Surah Al-Anbiya, blessings and peace be upon them.

Its purpose is to provide evidence for the occurrence of the Hour and its proximity, even through death, and the occurrence of reckoning therein for the great and the insignificant. This is because its Creator has no partner to prevent Him from it, and He is one whose words cannot be changed. The clearest indication of this is the collection of stories of a group of the prophets, blessings and peace be upon them, mentioned therein. No single story among them stands out independently in all of that, as we will clarify. No story among their stories is devoid of indication of something from that, so it is attributed to the whole - and Allah is the Grantor of success.

Surah Al-Anbiya begins in the name of the Wise, the Just, whose power is complete and whose command encompasses all. Allah, the King, to whom there is no equal, the Most Merciful, who equalizes His creation in the mercy of His creation, the Most Compassionate, who saves whom He wills from His servants in their return.

When the Surah concluded with their warning that they will know the wretched and the happy, this knowledge sometimes occurs in the world by unveiling the veil through faith, and sometimes by witnessing the appearance of the religion, and sometimes by the infliction of punishment through the taking of the soul by killing or otherwise. Sometimes it is through resurrection on the Day of Judgment. This was opened with the clearest of that, which is the day when the veil will be lifted, and the news will transition from the knowledge of certainty to the eye of certainty and the truth of certainty, which is the Day of Reckoning. Allah, the Exalted, said: "The Hour has drawn near for the people," meaning generally for you and others, "their reckoning," meaning on the Day of Resurrection. He indicated by the form of causation to the increased proximity, as there is no nation after this whose matter is awaited. He delayed the doer to terrify so that the soul may wander in determining it in every direction. It is correct that what is meant by reckoning is recompense, and that would serve as a threat regarding the Day of Badr and the Conquest and similar events. The people referred to at that time could be Quraysh or all the Arabs. Reckoning is the counting of a thing and the recompense for it with good or evil. "And they," meaning the state that they are due to what is in their nature of turmoil, which is the disturbance that leads to the lack of stability in a state of safety. Allah saved him from this deficiency, and they are very few. "In heedlessness," this is a justification for the last of that, as they will know when they are resurrected. When the events annihilate them, they will know of death, and those who remain among them will be in humiliation that removes the pride of arrogance, the people of truth from the people of falsehood. His saying: "Turning away" is like a justification for heedlessness, meaning that heedlessness has surrounded them due to their turning away from what comes to them from Us. And what will come will support this in His saying at the end: "But we were wrongdoers" [Al-Anbiya: 97]. Otherwise, reason dictates that there must be recompense for the good-doer and the wrongdoer.

Imam Abu Ja'far [bin] Al-Zubair said in his proof: When His saying (p-380) glorified is He ﴿Do not extend your eyes﴾ [Al-Hijr: 88] preceded His saying ﴿Then you will know who are the companions of the straight path and who is guided﴾ [Ta-Ha: 135], He, exalted is He, said ﴿The time of their reckoning has drawn near for the people while they are in heedlessness, turning away﴾. This means do not extend your eyes to that, for I have made it a trial for whoever reaches it unjustly. We ask about a little of that and a lot of it ﴿Then you will surely be asked that Day about pleasure﴾ [Al-Takathur: 8]. The matter is near ﴿The time of their reckoning has drawn near for the people﴾. Also, when He, exalted is He, said ﴿And to warn thereby a people who are stubborn﴾ [Maryam: 97], they are the ones who are fierce in opposition to falsehood. [Then] He said ﴿And how many have We destroyed before them from a generation﴾ [Maryam: 98] until its end. This sentence called for an elaboration of the situation, so it began with comforting him, blessings and peace be upon him, and consoling him, so that the stubbornness of them would not be burdensome upon him. The Surah of Ta-Ha included this purpose by indicating it with His saying ﴿We did not send down the Qur'an upon you to cause you distress﴾ [Ta-Ha: 2] and comforting him with the story of Musa, peace be upon him, and what happened to the Children of Israel and the end of Fir'aun's affair and Musa's struggle to confront Fir'aun and his transgressions until Allah caused him to fall and destroyed him, and He made His servants inherit their land and their homes. Then it was followed by the story of Adam, peace be upon him, so that His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, would see His tradition among His servants. Even though Adam, peace be upon him, was not tested by his offspring nor did he struggle against his kind, he certainly struggled against Iblis as Allah narrated in His Book. All of this is a comfort for the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, for when it is established for him that it is the tradition of Allah, exalted is He, among His servants, the stubbornness of Quraysh and their struggles became easy for him. (p-381) Then the Surah of the Prophets began with the remainder of this comfort, for between the nearness of reckoning and the occurrence of the Day of Judgment, which is praiseworthy, lies the fruit of what was struggled for in the cause of Allah and the hope that if that were more, and the hardship was greater for the great fruit and beautiful reward. Then He, glorified is He, followed that with admonitions, and signs, and an elaboration of verses, and He informed that He, glorified is He, has preceded His tradition with the destruction of those who did not have faith from the earlier generations and the former nations.

﴿No village believed before them that We destroyed﴾ [Al-Anbiya: 6]. And in His saying ﴿Do they believe?﴾ [Al-Anbiya: 6], there is consolation for the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, regarding the matter of Quraysh and what was said before it. This surah contains the beginning of the story of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, from the admonitions and the reminders of the signs, and the stirring of the servants to reflect upon them, which leads to those who reflect submitting and entrusting themselves to Allah, glorified and exalted is He, and being patient in the face of trials, which is one of the aims of the surah. And in His saying ﴿Then We fulfilled Our promise to them, so We saved them and whom We will, and We destroyed the transgressors﴾ [Al-Anbiya: 9], there is a summary of what the latter half of this surah explained regarding the rescue of the messengers, peace be upon them, from their people and the destruction of those who transgressed and did not believe. In mentioning the rescue of the messengers and their support, which is included in the latter half from His saying ﴿And We certainly gave Ibrahim his guidance﴾ [Al-Anbiya: 51] to the end of the surah, there is a fulfillment of the earlier aim of providing comfort and alignment with what was included in Surah Taha, and an explanation of the general statement ﴿And how many villages We destroyed before them, do you sense any of them or hear from them a whisper?﴾ [Maryam: 98]. [End of text].