His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿Those are the messengers; We have preferred some of them over others. Among them are those with whom Allah spoke, and He raised some of them in degrees. And We gave Jesus, son of Mary, clear signs and supported him with the Spirit of Holiness.﴾

"Those" is raised as the subject, and "the messengers" is its predicate. It is permissible for "the messengers" to be an apposition, and "We have preferred" is the predicate. "Those" refers to a group with a feminine expression.

And Allah has stated in this verse the preference of some prophets over others. This is in general without specifying the one who is preferred. And this is how the hadiths are regarding the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, for he said: "I am the master of the children of Adam," and he said: "Do not prefer me over Moses." And he said: "It is not appropriate for anyone to say: I am better than Jonah, son of Mattai." In this is a strong prohibition against specifying the one who is preferred, because Jonah, peace be upon him, was young and he became overwhelmed under the burdens of prophethood. So if this prohibition applies to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, then it is more applicable to others. The connection of the topic is that the preference among them is without specifying the one who is preferred. Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The best of the children of Adam are Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, and they are the possessors of strong will. And the one who spoke to Allah is Moses, peace be upon him. It has been reported that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was asked about Adam: Is he a messenger? He said: "Yes, a prophet who spoke." Some people have interpreted that Adam's speaking was in Paradise, so on this basis, the specialty of Moses remains.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿And He raised some of them in degrees.﴾ Mujahid and others said: This refers to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, because he was sent to all people, and he was given the five things that no one was given before him. He is the greatest of people in community, and Allah concluded prophethood with him, in addition to the great character that Allah granted him, and from his miracles and astonishing signs. The wording may refer to Muhammad and others whose signs are great, and the speech may be an affirmation of the first. It is also possible that it refers to the elevation of Idris to a high place and the ranks of the prophets in the heavens, so the degrees may refer to distance, and the preference remains mentioned only at the beginning of the verse.

And the clear signs of Jesus, peace be upon him, are the raising of the dead, curing the blind and the leper, and creating a bird from clay.

And the Spirit of Holiness is Gabriel, peace be upon him, and what the scholars have said about him has been previously mentioned.

**His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And if Allah had willed, those who came after them would not have fought after the clear signs had come to them. But they differed; so some of them believed, and some of them disbelieved. And if Allah had willed, they would not have fought, but Allah does what He wills.﴾

The apparent meaning in His saying: "after them" indicates that He meant the people who came after all the messengers. However, this is not the meaning; rather, the intended meaning is that people fought after every prophet. The speech is wrapped in a way that the listener understands, and this is like saying:

I bought a horse and then sold it. This saying is permissible for you. You only bought a horse and then sold it, then another and sold it, then another and sold it. Likewise, these occurrences are only what people differed about after every prophet. Among them are those who believed, and among them are those who disbelieved out of envy and jealousy over the fleeting pleasures of this world. All of this is by the decree and destiny of Allah, the Most High. If He had willed otherwise, it would have been so. However, He is the One who possesses the secret of wisdom in that, the All-Effective of what He wills. So they fought because the believers fought the disbelievers throughout the ages. And that is the way Allah repels some people by others.