كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَكُنْتُمْ أَمْوَاتًا فَأَحْيَاكُمْ

ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ

وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

"How is it that you deny Allah despite that you were lifeless and He gave you life, then He will make you die, then make you live again, and then to Him you will be returned? It is He who created for you all that the earth contains; then He turned to the heavens and made them seven skies -- and He is the knower of all things!" (2: 28-29)

The earlier verses affirmed the existence and the Oneness of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), and prophethood, giving self-evident proofs and refuting the whimsical and false notions of the doubters and the disbelievers. These two verses speak of the blessings which Allah has showered on man, pointing out that all the same there are men who do not recognize the bounty of Allah and persist in their denial -- the suggestion being that if they do not want to take the trouble of considering the arguments which have been advanced by the Holy Qur'an in the earlier verses, they should, as every man with an undistorted nature must, at least be grateful to their benefactor, for even this would be a way of realizing why they should be obedient to Allah.

The first of these two verses refers to the blessings which are particular to the very being of man -- that is to say, he had no life before Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) gave him existence. The second verse refers to the general blessings which are common to man and other creatures -- firstly, the earth and all that it contains and on which man's life immediately depends, and secondly, the skies with which life on earth is directly related.

Verse 28 begins by expressing surprise at those who insist on being ungrateful to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) and on denying Him. On the face of it, the disbelievers had never denied Allah but only the Holy Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم), all the same, the Holy Qur'an equates such a denial with the denial of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) Himself.

Then, the verse reminds man that once he was "dead" (amwat), or that he had no life. He existed, if at all, in the shape of billions of lifeless particles aimlessly floating; Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) brought them together, made them into a man, and gave them life.

The verse proceeds to warn him that Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) will take away his life, and then give it back to him a second time. This second life refers to the Day of Judgment when Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) will collect the lifeless and scattered particles of each and every man again, and give him a new life. Thus, the first 'death' or 'state of lifelessness' was at the beginning before man received life from Allah; the second death comes when a man completes the life-span allotted to him; and the second life will be given on the Day of Judgment.

The verse ends by telling man that he will ultimately go back to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى). This, of course, refers to the Resurrection when all men will rise from their graves, will be assembled for giving an account of their deeds, and be finally punished or rewarded according to what they had been doing in the world.

According to this verse, the chief blessing of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) for man is life, for without life he cannot profit from any other blessing. This is obvious enough. But the verse counts death too as a blessing. It is so, because physical death is the door to the perpetual life of the other world after which there is no death.

In recounting the blessings which man has received from Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), verse 29 refers to Allah having created for man "all that the earth contains."

This small phrase comprehends all kinds of benefits which accrue to him from the earth and its produce. Then, the verse speaks of the creation of the sky and its division into seven skies or heavens, as they are usually called in English. In this context, the Holy Qur'an uses the Arabic word, Istawa which initially means 'to stand upright, to climb', and thence signifies 'to turn or pay attention to something', and, in a wider sense, 'to take a straight and firm decision which nothing can hinder'. The implication here is that Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) being Omniscient and Omnipotent, it was not at all difficult for Him to create the universe, once He had decided to do so.

The life in 'al-Barzakh' (The period between death and resurrection)

(1) Verse 28 shows that a man who does not apparently deny Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), but refuses to accept the Holy Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) as the Messenger of Allah, and the Holy Qur'an as the Book of Allah, would still be counted among those who do not believe in Allah سبحانه وتعالى

(2 Verse 28 mentions only one kind of life which is to follow one's physical death - that is, the life which will begin on the Day of Resurrection - but says nothing about the life in the grave, although the Holy Qur'an and hadith explicitly speak of how people will be questioned about their faith in their graves, and will also receive some reward or punishment. Now, this life in the grave is something intermediary (Barzakh) between the life which man has in this world and one he will have in the other. In other words, it is a state in between the two, resembling the life one has while dreaming; it can be called a supplement to the life of this world as also a prelude to the life hereafter. In short, this intermediary life is not in itself a distinct entity, and hence need not be mentioned separately.

(3) According to verse 29, everything in the universe has been created for man. It means that there is nothing in the universe from which man does not derive some benefit in one way or the other, directly or indirectly. There are things which man uses physically as food or medicine; other things are useful for him without his knowing it; even poisonous or dangerous things do him some good; even things which are forbidden for him in one of their aspects, may in some other aspect be quite beneficial; finally, almost everything can serve to teach him a lesson or illuminate him in the interest of his life in the Hereafter. The great Sufi Ibn 'Ataa' (رحمه الله) remarks in connection with this verse: 'Allah has created the universe for you so that it should serve you and you should serve Allah. A wise man should thus know that he will certainly get what has been created for him, and should not, in worrying about it, forget the Being for whom he himself has been created.' (Al-Bahr al-Muhit)

(4) On the basis of verse 29, some scholars have cqme to the conclusion that since everything in the world has been created for man, it is essentially legitimate (Halal) and permissible (Mubah) for man to make use of everything, except the things which have been forbidden by the Shari'ah. So, the use of a thing is to be regarded as lawful so long as the Holy Qur'an or the Hadith does not forbid it. On the contrary, some other scholars say that the mere fact of a thing having been created for the benefit of man does not argue that it automatically becomes lawful to make use of it. So, the use of everything is essentially unlawful unless an explicit statement in the Holy Qur'an or the hadith, or an argument based on them establishes the use of a thing as legitimate.

There are still other authentic scholars who have not taken sides in this controversy. Ibn Hayyan (رحمه الله), in his commentary 'Al-Bahr al-Muhit', points out that this verse does not provide a valid basis for either of the two views, for the letter "laam" in the phrase "khalaqa lakum" indicates causation, signifying that the universe has been "created for your sake." So, one cannot draw any conclusion from the phrase as to the use of everything being essentially legitimate or illegitimate. The injunction with regard to the legitimacy or the illegitimacy of the use of particular things have been provided elsewhere in the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith, and it is obligatory to follow these injunctions.

(5) Verse 29 shows that the earth was created before the skies, as indicated by the word "Thumma" ('then'). Another verse of the Holy Qur'an seems to be saying the opposite: "He spread out the earth after this." (79:30) But it does not necessarily mean that the earth was created after the skies. What it actually implies is that although the earth had already been created when the skies came into being, yet a final shape was given to it after the creation of the skies. (Al-Bahr al-Muhit, etc)

(6) According to verse 29, the skies are seven in number. This shows that the opinion of the ancient Greek astronomers and some Muslim philosophers, who used to speak of nine heavens, was no more than a conjecture. [Ma'ariful Qur'an]

» Posted by Seifeddine-M on 13th January 2011

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