إِنَّ هٰذا أَخي لَهُ تِسعٌ وَتِسعونَ نَعجَةً وَلِيَ نَعجَةٌ واحِدَةٌ فَقالَ أَكفِلنيها وَعَزَّني فِي الخِطابِ
Indeed this brother of mine has ninety-nine ewes, while I have only a single ewe, and [yet] he says: “Commit it to my care,” and he browbeats me in speech.’
EXEGESIS
Naʿjah (ewe) is the female of a sheep or cow or mountain goat. It is claimed that Arabs used it as slang for women as well.
Akfilnīhā (commit it to my care) comes from kafālah, meaning to entrust in someone’s care and safekeeping. Here it means place it in my custody so I look after it, or alternatively, relinquish control of it to me.
ʿAzzanī (browbeats) comes from ʿizzah which we discussed in the commentary on verse 2. Here it means overcoming in quarrel and argument by virtue of being more eloquent and well-spoken.
Khiṭāb (speech) is to talk continuously. Zamakhsharī muses that khiṭāb in this verse could mean proposal for marriage instead of speech, meaning that they both proposed to the same woman and one overcame the other. For this to make sense we must remember that it is said that naʿjah (ewe) was said to be slang for woman. There is however no need to understand the verse figuratively unless we wish to accept the false story attributed to these verses, which is discussed in the commentary on the next verse.
EXPOSITION
As is the style of Quranic storytelling, the details are scant and what might be longer conversations are cut short and we are only told certain important highlights. In this case we are not told any reply from Prophet David (a) yet, although he must have said something to indicate that it was alright for the contenders to proceed with presenting their case. The claimant began by forwarding his complaint. As a background to his claim, he first describes the defendant as a rich man, saying, Indeed this brother of mine has ninety-nine ewes, while describing himself as poor – while I have only a single ewe.
He then launches into the perceived injustice done to him, and [yet] he says: “Commit it to my care”. The subtext here is that instead of helping me out and giving me charity from his wealth he demands even more from me.
This is as true today as it was thousands of years ago, when often the wealthy, instead of giving to others from their wealth, wish only to hoard more of it, leading to the trickle-up economics that we witness today.
Interestingly, the method of acquiring the ewe was very similar to today’s financial systems as well. The rich man did not take the poor man’s ewe through violent means and brute force, but rather by shrewdness. The word akfilnīhā (commit it to my care) is very similar to the standard arguments used by capitalists and industrialists today, whereby they claim that they are somehow specially gifted in ‘wealth creation’, and that giving them more money and financial power will lead to greater prosperity. With his complicated arguments and silver tongue, the wealthy man browbeats me in speech.
This is the essence of insatiable human greed, and when faced with such naked avarice, it is only natural that Prophet David (a) should have been upset, as we shall read in the next verse.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Many exegetes have claimed that the ninety-nine ewes was meant to allude to the fact that Prophet David (a) supposedly had ninety-nine wives. However, it is also related from Hasan al-Baṣrī that Prophet David (a) did not actually have ninety-nine wives.
[1] Tabrisi, 8/734.
[2] Tabrisi, 8/734; Tabari, 23/92; Thalabi, 8/189; Baghawi, 4/58. Ṭabarī claims this is why the ewes were used as an analogy for the supposed ninety-nine wives of Prophet David (a) mentioned later.
[3] Raghib, p. 717.
[4] Tibyan, 8/553; Tabrisi, 8/734; Qurtubi, 15/175.
[5] Tibyan, 8/553; Tabrisi, 8/734; Tabari, 23/91.
[6] Raghib, p. 286.
[7] Zamakhshari, 4/83-84.
[8] As the two were angels, brotherhood here does not mean by flesh, but is rather meant to give the impression that the two were very close to each other, and despite that closeness they still fell into disagreement and argument.
[9] Tibyan, 8/552.