Tafsir of Surah Al-Isra - Verse 99

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.

The earth and the sky exist before us as an undeniable reality. Their existence proves that there is a living being who has the power to create something out of nothing. When this initial creation is possible, why should there not be a second creation? The truth is that after accepting the first creation, no scientific, rational argument comes in the way of believing in the second creation. In the face of such clear evidence, anyone who does not accept the second creation is a transgressor. He treads on the ground of stubbornness instead of on the ground of reason and rationality.