﴿ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِم مِّنَ ٱلنَّبِيِّۦنَ مِن ذُرِّيَّةِ ءَادَمَ وَمِمَّنْ حَمَلْنَا مَعَ نُوحٍۢ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّةِ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ وَإِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ وَمِمَّنْ هَدَيْنَا وَٱجْتَبَيْنَآ ۚ إِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَٰتُ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ خَرُّوا۟ سُجَّدًۭا وَبُكِيًّۭا ۩ ﴾

“THESE WERE some of the prophets upon whom God bestowed His blessings - [prophets] of the seed of Adam and of those whom We caused to be borne [in the ark] with Noah, and of the seed of Abraham and Israel and [all of them were] among those whom We had guided and elected; [and] whenever the messages of the Most Gracious were conveyed unto them, they would fall down [before Him], prostrating themselves and weeping.”

Here, special mention is made of those prophets who were raised in the generations descending respectively from Adam, Noah and Abraham. God found them deserving of being blessed with His special guidance and of being selected to represent Him to the people. Why did God shower His great blessings on these august personalities? God says that this was due to a virtue common to all of them, namely, their realization of God’s greatness and majesty being so absolute that they would tremble on hearing His message and cry and fall down before Him on the ground. To cry and fall down in prostration, or sajdah, is the ultimate stage of the realization and admission of God’s greatness and majesty. One who attains this stage has had a foretaste of that faith which is characteristic of God’s messengers and prophets.