And when he indicated his elevation by showing him the proof until he was upon insight regarding his affair, and that he was exalted above the opposers by raising the ranks, he followed that which indicated it and his wisdom by his knowledge of the consequences. He said, informing that he made him honored in this world because the noblest of people are the prophets and messengers, and they are from his lineage and offspring. He raised his mention forever due to his standing in defense of His oneness: ﴿And We granted him﴾ that is: to our friend - peace be upon him - by what we have of greatness ﴿Isaac﴾ as a son to him in old age, when it is not born to one like him nor to one like his wife ﴿and Jacob﴾ that is: the son of a son. And he began - glorified is He - with them because the context is for the favor upon the friend - peace be upon him - and he is most joyful with his son who was granted to him and was not commanded to part from him, and the son of his son who is among the most of the prophets calling to Allah from his lineage and among his special ones. And this is the greatest cause for the emergence that his sons purified the holy land which is the migration of Ibrahim - peace be upon him - and his chosen place for dwelling with himself and his offspring. Rather, it is the choice of Allah for him and for them after him with the aid of its purity from polytheism and the worship of idols, and they called to Allah and illuminated the earth with His worship.

And when the favor does not complete except with guidance, he said, beginning anew and presenting the object to include both of them in the speech: ﴿Both﴾ that is: from both of them and from their father ﴿We guided﴾ then he followed that with the guided ones, ancient and modern, emphasizing that this doctrine has always had the pure servants calling to it in ancient times and modern times. So it is as if he is saying: If you adhere to your religion; because it is a truth with you, then it has become clear to you its falsehood, and that the truth is only the oneness. And if you adhere to it for its antiquity, then this religion - which my messenger called you to with the clarity of evidence for its truthfulness - is the ancient one that Noah and those who followed him from his pure offspring called you to, up to Ibrahim your greatest father, and those after him from his pure offspring to Jesus, then to this messenger who is the call of Ibrahim and the glad tidings of Jesus - blessings and peace be upon all of them - so he is most deserving of following in terms of truthfulness and antiquity. And if you adhere to it merely for the sake of following your fathers, then there is none among your fathers like Ibrahim - peace be upon him - and I have recited to you in my speech which I established the conclusive evidence of your inability regarding the correctness of its attribution to what he argued with his father and his people in abolishing the idols that led you astray. So he is the most worthy of your fathers to be regarded - and Allah is the grantor of success.

And when it was that he perhaps fell into the illusion that the guidance of each of Isaac and his son was due to the upbringing of their father, he mentioned the tenth of the ancestors of the Friend, which is Noah - peace be upon them - to refute that. This is because the context is for the denial of idols, and he was the first to prohibit their worship. He is one of the most esteemed ancestors of the Friend - peace be upon him - and he said: "And Noah We guided," meaning: by what We have of greatness among that crooked generation.

And when it was that it did not exceed from him, and his time was some of the earlier times - he established the connection and severed it from the addition due to the great distance of their time from his time. He said: "Before," meaning: and his guidance was only by Us in a time when its people were in great misguidance and adherence to injustice, like the reception of the night, whenever its darkness extended and intensified. And he called them to Allah and raised them, yet not many returned from them, until indeed his wife and some of his children opposed him. And for such a reason, it separated between Ishmael and his father, and Joseph and his father - peace be upon them - indicating the separation of each of them from his father in life, and that none of them preserved the paths of guidance for a long time - except Allah; then he began with those mentioned after him, with whom he built a mosque by his hand and the hand of his son, which is still the mosque that was built by Ibrahim and his son Ishmael - peace be upon them - and he said: "And from his descendants."

And when the entire context is for praising the Friend, and those mentioned - except for Lot - are from his lineage, and the predominance is commonly used in the language of the Arabs, especially since Lot is the son of his brother and like his children - it has been ruled that the pronoun refers to Ibrahim - peace be upon him - and the saying of those who said that Yunus - peace be upon him - is not from his lineage is incorrect. Rather, he is from the Children of Israel, and he is one of those mentioned in the Book of the Prophets, and his news will come from the mentioned book in the Surah of "Those who stand in rows" [As-Saffat: 1] - if Allah, the Exalted, wills - and Abu Al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Kisai stated in the stories of the Prophets that he is from the descendants of Ibrahim. His words imply that he is from the Children of Israel, as does the statement of Al-Baghawi in the Surah of the Prophets - peace be upon them. As for Ayyub, it has been narrated from the lineage of Ays ibn Isaac - peace be upon them - "David," meaning: We guided him, "and Solomon," meaning: the two who built the Sacred House by the command of Allah: David by his writing and founding, and Solomon by completing and erecting it.

And there were not with that two angels, who were similar to them in kingship or in judgment over kings. He said: "And Ayyub" and he preceded him due to the relevance between him and Sulayman in that each of them was tested by taking all that was in their possession and then Allah returned it to them. "And Yusuf" and each of these four was tested, so he was patient, and became wealthy, so he was grateful. And Ayyub, if he was not a king, his wealth was not less than the wealth of kings. Although some of the students informed me about the interpretation of Al-Hakkari - as I think - that he stated that he was a king. Also, the first two were the cause of the reform of the Children of Israel after corruption and their rescue from the humiliation of the Philistines. The remaining two, each of them was tested by the separation from their families, then they were returned to them: Ayyub after they died, and Yusuf before death. And also, Dawud - peace be upon him - shared with Ibrahim - peace be upon him - in that he was the cause of his safety from the king of his time by hiding in a cave. This is because Nimrod ibn Al-Kan'an claimed divinity and aspired to it. His astrologers said to him: A boy will be born in your land this year who will change the religion of the people of the earth, and your destruction will be at his hands. So he ordered the slaughter of every boy in his region that year and ordered the separation of men from women. The mother of Ibrahim - peace be upon him - became pregnant with him that year. When she felt the labor, she went out at night to a cave nearby and gave birth to Ibrahim in it and took care of him. Then she sealed the mouth of the cave and returned. Then she would check on him and find him sucking his thumb. He would grow in a day like a month and in a month like a year. As for Dawud - peace be upon him - when he killed Jalut and Talut married him to his daughter, and he shared his kingship - as he had stipulated for whoever killed Jalut - the people inclined towards him and loved him. So he was envied and they wanted to kill him. He was sought after, so he fled from them and entered a cave, and a spider wove over him. Talut said: If he had entered here, he would have torn the web of the spider. So Allah saved him from it. And he followed him with Sulayman because, despite being from the people of kingship and trials, he shared with Ibrahim - peace be upon them - in abolishing the worship of the sun in the story of Bilqis - may Allah be pleased with her - and the story of Yusuf - peace be upon him - in abolishing the worship of idols is well-known in His saying: "O my two companions of the prison, are many lords differing better or Allah, the One, the Subduer?" [Yusuf: 39]

And when Yusuf - blessings and peace be upon him - was among those whom Allah elevated His word above the word of the king of Egypt and honored its kingdom and its people, and revived them by it, he was followed by those whom Allah elevated their words above the word of the king of Egypt and its people, and He destroyed them by both of them. So, some of their stories are in agreement, and some are in contrast and opposition. He said: ﴿And Musa and Harun﴾. And when the decree was: We guided them as a reward for their goodness in guiding themselves and their supplication for others to guidance, the bounty of ease did not distract any of them, nor did the trial of hardship. He then turned to his saying: ﴿And thus﴾, meaning: And like what We rewarded them ﴿We reward the doers of good﴾, meaning: all of them. In that is an indication of the high status of theirs from this aspect, which is that they are among the people of ease that extinguishes and hardship that elevates. And despite that, they did good and did not falter nor weaken.