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[Mystic]

Veil 2 - The chosen ones who inherited the book.


وَالَّذِي أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ هُوَ الْحَقُّ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِعِبَادِهِ لَخَبِيرٌ بَصِيرٌ {31}
That which We have revealed to thee of the Book is the Truth,- confirming what was (revealed) before it: for Allah is assuredly- with respect to His Servants - is aware, seeing.
ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابَ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا ۖ فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِنَفْسِهِ وَمِنْهُمْ مُقْتَصِدٌ وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْكَبِيرُ {32}
 35:32] Then We gave the Book for an inheritance to those whom We chose from Our servants; so of them (ie. our servants) is he who is unjust to himself, and of them is he who takes a middle course, and of them is he who is foremost in deeds of goodness by Allah's permission; this is the great excellence.
 
These verses are saying God is aware and seeing of his servants. Out of God's servants are are those who are unjust to themselves, then there are those in a middle course, then those who race ahead of all in good deeds. God picks the chosen ones from those who race ahead of all in good deeds and are foremost in good deeds. 
 
The word astafa is used 13 times, and in exactly twelve verses. In all the verses, we see meaning of exalted way above the rest, and choosing of the best, and is not simply about his will or his decision in choosing who would inherit the book. The word astafa is used in Quran regarding those whom God says "Peace be upon those servants he has chosen". Bani-Israel for example were picked as a nation for guidance, but peace is not upon them all when many of them disobeyed God and rejected Prophets. The word used for choosing bani-Israel is different then astafa but rather just shows God selected them for knowledge over the nations, but it didn't mean they were specifically chosen/exalted above others.


Now the way Sunnis read it is that "of them" refers to the chosen servants and meant by that the nation, but seeing what astafa means in Arabic and through out Quran, and who God specially chooses and exalts, that cannot be the meaning. 

The Quran explains through out what is meant by the chosen ones and the word Astafa, in the one place it states there existed during Mohammad time chosen ones who inherited the book, the meaning through out Quran is disregarded.

The dark forces keep people from seeing "of them" refers to servants, as emphasized in the verse before "and God with respect to his servants is aware seeing." "Then we inherited the book to those who we chose from our servants so of them (ie. our servants)..."

Here is a list of the verses that use the same word in it's various forms, and a commentary to them:

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The verb اصطفى, is used in the Qur'an many times in Quran. It refers to highly above type choosing and electing. Let's look at these twelve blessed verses.

[2:130]وَمَن يَرْغَبُ عَن مِّلَّةِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِلاَّ مَن سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ وَلَقَدِ اصْطَفَيْنَاهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَإِنَّهُ فِي الآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ

And whom turns away from the creed of Ibrahim except whom makes himself a fool, and verily we elected/chose him in this world and verily in the next world he is the righteous.


Comment: We can see here it has a meaning of highly elected above and chosen specially type meaning. Ibrahim (as) was elected for a specially status and role due to his status and heightened above normal people by a great heightening.

[2:132] وَوَصَّى بِهَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ بَنِيهِ وَيَعْقُوبُ يَا بَنِيَّ إِنَّ اللّهَ اصْطَفَى لَكُمُ الدِّينَ فَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إَلاَّ وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ

And Ibrahim enjoined upon his sons and upon Yaqoun, o my sons, verily God has chosen/elected for you his religion, so do not die except while you are submissive.

Comment: We can see here again it means way above, as the true religion is deemed highly superior and way above all other religions and God elected it and made it above and chose it in that sense, not simply selected. This again is emphasizing on a great heightening and being way above type meaning.

