33. " verily allah chose adam and noah, and the progeny of abraham and
the progeny of `imran above all people."
34. " some of them are offsprings of the others;
and allah is all-hearing, all-knowing."

commentary:
from this verse on, the explanation of the story of mary and her
forefathers begins. the purpose of ` the family of abraham ' mentioned
in this verse is ismael and issac and the offsprings of these two. the
purpose of ` family of `imran ' is moses and aron, the sons of
`imran-ibn-yashar.

" verily allah chose adam and noah, and the progeny of abraham and
the progeny of `imran above all people."

* * * *

the term /نurriyah / (offspring) is another form used instead of `the
family of abraham and the family of `imran ', and the phrase /ba`duha
min ba`din / (one of the other) means that the family of abraham and
the family of `imran are both progenies from one origin separated from
each other.

" some of them are offsprings of the others; and allah is
all-hearing, all-knowing."

in some commentary books,1 it is cited that `the family of
abraham' is the same as ` the family of muhammad ', viz. ahlul-bayt,
who, after muhammad (p.b.u.h.), are the immaculate ones from
amir-ul-mu'mineen ali and fatimat-uz-zahra (a.s.) up to hadrat
mahdi (may allah hasten his glad advent), and that allah does not
choose any one from amongst his servants unless the one be sinless,
pure, and immaculate. therefore, such special persons elected from the
family of abraham and the family of `imran have to be the ones who
have been sinless, whether they would have been choosen as prophets
or as imans.

1 tafsir-ul-burhan, vol. 1, p. 277; atyab-ul-bayan, vol.3 , p. 178;
and majma`-ul-bayan, vol. 2, p. 433