As to the vessel, it belonged to _ten_ poor men,[308] who pursued their business on the sea; and I desired to render it unsound; for there was behind them a king, _an unbeliever_, who took every _sound_ vessel by force. And as to the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would transgress against them rebelliously and impiously: _for, according to a tradition related by Muslim, he was constituted by nature an unbeliever, and had he lived he had so acted_; wherefore we desired that their Lord should create for them a better than he in virtue, and [one] more disposed than he to filial piety. _And God created for them a daughter, who married a prophet, and gave birth to a prophet, by means of whom God directed a people to the right way_. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in the city, and beneath it was a treasure _buried_, _of gold and silver_, belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man; and thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of strength and take forth their treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And I did it not (_namely what hath been mentioned_) of mine own will, _but by direction of God_. This is the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience. (Chap. xviii. 59-81.) SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON. Hast thou not considered the assembly of the children of Israel after _the death of_ Moses, when they said unto a prophet of theirs, _namely Samuel_, Set up for us a king, _under whom_ we will fight in the way of God? He said _unto them_, If fighting be prescribed as incumbent on you, will ye, peradventure, abstain from fighting? They replied, And wherefore should we not fight in the way of God, since we have been expelled from our habitations and our children _by their having been taken prisoners and slain?_—_The people of Goliath_ [Jáloot] _had done thus unto them_.—But when fighting was commanded them, they turned back, excepting a few of them, _who crossed the river with Saul_ [Ṭáloot], _as will be related_. And God knoweth the offenders. _And the prophet begged his Lord to send a king; whereupon he consented to send Saul._ And their prophet said unto them, Verily God hath set up Saul as your king. They said, How shall he have the dominion over us, when we are more worthy of the dominion than he, (_for he was not of the royal lineage, nor of the prophetic, and he was a tanner, or a tender of flocks or herds,_) and he hath not been endowed with ample wealth? He replied, Verily God hath chosen him _as king_ over you, and increased him in largeness of knowledge and of body, (_for he was the wisest of the children of Israel at that time, and the most comely of them, and the most perfect of them in make,_) and God giveth his kingdom unto whom He pleaseth; and God is ample _in His beneficence_, knowing _with respect to him who is worthy of the kingdom_.—And their prophet said unto them, _when they demanded of him a sign in proof of