[2:247] وَقَالَ لَهُمْ نَبِيُّهُمْ إِنَّ اللّهَ قَدْ بَعَثَ لَكُمْ طَالُوتَ مَلِكًا قَالُوَاْ أَنَّى يَكُونُ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ عَلَيْنَا وَنَحْنُ أَحَقُّ بِالْمُلْكِ مِنْهُ وَلَمْ يُؤْتَ سَعَةً مِّنَ الْمَالِ قَالَ إِنَّ اللّهَ اصْطَفَاهُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَزَادَهُ بَسْطَةً فِي الْعِلْمِ وَالْجِسْمِ وَاللّهُ يُؤْتِي مُلْكَهُ مَن يَشَاء وَاللّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ


And their Prophet said to them verily God has risen over you Talut a King, they said how does he have Authority/kingdom over us and we are more entitled to Authority then him and he has not been given abundant wealth? He said: Verily God has elected/chosen him above you, and increased abundantly him in knowledge and physique and Allah gives his Authority/kingdom to whom he pleases, and God is Spreading Knowledgeable.

Comment: We can see here that when God elects a Servant it implies he is a King over the rest and has God's Authority and must be adhered to by others. The knowledge and physique shows it's his Spiritual Essence that God has made superior and by that has elected them above others. The last line shows he has knowledge of his servants and out of his wisdom uses his elected servants and vests them with his Authority and graces people through them.

[3:33] نَّ اللّهَ اصْطَفَى آدَمَ وَنُوحًا وَآلَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَآلَ عِمْرَانَ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ

Verily Allah elected/chose Adam and Nuh and the family of Ibrahim and the family of Imran above the worlds.

Comment: Here we are reminded of the first Khalifa upon earth, Adam (as) and he was elected above other creation and through him God taught the names and he was the first Nabi. Then Nuh (as), then we are shown the family of Ibrahim (as) is also elected. We come to know the true family of Ibrahim (as) are elected high souls. The same is true of the family of Imran (as). These were made the people of their time, and they are explained to be offspring, some of them from some in the next verse. We then come to see examples of these elect souls, like Mariam (as). Again, here it means specially elected and chosen above rest type meaning once again. A towering height over the non-chosen.

We can see also here electing is related to Authority emphasized before and with mystic family and elected offspring, which has similarity to the Sign of Authority and flowing with what is said before about Talut (as).

[3:42] وَإِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلاَئِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللّهَ اصْطَفَاكِ وَطَهَّرَكِ وَاصْطَفَاكِ عَلَى نِسَاء الْعَالَمِينَ

And when the angels said: O Marium! surely Allah has elected/chosen you and purified you and elected/chosen you above the women of of the world.

Comment: Here we see again elect/chosen type meaning as in made way higher and superior sense.It's emphasized she been made pure by God as well. So we see emphasis with purity and can see the elect servants are emphasized to be pure.

[7:144] الَ يَا مُوسَى إِنِّي اصْطَفَيْتُكَ عَلَى النَّاسِ بِرِسَالاَتِي وَبِكَلاَمِي فَخُذْ مَا آتَيْتُكَ وَكُن مِّنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ

O Musa verily I have elected/chosen you over the people by my messages and words so take what I have given you and be of the thankful/those whom give thanks.

Comment: We can see here the special talking to Musa (as) implied he was elected above others. This again shows the meaning of the word to be specially chosen and elected and heightened above others and made special.

[22:75]
اللَّهُ يَصْطَفِي مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ رُسُلًا وَمِنَ النَّاسِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ

God elects/chooses from his Angels Messenger and from the people, verily God is Aware Seeing.

Comment: We see it's emphasized here that God is aware and seeing, same was done in 3:34. This because God knows his Angels (as) and knows the humans as well, and elects out of them special ones, whom he uses for his messages. Again, we see electing, specially choosing type meaning.

[27:59] قُلِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى عِبَادِهِ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَى آللَّهُ خَيْرٌ أَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ

Say: All praise is for Allah and peace is/be upon the servants he has elected/chosen, is Allah greater or what they associate?

Comment: We can see the praise belongs to God all together and the peace and tranquility is his in his elect elite Servants. We can see similarity in the tranquility found in Talut (as) with peace here being emphasized on his elect servants. They are Princes of Peace and the means towards the Tranquility. In them lies the tranquility and peace sought and longed for by humans. Part of the Sign of Authority was bringing tranquility from God, and we can see thus the light inherited from the mystic family is the peace of God brought down, and what manifests authority.

