(34:10-11) And He says at another place: And certainly We...

(34:10-11) And He says at another place: And certainly We gave knowledge to Dawud and Sulayman, and they both said, Praise be to Allah, Who has made us to excel many of His believing servants.

(27:15) ‘Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated that Allah gave Dawud and Sulayman miracles which were not given to any Prophet he was taught the language of birds and he made iron and pewter soft (pliant) for him (without the help of fire) and mountains used to sing praise of Allah with him and gave him Zabur (Psalms) which contained Tawhid (Oneness of Allah) and His praise and supplications.

In it were also news about the Prophet of Allah Muhammad as well as Amir al-Mu’minin ‘Ali (as.) and the holy Imams and the events of the Raj‘ah (return) and the faithful and the appearance of Imam al-Mahdi, Allah says in the holy Qur’an, “And certainly We wrote in the Book after the reminder that (as for) the land, My righteous servants shall inherit it.” (21:105) They, according to many traditions, are the impeccable Imams.

Again ‘Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated that when Dawud was reciting the Zabur (Psalms) in the desert, the mountains and birds in the air as well as the forest animals used to sing Praise to Allah with him and that iron used to be as pliant as wax in his hands, whereby he was making whatever he wanted easily and without melting or heating it on fire.

According to authentic narration, Imam as-Sadiq has said that whenever he (the Imam) faced any difficult task he used to do it on Tuesday, that is, on the day on which Allah had made iron soft for Dawud. it is mentioned in another hadith that Allah sent a revelation to Dawud that “You would have been a good and merited person had you earned your provision by working with your own hands and without taking it from the public treasury.” Hearing this Dawud wept very much.

So Allah ordered iron, ‘Be soft for My servant Dawud’. So Dawud was manufacturing one armor daily and selling it for 1000 Dinars until he made 360 armors and sold them for 360000 and had become needless of the public treasury. ‘Ali has, in one of his sermons, said, ‘If you like do imitation of Dawud the singer of the Psalms reciting Zabur melodiously. He will be the reciter in the Heavens.

He used to weave baskets from the skin of date tree and to tell his companions who from them would sell them.