Al-Dir'
Definition
Al-dir' — chain-mail armor — is the practical skill that Allah taught Dawud, described in the Quran as 'We made iron pliable for him' and the command to 'make full coats of mail.' Ibn Kathir uses this detail to make an important point about the nature of prophetic engagement with the world: prophets were not otherworldly figures who disdained material concerns. Dawud, the man who sang the Psalms while mountains echoed his praise, was also a craftsman who worked iron with his hands to protect his warriors. The combination of divine scripture and artisanal craft in a single prophet represents the Islamic integration of the spiritual and the practical — worship and work are not opposed; they are both dimensions of the vicegerency.
As understood in the classical tradition of Ibn Kathir and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
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