Al-FurqānThe Criterion

Al-Furqān is the Qur'an, named so because it distinguishes truth from falsehood, guidance from misguidance, and the lawful from the unlawful. That it was sent 'upon His servant' (ʿalā ʿabdihi) honours Muhammad ﷺ with the title of servanthood at the very moment of his highest station.

— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm

Naḏīran lil-ʿālamīn shows the universality of his message — unlike earlier messengers sent to their own peoples, he ﷺ was sent as a warner to all worlds, jinn and mankind alike.

— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān

The response to 'why does he eat food and walk in the markets' is that this was the unbroken practice of every messenger before him — the objection proves nothing except the objectors' ignorance of prophetic history.

— Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān on 25:20

Their objections were never sincere questions but attempts to disqualify him without engaging the message itself — hence Allah's description, 'see how they strike for you comparisons, and thus have gone astray, and cannot find a way.'

— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm on 25:7–9

Reports on the identity of the objecting chiefs vary and are not established with a reliable chain; what is firmly attested is the substance of the objection as recorded in the āyah itself, not a specific narrated incident naming individuals.

— Al-Wāḥidī, Asbāb al-Nuzūl

Those worshipped — whether angels, prophets like ʿĪsā, or idols animated by no will — will testify that they never called anyone to worship them; the worshippers strayed from what they knew was truth, following their own desires.

— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm on 25:17–19

The 'wrongdoer' of āyah 27 is understood generally, though it was revealed concerning ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ, who nearly embraced Islam but was turned back by his companion Ubayy ibn Khalaf; the biting of hands is a gesture of extreme regret when regret can no longer help.

— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān on 25:27–29

The extension and gradual withdrawal of the shadow, the winds as bearers of glad tidings before rain, and the revival of dead land are all presented as everyday evidences of a Creator who is equally able to revive the dead on the Last Day.

— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm on 25:45–50

The barzakh (barrier) between the fresh and salty seas is a sign of precise divine arrangement — the two bodies meet yet do not mix in a way that spoils either.

— Al-Qurṭubī on 25:53

'Walking upon the earth in humility' (hawnan) describes calm dignity, not weakness — a settled character, not a forced pose; when the ignorant address them harshly they respond with peaceable words, not retaliation in kind.

— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm on 25:63

Their spending is described as neither isrāf (extravagance) nor iqtār (stinginess), but qawāman — a balanced middle standing between the two, applied to wealth as to worship and character generally.

— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān on 25:67

Repentance (tawbah) followed by belief and righteous action transforms even past sins into good deeds — a mercy that answers the despair someone might feel after a serious wrong.

— Ibn Kathīr on 25:70