It is said that David was the son of Jesse, son of Aweid, son of Aber, son of Salmun, son of Nashun, son of Amenadab, son of Iram, son of Hasrun, son of Fars, son of Judah, son of Jacob who was the son of Isaac, son of Abraham.

We have already covered in the previous prophet story, prophet Samuel, that David killed Jalut (Goliath) and thereafter became a hero to the Israelites. Talut, their current king appointed by Allah, said that whoever kills their enemy, Goliath, will be able to marry his daughter and be granted kingship after him. After David killed Goliath he was made king and was the first person to be both a king and prophet.

So they defeated them by Allah’s Will, and David killed Goliath. And Allah blessed David with kingship and wisdom and taught him what He willed. Had Allah not repelled a group of people by ˹the might of˺ another, corruption would have dominated the earth, but Allah is Gracious to all.2:251

Allah taught David ways to make protective iron armour for battles - something that was not done at the time.

Indeed, We granted David a ˹great˺ privilege from Us, ˹commanding:˺ “O mountains! Echo his hymns! And the birds as well.” We made iron mouldable for him,34:10

instructing: “Make full-length armour, ˹perfectly˺ balancing the links. And work righteousness ˹O family of David!˺. Indeed, I am All-Seeing of what you do.”34:11

David was strong in his devotion and good deeds. In hadith, we learn that he had the best prayer, best fasting: he slept for the first half, one-third of the night was filled with prayer and he then slept for the remaining sixth. He also used to fast on alternate days and would not flee on facing the enemy [Bukhari 3419, 3420, Muslim 1159].

David was given a book which in English is called Psalms, or in Arabic the Zabur. According to Imam Ahmad this book was revealed in Ramadan, like the Quran, and contained warning and guidance.

David was blessed with a beautiful voice, so much so that when he would recite the Psalms, birds would join in, praising Allah with him. Likewise, the mountains would glorify Allah with David in the mornings and the evenings. In hadith, we hear the prophet ﷺ praising Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari's recitations by describing him as having some of the sweetness that was granted to David [Ahmad 2:450, Ibn Majah 1341].

Furthermore, we hear in hadith that the Prophet ﷺ said, "The reciting of the Zabur (i.e. Psalms) was made easy for David. He used to order that his riding animals be saddled, and would finish reciting the Zabur before they were saddled. And he would never eat except from the earnings of his manual work."

Be patient ˹O Prophet˺ with what they say. And remember Our servant, David, the man of strength. Indeed, he ˹constantly˺ turned ˹to Allah˺.38:17

We truly subjected the mountains to hymn ˹Our praises˺ along with him in the evening and after sunrise.38:18

And ˹We subjected˺ the birds, flocking together. All turned to him ˹echoing his hymns˺.38:19

We strengthened his kingship, and gave him wisdom and sound judgment.38:20

Geographically, David fought people who lived in Palestine at Ashdod, near to Gaza. His success in battles let his kingdom to extent from Ailatul-Aqabah to the Euphrates River.