These, then, are the truly blessed ones upon whom Allah’s good pleasure is confirmed: the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and everyone who follows them with excellence. This embraces every person who follows them with excellence (1) up to the Day of Resurrection; it is not limited to the generation that actually saw them. The designation “Followers” (2) was only conventionally restricted to those who met (3) the Companions, to distinguish that generation from those who came later. Thus, in absolute terms, the phrase “the Followers” came to be applied to that generation alone. Otherwise, anyone who walks their path counts among those who follow them with excellence, and is therefore among those with whom Allah is pleased and who are pleased with Him (4).

The Exalted One limited this following by stipulating that it be accompanied by excellence—not an unrestricted attachment (5) that owes merely to affiliation, or to agreeing with them on some matters while opposing them in others. Rather, it is a following inseparable from excellence, for the preposition bi- here (6) indicates accompaniment. Excellence in following is a necessary condition for attaining Allah’s good pleasure and His Gardens.

Allah the Exalted has said: “He is the One who has sent among the unlettered a messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom—although before that they were in manifest error (2); and [He will raise him] among others of them who have not yet joined them. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise (3). That is the bounty of Allah; He bestows it upon whom He wills, and Allah is the possessor of immense bounty (4)” (7).