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qul law ʾantum tamlikūna khazāʾina raḥmati rabbī ʾidhan la-ʾamsaktum khashyata l-ʾinfāqi wa-kāna l-ʾinsānu qatūran
Say, ‘Even if you possessed the treasuries of my Lord’s mercy, you would withhold them for the fear of being spent, and man is very niggardly.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Isra’ – Verse 100
100. “Say: ‘If you possessed the treasures of the mercy of my Lord, then you would definitely withhold (them) for fear of spending, and man is ever niggardly.”
The Arabic term /qatūr/ is derived from the word /qitr/, meaning: miserliness and avarice or withholding from sharing with others of one’s wealth. As they insisted on the idea that the prophet must not be of the same genus as mankind, apparently some kind of jealousy and avarice stopped them from believing that, perhaps, Allah has bestowed this blessing on a human being. Thus, He says in this verse:
“Say: ‘If you possessed the treasures of the mercy of my Lord, then you would definitely withhold (them) for fear of spending, and man is ever niggardly.”
These last three verses are the most obvious of the verses which provide justifications for the resurrection of the body, for the pagans astonishment concerned as to how the Lord can return to life once again those decayed bones which have turned into dust. The Qur’an’s answer also covers this very point, implying: That Lord Who created the heaven and the earth, has also the potentiality to assemble all scattered human particles and to provide them with life.
Incidentally, one of the reasons stressed by the Holy Qur’an repeatedly for establishing the issue of resurrection, is the its taking recourse to the generalization of the Lord’s Omnipotence.