Those were the ones upon whom Allah bestowed favor from among the prophets of the descendants of Adam and of those We carried [in the ship] with Noah, and of the descendants of Abraham and Israel, and of those whom We guided and chose. When the verses of the Most Merciful were recited to them, they fell in prostration and weeping.
"Those are the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed favor..."
"Those" (Ula'ika): This is a demonstrative pronoun referring to those mentioned in the noble Surah. The meaning of distance contained within it serves to signal the loftiness of their rank and the remoteness of their status in merit. It is the subject (mubtada').
"Those upon whom Allah has bestowed favor" (alladhina an'ama Allahu 'alayhim): That is, with various kinds of religious and worldly blessings, as briefly indicated. This is the predicate (khabar), according to what is deemed most apparent in al-Bahr. The exclusivity (al-hasr), for those who hold it, is relative to the rest of the prophets—peace be upon them—because they are well-known for being those upon whom favor was bestowed, such that the bestowal of favor upon others is considered as non-existent. It is also said that a genitive construction is implied, meaning: "Some of those upon whom Allah has bestowed favor."
"From among the prophets" (min al-nabiyyin): This is an elaboration (bayan) of the relative pronoun (al-mawsul). It is also said that min signifies partition (tab'idiyyah), based on the view that the meaning is: "Those mentioned, upon whom Allah has bestowed favor with the known blessings mentioned here." Thus, the subject and predicate are restricted to those who have been heard, who are "some of the prophets." The generality of the concept intended by the predicate in itself—and in its mental existence—does not conflict with it being intended for a specific external matter, as is not hidden. The choice was made to interpret the definite article in the predicate as referring to the genus for the sake of hyperbole, as in His saying: "That is the Book." The potential objection is repelled by what we have mentioned.
"From the descendants of Adam" (min dhurriyyati Adam): It is said that min is explanatory (bayaniyyah), and the prepositional phrase is a substitute (badal) for the previous prepositional phrase. The genitive is a substitute for the genitive by repeating the preposition; it is a "part-of-a-whole" substitution (badal ba'd min kull), based on the view that what is intended is his prophetic descendants, which does not include Adam—peace be upon him. This is clearly remote. It is also said that it is partitionary (tab'idiyyah), because the one upon whom favor is bestowed is more specific than the descendants in one respect, for the latter—according to the apparent and immediate understanding of it—includes those upon whom favor was not bestowed. It does not harm that it is more general in another respect, as it includes Adam, the angels, and the believers among the Jinn, whereas the former does not.
"And from those We carried with Noah" (wa mimman hamalna ma'a Nuh): That is, from the descendants of those whom We carried with him—peace be upon him—specifically. They are those other than Idris—peace be upon him—since you have heard that he was before Noah, and Abraham—peace be upon him—was by consensus of the descendants of Shem, son of Noah—peace be upon them both.
"And from the descendants of Abraham" (wa min dhurriyyati Ibrahim): They are the remaining ones.
"And Israel" (wa Isra'il): A conjunction to "Abraham," meaning: and from the descendants of Israel, i.e., Jacob—peace be upon him. Among them were Moses, Aaron, Zechariah, John, and Jesus—peace be upon them. The verse contains proof that the children of daughters are descendants, due to the inclusion of Jesus—peace be upon him—who had no father. Attributing the term "descendant" to him by way of taghlib (dominance/generalization) is contrary to the apparent meaning.
"And from those We guided and chose" (wa mimman hadayna wa-ijtabayna): A conjunction to His saying, "from the descendants of Adam," and min is for partition. That is, from among those whom We guided to the truth and chose for prophethood and honor. It is permissible that it is a conjunction to His saying, "from among the prophets," and min is for elaboration. An objection raised against this is that the appearance of a conjunction implies difference/distinctness, requiring one to say that the intent is: "Those for whom We combined prophethood, guidance, and selection for honor." This is contrary to the apparent meaning.
"When the verses of the Most Merciful were recited to them, they fell in prostration and weeping."
This is a new sentence (isti'naf) meant to explain their fear of Allah and their submission to Him—sublime is His majesty—despite the height of their rank and the loftiness of their status in noble lineage, perfection of the soul, and proximity to Allah. It is also said to be a predicate after a predicate for the demonstrative noun. It is also said that the speech ends at His saying, "and Israel," and His saying, "and from those We guided," is the predicate of an omitted subject, and this sentence is a description of that omitted subject—i.e., "Among those We guided and chose are a people who, when the verses are recited to them, fall..." This was narrated from Abu Muslim.
