O Dawud! Surely we have made you a viceroy (Khalifa) in the land, so judge between men with justice and do not follow desire, lest it should lead you astray from the path of Allah (as for) those who go astray from the path ofAllah, they shall surely have a severe punishment because they forgot the day of reckoning.” (3:26)
"And when your Lord said to the angels, I am going to place in the earth a khalifah, they said: what! Will You place in it such as shall make mischief in it and shed blood, and we celebrate Your praise and extol Your holiness? He said: surely I know what you do not know.” (2:30)
Here a question arises that when God appointed a khalifah (according to the verse 2:30), was that appointment
exclusive to Adam or not? The answer is negative. As we saw before Dawud was khalifah. Certainly Moses, Jesus, the Noble Prophet (S) and some other prophets were also khalifah. Some scholars use the following verse as one of their reasons to prove that it was not exclusive to Adam.
"And He is who has made you successors (Khalifa) in the land and raised some of you above others by (various) grades, that He might try you by what He has given you.” (6:165)