Overall meaning : We have sent Our messengers with manifest signs and proofs, and We have sent down with them the scriptures and justice, so that people may conduct themselves with fairness. We have sent down iron, with its great might in which there is material for war and various benefits for mankind, so that Allah may show people what He already knows about them, according to his foreknowledge, who utilizes iron weapons to support His religion and His messengers without even having seen Him. Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty: nothing whatsoever can ever frustrate His purpose, and His power can by no means be overcome or resisted.
We sent forth Noah and Abraham and bestowed on their descendants prophethood and the scriptures. Some of their descendants were rightly guided, but many were rebellious transgressors who disobeyed My commands.
Then, in their wake, We sent a succession of Our messengers. After these We sent Jesus, son of Mary, and We gave him the Gospel, and We placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him. As for monastic asceticism, We did not prescribe it for them; rather, they invented it themselves, seeking thereby Allah’s good pleasure; but then they did not observe it as it should have been observed; and so We granted those of them who believed their due reward, but many of them were rebellious transgressors who disobeyed My commands!