“And the foremost—the first of the Emigrants and the Helpers—and those who followed them in excellence: Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, where they will abide forever. That is the supreme triumph.” (100)

“And the foremost—the first of the Emigrants and the Helpers,” to the end of the verse. Ya‘qub recited it in the nominative case, coordinating it with the words, “the foremost.”

They differed over who were meant by the foremost—the first. Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib, Qatadah, Ibn Sirin, and a group of others said: They are those who prayed facing both qiblahs.

Ata ibn Abi Rabah said: They are the people of Badr.

Al-Sha‘bi said: They are those who witnessed the Pledge of Good Pleasure, which took place at al-Hudaybiyyah.

They also differed over who was the first to believe in the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, after his wife Khadijah, while agreeing that she was the first person to believe in the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Some said: The first to believe and pray was Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him. This was the view of Jabir, and it was also held by Mujahid and Ibn Ishaq. He embraced Islam when he was ten years old.

Others said: The first to believe after Khadijah was Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him. This was the view of Ibn Abbas, Ibrahim al-Nakha‘i, and al-Sha‘bi.

Others said: The first to embrace Islam was Zayd ibn Harithah. This was the view of al-Zuhri and Urwah ibn al-Zubayr.

Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Hanzali reconciled these views, saying: The first of the men to embrace Islam was Abu Bakr