لو اخترتَ قائدًا لفريقك، فبمَ تختاره؟ بأغناهم؟ بأطولهم؟ بأشهرهم؟ في قصة اليوم اختار الله قائدًا لجيش كامل، فاعترض الناس على اختياره. ثم انتهت القصة بفتى صغير لم يكن في حساب أحد.
طلب بنو إسرائيل من نبيّهم أن يبعث لهم ملكًا يقاتلون معه في سبيل الله، وكان عدوّهم جيشًا كبيرًا على رأسه رجل جبّار اسمه جالوت. فقال لهم نبيّهم: ﴿هَلْ عَسَيْتُمْ إِن كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِتَالُ أَلَّا تُقَاتِلُوا﴾ — أي هل أنتم صادقون فعلًا؟ فقالوا: وما لنا ألّا نقاتل وقد أُخرجنا من ديارنا وأبنائنا؟ فاختار الله لهم طالوت.
قال الله: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ بَعَثَ لَكُمْ طَالُوتَ مَلِكًا﴾. فاعترضوا فورًا: ﴿أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ عَلَيْنَا وَنَحْنُ أَحَقُّ بِالْمُلْكِ مِنْهُ وَلَمْ يُؤْتَ سَعَةً مِّنَ الْمَالِ﴾ — كيف يكون ملكًا علينا وليس غنيًّا؟ فجاء الجواب: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَاهُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَزَادَهُ بَسْطَةً فِي الْعِلْمِ وَالْجِسْمِ﴾ — العلم أولًا ثم الجسم؛ لا المال. ثم خرج طالوت بالجيش، وامتحنهم في الطريق بنهر: ﴿فَمَن شَرِبَ مِنْهُ فَلَيْسَ مِنِّي وَمَن لَّمْ يَطْعَمْهُ فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّي إِلَّا مَنِ اغْتَرَفَ غُرْفَةً بِيَدِهِ﴾. فشربوا إلا قليلًا. وهكذا صار الجيش الكبير جيشًا صغيرًا قبل أن تبدأ المعركة.
ولمّا صار القليل الباقي أمام جيش جالوت، قال بعضهم: ﴿لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا الْيَوْمَ بِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِ﴾. وهنا قال الذين معهم اليقين كلمة هي قلب القصة: ﴿كَم مِّن فِئَةٍ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةً كَثِيرَةً بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ﴾. ثم دعوا: ﴿رَبَّنَا أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْرًا وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا﴾. وخرج من هذا الجيش الصغير فتى ليس ملكًا ولا قائدًا، اسمه داود، فقتل جالوت. حجرٌ في يد فتى أنهى ما لم ينهه جيش.
﴿فَهَزَمُوهُم بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَقَتَلَ دَاوُودُ جَالُوتَ وَآتَاهُ اللَّهُ الْمُلْكَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَعَلَّمَهُ مِمَّا يَشَاءُ﴾. فالفتى الذي لم يكن أحد يحسب له حسابًا صار نبيًّا وملكًا. وانظر كيف رتّب الله القصة: امتحنهم بالنهر فقلّ عددهم، وقلّ عددهم فظهر أن النصر ليس بالعدد، وظهر ذلك فعُلم أنه ﴿بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ﴾.
يقول الله تعالى يعلمنا سبب اختيار طالوت: {إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَاهُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَزَادَهُ بَسْطَةً فِي الْعِلْمِ وَالْجِسْمِ}.
يُختار القائد بعلمه وقدرته وأمانته، لا بماله ولا بشهرته.
امتحن طالوت جنوده بشربة ماء، وهي شيء صغير جدًّا. لماذا في رأيك تكشف الأشياء الصغيرة حقيقة الناس؟
امتحن نفسك اليوم في شيء صغير: امتنع عن شيء تحبّه مرّة واحدة، وانظر هل تقدر.
القرآن الكريم، سورة البقرة: 246-251
اختيار طالوت وابتلاء النهر وقتل داود لجالوت، كله بنص الآيات.
If you were choosing a captain for your team, what would you choose them for? The richest? The tallest? The most famous? In today's story Allah chose a commander for a whole army, and the people objected to the choice. Then the story ended with a young man nobody had counted on.
The Children of Israel asked their prophet to send them a king to fight alongside in the way of Allah. Their enemy was a great army led by a tyrant named Jalut. Their prophet said to them: {Would you perhaps refrain from fighting if fighting was prescribed for you?} — are you actually serious? They said: why would we not fight, when we have been driven from our homes and our children? So Allah chose Talut for them.
Allah said: {Indeed, Allah has sent to you Talut as a king.} They objected at once: {How can he have kingship over us while we are more worthy of kingship than him and he has not been given any measure of wealth?} — how can he rule us when he is not rich? And the answer came: {Indeed, Allah has chosen him over you and has increased him abundantly in knowledge and stature} — knowledge first, then stature; not wealth. Then Talut set out with the army and tested them on the way at a river: {Whoever drinks from it is not of me, and whoever does not taste it is indeed of me, except for one who takes a sip with his hand.} And they drank, except a few. And so the large army became a small one before the battle had even begun.
When the few who were left stood before Jalut's army, some of them said: {There is no power for us today against Jalut and his soldiers.} And here those with certainty said the sentence the story turns on: {How many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of Allah.} Then they prayed: {Our Lord, pour upon us patience and plant firmly our feet.} And out of that small army came a young man who was neither king nor commander — named Dawud — and he killed Jalut. A stone in a young man's hand finished what an army could not.
{So they defeated them by permission of Allah, and Dawud killed Jalut, and Allah gave him the kingship and wisdom and taught him from that which He willed.} The young man nobody had counted on became a prophet and a king. And look how Allah arranged the story: He tested them at the river so their number shrank; their number shrank so it was clear that victory is not about numbers; and once that was clear, everyone knew it was {by permission of Allah}.
A leader is chosen for knowledge, capability and trustworthiness — not for wealth or fame.
Talut tested his soldiers with a drink of water — a very small thing. Why do you think small things reveal what people are really like?
Test yourself with something small today: hold back once from something you like, and see whether you can.
The Quran, Surah Al-Baqarah: 246-251
Talut's selection, the test at the river and Dawud's killing of Jalut are all in the verses.