COMMENTARY:                           

(Verses 74-75)- Now comes the story of Ibrahim, he lived among the Chaldeans, who had great knowledge of the stars and heavenly bodies. But he got beyond that physical world and saw the spiritual world behind. His ancestral idols meant nothing to him. That was the first step. But God took him many degrees higher. God showed him with certitude the spiritual glories behind the magnificent powers and laws of the physical universe.

(Verse 76)- This allegory shows the stages of Ibrahim’s spiritual enlightenment. It should not be supposed that he literally worshipped stars or heavenly bodies. Having seen through the folly of the ancestral idol worship, he began to see the futility of the worshipping distant beautiful things that shine, which the vulgar endue with a power which does not reside them. a type of such is a star shining in the darkness of the night. Superstition might read fortunes in it, but truer knowledge shows that it rises and sets according laws whose author is God. And its light is extinguished in the broader light of day. its worship is therefore futile. It is a Power, much less the Supreme Power.

(Verse 77)- Continuing the allegory, the moon –though she looks bigger and brighter than the star- turns out on closer knowledge, not only to set like the star, but to change her shape from hour to hour, and even to depend for her light on some other body! How deceptive are appearances!  That is not God! At the stage you begin to search for something more reliable than appearances to the eye in the darkness of the night: YOU ASK FOR GUIDANCE FROM GOD.   

(Verses 78-79)- The next stage in the allegory is the sun. You are in the open light of Day. Now you have the right clue. You see the biggest object in the heavens. But is it the biggest? There are thousands of stars in the universe bigger than the sun. And every day the sun appears and disappears from your sight. Such is not the God who created you and all these wonderful works of His. What folly to worship creatures, when we might turn to the true God?   Let us abjure and repudiate all these follies and proclaim the One True God.

(Verse 80-81-82+) – To continue Ibrahim’s allegory: if spiritual enlightenment go so far as to take a man beyond his ancestral worship, people will come to dispute with him. They will frighten him with the dire consequences of his dissent. What does he care? He has found the truth. He is free from superstitious – fears, because if has he not found the true God, without whose Will nothing can happen? On the contrary he knows that it is the godless that have just grounds for fear. And he offers admonition to them, and arguments that should bring them the clearness of truth instead of the vagueness and mystery of superstition; - the security of Faith instead of the haunting fear of those who have no clear guidance.

((Introduction to verse 83-110:- The good men and true, who succeeded Ibrahim, received the gifts of revelation and guidance, and kept alive God’s Message, which now is proclaimed in the Qur’an, in which is blessing and confirmation of all that went before. In the daily Pageants of Nature, the dawn and the restful night, the sun, the moon, the stars that guide the mariner in distant seas, the rain-clouds pouring abundance, and the fruits that delight the heart of man; can you not read Signs of God? No vision can comprehend Him, yet He Knows and comprehend all.))

(Verse 83)- The spiritual education of Ibrahim raised him many degrees above his contemporaries, and he was expected to use that knowledge and dignity for preaching the truth among his own people.

(Verse 84)- A) We have now a list of eighteen Apostles in four groups, covering the great Teachers accepted among the three great religions based on Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad [PPBUH]. The first group to be mentioned is that of Ibrahim, his son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob. Ibrahim was the first to have a Book. His Book is mentioned in Surat Al-A’la 87 verse 19, though it is now lost. They were therefore the first to receive Guidance group in the sense of a Book. B) In the second group, we have the great founders of families, apart from Ibrahim, e.g. Noah, of the time of the Flood, David and Solomon, the real establishers of the Jewish monarchy; Job, who lived 140 years, saw four generations of descendants, and was blessed at the end of his life with large pastoral wealth (Job. xIii. 12: The Lord blessed Job with even more things than he had in the beginning. Job got 14,000 sheep, 6000 camels, 2,000 cows, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13: Job also got seven sons and three daughters. 14: Job named the first daughter Jeminah, Job named the second daughter Keziah, and Job named the third daughter Keren Happuch. 15: Job’s daughters were among the most beautiful women in all the country. And Job even gave part of his property to his daughters; they each got a share of the property, just like their brothers. 16: So, Job lived for 140 years more. He lived to see his children, his grandchildren, and his great-great-grandchildren.), Joseph, who as Minister of State did great things in Egypt and was the progenitor of two Tribes; and Moses and Aaron, the leaders of the Exodus from Egypt. They led active lives and called “doers of good”.

(Verse 85)- The third group consists not of men of action, but Preachers of Truth, who led solitary lives. Their epithet is; “The Righteous”. They were mystic prophets and form a connected group round Jesus. Zakaria was the father of John the Baptist, the precursor of Jesus (see Surat Al-Imran 3 verses 37-41); and Jesus referred to John the Baptist as Elias: (Matt. Xi-14: And if you will believe the things the law and the prophets said, then you will believe that John is Elijah/Elias. The Law and the prophets said he would come), and Elias is said to have been present and talked to Jesus at the Transfiguration on the Mount: (Matt. Xvii. 3: Then two men were there, talking with Jesus. The men were Moses and Elijah). Elijah is the same as Elias.

(Verse 86-87-88)- This is the last group described as those “Favored above the nations”. It consists of four men who had all great misfortunes to contend with and were concerned in the lash of nations, but they kept in the Path of God, and came through above the clash of nations. Ismail was the eldest son of Ibrahim; when he was a baby, he and his mother had nearly died of thirst in the desert round Mecca; but they were saved by the well of Zamzam, and he became the founder of the new Arab Nation. Elisha (Al-Yasa’) succeeded to the mantle of the Prophet Elijah; he lived in troublous times for both the Jewish Kingdoms (of Judah and Israel); there were wicked kings, and other nations were pressing in on them; but he performed many miracles, and some check was given to the enemies under his advice. The story of Jonas (Yunus) is well-known: he was swallowed by a fish or whale, but was saved by God’s Mercy; through his preaching, his city (Nineveh) was saved (see Surat Yunus 10 verse 98). lot was a contemporary nephew of Ibrahim; when the city of Sodom was destroyed for its wickedness, he was saved as  a just man (See Surat Al-A’raf 7 verses 80-84).

(Verses 89-90)- Them, i.e. the Book, and Authority and Prophethood. They were taken away from the other People of the Book and entrusted to the Holy Apostle Muhammad Al-Mustapha [PPBUH] and his people.