said, ‘Yes.’ So Gabriel ascended, and David prostrated. He remained as Allah willed, and then Gabriel descended and said, ‘O David, I asked Allah concerning that for which you sent me. He said: “Tell David that Allah will gather you both on the Day of Resurrection and say to him, ‘Give Me the blood-claim you have against David.’ He will say, ‘It is Yours, my Lord.’ Then He will say, ‘In Paradise you shall have whatever you wish and whatever you desire as compensation for it.’”’ (1)

It was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas, Ka‘b al-Ahbar, and Wahb ibn Munabbih that they all said: When the two angels entered upon David and he passed judgment against himself, they returned to their original forms and ascended, saying, “The man has passed judgment against himself.” David knew that he was the one intended, so he fell in prostration for forty days, raising his head only for a need or at the time of an obligatory prayer,