Yet the Christians maintain that neither the disciples nor those who followed them were ever commanded to fight anyone with iron.

Fourth point:

Allah, exalted is He, then says:
“Indeed, We sent Noah and Abraham, and We placed prophethood and the Scripture among their descendants. Some of them were rightly guided, while many of them were rebellious. Then We sent after them Our messengers in succession, and We sent after them Jesus, son of Mary. We gave him the Gospel, and We placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him.” ⦗57:26⦘

His mention of dispatching Noah and Abraham after the statement, “Indeed, We sent Our messengers with clear proofs,” is an example of specifying after generalizing. It singles out what is unique to those two prophets in terms of rulings that set them apart from others included in the general statement—just as a ruler might order the entire army to wage jihad, and then single out certain individuals, instructing them to carry out particular tasks; or as one might say, “He sent his envoys to such-and-such a people, and among them he sent so-and-so, commanding him to do such-and-such.”

He, the Exalted, says again:
“Indeed, We sent Noah and Abraham, and We placed prophethood and the Scripture among their descendants.” ⦗57:26⦘

Noah is the forefather of all human beings who appeared after the Flood, for Allah drowned every child of Adam except the people of the Ark. Concerning Noah He said, “and We made his descendants the only survivors.”