Tafsir of Surah Al-Jathiya - Verse 26

The Conviction of the Disbelievers, Their Argument and the Refutation of it

Allah mentions here the creed of Ad-Dahriyyah and the Arab idolators who embraced their creed, denying Resurrection,

وَقَالُواْ مَا هِىَ إِلاَّ حَيَاتُنَا الدُّنْيَا نَمُوتُ وَنَحْيَا

(And they say: "There is nothing but our life of this world, we die and we live....") They say that there is only this life, some people die while others are born to life, without Resurrection or Judgement. This was the creed of Arab idolators who used to deny Resurrection, in addition to, the creed of the atheist philosophers among them who denied the creation and Resurrection. This was also the statement of atheist philosophers who deny the Creator and think that the world will return to its original form once every thirty--six thousand years, when everything will restart its life--cycle again! They claim that this cycle was repeated for infinity, thus contradicting the sound reason and the divine revelation. They said,

وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَآ إِلاَّ الدَّهْرُ

(and nothing destroys us except Ad-Dahr (time).) Allah the Exalted said in reply,

وَمَا لَهُمْ بِذَلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِنْ هُمْ إِلاَّ يَظُنُّونَ

(And they have no knowledge of it, they only presume.) they speculate and guess! As for the Hadith recorded by the two collectors of the Sahih, and Abu Dawud and An-Nasa'i, from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«يَقُولُ تَعَالَى: يُؤْذِينِي ابْنُ آدَمَ، يَسُبُّ الدَّهْرَ وَأَنَا الدَّهْرُ، بِيَدِيَ الْأَمْرُ، أُقَلِّبُ لَيْلَهُ وَنَهَارَه»

(Allah the Exalted says, "The Son of `Adam annoys Me when he curses Ad-Dahr (time), while I am Ad-Dahr. In My Hand are all matters; I cause the alternation of his days and nights.") In another narration;

«لَا تَسُبُّوا الدَّهْرَ فَإِنَّ اللهَ تَعَالَى هُوَ الدَّهْر»

(Do not curse Ad-Dahr (time), for Allah is Ad-Dahr.) Ash-Shafi`i, Abu `Ubaydah and several other Imams of Tafsir explained the meaning of the Prophet's statement,

«لَا تَسُبُّوا الدَّهْرَ فَإِنَّ اللهَ هُوَ الدَّهْر»

(Do not abuse Ad-Dahr (time), for Allah is Ad-Dahr.) They said, "During the time of Jahiliyyah, when an affliction, a calamity or a disaster struck them, the Arabs used to say, `Woe to Ad-Dahr (time)!' So they used to blame such incidents on Ad-Dahr, cursing Ad-Dahr in the process. Surely, it is Allah the Exalted and Most Honored Who causes these (and all) things to happen. This is why when they cursed Ad-Dahr, it was as if they were cursing Allah Himself, since truthfully, He causes all incidents to happen. Therefore, abusing Ad-Dahr was prohibited due to this consideration, for it was Allah Whom they meant by abusing Ad-Dahr, which -- as we said-- they accused of causing (distressful) incidents." This is the best explanation for this subject, and it is the desired meaning. Allah knows best. We should mention that Ibn Hazm and those of the Zahiriyyah like him made an error when they used this Hadith to include Ad-Dahr among Allah's most beautiful Names. Allah's statement,

وَإِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـتُنَا بَيِّنَاتٍ

(And when Our Clear Ayat are recited to them,) means, when the truth is made plain to them and used as evidence against them, asserting that Allah is able to resurrect the bodies after they have perished and disintegrated,

مَّا كَانَ حُجَّتَهُمْ إِلاَّ أَن قَالُواْ ائْتُواْ بِـَابَآئِنَآ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـدِقِينَ

(their argument is no other than that they say: "Bring back our fathers, if you are truthful!") `bring them back to life, if what you say is true.' Allah the Exalted said,

قُلِ اللَّهُ يُحْيِيكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ

(Say (to them): "Allah gives you life and then causes you to die...") `for you are witnesses that He brings you (or new life) to existence after non--existence,'

كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَكُنتُمْ أَمْوَتًا فَأَحْيَـكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ

