Sūrat al-Anʿām
Section 8 of 21 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Eighteen Prophets, and a Seed
There follows the mention of a great many prophets:
وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُۥٓ إِسْحَـٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ ۚ كُلًّا هَدَيْنَا ۚ وَنُوحًا هَدَيْنَا مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِهِۦ دَاوُۥدَ وَسُلَيْمَـٰنَ وَأَيُّوبَ وَيُوسُفَ وَمُوسَىٰ وَهَـٰرُونَ ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ وَزَكَرِيَّا وَيَحْيَىٰ وَعِيسَىٰ وَإِلْيَاسَ ۖ كُلٌّ مِّنَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ وَإِسْمَـٰعِيلَ وَٱلْيَسَعَ وَيُونُسَ وَلُوطًا ۚ وَكُلًّا فَضَّلْنَا عَلَى ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
“We bestowed upon him IsHāq and Ya‘qūb . Each one of them We guided to the right path. Earlier, We guided NūH and, of his progeny, (We guided) Dawūd and Sulaimān and Ayyūb and Yūsuf (Joseph) and Mūsā and Hārūn.-Thus We reward those who are good in deeds- and (We guided) Zakariyyā and YaHyā and ‘Īsā and Ilyās -each one of them was of the righteous- -and Ismā‘īl and Yasa‘ and Yūnus and LūT, and all of them We made to excel over all the people of the world (in their respective times).” (6:84–86)
We gave him Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb; each of them We guided; Nūḥ We guided before; and of his descendants came Dāwūd, Sulaymān, Ayyūb, Yūsuf, Mūsā, Hārūn; Zakariyyā, Yaḥyā, ʿĪsā, Ilyās; Ismāʿīl, al-Yasaʿ, Yūnus, Lūṭ. This is probably, though it is not certain, the place where the greatest number of prophets' names occur together: eighteen prophets are named here. Whether it is the greatest number in any one place in the Qur'an is not certain. Allah then speaks of them all: how We guided them, how We aided them, how We gave them their proofs. These are they whom Allah has guided; and by their guidance you are to follow. And say that no payment is asked of you: no ajr, no payment. This is only a reminder to mankind.
Allah (swt) then continues with the same kinds of argument, returning to the same facts and particulars already mentioned. Among all the verses, verse 95 may be noted, which speaks of certain subtle things — that Allah is He who causes the seed to germinate. There is a whole seed, without an opening in it; and then of a sudden it opens, and a whole tree comes forth from it. Consider only this: who built that capacity into a single seed, that it should be planted somewhere and suddenly germinate, draw nourishment from the ground, carry its own design and blueprint within it, and become the oak, or the teak, or the ebony, or the pine, or a fruit tree — which is more remarkable still.