In any case...

In any case, the meaning will remain the same: Whoever turns away from the religion of Ibrahim is a fool; he does not recognize what is beneficial to him from that which is harmful.

From this verse we may infer what we have been told in the hadith: “Surely wisdom is that by which the Beneficient (God) is worshipped.” Qur’an: and most certainly We chose him in this world: “al‑Istifa' ” ( اَلإصْطِفاءُُ ) means to choose, to separate best parts of a thing from other parts (if they were mixed together). Looking at the positions of al-wilayah اَلولايََةُ ) = love of Allah), this choosing, this selection fits the sincerity of servitude.

A person so chosen behaves in all his affairs as a sincere slave and servant, totally surrendering himself to his Lord. In other words, religion is embodied in all his affairs. After all, what is religion if not total servitude to Allah in all matters whether of this world or of the hereafter, accepting gladly whatever the Lord decides for His servant in any given situation, as He says: Surely the religion with Allah is Islam (3:19) .

Clearly it shows that the position of “selection” is not different from that of “Islam”, that is, surrender. As a further proof, look at the next verse: “When his Lord said to him, Submit (yourself) he said: 'I submit my-self to the Lord of the worlds' ”. Obviously, the adverb “when” is related to the preceding verb “We chose him”. It means that Ibrahim was chosen when his Lord said to him to submit and he responded by submitting himself to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

In other words, the verse 131 ( When his Lord said to him, Submit, he said. “I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds” , ) is like an explanation of the words, “most surely We chose him”. In these verses pronouns have been changed from the first person to the third, and again from the second to the third.

After saying, “We chose him”, it would have been more usual to say: “When We said to him”; but Allah says, “When his Lord said to him, Submit (yourself)”; then in reply, Ibrahim (a.s.) should have said: “I submit myself to Thee”; instead he said: “I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds”.

The reason is a follows: “When his Lord said to him”: It points to the fact that the talk was a secret between Ibrahim and his Lord, at a level where there was no one else to listen to that confidential conversation.

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