His words, “to them,” contain yet another commendation and point of etiquette (1): the host brings the food right up to the guest, placing it before him (2), unlike someone who prepares the meal elsewhere and then makes his guest rise and walk over to it.

Likewise, His saying, “He said, ‘Will you not eat?’” (27) conveys an additional praise and courtesy (3), for Abraham invited them with the phrase “Will you not eat?”—an interrogative that gently offers the food. This contrasts with those who bluntly say, “Put your hands in, eat, help yourselves,” and the like.

As for the words, “So he felt a fear of them,” this was because, when he noticed they were not eating his food, he inwardly feared that some harm (4) might come from them; a guest who eats from his host’s fare puts the host at ease and wins his confidence. When the guests realized his anxiety they said, “Do not be afraid,” and they brought him the good news of “a learned boy” (28).

That boy is Isaac, not Ishmael, for his wife expressed astonishment, saying, “An old, barren woman—how could someone like me bear a child? So how can [I] have a child?” (5). Ishmael, by contrast, was from his bondwoman Hagar; he was Abraham’s first-born and eldest son. The Almighty makes this clear in Surah Hud (6) in His words: “So We gave her good tidings of Isaac, and after Isaac, Jacob” (71) in this