(How can you disbelieve in Allah Seeing that you were dead and He gave you life. Then He will give you death, then again will bring you to life.) (2:28) Therefore, He Who is able to initiate creation, is able to restart it, as well and more obviously,

وَهُوَ الَّذِى يَبْدَأُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ وَهُوَ أَهْوَنُ عَلَيْهِ

(And He it is Who originates the creation, then He will repeat it; and this is easier for Him.) (30:27) Allah said next,

ثُمَّ يَجْمَعُكُمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَـمَةِ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ

(then He will assemble you on the Day of Resurrection about which there is no doubt.) `when He resurrects you, it will be on and for the Day of Resurrection, not in this life. Therefore, your statement is groundless,'

ائْتُواْ بِـَابَآئِنَآ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـدِقِينَ

Bring back our (dead) fathers, if you are truthful! Allah said,

يَوْمَ يَجْمَعُكُمْ لِيَوْمِ الْجَمْعِ

The Day when He will gather you (all) on the Day of Gathering. )64:9(,

لأَيِّ يَوْمٍ أُجِّلَتْ - لِيَوْمِ الْفَصْلِ

(For what Day are these signs postponed For the Day of sorting out.) (77:12-13), and,

وَمَا نُؤَخِّرُهُ إِلاَّ لاًّجَلٍ مَّعْدُودٍ

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

ثُمَّ يَجْمَعُكُمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَـمَةِ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ

(then He will assemble you on the Day of Resurrection about which there is no doubt.) there is no doubt that it will come,

وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ

(But most of mankind know not.) and this is why they deny Resurrection and discount the fact that the bodies will be brought back to life. Allah the Exalted said,

إِنَّهُمْ يَرَوْنَهُ بَعِيداً - وَنَرَاهُ قَرِيباً

(Verily, they see it afar off. But We see it (quite) near.) (70:6), they discount the possibility that Resurrection will ever come, while the believers believe that its occurrence is easy and imminent.

وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَا إِلَّا الدَّهْرُ‌ "...and nothing destroys us except time...(45:24) " The word dahr means ` time from the beginning of the world to its end'. It also refers to ` a very long period of time'. The atheists alleged that their life and death have nothing to do with Divine will and command. They happen under natural causes. Death is a process which they say they experience when their human limbs, organs and abilities diminish on account of constant use and, with the passage of time, the matter becomes dissolved and is destroyed; and that this is the be-all and end-all of human existence, there being no life hereafter. Likewise, life has nothing to do with Divine will and command. Life too, like death, happens under movement of material causes.

Reviling Time Is Inappropriate

Atheists believed that ` Time' is the cause of life, death, vicissitudes of conditions and adversities, and also the cause of the revolution of the entire universe. Every happening used to be attributed to ` Time' by them as indicated in this verse, whereas the fact is that everything happens with the Divine will and volition. Therefore, authentic Traditions prohibit reviling of time. The power which the unbelievers describe as ` time' is in fact the Divine power. When people curse or revile time for their adversities, they are in fact directing their reproach to Allah. The Messenger of Allah said: "Do not revile time because time actually is Allah." The ignorant who claim that a particular work was done by time is actually the work of Divine power - time is nothing. It does not necessarily follow from this proposition that ad-dahr is one of the names of Allah. Here Allah is referred to as ad-dahr metaphorically or figuratively.

‘Nothing but time destroys us.’ These are not the words of the common man. Such maxims are typically uttered by a special calibre of individual. Such an individual, because of his intelligence, attains the status of an intellectual representative of society. However, whatever he says is based on conjecture and not on any real knowledge. On the contrary, whatever a prophet says is based on a concrete foundation. Every day we witness the birth of a human being out of a death-like state of non-existence. It is as if here every man receives life after “death”, then after being alive, he dies again. This is an indication of the fact that, just as life appeared after death-like non-existence for the first time, similarly, for the second time also, there will be life after death. With this, the possibility of life after death is proved beyond doubt. Therefore, it is not correct to demand that those who are due to be resurrected in future should be brought back to life today for the purpose of demonstrating this truth, because the whole purpose of the present world is to put man to the test. If, today, the state of the future world were to be shown, the purpose of testing would be nullified.