A prophet in a state of ability, like His saying, 'So enter it, abiding forever.' If you say: There is a difference between this and His saying, 'So enter it, abiding forever,' in that the one who enters exists with the existence of the entering, while the eternal existence does not exist with them, then the state of eternity was made possible, so it was correct. However, this is not the case with the one who is given glad tidings, for he is nonexistent at the time of the glad tidings. The nonexistence of the one who is given glad tidings necessitates the nonexistence of his state without a doubt, because the state is an attribute, and an attribute cannot exist except with the one who possesses it. This one who is given glad tidings, which is Isaac, when he existed, prophethood did not exist with his existence; rather, it was delayed for a long time. So how can he be made a prophet in a state of ability, while the state is an attribute of the doer or the acted upon at the time of the action from him or by him? Although eternity was not an attribute of them at the entrance to Paradise, its estimation is their attribute, because the meaning is estimating eternity. Prophethood is not like that, for there is no way for it to be existent or estimated at the time of the glad tidings of Isaac due to the nonexistence of Isaac. I say: This is a question with a narrow path and a tight approach, and the solution to the problem is: There must be an omitted addition, which is your saying: And We gave him glad tidings of the existence of Isaac as a prophet, meaning that his prophethood is estimated to exist. The agent in the state is existence, not the act of giving glad tidings. Thus, it returns, similar to His saying, 'So enter it, abiding forever.' From the righteous is a second state, and its occurrence is in the manner of praise and commendation, because every prophet must be from the righteous. And from Qatadah: Allah gave him glad tidings of the prophethood of Isaac after He tested him with his sacrifice. This is an answer from one who says the sacrificed one is Isaac, regarding his connection to the saying, 'And We gave him glad tidings of Isaac.' They said: And it is not permissible for Allah to give him glad tidings of his birth and prophethood together, because the test of his sacrifice is not valid with His knowledge that he will be a prophet. 'And We blessed him and Isaac.' And it was read: 'And We blessed,' meaning: We poured upon them blessings of religion and this world, like His saying, 'And We gave him his reward in this world, and indeed, in the Hereafter, he is among the righteous.' It is said: We blessed Abraham in his children, and upon Isaac by bringing forth the prophets of the Children of Israel from his loins. And His saying, 'And a wrongdoer to himself' is analogous to: He said, 'And of my offspring?' He said: 'My covenant does not include the wrongdoers.' And in it is an indication that the good and the evil do not have their affairs determined by lineage and ancestry, for the righteous may give birth to the wicked, and the wicked may give birth to the righteous. This undermines the matter of natures and elements, and that wrongdoing in their descendants does not reflect upon them as a flaw or deficiency, and that a person is only criticized for his bad actions and is held accountable for what his hands have wrought, not for what is found in his origin or branch.