Overview (Verses 77 - 83)

A Second Life for All

The third section of this final passage raises the question of resurrection and reckoning: Is man, then, not aware that it is We who create him out of a gamete; and then he becomes flagrantly contentious. He comes up with arguments against Us, forgetting how he himself was created. He asks: ‘Who could give life to bones that have crumbled to dust?’ Say: ‘He who brought them into being in the first instance will give them life again. He has full knowledge of every act of creation; He who produces for you fire out of the green tree, and from this you kindle your fires.’ Is, then, He who has created the heavens and the earth unable to create their like? Of course He can. He alone is the supreme Creator, the All-Knowing. When He intends something to he, He only says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is. (Verses 77-82) 

This section looks first at man’s own position, describing his origins and ends, putting it all before him so that he looks at it as a reality taking place all the time. Yet man neither appreciates its significance nor takes it as evidence confirming the realization of God’s promise to resurrect all humanity. “Is man, then, not aware that it is We who create him out of a gamete; and then he becomes flagrantly contentious.” (Verse 77) Man does not doubt that his immediate origin is a gamete. It is no more than a tiny drop of worthless fluid; a drop containing countless thousands of cells, one of which then becomes an embryo, which later grows into a contentious person, arguing with his Lord and demanding proof and evidence from Him.

It is the creative power of God that transforms that gamete into this quarrelsome, contentious person. What a gulf between origin and end! Yet man finds it difficult to believe that this power can bring him back to life after death. “He comes up with arguments against Us, forgetting how he himself was created. He asks: ‘Who could give life to bones that have crumbled to dust?’ Say: Be who brought them into being in the first instance will give them life again. He has full knowledge of every act of creation.” (Verses 78-79) How simple, using the logic of nature and obvious reality!

Does a gamete have greater life, power or value than a crumbled bone? Is not man originated from a gamete? Is the One who made an argumentative man out of a gamete unable to produce a new creation out of a crumbled bone? This is too easy and obvious to merit any lengthy discussion: “He who brought them into being in the first instance will give them life again. He has All knowledge of every act of creation.” (Verse 79) They are then given further clarification of God’s creative power. Again the clarification uses something they always see with their own eyes: “He who produces for you fire out of the green tree, and from this you kindle your fires.” (Verse 80)

A casual look at this remarkable phenomena, to which they are often oblivious, is sufficient as convincing proof. Green trees laden with water often produce fire through friction, and then become fuel to this same fire. However, scientific understanding of the nature of the heat green trees receive as they absorb solar energy and retain it while they are full of water can only enhance the significance of this phenomena. It is God who has given trees their characteristics, and who created all things. However, we seldom look at things with such awareness. As a result, they do not reveal to us their amazing secrets nor do they point us to the Creator of the universe. We only need to open our hearts to them and they will tell us their secrets. We will then live with them in a permanent state of worship and glorification of God.

The sūrah then further examines the question of man’s initial creation and his subsequent resurrection: “Is, then, He who has created the heavens and the earth unable to create their like? Of course He can. He alone is the supreme Creator, the All-Knowing.” (Verse 81)

The heavens and the earth are great and wonderful creations. This earth where we live with millions of other species, and compared to which we are very little in size, and about which our knowledge remains scanty, is no more than a small satellite of the sun. Our earth depends totally on the light and heat it receives from the sun. However, the sun is only one out of a hundred million suns in this galaxy which forms our neighbouring world. The universe includes numerous other galaxies. Using their best, but limited observatories, astronomers estimate that there are one hundred million galaxies, but they could discover more if they used more powerful telescopes. The distance between our galaxy and the next is estimated at 750,000 light years. In addition, there are also vast nebula containing distant clusters of stars. But this is as far as our limited knowledge can reach.

Most of these countless stars have planets like our own star, and each planet and star has its own orbit in which it moves according to an accurate system which allows no stoppage or deviation. Otherwise, collisions would occur in outer space. We simply cannot try to describe what this great expanse contains: it is simply beyond our imagination. However, the question remains: “Is, then, He who has created the heavens and the earth unable to create their like?” How do people compare with such great, unimaginable creation? “Of course He can. He alone is the supreme Creator, the All- Knowing.” (Verse 81)

The truth is that God creates this and that, as well as other types of creation, effortlessly. It is all the same to Him whether the creature He wants to bring into life is large or small: “When He intends something to be, He only says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” (Verse 82) This ‘something’ could be a galaxy, an earth, an ant or a mosquito. It is all the same, requiring no more than a simple word, ‘Be’, and it is there. Nothing is easier or more difficult, near or far. Once God’s will intends something, it exists whatever it may be. However, God tells us of this fact in a way we understand. This is why He expresses it in this way: saying, ‘Be’, to His intended creation.

At this point, the sūrah gives its final beat, describing the relation between the universe and its Creator: “Limitless, then, in His glory is He in whose hand rests the mighty dominion over all things, and to Him you all will be brought back.” (Verse 83) The term ‘mighty dominion’ describes this relation in its majestic reality of absolute ownership and complete authority over everything in the universe. Then to Him all will return.