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wa-ʾidh ʾakhadhnā mina n-nabiyyīna mīthāqahum wa-minka wa-min nūḥin wa-ʾibrāhīma wa-mūsā wa-ʿīsā bni maryama wa-ʾakhadhnā minhum mīthāqan ghalīẓan
[Recall] when We took a pledge from the prophets, and from you and from Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus son of Mary, and We took from them a solemn pledge,
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-’Ahzab – Verse 7
7. “And (remember) when We took a Covenant from the prophets and (also) from you, and from Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus, son of Mary, and We took from them a firm covenant,”
Among all Divine prophets (as) only five prophets were ‘possessors of determination’, that is, they had Book and religion, and they had a particular rank with Allah. This verse has named them specially. Of course, the prophet of Islam (S) has been mentioned before the rest which denotes to another peculiar grandeur, and also the Qur’an has mentioned Jesus’ mother which indicates to the particular situation of Mary and the miraculous birth of Jesus (as).
However, since, in former verses, the vast authorities of the Prophet of Islam (S) were referred to by saying:
The verse under discussion states the heavy duties of the Prophet (S) and other great prophets. We know that authorities are always accompanied with responsibilities, and wherever there is a ‘right’, there is also a responsibility for it and these two will never separate from each other. Therefore, if the Prophet of Islam (S) has a vast right, there is also a great duty and responsibility appointed for him. At first, it says:
Thus, at first the verse refers to the whole prophets saying that they were concerned in the subject of covenant, then it points to five arch prophets the first of whom is mentioned the Prophet of Islam (S) for the sake of glory and grandeur he has, and next to him four other arch prophets are mentioned sequentially according to the times of their advent (Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (as)). This matter shows that the mentioned covenant had been a common covenant that was taken from all prophets, though the arch prophets had more seriously been engaged in the face of this covenant.
The Qur’anic sentence which says:
is an extraordinary emphasis stated upon this covenant. As Raqib in Mufradat says, the Arabic word /miθaq/ means: ‘a severe covenant’. It is important for us to know what kind of severe covenant was it that all Divine prophets had undertaken? The commentators have stated different words about it, for which we can say that all of them are different branches of one general principle. This principle is the accomplishment of the duty of propagation, messengerhood, leadership, and guidance among people in all fields and all dimensions.
They were responsible to invite all humankind toward Monotheism before anything else. They were also responsible to confirm each other, and the former prophets made their nations prepared to accept the later prophets, in the same way that the later prophets used to verify and confirm the call of their former prophets. In short, the invitation of all of them was toward one way, and all of them preached one reality so that they would gather all nations under a single flag. The evidence for this meaning is also found in other verses of the Qur’an.
Surah ’Al-i-‘Imran, No. 3, verse 81 says:
Similar to this meaning has also occurred in Surah ’Al-i-‘Imran, No. 3, verse 187 wherein the Qur’an explicitly implies that Allah had taken a pledge from People of the Book to make the Divine verses known to people and that they should not hide them. Thus, Allah has taken covenant from both prophets that they must invite people to Unity of Allah, Unity of the Truth and the heavenly religions, and from the scholars of the People of the Book that they, too, must try to make the religion of Allah known to people as much as they can and avoid hiding it.