And when he encouraged action with his admonitions; and the promise may be for the severity in the one being admonished; and what he presented in his admonition was a general matter; he encouraged after softening it with the admonition in absolute obedience; which the entire status is for it; detailing the generality of what he promised upon it; he said: ﴿And whoever obeys Allah﴾; meaning: in complying with His commands; and refraining from His prohibitions; being mindful of His greatness; obedience that is continuous and persistent; ﴿and the Messenger﴾; meaning: in all that he desired; for the position of prophethood necessitates that; especially one who has reached its end; ﴿then those﴾; meaning: the high in rank; the great in honor; ﴿are with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favor﴾; meaning: by what He has of attributes of majesty; and beauty; ﴿upon them﴾; meaning: counted among His party; for he is in a position where if he wishes to visit them or see them, he reaches them easily; not that he must be in their ranks; even if his deeds are deficient; then he mentioned them by saying: ﴿from the Prophets﴾; meaning: those whom Allah informed of the subtleties of wisdom; and they informed the people of the truth of the words; by what they have of purity of character; and exaltedness; and greatness; ﴿and the truthful﴾; meaning: those who were the first to believe what came to them from Allah; and they were truthful in their words; and actions; so they were a model for those after them; ﴿and the martyrs﴾; meaning: those who did not ever leave the sacred presence; and places of companionship for the blink of an eye; rather they are with the people in their bodies; and with Allah - glorified and exalted is He - in their souls; and their knowledge; whether they witnessed for the religion of Allah with truth; or for others with falsehood; with proof; or with the sword; then they were killed in the way of Allah; ﴿and the righteous﴾; meaning: those who do not have any corruption in their outward or inward - by the power of Allah - at all; and to this refers the words of the knowledgeable Sheikh Raslan; where he said: You are not righteous as long as there remains in you a remnant for others; and the four attributes may gather in one person; and they may not gather; and Abu Bakr - may Allah be pleased with him - is the most deserving of the ummah of truthfulness; and even if we say: that Ali and Zayd - may Allah be pleased with them - embraced Islam before him; for he - due to his seniority; and because he was not previously a follower of the Prophet ﷺ before Islam, was a model for others; and for that reason he was a cause for the Islam of many people; and those were a cause for the Islam of others; so he had the reward of all of them; and in him - at the time of his Islam - was the strength of jihad in the way of Allah - glorified and exalted is He - in defending the Prophet ﷺ and other actions that indicate his truthfulness; and to observe these matters, their rank was next to the rank of prophethood; and to elevate the intermediary between them; may Allah - glorified and exalted is He - grant success to this ummah which He chose; by appointing the truthful - may Allah be pleased with him - after their Prophet ﷺ and burying him beside him; and from the greatness of their rank is the Prophet's ﷺ mention of them at the end of his life; for he said: 'with the highest companion'; narrated by Al-Bukhari; in the tafsir; "Aisha - may Allah be pleased with her - said: I heard the Prophet ﷺ say: 'No prophet falls ill except that he is given the choice between this world and the Hereafter.'

And he was in his complaint, in which he passed away, overtaken by a severe gasp. He heard himself saying: ﴿With those upon whom Allah has bestowed favor, of the prophets, the steadfast, the martyrs, and the righteous﴾. So she knew that he had been given a choice.

And when he informed that the obedient one was with these, he did not suffice with what their mention implied of their greatness and the greatness of those with them. Rather, he increased in clarifying the high rank of them and the rank of everyone with them by saying: ﴿And how excellent﴾; meaning: and how good; ﴿Those﴾; meaning: the high in morals; the foremost on the day of the race; ﴿As companions﴾; from 'al-rifq'; and it is linguistically: gentleness of demeanor; and kindness of action; and it is what is equal in singular and plural.