The Quran

247

وَقالَ لَهُم نَبِيُّهُم إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَد بَعَثَ لَكُم طالوتَ مَلِكًا ۚ قالوا أَنّىٰ يَكونُ لَهُ المُلكُ عَلَينا وَنَحنُ أَحَقُّ بِالمُلكِ مِنهُ وَلَم يُؤتَ سَعَةً مِنَ المالِ ۚ قالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصطَفاهُ عَلَيكُم وَزادَهُ بَسطَةً فِي العِلمِ وَالجِسمِ ۖ وَاللَّهُ يُؤتي مُلكَهُ مَن يَشاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ واسِعٌ عَليمٌ

Muhammad Asad

And their prophet said unto those elders:¹ "Behold, now God has raised up Saul to be your king." They said: "How can he have dominion over us when we have a better claim to dominion than he, and he has not [even] been endowed with abundant wealth?" [The prophet] replied: "Behold, God has exalted him above you, and endowed him abundantly with knowledge and bodily perfection. And God bestows His dominion² upon whom He wills: for God is infinite, all-knowing."

Lit., "to them" - but the next sentence shows that the elders were thus addressed by Samuel.
An allusion to the Qur'anic doctrine that all dominion and all that may be "owned" by man belongs to God alone, and that man holds it only in trust from Him.