al-Ḥadīd 57:26

Wa la-qad arsalnā Nūḥan wa Ibrāhīma wa jaʿalnā fī dhurriyyatihima'n-nubuwwata wa'l-kitāb; fa-minhum muhtad, wa kathīrun minhum fāsiqūn "Assuredly We sent Noah (Nūḥ) and Abraham (Ibrāhīm), and We placed prophethood and the Book in the offspring of the two. Among them there is one rightly guided; but many of them are transgressors."

The preceding verse named the messengers in general; this verse gives two names.

That Noah and Abraham should be chosen is not random. In the Qurʾān's narrative both are points of beginning:

• Noah — he is named as the forefather of humanity after the flood. The Qurʾān records his offspring separately: "And We made his offspring the ones who remained" (al-Ṣāffāt 37/77).
• Abraham — he is the second beginning of the chain of prophethood; two branches open out through Isaac (Isḥāq) and Ishmael (Ismāʿīl).

That is, the verse sums up the history of prophethood in two great points of juncture.

ذرّيّة — the lexicographers differ over the root: ذ-ر-ر (to scatter, to strew), ذ-ر-و (to winnow) or ذ-ر-أ (to create and multiply). All three carry the idea of "spreading, multiplying".

The tying of prophethood to lineage needs attention, because it is open to misunderstanding.

The verse does not say that prophethood passes by inheritance. What it says is that the institution of prophethood was continued within these two lines — a historical finding, not a declaration of entitlement.

And the second half of the verse already cuts this off: "among them there is one rightly guided; many of them are transgressors." That is, lineage is not a guarantee of salvation.

This is the same measure as the one set up at al-Baqara 2/124: "My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers." That is the answer given when the question was asked about Abraham's line.

The word order itself sets up a balance and must be read with care.

مُّهْتَدٍ comes singular, فَٰسِقُونَ plural. This implies a numerical disproportion.

But both sides are there. And this is the most important note of the verse: the verdict is not wholesale.

The word كثير is critical here. It does not say "all", it says "many". The same note was there in verse 16 and will come once more in verse 27.

The sūra repeats this note three times (16, 26, 27), and this repetition is the in-text counterpart of the principle set down in Method: no wholesale verdict is passed on a religious group; what the verse describes are attributes.

The text does this itself — three times, with the same word.