Tafsir of Sad 38:45-47

{Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob}: An explanatory apposition (ʿaṭf bayān) for "Our servants." As for the one who read it as {Our servant} (singular), he made Abraham alone the explanatory apposition, then conjoined his descendants to "Our servant," namely Isaac and Jacob—similar to the reading of Ibn Abbas: "And the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac."

{Possessors of strength (al-ayd) and vision}: Since most actions are performed by the hands, the term became dominant. Thus, it is said of every action, "This is from what their hands have wrought," even if it is an action where manual labor is not possible, or if the workers are amputees with no hands.

Accordingly, the Almighty’s saying, {Possessors of strength and vision}, means: possessors of deeds and reflection. It is as if those who do not perform the deeds of the Hereafter, do not strive for the sake of God, and do not reflect with the thoughts of the religious, nor gain insight, are like the chronically ill who are unable to perform physical actions, or the mentally deprived who possess no insight. In this, there is an allusion to everyone who is not among the workers for God, nor among those who possess insight into God’s religion, and a rebuke for their abandonment of striving and contemplation despite being capable of both.

It has been read as {Possessors of hands (al-ayādī)} as a plural of the plural. In the reading of Ibn Mas‘ud: {Possessors of strength (al-ayd)}, dropping the yāʾ and sufficing with the kasra. Some interpret al-ayd as derived from taʾyīd (support/strengthening).

{We purified them with a pure quality}: We made them pure. {With a pure quality}: With a pure trait that has no impurity in it. He then explained it as {the remembrance of the Home}, characterized by purity, clarity, and the absence of turbidity. It has been read as an idafa (genitive construction). The meaning is: by that which is pure of the remembrance of the Home, in that they do not mix the remembrance of the Home with anything else; their concern is only the remembrance of the Home, nothing else.

The meaning of {remembrance of the Home}:

1. Their constant remembrance of the Hereafter and their forgetting of the worldly life in comparison to it.
2. Their reminding others of the Hereafter, encouraging them toward it, and making them renounce the world—as is the habit and custom of the Prophets.
3. It is said: "Remembrance of the Home" is the beautiful praise in this world and the "tongue of truth" (lisān al-ṣidq) which belongs to no one else.

If you ask: What is the meaning of {We purified them with a pure quality}? I say: Its meaning is: We purified them because of this quality, and because they are among its people. Or, We purified them by granting them success in it and by being kind to them in their choosing of it. This is supported by the reading of those who read: {With their pure quality}.

{The chosen}: The selected ones from among their kind. {The best}: The plural of khayyir (good/best), or khayr (good) with the takhfīf (lightening), like amwāt (dead) as the plural of mayyit (dead).