"Say: Praise be to Allah, and peace upon His servants whom He has chosen."

After He, Glory be to Him and Exalted, recounted to His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) the stories of the mentioned prophets and their accounts—which speak of His perfect power and the greatness of His status—and of what He distinguished them with in terms of overwhelming signs and dazzling miracles that demonstrate the loftiness of their ranks and the veracity of their reports, and having made clear through their tongues the validity of Islam and monotheism, and the falsehood of disbelief and polytheism, and that whoever follows them has found guidance while whoever turns away from them has fallen into the pits of perdition; and after having expanded his noble breast (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) with the various types of divine knowledge contained within those stories, and illuminated his heart with the light of heavenly faculties overflowing from the realm of the Holy; and having established thereby the import of His, the Exalted’s, saying: "And indeed, you receive the Qur’an from One Wise and Knowing"—He commanded him (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to praise Him in the most complete manner for those blessings, and to greet all the prophets (peace be upon them), among whom are those whose stories were recounted and whose legacies were explained, in recognition of their merit, in fulfillment of the right of their precedence and their striving in religion.

Therefore, the "chosen servants" refers to the prophets (peace be upon them), due to the indication of the context and His, the Exalted’s, saying in another verse: "And peace upon the messengers." It is said: This is a command for him (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to praise Allah for the destruction of the perishing ones among the disbelieving nations, and to greet the prophets and their followers who were saved. As for greeting those other than the prophets (peace be upon them), when it is not done independently, it is a matter regarding which there is no disagreement as to its permissibility. Perhaps the fair-minded will not doubt its permissibility towards the believing servants of Allah (the Exalted) in an absolute sense.

It is also said: It is a command for him (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to offer praise for what He, the Majestic and Exalted, distinguished him with—namely, the removal of the scourge of annihilation from his nation, contrasting them with those mentioned before from the nations destroyed by punishment—and to greet the prophets who endured the hardships of the message. Thus, the "chosen ones" refers specifically to the prophets.

‘Abd bin Humayd, al-Bazzar, Ibn Jarir, and others recorded from Ibn ‘Abbas that he said regarding them: "They are the companions of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace); Allah, the Exalted, chose them for His Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)." ‘Abd bin Humayd and Ibn Jarir also recorded from Sufyan al-Thawri that he said regarding "peace": "It was revealed concerning the companions of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace specifically)." This is evident in the argument for the permissibility of greeting those other than the prophets independently, as is the position of the Hanbalis.

It is initiated as follows: He commanded His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to recite these verses, which speak with proofs of His, the Exalted’s, oneness, His power over everything, and His wisdom—namely, His saying, Glory be to Him: "Is Allah..." and so on. He is commanded to open with His praise and the greeting upon His prophets and the chosen ones among His servants. In this lies excellent instruction and an apprenticeship in refined etiquette, and an exhortation to seek blessings by mentioning both, to use them to ensure the acceptance of what is conveyed to the listeners, to draw their attention, and to place it in their hearts at the level the speaker desires. Scholars, orators, and preachers have inherited this etiquette from generation to generation, praising Allah the Exalted and invoking blessings upon the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) at the beginning of every beneficial discourse, before every sermon and reminder, and at the opening of every speech. The writers of letters followed them, placing this at the beginning of their books on conquests, congratulations, and other significant events.

Perhaps considering this a transition from the stories of the prophets (peace be upon them) to what transpired between him (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the polytheists is better. The most remote of all views is the claim that it is connected to what precedes it, making it a command to Lot (peace be upon him) that he should praise Allah for the destruction of the disbelievers of his people and greet those whom He chose by protecting them from immorality and saving them from destruction; this is because it does not suit what follows and requires the assumption of "We said to him." Ibn ‘Atiyyah attributed this view to al-Farra’, saying: "This is a blunder by al-Farra’."

The manifest meaning is that "peace" is a subject, and what follows it is its predicate, and the sentence is conjoined to "Praise be to Allah," entering with it into the sphere of what is to be "said."

Abu al-Sammal recited "al-hamdu lillah" with a fatha on the lam. He read "A-Allah" with a madd, by changing the interrogative hamza into an alif; the original is "A-Allah". "...better, or what they associate?" The manifest meaning is that "ma" (what) is a relative pronoun, and the referent is elided; meaning: "Is Allah, whose great affairs have been mentioned, better, or that which they associate with Him from the idols?" "Khair" (better) is an elative noun. The basis of the alternative is to allude to the confounding of the disbelievers from His, the Exalted’s, side, and to mock their feeble opinions and ridicule them, since it is clear that there is not, in that which they associate with Him, Glory be to Him, the slightest trace of goodness, such that it could be weighed against Him who is pure goodness.

It is said: "Khair" is not an elative, similar to your saying: "Prayer is better," meaning better than [other] goods. The chosen view is the first, and Abu Hayyan regarded it as more apparent, saying: This type of elative often appears when it is known and established that there is no partnership, but it is for the purpose of compelling the opponent and alerting him to his error. The interrogation in such cases is intended to force him to acknowledge that the quality of "betterness" is confined to one side and absent from the other. He also considered it apparent that "goodness" here refers to the Essence. It is said: The goodness refers to what relates to Him. In the phrasing, there is an elision in two places; the estimate is: "Is the worship of Allah the Exalted better, or the worship of what they associate?" It is also said: "Ma" is a masdariyah (infinitive) particle, and there is an elision in one place, the estimate being: "Is the monotheism of Allah better, or their polytheism?" There is no need for all of this. In any case, the third-person pronoun refers to the Quraish and those like them among the polytheists. It is said it refers to those destroyed ones, but this is nothing.

The majority read "tushrikun" (you associate) with the ta, addressing those we mentioned among the disbelievers; this is more fitting in the context of the noble arrangement that follows. Abu al-Baqa’ made this sentence part of the "saying" that was commanded, but this was objected to on the grounds that His, the Exalted’s, saying: "Nay, We have caused to grow..." is explicit that the confounding is from Him, the Exalted, Himself. Interpreting it as a narration from him (peace be upon him) of what he was commanded to say, as in His, Glory be to Him, saying: "Say: O My servants who have transgressed against themselves," is a clear overreach for which there is no need. In some traditions, it is stated that when he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) recited this verse, he would say: "Nay, Allah is better, more lasting, more majestic, and more generous."