2:259 How Was This Made As A Sign?
أَوْ كَالَّذِي مَرَّ عَلَى قَرْيَةٍ وَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِهَا قَالَ أَنَّىَ يُحْيِـي هَـَذِهِ اللّهُ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا فَأَمَاتَهُ اللّهُ مِئَةَ عَامٍ ثُمَّ بَعَثَهُ قَالَ كَمْ لَبِثْتَ قَالَ لَبِثْتُ يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ قَالَ بَل لَّبِثْتَ مِئَةَ عَامٍ فَانظُرْ إِلَى طَعَامِكَ وَشَرَابِكَ لَمْ يَتَسَنَّهْ وَانظُرْ إِلَى حِمَارِكَ وَلِنَجْعَلَكَ آيَةً لِّلنَّاسِ وَانظُرْ إِلَى العِظَامِ كَيْفَ نُنشِزُهَا ثُمَّ نَكْسُوهَا لَحْمًا فَلَمَّا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ قَالَ أَعْلَمُ أَنَّ اللّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ Or [21] the example of him [22] , who was passing by a city which had fallen on its roofs [23] . He remarked with wonder: “After being destroyed in such a way, how can God give life to this city?” [24] Thereupon, God made him die for a hundred years and then brought him back to life. [Upon his revival, He] asked: “How long did you stay in this state?”. “A day or a part of it” he replied. God said: “No you were in this state for a hundred years; look at your food and drink: they have not rotted. And [on the other hand] take a look at your ass how We bring it back to life so that you become certain that this city will be brought back to life and so that we make you a sign for mankind [25] , and see how We raise the bones and clothe them with flesh.” And when in this manner, the truth became manifest to him, he said: “[I have no apprehension]; I know that God has power over all things.” [26] ( 2:259 ) ( Excerpt from Quranic Exegesis: Javed Ahmed Ghamdi ) (Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem) _____________________ [21] . The first example was regarding devils leading a person into darkness. This is the second example in which those people are referred to whom the Almighty leads to light from darkness. [22] . These are probably the visions showed to Ezekiel before he set about in the effort to reform the Israelites and revive them. The Bible records these visions in the following words: The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army . ( Ezekiel 37:1-11 ) [23] . The Qur’anic words used are: خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِهَا. This is a portrayal of a settlement whose buildings have been destroyed such that their roofs have collapsed to the ground and the walls have fallen over them. [24] . While commenting upon the nature of this question, Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi writes: This question raised by him … does not reflect denial; it in fact expresses surprise. Sometimes, a person accepts a thing because sense and reason vouch for its truth; however, since the thing itself is of miraculous nature, the question about it happening keeps coming to mind again and again. This question does not have the motive of denial behind it; the real motive is the zeal to find out the reality behind it, and such a question specially arises even more vehemently when a person encounters a view which greatly shakes him from inside. This question also is not against one’s faith; on the other hand, it springs from faith itself which is based on sense and reason. This is an exercise in one’s spiritual journey – a path that every seeker of the truth treads and this journey of increase in faith continues right up to his death. In this journey, although each day makes a person even more firmer in faith so much so that each day is so bright than the previous, that the previous day appears to be dark in relation to it . (Islahi, Amin Ahsan, Tadabbur-i Qur’an, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (Lahore: Faran Foundation, 1986), 601) [25] . The Quranic words used are: وَانظُرْ إِلَى حِمَارِكَ وَلِنَجْعَلَكَ آيَةً لِّلنَّاسِ. An ellipsis of words to the effect كََيفَ نُحْيِيْهِ has occurred after وَانظُرْ إِلَى حِمَارِكَ. Similarly, before the words وَلِنَجْعَلَكَ آيَةً لِّلنَّاسِ a conjugate clause has been ellipsed. The way I have translated it gives the picture that where the objective of showing this vision to Ezekiel was to give him inner satisfaction on the issue of life after death, part of this objective was to make this vision a sign from God for the Israelites, as a result of which they could find in themselves the trust that the Almighty has full power to revive them once again as a nation . Consequently, the excerpt of the Bible quoted above ends on the following words: Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD .’ ” ( Ezekiel 37:11-14 ) [26] . The implication is that God has power to keep intact edibles from rotting away in a hundred years, and also to reassemble in the wink of an eye the decayed and decomposed bones of the donkey.