Tafsir of Surah Al-Isra - Verse 98

Allah says: ` This punishment, being resurrected blind, dumb and deaf, is what they deserve, because they disbelieved

بِـَايَـتِنَآ

(Our Ayat), i.e., Our proof and evidence, and did not think that the resurrection could ever happen.'

وَقَالُواْ أَءِذَا كُنَّا عِظَـماً وَرُفَـتاً

(and said: "When we are bones and fragments...") meaning, when we have disintegrated and our bodies have rotted away,

أَءِنَّا لَمَبْعُوثُونَ خَلْقاً جَدِيداً

(shall we really be raised up as a new creation) meaning, after we have disintegrated and disappeared and been absorbed into the earth, will we come back a second time Allah established proof against them and told them that He is able to do that, for He created the heavens and the earth, so raising them up again is easier for Him than that, as He says:

لَخَلْقُ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ أَكْـبَرُ مِنْ خَلْقِ النَّاسِ

(The creation of the heavens and the earth is indeed greater than the creation of mankind;) 40:57

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْاْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ الَّذِى خَلَقَ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ وَلَمْ يَعْىَ بِخَلْقِهِنَّ بِقَادِرٍ عَلَى أَن يُحْىِ الْمَوْتَى

(Do they not see that Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, and was not wearied by their creation, is able to give life to the dead) 46: 33

أَوَلَـيْسَ الَذِى خَلَقَ السَّمَـوتِ وَالاٌّرْضَ بِقَـدِرٍ عَلَى أَن يَخْلُقَ مِثْلَهُم بَلَى وَهُوَ الْخَلَّـقُ الْعَلِيمُ - إِنَّمَآ أَمْرُهُ إِذَآ أَرَادَ شَيْئاً أَن يَقُولَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ

(Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth, able to create the like of them Yes, indeed! He is the All-Knowing Supreme Creator. Verily, His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, "Be!" and it is!) (36:81-82) And Allah says here:

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْاْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ الَّذِى خَلَقَ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضَ قَادِرٌ عَلَى أَن يَخْلُقَ مِثْلَهُمْ

(See they not that Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, is able to create the like of them.) meaning, on the Day of Resurrection, He will recreate and restore their bodies, as He created them in the first place.

وَجَعَلَ لَهُمْ أَجَلاً لاَّ رَيْبَ فِيهِ

(And He has decreed for them an appointed term, whereof there is no doubt.) means, He has set a time for them to be re-created and brought forth from their graves, an appointed time which must surely come to pass. As Allah says:

وَمَا نُؤَخِّرُهُ إِلاَّ لاًّجَلٍ مَّعْدُودٍ

(And We delay it only for a term (already) fixed.) (11:104)

فَأَبَى الظَّـلِمُونَ

(But the wrongdoers refuse) -- after the proof has been established against them,

إِلاَّ كُفُورًا

((and accept nothing) but disbelief.) means, they persist in their falsehood and misguidance.

In the last verse (95), it was said that they, despite being human, can-not demand that their messenger should be an angel. This demand was unreasonable. Yes, if angels had been living on the Earth and there was the need to send a messenger to them, then, indeed, an angel would have been sent as a messenger. It will be noted that the attribute of an-gels living on the Earth has been described here in the words: يَمْشُونَ مُطْمَئِنِّينَ (walking about in peace). This tells us that the need to send an angel deputed as a messenger to other angels would have come up only at a time when the angels of the Earth could not themselves go to the heavens rather remained living on the Earth alone. Otherwise, had they themselves possessed the power to go to the heavens, there would have remained just no need to send a messenger to the Earth.

In this world man leads his life according to his material status. In the Hereafter he will rise or fall according to his spiritual status. That is why those who went astray in this world will be raised on Doomsday as blind, deaf and dumb. Their straying resulted from their not using their eyes, ears and tongues towards the end for which they were intended. They did not see the signs of God. They did not pay heed to the evidence of God. They did not speak out in support of the truth, in spite of being able to see, hear and speak. So far as the truth was concerned, they were as if without eyes, ears, and tongue. After death when they reach the next world, they will find themselves in their real face. In this world they are given everything without deserving it; it is like having an unreal face which they have received in this world purely on a temporary basis, because the present life is a period of trial. There are two types of misguided people, one uttering words of insolence, like ‘How can we be resurrected when we have crumbled to dust?’, the other acting in such a way as to convey the same sentiments. The latter are those who do not properly use their eyes, ears, or tongues: they use these things against the very purpose of creation, then they blissfully imagine that their actions will have no consequences in the Hereafter.