Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:84
And We gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - all [of them] We guided. And Noah, We guided before; and among his descendants, David and Solomon and Job and Joseph and Moses and Aaron. Thus do We reward the doers of good.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ إِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ كُلًّا هَدَيْنَا وَنُوحًا هَدَيْنَا مِنْ قَبْلُ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِهِ دَاوُدَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ وَأَيُّوبَ وَيُوسُفَ وَمُوسَى وَهَارُونَ وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ (84) (And We bestowed upon him Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb; all of them We guided, and Nūḥ We guided before, and from his progeny Dāwūd and Sulaymān and Ayyūb and Yūsuf and Mūsā and Hārūn; and thus do We reward those who do good.) (84)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, says: We rewarded Ibrāhīm — peace be upon him — for his obedience to Us, for his sincere devotion to the oneness (tawḥīd) of his Lord, and for his break with the religion of his people, the polytheists who ascribed partners to Allah (mushrikīn), by raising his rank in the highest heavens, granting him his reward in this world, and bestowing upon him children whom We distinguished with prophethood, and a progeny whom We ennobled from Ourselves with honor and privileged above the worlds. Among them are: his son Isḥāq, and the son of his son, Yaʿqūb. كُلًّا هَدَيْنَا ("all of them We guided"), He says: We guided them all upon the path of righteousness, and We gave them right understanding of the truth and of what is correct among the religions. وَنُوحًا هَدَيْنَا مِنْ قَبْلُ ("and Nūḥ We guided before"), He says: and We guided him to the same to which We guided Ibrāhīm, Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb, of the truth and what is correct, and We gave it to him — namely Nūḥ — before Ibrāhīm, Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb.
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وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِهِ دَاوُدَ ("and from his progeny Dāwūd"). The "hāʾ" (the personal pronoun) in His statement وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِهِ ("and from his progeny") refers to Nūḥ. The reason for this is that Allah, the Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, in the course of the verses that follow this verse mentioned Lūṭ, for He said: وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَالْيَسَعَ وَيُونُسَ وَلُوطًا وَكُلًّا فَضَّلْنَا عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ (And Ismāʿīl and al-Yasaʿ and Yūnus and Lūṭ; and all of them We favored above the worlds). Now, it is known that Lūṭ did not belong to the progeny of Ibrāhīm — Allah's peace be upon them all. Since this is so, and since he is joined to the names of those whom We have named as his progeny, there is no doubt that — if by "the progeny" the progeny of Ibrāhīm were meant — Yūnus and Lūṭ would not be included therein. And there is no doubt that Lūṭ does not belong to the progeny of Ibrāhīm, but rather to the progeny of Nūḥ. Therefore it is necessary that the "hāʾ" in "the progeny" refers to Nūḥ.
The explanation of the words is thus: and to Nūḥ We gave understanding of the truth and what is correct, before Ibrāhīm, Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb, and likewise We guided from the progeny of Nūḥ: Dāwūd and Sulaymān.
"Dāwūd" is Dāwūd, the son of Īshā. "Sulaymān" is his son: Sulaymān, the son of Dāwūd. "Ayyūb" is Ayyūb, the son of Mawṣ, the son of Razāḥ, the son of ʿĪṣ, the son of Isḥāq, the son of Ibrāhīm. "Yūsuf" is Yūsuf, the son of Yaʿqūb, the son of Isḥāq, the son of Ibrāhīm. "Mūsā" is Mūsā, the son of ʿImrān, the son of Yaṣhar, the son of Qāhith, the son of Lāwī, the son of Yaʿqūb. "Hārūn" is the brother of Mūsā.
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وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ ("and thus do We reward those who do good"). The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, says: We rewarded Nūḥ for his patience under the trial with which We tested him for Our sake, by guiding him and giving him understanding in attaining the truth, which We forsook for those of his people who were disobedient to Us and who transgressed Our command and Our prohibition. And We guided from his progeny after him those whom the Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, named among His prophets, to the same to which We guided him. And just as We rewarded these for their excellent obedience to Us and their patience under the trials for Our sake, so do We reward with good everyone who does good.
