sura al-baqarah
no. 2 (part three)

2_253.gif (16096 bytes)

253. " these are the messengers we have made some of whom excel the others;
of them are some to whom allah has spoken,
and some of them he has raised in degrees.
and we gave jesus, son of mary, clear signs,
and strengthened him with the holy spirit. and had allah willed,
those who came after them would not have fought (one another)
after the clear signs had come to them; but they differed.
so, of them (there were) some who believed and some who disbelieved.
yet, had allah willed, they would not have fought (one another);
but allah does whatever he wills."

commentary:

in this verse some particular privileges of a few prophets are
referred to. for instance, as the following separate verse indicates,
moses (a.s.) talked to allah, and it was the will of allah to choose
him for that purpose; as the qur'an says: " he said: ` o' moses! verily i
have chosen you above the people with my messages and with my words
(discourse); ..." 1

so, the verse under discussion says:

" these are the messengers we have made some of whom excel the others;
of them are some to whom allah has spoken, ..."

in this regard, the holy prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.) had some more
privileges than other prophets before him, such as; being ` the seal of
the prophets ', the immunity of his book (the qur'an) from distortion,
and being entitled as ` a mercy unto the worlds '. this is the word of
allah: " and we sent you not (o' our apostle muhammad) but a mercy
unto all the worlds." 2

or, abraham (a.s.) and noah (a.s.) received the best regards from
the side of allah. or, as the above verse says, that jesus (a.s.) was
strengthened with the holy spirit. it says:

"... and some he has raised in degrees. and we gave jesus,
son of mary, clear signs, and strengthened him with the holy spirit. ..."

by the way, it is also mentioned in this verse that if allah willed,
he could stop the opposition and fighting between people who came
after those prophets and set them in one peaceful way. but allah's
way of treatment is that people be free and willful in order that they be
able to accept or reject a proper path by their own choice.

"... and had allah willed, those who came after them would not have fought
(one another) after the clear signs had come to them;
but they differed. so of them (there were) some who believed and
some who disbelieved. yet, had allah willed, they would not have fought
(one another); but allah does whatever he wills."

1 surs al-a`raf, no. 7, verse 144.
2 sura al-'anbya', no. 21, verse 107