[35:32] ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابَ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِّنَفْسِهِ وَمِنْهُم مُّقْتَصِدٌ وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْكَبِيرُ

Then we inherited the book to those whom we elected/chosen of our servants, so of them (ie. servants/people) is whom is unjust to himself, and of them is whom is in the middle, and of them is whom is races ahead of all in good deeds by permission of his Lord, that is the great superiority.

Comment: The verse before similarily to other verses emphasized on God being aware and seeing of his servants. Then we see God elected out of his servants and out of his servants are one whom is unjust to himself, one whom is in the middle, and one whom races ahead of all in good deeds. In makes sense that God would use one whom is ahead of all in good deeds for his religion and elect them for a high station and vest them with his authority and manifest their station and make them means towards him.
 
These servants inherited the book after Mohammad was given revelation. Obviously God would manifest who the chosen ones are!
 
 
[37:153] أَصْطَفَى الْبَنَاتِ عَلَى الْبَنِينَ

Has he chosen/elected the daughters over the sons.


Comment: We can see here again the meaning is specially choosing above other type meaning, but this of course a height that no creature can reach, rather the highest electing and highest servants are but honored servants whom don't precede him in speech and by his command do they act as clarified by another verse clarifying he has no sons. And we can see here it means this type of meaning, but reality, is God is to high and creation is to low to be elected to such a status. We can deduce by the other verses that his elected servants are such that they don't precede God in speech and by his command do they act. This shows the elected servants in the verse before are such servants and hence sinless servants of God that act only according to his command, that is the light and authority of God embracing them.

[38:47] وَإِنَّهُمْ عِندَنَا لَمِنَ الْمُصْطَفَيْنَ الْأَخْيَارِ

And verily they with us of the elected/chosen, the selected/picked.

Comment: This being said about Ibrahim (as), Isaac (as) and Yaqoub (as) and before that their insight and power was emphasized as well as being focused on the next world. We can see again reminder of the mystic family of Ibrahim (as) and we see more clarification on why it was emphasized Talut (as) was superior in physique. It's because of the immense power and mighty in the souls of the Elect ones. Such are his elect ones and they have power to Spiritual Guide servants by God's permission. These 3 servants mentioned here are also emphasized else where to Imams whom guide by his Command and that they were reveal good acts and Salat and Zakat and Allah did they worship, and hence they are Guides to such inward states and beautiful and glorious actions and states they will show.

[39:4] لَوْ أَرَادَ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًا لَّاصْطَفَى مِمَّا يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاء سُبْحَانَهُ هُوَ اللَّهُ الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّارُ

If Allah wished to have a son he would have elected/chosen from whom he created, Glorified is he, he is Allah, the One, the Supreme.

Comment: This verse like the the one about daughters, is emphasizing that God is to great to be ascribed sons and daughters. Nothing can come close to his rank. The highest ranking creation would surely be his son or sons were he to have any but he is to great for this. But again, this emphasized the meaning of his elected servants being elected above others, but here it shows that although they have immense high status, no where do they come towards the status of Allah, the Supreme, which everything is not even a dust to the universe compared to him, rather far he be above that relation as well, far greater is he above all creation.

But again, this shows the meaning of the word and it refers to specially elected and chosen and heightened and made special over others type meaning.

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It would still be obvious to you that you are right, even if dark forces were making you think the wrong thing though. That's kind of the point of a deluding force.

From my experience, the other view has no logical support, and is just based on illogical conjecture, and logical fallacies. For example, in the verse of "Then we inherited the book to those who we chose from our servants", it's a fallacy in that they state there is only one possible way of reading even though there is another way, and the other way is the way the word is used through out Quran. I see this nothing but dark forces trying to keep the hearts of Muslims from seeing the chosen successors of Mohammad (saw).