Some of the Imamiyyah narrated from Ali ibn al-Husayn—may Allah be pleased with them both—that he said: "We are the ones meant by this people." It is not hidden that this is very contrary to the apparent meaning, and the state of the narrations of the Imamiyyah is not hidden to those with discernment. The apparent action of some researchers is to choose the relative pronoun as an adjective for the demonstrative noun, as is common after a demonstrative noun, and this sentence is the predicate, because that is more praising of them. The justification for this is apparent to those who know the rules of adjectives and predicates.
"Prostrate" (sujjada) is the plural of sajid (prostrating). Similarly, "weeping" (bukiyya) is the plural of baki (weeping), like shahid (witness) and shuhud (witnesses). Its origin is bukwiy, where the waw and the ya met, and one of them preceded with a sukun, so the waw was changed into a ya and assimilated into the ya, and the kaf was vocalized with a kasra to suit the ya. Its regular plural would be bukah, like kiram and rumah, though it was not heard according to al-Bahr, which contradicts the al-Qamus and others.
Some permitted it to be the verbal noun (masdar) of baka, like julusan is the verbal noun of jalasa, though this is contrary to the apparent meaning. Indeed, it might be necessitated by what Ibn Abi al-Dunya, Ibn Jarir, Ibn Abi Hatim, and al-Bayhaqi in al-Shu'ab recorded from Umar—may Allah be pleased with him—that he read Surah Maryam, prostrated, and then said: "This is the prostration, so where is the weeping?" Ibn Atiyyah claimed that this is obligatory in the reading of Abdullah, Yahya, al-A'mash, Hamzah, and al-Kisa'i: bukiyya with a kasra at the beginning. This is not as he claimed, for that is vocalic following (itba'), and it is apparent that it does not necessitate it being a verbal noun.
The two nouns are in the accusative case as a state (hal) from the pronoun in "they fell" (kharru), meaning: prostrating and weeping. The first is a state expected in the future, as Sibawayh said. The apparent meaning is that the intent of "prostration" is its legal meaning, and the intent of "the verses" is what the heavenly books contained, whether or not it included a mention of prostration, and whether or not it included a mention of the punishment sent down upon the disbelievers. From here, the verse is used to argue for the recommended nature of prostration and weeping upon the recitation of the Qur'an. Ibn Majah, Ishaq ibn Rahuyah, and al-Bazzar recorded in their Musnads from the hadith of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, attributed to the Prophet: "Recite the Qur'an and weep; if you cannot weep, then feign weeping."
It is said that the intent of prostration is the "prostration of recitation" as we have been worshiped/tasked with upon hearing certain Qur'anic verses; thus, "verses of the Most Merciful" means specific verses that contain a mention of prostration. It is said that the intent is prayer, which is a very weak opinion. It is said that the intent is humility and submissiveness, and the intent of "verses" is what contains the punishment sent down on the disbelievers; this is close to the previous one. Jalal al-Suyuti narrated from al-Razi that he used the verse to argue for the obligation of the prostration of recitation, which is—as al-Kiya said—far-fetched.
They mentioned that the prostrator should supplicate in his prostration with what is appropriate for the verse. Thus, here he says: "O Allah, make me among Your servants upon whom favor has been bestowed, the guided ones, prostrating to You, weeping upon the recitation of Your verses." And in the verse of al-Isra', "O Allah, make me among the weeping ones to You, the humble ones to You." And in the verse of the Tanzil prostration, "O Allah, make me among those who prostrate to Your Face, glorifying You with Your praise and Your mercy, and I seek refuge in You from being among those who are arrogant toward Your command."
Abdullah, Abu Ja'far, Shaybah, Shibl ibn 'Abbad, Abu Haywah, and Abdullah ibn Ahmad al-'Ijli—from Hamzah—and Qutaybah—in one narration—and Warsh—in one narration—from al-Nahas, and Ibn Dhakwan—in the narration of al-Taghlabi—read yutla (is recited) with a ya (masculine), because the feminine gender is not real and because of the presence of the separator.
