QURAN AL FAJR: “2: 257God is near unto those who have faith, taking them out of deep darkness into the light - whereas near unto those who are bent on denying the truth are the powers of evil that take them out of the light into darkness deep: it is they who are destined for the fire, therein to abide.2: 258 ART THOU NOT aware of that [king] who argued with Abraham about his Sustainer, (simply] because God had granted him kingship? Lo! Abraham said: My Sustainer is He who grants life and deals death.[The king] replied: I [too] grant life and deal death!Said Abraham: Verily, God causes the sun to rise in the east; cause it, then, to rise in the west! Thereupon he who was bent on denying the truth remained dumbfounded: for God does not guide people who [deliberately] do wrong. 2: 259 Or [art thou, O man, of the same mind] as he who passed by a town deserted by its people, with its roofs caved in, [and] said, How could God bring all this back to life after its death?Thereupon God caused him to be dead for a hundred years; where after He brought him back to life [and] said: How long hast thou remained thus?He answered: I have remained thus a day, or part of a day.Said [God]: Nay, but thou hast remained thus for a hundred years! But look at thy food and thy drink untouched is it by the passing of years - and look at thine ass! And [We did all this so that We might make thee a symbol unto men. And look at the bones [of animals and men] - how We put them together and then clothe them with flesh! 2: 260 And, lo, Abraham said: O my Sustainer! Show me how Thou givest life unto the dead!Said He: Hast thou, then, no faith?(Abraham) answered: Yea, but [let me see it] so that my heart may be set fully at rest.Said He: Take, then, four birds and teach them to obey thee; then place them separately on every hill [around thee]; then summon them: they will come flying to thee. And know that God is almighty, wise. THE QURAN ILLUSTRATED 5TH DECEEMBER 2014:“for God does not guide people who [deliberately] do wrong”. According to Muhammad ‘Abduh, the wrong (zw1m) referred to here consists in one’s deliberately turning away from the light [of guidance] provided by God (Manor III, 47). And when [all this] became clear to him, he said: I know [now] that God has the power to will anything! “Or [art thou, O man, of the same mind] as he* who passed by a town deserted by its people”. Literally: Or like him. The words interpolated by me between brackets are based on Zamakhsharis interpretation of this passage, which connects with the opening of the preceding verse. “O man, of the same mind] as he who passed by a town deserted by its people”. The story told in this verse is obviously a parable meant to illustrate Gods power to bring the dead back to life: and, thus, it is significantly placed between Abrahams words in verse 258, My Sustainer is He who grants life and deals death, and his subsequent request, in verse 260, to be shown how God resurrects the dead. The speculations of some of the earlier commentators as to the identity of the man and the town mentioned in this story are without any substance, and may have been influenced by Talmudic legends. How could God bring all this back to life after its death? Sc., and observe that it is alive: thus pointing out that God has the power to grant life indefinitely, as well as to resurrect the dead. “But look at thy food and thy drink untouched is it by the passing off years - and look at thine ass!” The Quran frequently points to the ever-recurring miracle of birth, preceded by the gradual evolution of the embryo in its mothers womb, as a visible sign of Gods power to create-and therefore also to re-create- life. “And teach them to obey thee” .Literally: make them incline towards thee (Zamakhshari; see also Lane IV, 1744). “How We put them together and then clothe them with flesh! My rendering of the above parable is based on the primary meaning of the imperative surhunna ilayka (make them incline towards thee, i.e., teach them to obey thee). The moral of this story has been pointed out convincingly by the famous commentator Abu Muslim (as quoted by Razi): If man is able - as he undoubtedly is - to train birds in such a way as to make them obey his call, then it is obvious that God, whose will all things obey, can call life into being by simply decreeing, .Be!(SOURCE MUHAMMAD ASAD,BAYTUL AL MAJEED JOGA BHAI EXT.SHALIMAR APARTMENTS NEW DELHI )
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 04:00:07 +0000