His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And when We took from the prophets their covenant, and from you, and from Nuh, and Ibrahim, and Musa, and 'Isa son of Maryam, and We took from them a firm covenant﴾ ﴿So that He may ask the truthful about their truthfulness, and He has prepared for the disbelievers a painful punishment﴾ ﴿O you who have believed, remember the favor of Allah upon you when armies came to you, and We sent upon them a wind and armies you did not see. And Allah is All-Seer of what you do﴾

"When" may be understood as a circumstance for the preceding verses in the Book, as if it is said: These rulings were recorded given to the prophets when We took from them the covenant in conveying and legislating. Thus, "when" is related to His saying: ﴿That was in the Book recorded﴾ [Al-Ahzab: 6]. It may also be in the position of an accusative (p-94) with an implied verb whose meaning is: and remember when, and this interpretation is clearer than the first:

And this covenant referred to, Al-Zajjaj and others said: It is that which He took from them at the time of extracting humanity from the loins of Adam like dust. They said: So Allah, blessed and exalted is He, took at that time the covenant of the prophets regarding conveying and affirming one another, and all that prophecy entails. It has been narrated similarly from Ubayy ibn Ka'b. A group said: Rather, it refers to taking the covenant from each one of them at the time of his sending and the delivery of the message to him along with its commands and beliefs.

And Allah, exalted and majestic is He, mentioned the prophets collectively, then specified individuals among them for honor and magnification, as these five, blessings and peace be upon them, are the possessors of the Books and legislations and decisive wars for monotheism and the possessors of resolve. This was mentioned by Al-Tha'labi. And the mention of Muhammad ﷺ was prioritized due to his distinction in time, also as a special honor for him. It has been narrated from him, blessings and peace be upon him, that he said: "I was the first of the prophets in creation and the last of them in sending."

And the taking of the covenant was repeated due to the status of the attribute by which it was described, and "firm" indicates the sanctity of this covenant and its strength. The "lam" in His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So that He may ask﴾ is related to "We took," and it may be that it is a lam of purpose, meaning: the messengers were sent and the covenants were taken upon them in conveying so that Allah may make His creation two groups, a truthful group that He may ask about their truthfulness, in the sense of establishing proof and affirmation, as He said to 'Isa, peace be upon him: ﴿You said to the people, 'Take me﴾ [Al-Ma'idah: 116]? So it will respond to him as if it has affirmed Allah in its faith and all its actions, and He will reward it for that, and a group that disbelieved will receive what has been prepared for it of painful punishment. And it may be that the "lam" in His saying, "So that He may ask" is a lam of transformation, meaning: He took the covenants from the prophets so that the matter may become such. The first is more correct.

Truthfulness in this verse may be understood as the opposite of lying in speech. It may also be from the truthfulness of actions and their uprightness. Among it is: a return to truth, and the sword and wealth have spoken the truth to me. Mujahid said: "The 'truthful ones' in this verse refers to the messengers, meaning: he asks them about their conveying. He also said: it refers to those who convey on behalf of the messengers. All of this is possible.

And His saying, the Exalted: "O you who have believed, remember the favor of Allah" [Al-Ma'idah: 11], up to His saying, the Blessed and Exalted: "O Prophet, say to your wives" [Al-Ahzab: 28], was revealed concerning the incident of the Battle of the Trench and what was related to it from the matter of Banu Qurayzah. This is because the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, expelled Banu Nadir from their place near Medina to Khaybar. A group of them and others from the Jews gathered and went to Mecca, urging Quraysh to wage war against the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and they incited them to do so. Quraysh resolved to march to Medina, and the Jews rallied to Ghatfan and Banu Asad and those they hoped for from the people of Najd and Tihamah. They called upon them for that, so the people gathered and marched to Medina. The news reached the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, so he dug the trench around the homes in Medina and his fortress. This was a matter that the Arabs had not known; it was only from the works of Persia and Rome. Salman the Persian, may Allah be pleased with him, suggested it. The confederates, Quraysh, Kinana, and the Ahabeesh, came with about ten thousand, led by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. Ghatfan and the people of Najd came with Uyaynah ibn Hisn ibn Hudhayfah ibn Badr al-Fazari. Banu Amir and others came with Amir ibn al-Tufail, among others. They besieged Medina, and that was in Shawwal of the fifth year of the Hijrah, according to what Ibn Ishaq said. Malik said it was the fourth year. Banu Qurayzah had made a pact with the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, for a truce, agreeing that no harm would come to him from them. But when this siege became established, Banu Nadir conspired against the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and broke the pact, becoming a party with the confederates. The situation became tight for the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and the believers, and suspicions increased while the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was giving glad tidings and promising victory.

Then Allah, the Most High, cast terror into the hearts of the polytheists. They despaired of victory due to the strength of the trench and what they saw of the endurance of the believers. A man from Quraysh named Nawfal ibn al-Harith - and it is said otherwise - charged into the trench on his horse and was killed in it. This became a barrier between them. Then Allah, the Most High, sent the wind for the support of His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, against the disbelievers. It drove them away, threatened their homes, extinguished their fires, cut their ropes, and put out their pots. They could not find any stability with it. Allah sent angels with the wind to strengthen it, to act similarly to it, and to cast terror into the hearts of the disbelievers until they resolved to depart after twenty nights of siege. They left disappointed. These are the troops that you did not see.