Section: The Caliphate and the Ruler, and in What Sense He Is Allah’s Shadow on Earth

Allah Most High says:

“And when your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed, I will place a successor on earth.’”

Allah Most High also says:

“O David, We have made you a successor on earth, so judge between people with truth, and do not follow desire, lest it lead you astray from Allah’s path.”

His words, “Indeed, I will place a successor on earth,” encompass Adam and his descendants, though the term directly designates Adam himself. This is like His words:

“We have certainly created man in the best form”; and:

“He created man from clay like pottery,”
“And He created the jinn from a smokeless flame of fire”; and:

“He began the creation of man from clay,”
“Then He made his descendants from an extract of a lowly fluid,”
“Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a secure resting place”—

and other similar passages.

Thus, there was such an affinity between David and Adam that Adam loved David when Allah showed him his descendants. Adam asked about David’s lifespan and was told, “Forty years.” He then gave him sixty years from his own lifespan of a thousand years. This hadith is authentic; al-Tirmidhī and others narrated it, and al-Tirmidhī graded it authentic. For this reason, each of them was tried with the sin through which Allah tested him, just as each of the two