And remember when We took from the prophets their covenant to convey the message and call to the upright religion, and from you particularly, and from Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, and Isa. And We did this so that Allah may ask on the Day of Resurrection, when the witnesses stand, the believers who fulfilled their covenant and were true to it, among those whom We made to bear witness against themselves: 'Am I not your Lord?' They said: 'Yes.' About their truthfulness in their covenant and their testimony. The prophets will bear witness for them that they were true to their covenant and testimony and that they were believers. Or He may ask those who believed the prophets about their belief, for whoever says to the truthful: 'You have spoken the truth,' is truthful in his words. Or He may ask the prophets what their nations answered them. The interpretation of the matter of the messengers is to rebuke the disbelievers in them, as in His saying: 'Did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah?'

If you say: Why was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ given precedence over Nuh and those after him? [Mahamud said: 'The Prophet ﷺ was given precedence over Nuh because they mentioned a specification after a generalization, favoring them, so the best of the specified was given precedence.'] Ahmad said: 'And the precedence in mention does not necessitate that.' Do you not see His saying:

'By it, a night among them is Ja'far and the son of his mother... and among them is Ahmad the chosen.'

So the mention of the Prophet ﷺ was delayed to conclude with him, honoring him. And if it is established that preference is not necessarily accompanied by precedence, it appears, and Allah knows best, in the secret of his precedence, peace be upon him, over Nuh and those after him in mention: that he is the one addressed among them, and upon him was revealed this recited text, so his precedence was for that reason. Then when his mention, peace be upon him, was brought forth, the mention of the prophets, may Allah's blessings be upon them, followed in the order of their existence in time, and Allah knows best. I said: This conjunction is to clarify the virtue of the prophets who are their famous ones and their descendants. [The phrase 'their famous ones and their descendants' may be 'their stars' with a silent dal, and the stars are the great celestial bodies, as indicated by the dictionaries.] Since Muhammad ﷺ is the best of these favored ones, he was given precedence over them to indicate that he is the best of them. And if it were not for that, he would have preceded whoever was preceded by his time. If you say:

'Indeed, Nuh was mentioned before him in the verse that is the sister of this verse, which is His saying: 'He has ordained for you in the religion what He enjoined upon Nuh and that which We revealed to you,' then he was given precedence over others.' I said: The context of this verse is contrary to the context of that one, for Allah, the Exalted, only brought it forth to describe the religion of Islam as original and upright. It is as if He said: 'He has ordained for you the original religion that Nuh was sent with in the old covenant, and that Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, was sent with in the modern covenant, and that which was sent with those who were in between them from the famous prophets.' If you say: What did He mean by the strong covenant? I said: He meant that very covenant. Its meaning is: 'And We took from them that covenant, a strong covenant.' The strength is a metaphor from the description of bodies, and the intended meaning is the greatness of the covenant and the majesty of its status in its category. It is said that the strong covenant is the oath by Allah to fulfill what they were entrusted with. If you say: What is the significance of His saying: 'And He has prepared for the disbelievers'? I said: It is in reference to taking from the prophets, for the meaning is that Allah emphasized to the prophets the call to His religion for the sake of rewarding the believers, and He has prepared for the disbelievers a painful punishment. Or it is in relation to what is indicated by 'so that He may ask the truthful,' as if He said: 'So He rewarded the believers and prepared for the disbelievers.'