Saba
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[34:10]
AND [thus], indeed, did We grace David with Our favour: "O you mountains! Sing with him the praise of God! And [likewise] you birds!"
And We softened all sharpness in him,

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* v.10 : Lit., “did We bestow upon David a favour from Ourselves.” This connects with the elliptic reference to repentance in the preceding verse: David is singled out for special mention in view of the allusion, in sūrah 38, to his having suddenly become aware that he had committed a sin, whereupon “he asked his Sustainer to forgive him his sin...and turned unto Him in repentance” (38:24).
* Cf. 21:79 and the corresponding note 73.
* Lit., “for him.” The term hadīd denotes, primarily, something that is “sharp” in both the concrete and abstract senses of the word: for the latter sense, cf. the Qur’anic phrase “sharp (hadīd) is thy sight today” (50:22), or the many idiomatic expressions like rajul hadīd, “a man of sharp intellect,” hadīd an-nazar, “one who looks boldly [at others],” rā’ihah hadīdah, “a sharp odour,” etc. (Lisān al-‘Arab). As a noun with a definite article (al-hadīd), it signifies “all that is sharp,” or “sharpness,” as well as “iron.” God’s having “softened all sharpness” in David is evidently an allusion to his exalted sense of beauty (expressed in the poetry of his Psalms) as well as to his goodness and humility. – An alternative rendering of the above phrase would be: “We caused iron to become soft for him,” which might be an allusion to his outstanding abilities as poet, warrior, and ruler.