The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 200
CH. 21 AL-ANBIYA' PT. 17 93. "Verily, this is اِنَّ هَذِةٍ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَاَنَا your people one people; and I am your Lord, so worship Me. 2419 "23:53. رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ implied a warning to the Israelites and the patience with which he bore it that on account of their corruption and depravity and their persistent rejection of God's Messengers they were to be deprived of the gift of prophethood forever. Jesus' unusual birth marked a transitional stage. He had an Israelite mother but not an Israelite father. The next prophet was not to be from the House of Israel. With him the gift of prophethood, in accordance with the Biblical prophecy (Deut. 18:18), was to be transferred from the House of Israel to that of Ishmael. That Prophet was the Holy Prophet Muḥammad. See also Introduction to the chapter 19. 2419. Commentary: In the preceding few verses some Prophets of God and some other righteous persons have been mentioned together. This is no mere coincidence and it has not been done haphazardly. The mentioning together of these Prophets serves a definite purpose and is done deliberately. All of them had one thing in common. They all suffered great hardships and distress in one form or another and displayed the highest and noblest form of patience and endurance under severest trials. First of all, Job is mentioned. The tribulations through which he had to pass were perhaps the severest. Besides 21:84 above, the Quran describes the affliction of Job in the following verses: And remember Our servant Job, when he cried to his Lord, Satan has smitten me with affliction and torment. . . Indeed We found him patient. An excellent servant was he. Surely he always turned to God (38:42-45). 2114 After Job are mentioned Ishmael, Idris and Dhul-Kifl. Ishmael was yet a baby when along with his mother Hagar he was made to live in the arid and bleak valley of Mecca where at that time not a blade of grass grew and not a drop of water was to be found, and he was only a small boy when a most severe trial faced him. His father Abraham saw in a dream that he was slaughtering him. Ishmael evinced complete readiness to give his life in fulfilment of his father's dream. The Prophet Idrīs had to face a virulent campaign of denunciation and calumny by his people and he suffered all that abuse with great patience. Dhul-Kifl or Ezekiel was carried away in captivity when Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, sacked Jerusalem in the 6th century B. C. He passed much of his time in prison. The case of Jonah is well known. He too had to pass through a great ordeal. He remained in the belly of the fish for three consecutive days and when the whale