Tafsir of Al-Ahzab 33:7

{And [mention] when We took from the prophets...} Remember when We took from all the prophets their covenant to convey the message and call [people] to the upright religion.

{And from you} Specifically, and from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. We did this {so that He may ask}—God, on the Day of Resurrection, when the witnesses stand—the believers who were true to their covenant and fulfilled it, from among those whom He made to testify against themselves [saying], "Am I not your Lord?" and they said, "Yes"—{about their truthfulness} regarding their covenant and their testimony. The prophets will then testify that they were true to their covenant and testimony and were believers.

Alternatively, it means: to ask those who believed the prophets about their belief, for whoever says to a truthful person, "You have spoken the truth," is himself truthful in his statement. Or, it means to ask the prophets what their nations answered them. The interpretation of questioning the messengers is to rebuke those who disbelieved in them, as in His saying: "Did you say to the people, 'Take me and my mother as deities besides Allah?'" (Al-Ma'idah: 116).

If you ask: Why was the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) placed before Noah and those who came after him? I say: This conjunction is to demonstrate the virtue of the prophets who are the most renowned among them and their descendants. Since Muhammad (ﷺ) is the best of these favored ones, he was placed before them to show that he is the best of them; otherwise, the one who preceded him in time would have been placed first.

If you ask: But Noah (peace be upon him) was placed before him in the verse that is the sister of this one, which is His saying: "He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you" (Ash-Shura: 13), and then he was placed before others. I say: The context of this verse follows a different method than that one. God Almighty brought it forth to describe the religion of Islam as original and upright. It is as if He said: He has ordained for you the original religion upon which Noah was sent in the ancient era, and upon which Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, was sent in the modern era, and upon which the renowned prophets who came between them were sent.

If you ask: What is meant by the "solemn covenant" (Mithaq Ghaliz)? I say: He means that very covenant. Its meaning is: We took from them, by that covenant, a solemn covenant. "Solemnity" (Ghilaz) is a metaphor taken from the description of physical bodies; the intent is the greatness of the covenant and the majesty of its status in its category. It is also said that the solemn covenant is the oath by God to fulfill what they were charged with.

If you ask: To what is the phrase {And He has prepared for the disbelievers} conjoined? I say: It is conjoined to "We took from the prophets," because the meaning is that God emphasized to the prophets the call to His religion for the sake of rewarding the believers, and He prepared for the disbelievers a painful punishment. Or, it is conjoined to what is implied by {so that He may ask the truthful}, as if He said: He rewarded the believers and prepared for the disbelievers a painful punishment.

{O you who have believed, remember the favor of Allah upon you when armies came to you and We sent upon them a wind and armies [of angels] you did not see. And ever is Allah, of what you do, Seeing. When they came at you from above you and from below you, and when eyes shifted [in fear] and hearts reached the throats, and you assumed about Allah [various] assumptions. There the believers were tested and shaken with a severe shaking.}