His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "And from their forefathers and their descendants and their brothers. And We chose them and guided them to a straight path." "That is the guidance of Allah. He guides by it whom He wills of His servants. And if they had associated others with Him, all that they used to do would have been nullified." "Those are the ones to whom We gave the Scripture, the judgment, and the prophethood. And if these disbelieve in it, We have entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers in it." "Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, so by their guidance, follow. Say, 'I do not ask you for it any reward. It is nothing but a reminder for the worlds.'"

And the meaning is: "And We guided from their forefathers; and their descendants; and their brothers; groups." So "from" is for partiality; and the intended meaning is: "whoever among them believed; whether a prophet or not." And 'Isa - peace be upon him - is included in the pronoun of His saying: "And from their forefathers." For this reason, Muhammad ibn Ka'b said: The maternal uncle is a father; and the maternal aunt is a mother.

"And We chose them" means: We selected them; and guided them; and included them among Our chosen ones; and guided them to faith; and to attaining the pleasure of Allah, the Exalted. Mujahid said: Its meaning is: We purified them.

And "the descendants" refers to the children; and it is applied to all of mankind as "descendants" because they are children. And some said: "The descendants" refers to the forefathers; due to His saying: "And a sign for them is that We carried their descendants in the ark." [Yasin: 41] It refers to the type of mankind.

And His saying, the Exalted: "That is the guidance of Allah. He guides by it"; the verse: "That" is an indication of the blessing in His saying: "And We chose them"; and the addition of guidance to Allah, the Exalted, is an addition of ownership; and "would have been nullified" means: it would have perished; and gone due to an evil that overcame them.

And "those" is an indication of those previously mentioned; and "the Scripture" refers to the Mushaf; and the Torah; and the Gospel; and the Psalms; and "the judgment" refers to the essence; and the understanding; and the knowledge of the religion of Allah, the Exalted. And "these" is an indication of the disbelievers of Quraysh who opposed the Messenger of Allah - blessings and peace be upon him -; and to all disbelievers in that era; as said by Qatadah, and Ibn Abbas, and Al-Suddi, and others; and "a people" refers to the believers of the people of Medina; as said by Ibn Abbas, and Qatadah, and Al-Dahhak, and Al-Suddi, and others. Thus, the verse - according to this interpretation - although the intention of its revelation was these two groups, it encompasses the disbelievers and the believers until the Day of Resurrection. And Qatadah also said, and Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan: The intended meaning of the people is those previously mentioned among the prophets; and the believers. And Abu Rajaa said: The intended meaning is the angels. And the "by" in "by it" is related to His saying: "disbelievers"; and the "by" in "disbelievers" is extra for emphasis.

And His saying, exalted is He, "Those are the ones whom Allah has guided"; the apparent indication by "Those" is that it refers to those mentioned before from the Prophets and those with them from the rightly guided believers. The meaning of following is to adhere to the example in saying, action, and conduct. It is only correct to follow all of them in matters of contracts, oaths, and the oneness of Allah, in which there is no disagreement among them. As for the actions of the laws, they are differing. And He, exalted and glorified is He, said: "For each We have made a law and a method" [Al-Ma'idah: 48]. It is possible that the indication by "Those" refers to His saying: "a people."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This depends on some interpretations regarding the intended meaning of the people, and it causes some confusion.

