• The noble verse also highlights the difference between the truthful prophets and the liars who merely claim prophethood:

• The prophets confirm one another, testify for one another, and everything they bring is in complete harmony, untainted by contradiction, because it is from Allah—perfect and coherent.

• As for the impostors, they are bound to contradict themselves in their reports, their commands, and their prohibitions; their falsehood is exposed whenever it clashes with what the truthful prophets call to.

• After the Almighty had clarified everything that must be believed in—both in general and in detail—and because words alone are of no benefit without action, He said: “and to Him we submit” (2:136). That is, we humble ourselves before His majesty, comply with His worship inwardly and outwardly, and devote all of that exclusively to Him; the placement of the prepositional phrase before the verb signifies exclusivity.

• Thus, the fundamental principles set out in this verse:

• are commanded by Allah in numerous Quranic passages, both concisely and in detail;

• He praises those who uphold them;

• He informs us of the goodness and reward that result from them;

• they perfect and elevate the servant—his beliefs, his character, and his etiquette;

• they make him just and trustworthy in his dealings;

• they secure for him the good of this world and the Hereafter;

• through them he enjoys the wholesome life in both realms;

• they bring him happiness in both abodes;

• and they ward off from him the evils of this world and the next.