For instance...

For instance, Allah informs us about two of them in these verses: إن الله اصطفى آدم ونوحا وآل إبراهيم وآل عمران على العالمين ذرية بعضها من بعض والله سميع عليم Verily, Allah chose Adam, Nuh, the family of Ibrahim and the family of Imran above the worlds. (They are) offspring, one of the other, and Allah is the All-Hearing, All-Knowing.[^5] There are two crucial points here: The prophetic families of Ibrahim and Imran were chosen above all the worlds.

This means that none outside those families can exercise authority or leadership over them. Naturally, therefore, all masters and leaders over all others must come from them. Members of the prophetic families are “offspring” of one another. As a result, anyone outside the offspring of a prophet can never be part of his chosen family.

Concerning the families of Prophet Nuh and Prophet Ibrahim, Allah informs us of how He chose them: ولقد أرسلنا نوحا وإبراهيم وجعلنا في ذريتهما النبوة والكتاب فمنهم مهتد وكثير منهم فاسقون And indeed, We sent Nuh and Ibrahim, and We placed prophethood and the Book in their offspring.

Among them was he who was guided, but many of them were disobedient to Allah.[^6] Explaining this verse, al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir states: وقال فيه وفي إبراهيم (وجعلنا في ذريتهما النبوة والكتاب) [الحديد: 26] أي كل نبي من بعد نوح فمن ذريته. وكذلك إبراهيم He (Allah) says concerning him (i.e. Nuh) and Ibrahim {And We placed prophethood and the Book in the offspring} [al-Hadid: 26], meaning: all prophets after Nuh were from his offspring. That was the case of Ibrahim too.[^7] Imam al-Tabari (d.

310 H) too says: }وجعلنا في ذريتهما النبوة والكتاب {وكذلك كانت النبوة في ذريتهما، وعليهم أنزلت الكتب: التوراة، والإنجيل، والزبور، والفرقان، وسائر الكتب المعروفة {And We placed prophethood and the Book in the offspring} in the same manner, prophethood was in their offspring, and to them were revealed the divine scriptures: al-Tawrat, al-Injil, al-Zabur, al-Furqan, and the other well-known scriptures.[^8] With regards to Prophet Ibrahim specifically, we read: ووهبنا له إسحاق ويعقوب وجعلنا في ذريته النبوة والكتاب وآتيناه أجره في الدنيا وإنه في الآخرة لمن الصالحين And We bestowed on him Ishaq and Ya’qub, and We placed prophethood and the Book in his offspring, and We granted him his reward in this world, and verily, in the Hereafter he is indeed among the righteous.