Preferring some messengers over others

The verse of al-Baqara 253 states that some messengers were preferred over others. Muhammad Rashid Rida holds that all the messengers deserve to be followed, that the preference is by what God gave them specifically, and then discusses the verse on some being raised in degrees, and the views of those who held that it refers to the Prophet Muhammad, and those who held that it refers to Idris. ^{1 2}

Rida holds that all the messengers are chosen, and that some of them are distinguished over others by the qualities God willed, in their own persons, in their laws and in their peoples. He illustrates this with God's speaking to Moses, and reports the view of those who said that the Ascension was granted to our Prophet, so that he is the one meant. He states that the majority hold the first view. ^{1 3}

Rida reports from the majority of exegetes that the intended meaning is our Prophet Muhammad, a view transmitted by Ibn Jarir from Mujahid. He holds that the context supports this, because the discourse concerns the peoples who follow the messengers. He enumerates the degrees the Prophet has in his own person, his book and his community, with many verses. ²

Rida mentions those who allowed that the intended meaning is Idris, citing God's words in Surat Maryam. He responds to some later scholars who considered applying the verse to the Prophet to be interpretation by opinion, and says that the blameworthy interpretation by opinion is when a follower of a school bends the Qur'an to a doctrine he has adopted, whereas explaining an ambiguous expression by evidence is not of that kind. ⁴ See also Interpretation by opinion. Al-Baqara 2:253