Surah al-Waqi`ah (The Occurrence) 56 : 13

Explanatory Note

The surah takes a short pause here to say who achieves this grade. Thus, we are told: "A good many of them are from earlier times and a few from later generations." (Verses 13-14) They are, then, the chosen ones, constituting a limited number. Most of them belong to earlier generations, but a minority come from later ones. Views differ as to which are the earlier generations and which are the later ones. The first view suggests that the earlier generations refer to those who attained to a high degree of faith from among the communities that lived prior to the advent of Islam, while the few from the later generations refers to the ones who were the first to accept Islam and strive hard for its cause. The second view says that both the majority and the minority belong to the followers of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), with the ones of earlier times' belonging to its first generations, and the others to later ones.