Qadi Ibn al-Baqillani said: People have differed: Was the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, worshipping according to the law of those before him before his prophethood? A group said: He was worshipping; and there was disagreement: According to the law of whom? One group said: According to the law of Ibrahim, peace be upon him; another group said: According to the law of Musa, peace be upon him; another group said: According to the law of 'Isa, peace be upon him. And a group said to suspend judgment on this matter; and another group said: He, blessings and peace be upon him, was not worshipping according to the law of those before him; and this is the view that is preferred.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: The words of the judge should not be understood as if he was not devoted to the law of those who came before him in Tawhid; nor in belief; because we find that our law informs us that the disbelievers who were before the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - such as his parents; and others - are in the Fire; and Allah the Exalted does not admit anyone to the Fire except for abandoning what he was commanded; and that is in His saying: ﴿And We did not punish until We sent a messenger﴾ [Al-Isra: 15]; and other than that; and the principle of the speakers is that reason does not impose; nor does it command; rather it is the law that imposes; so the point in this is to say: That Adam - peace be upon him -; and those after him; called to the Tawhid of Allah the Exalted with a general call; and that continued for the world; so it is obligatory upon the mature human to seek the law that commands the Tawhid of Allah the Exalted; and to look into the evidence established for that; according to the obligation of the law to contemplate it; and not to worship other than Allah the Exalted; so whoever we suppose did not find a way to knowledge of a law commanding the Tawhid of Allah the Exalted; and yet he did not disbelieve; nor did he worship an idol; rather he withdrew; then those are the people of the periods; whom the people of knowledge have declared to be in Paradise; and they are in the position of children; and the insane; and whoever fell short in contemplation; and research; and worshipped an idol; and disbelieved; then this one has abandoned what is obligatory upon him; and is deserving of punishment in the Fire; for the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - before the mission; and those who were with him from the people; and before him; were addressed on the tongues of the prophets - peace be upon them - before with the Tawhid of Allah - the Mighty and Majestic -; and they were not addressed with the branches of their laws; as they are different; and as no prophet called them to it; and as for after the mission of the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him -; are he and his nation addressed by the law of those who preceded? A group said: We are not addressed by anything of that; and a group said: We are addressed by the law of those before us.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And whoever from this group said that Muhammad - blessings and peace be upon him - and his nation are addressed by all the laws of those who preceded; absolutely; has contradicted; because the rulings of the laws come differing; and they only take the saying of whoever said from them: We are devoted to what has been authentically transmitted from the laws of those before us; and the laws have not differed in it; and in the end of what they differed in; because it is the abrogating previous; and the validity of that transmission is based on what has occurred in the Qur'an; and in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah - blessings and peace be upon him - regarding the narration of previous rulings; such as His saying: ﴿And take in your hand a handful of rushes and strike with it﴾ [Sad: 44]; and His saying: Establish the prayer for My remembrance; and the narration of the marriage of Shu'ayb - peace be upon him - to his daughter to Musa - peace be upon him -; and the hadith of the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - in the case of Sulayman - peace be upon him - between the two women regarding the child; and similar to that.

And their saying does not necessitate more than the permissibility of being worshipped by that; as for the obligation to be worshipped by it, that is not necessary. And it is not related to me that it resembles in that to say: The Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - legislated for his nation that each individual among the people should perform his prayer when he remembers it; then he exemplified that - not by way of reasoning - with His saying - glorified and exalted is He - to Musa: (p-414) ﴿And establish the prayer for My remembrance﴾ [Ta-Ha: 14]; so we transfer this to other incidents; and we say: Just as He legislated for us the example in forgetting the prayer; likewise we legislate all of these examples.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And this is a weak analogy; and if the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - had mentioned His saying ﴿And establish the prayer for My remembrance﴾ [Ta-Ha: 14] in the context of reasoning; the proof by it would have been strong; and it is not correct to say: It is correct for us to transmit what is in the laws from the perspective of those who embraced Islam among them; like Abdullah ibn Salam; and others; as a valid transmission; and likewise what was legislated by the Hawariyyun, there is no way for the validity of the legislation of Isa - peace be upon him - for him.

Ibn Kathir; and the people of Makkah; and Nafi; and Abu Amr; and the people of Madinah; and Asim read: "Iqtadih"; with the silent 'h'; established in connection and pause; and Hamzah; and Al-Kisai read: "Iqtid"; he said: by omitting the 'h' in connection; and affirming it in pause; and this is the analogy; and it resembles the 'alif' of connection in that it is cut off at the beginning; and is connected without beginning with it; so likewise this; it is established in pause; and omitted in connection; and Ibn Amer read: "Iqtadih"; with the breaking of the 'h'; without reaching the 'ya'; Ibn Mujahid said: And this is an error because it is a pause 'h'; it is not to be grammatically analyzed in any case; Abu Ali said: And the reason for that is that it should be the pronoun of the source; as if he said: "Iqtad the act of following"; and Ibn Dhikwan read on this: "Iqtadih"; with the elongation of the 'ya' after (p-415) the 'h'; and a group said: Indeed, the breaking of the 'h' is only in the silent 'h'; just as the pronoun 'h' may be sometimes silent.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And this is weak; and the reading with the elongation of the 'ya' is not permissible.

And His saying - exalted is He - ﴿Say, I do not ask you﴾; the verse; the meaning is: "Say, O Muhammad, to these obstinate disbelievers: I do not ask you for my calling you with the Qur'an to the worship of Allah - exalted is He - and His oneness; do I seek more of it; and I specialize in its worldly matters; indeed, the Qur'an is nothing but an admonition; and a reminder; and a call for all the worlds."