• Apostles Followed Abraham’s Footsteps

• The Other Apostles

Al-An’am Verses 83 – 90

وَتِلْكَ حُجَّتُنَا آتَيْنَاهَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ نَرْفَعُ دَرَجَاتٍ مَنْ نَشَاءُ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ حَكِيمٌ عَلِيمٌ

“This Our argument, We gave it to Abraham against his people; We exalt (any one) whom We please; Verily thy Lord is All Wise, All-Knowing.” (6:83)

وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ إِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ كُلًّا هَدَيْنَا وَنُوحًا هَدَيْنَا مِنْ قَبْلُ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِهِ دَاوُودَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ وَأَيُّوبَ وَيُوسُفَ وَمُوسَىٰ وَهَارُونَ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ

“We gave unto him (Abraham) (issues like) Isaac1and Jacob2; each We did guide, and Noah, We did guided before, and in his3progeny4, David and Solomon, and Job and Joseph and Moses and Aaron; and thus do We reward those who do good.” (6:84)

وَزَكَرِيَّا وَيَحْيَىٰ وَعِيسَىٰ وَإِلْيَاسَ كُلٌّ مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ

“And Zakariya and John and Jesus5and Elias; everyone was of the righteous (ones)6.” (6:85)

وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَالْيَسَعَ وَيُونُسَ وَلُوطًا وَكُلًّا فَضَّلْنَا عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ

“And Ishmael and Elisha and Jonah and Lot; and everyone We did exalt (with Our apostle-ship) over the worlds.” (6:86)

وَمِنْ آبَائِهِمْ وَذُرِّيَّاتِهِمْ وَإِخْوَانِهِمْ وَاجْتَبَيْنَاهُمْ وَهَدَيْنَاهُمْ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ

“And of their fathers and their descendants and their brethren7, and We did choose them (for Our apostleship), and We guided them unto the straight (right) way.” (6:87)

ذَٰلِكَ هُدَى اللَّهِ يَهْدِي بِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَلَوْ أَشْرَكُوا لَحَبِطَ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

“This is God’s guidance guideth He with it, whomsoever of His servants He pleaseth; and if they were to associate others (with Him8) certainly would be vain9for them what they were doing.” (6:88)

أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحُكْمَ وَالنُّبُوَّةَ فَإِنْ يَكْفُرْ بِهَا هَٰؤُلَاءِ فَقَدْ وَكَّلْنَا بِهَا قَوْمًا لَيْسُوا بِهَا بِكَافِرِينَ

“These are they whom gave We the Book and the authority and the apostleship; so if these (people) disbelieve in it, indeed have We (already) entrusted it unto a people10who are not disbelievers in it.” (6:89)

أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ هَدَى اللَّهُ فَبِهُدَاهُمُ اقْتَدِهْ قُلْ لَا أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا ذِكْرَىٰ لِلْعَالَمِينَ

“These11are they whom God hath guideth, therefore follow their guidance; Say (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!)’. “I ask not any recompense12from you on it (the apostleship); it is naught but a reminder to the worlds.” (6:90)

Commentary

Verse 84

All the prophets mentioned in this Verse are from the descendants of Abraham - Vide the promise of God about the seed of Abraham. Gen. 17/7.

“And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” Gen. 17/7.

‘Kullon Hadaina’, i.e., each one did We guide - indicates that every divinely commissioned guide (be he an apostle of God or his successor) was guided not by his own earned knowledge but by God Himself. Only those who are divinely guided or inspired, can be the guides for the people and not those who gain power and authority by some means or other.

Verse 88

The Verse shows that mere good deeds without the correct faith in God, can be of no avail.

However much one would have worked goodness in one’s life, but if his faith in God is not correct and not proved by his practice, all his good deeds will be made null and void.

Verse 89

Each apostle of God was given a scripture with wisdom or’ judgment to distinguish between the right and the wrong and then he was commissioned to guide the people.

• 1. Son.
• 2. Grandson.
• 3. Either of Noah or of Abraham.
• 4. Descendants.
• 5. Counting Jesus as the son or the descendant of Noah and Abraham is the best justification for Hasan and Husain being called the Sons of the Holy Prophet as the Holy Prophet him-self did call them as such (A.P.).
• 6. Refer to Verses 10:98; 21:87; 37:130; 37:139; 6:48.
• 7. The brethren of Israel, i.e. the children of Ishmael (A.P.).
• 8. In authority.
• 9. Since their actions were not in vain, they were not polytheists. This passage asserts the purity of the ancestors of Ishmael - i.e. the purity of the lineage, from the dirt or the pollution of paganism or any polytheistic cult - and asserts that they had the exclusive merit of what is mentioned in the next Verse.
• 10. The Holy Ahl Al-Bayt whom God Himself purified to the maximum limit of purity possible 33:33.
• 11. The Holy Ahl Al-Bayt whom God Himself purified to the maximum limit of purity possible 33:33.
• 12. Refer to Verses 10:72; 38:86; 36:88; 34:47; 25:57; 42:23. All the prophets were ordered to tell their people that they did not want any reward for their apostolic services but the last one of them (The Holy Prophet Muhammad) was ordered to ask his people for the reward for his apostleship. Refer to Verses 10:72; 34:47; 42:23. But that reward was only in the interest of the people themselves from whom the reward was demanded, and the interest was that mentioned in the last clause of this Verse referred to here and in Verses 38:86; 36:87; 36:88; 25:57.