determined and guided, and who brings forth the pasture, then turns it into dark stubble.”

He, glorified be He, is One, yet He joined some of His attributes to others with conjunctions. Likewise, His words, “and the middle prayer,” refer to the afternoon prayer.

When descriptions are grammatically definite, they serve to clarify and imply praise or blame. You say, “This man is the one who did such-and-such, and he is the one who did such-and-such, and he is the one who did such-and-such,” enumerating his merits. Thus, alongside grammatical agreement, such descriptions may be joined by conjunctions or placed in the accusative or nominative.

This interpretation is correct. For if those who believe in the unseen did not believe in what was sent down to him and what was sent down before him, they would neither be upon guidance from their Lord, nor successful, nor mindful of Allah. Likewise, if those who believe in what was sent down to him and what was sent down before him were not among those who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what Allah has provided for them, they would neither be upon guidance from their Lord, nor successful, nor mindful of Allah.

This shows that all these descriptions apply to the rightly guided, Allah-fearing people who followed the guidance of the Book sent down to Muhammad. Thus, this description is joined to the earlier one even though it is already included within it. The purpose, however, is to describe their faith: they believe in everything Allah sent down to His prophets, making no distinction between any of them. Otherwise, if only belief in the unseen were mentioned, someone who believes in some revelation and rejects some might say, “We believe in the unseen.”

Since Surah al-Baqarah is the pinnacle of the Quran—and it is said to have been the first surah revealed in Medina—Allah opened it with four verses describing the believers, two verses describing the disbelievers, and ten-odd verses describing the hypocrites. For from the time the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, emigrated,