وَزَكَرِيَّا وَيَحْيَى وَعِيسَى وَإِلْيَاسَ كُلٌّ مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ ﴿۸۵﴾ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَالْيَسَعَ وَيُونُسَ وَلُوطًا وَكُلًّا فَضَّلْنَا عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ ﴿۸۶﴾ وَمِنْ آبَائِهِمْ وَذُرِّيَّاتِهِمْ وَإِخْوَانِهِمْ وَاجْتَبَيْنَاهُمْ وَهَدَيْنَاهُمْ إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ ﴿۸۷﴾

﴾85﴿ Wa Zakariyyaa wa Yahyaa wa 'Eesaa wa Illyaasa kullum minas saaliheen
﴾86﴿ Wa Ismaa'eela wal Yasa'a wa Yoonusa wa Lootaa; wa kullan faddalnaa 'alal 'aalameen
﴾87﴿ Wa min aabaaa'ihim wa zurriyyaatihim wa ikhwaanihim wajtabainaahum wa hadainaahum ilaa Siraatim Mustaqeem

﴾85﴿ And to Zakaria, peace be upon him, to Yahya, peace be upon him, to Jesus, peace be upon him, and to Elias, peace be upon him, they were all righteous
﴾86﴿ And to Ishmael, peace be upon him, Jesus, peace be upon him, Yunus, peace be upon him, and Lot, peace be upon him We had given all these virtues to the people
﴾87﴿ And some of their fathers and their children and their brothers And We chose them and guided them to the right path

[85] These four prophets, due to their utmost asceticism and worship, were counted among the righteous.
Perfect righteousness means doing what is appropriate and avoiding what is inappropriate. (Al-Sharbinī)
[86] These four prophets were not well-known, so people did not recognize their virtues; therefore, their virtues were mentioned.
From this, a proof is derived for the superiority of the prophets over the angels.
Benefit: ‘Isa (peace be upon him) was counted among the descendants of Nuh (peace be upon him) or Ibrahim (peace be upon him), even though he had no father.
Thus, it becomes clear that the children of daughters are also included among close relatives. Al-Qurtubi has mentioned the details of this difference of opinion.
[87] The point of the verse is not that all of these prophets were fathers, sons, and brothers to one another.
Rather, if some of them were related, only certain individuals among them were granted this rank, because the word “min” (مِن) indicates partiality.
“We chose them” (وَاجْتَبَيْنَاهُمْ) – the root word “jaby” originally means to gather, and here it implies selection and preference; selected things are gathered to oneself.
So, ijtiba’ (اجتباء) points to their inherent, essential qualities, while “We guided them” (هَدَيْنَاهُمْ) points to the knowledge of prophethood and acquired attributes.
It becomes clear that the “Straight Path” refers to the path of the prophets (peace be upon them).