Al Ḥajj

ذَلِكَ بِاَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْحَقُّ وَأَنَّهُ يُحْيِ الْمَوْتَي وَأَنَّهُ عَلَي كُلّ‌ِ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

وَأَنَّ السَّاعَةَ ءَاتِيَةٌ لاَّ رَيْبَ فِيهَا وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَبْعَثُ مَن فِي الْقُبُورِ

6. “This is because verily Allah, He is the Truth, and because verily He gives life to the dead, and because verily He is All Powerful over everything.”
7. “And verily the Hour (of Resurrection) is coming: There is no doubt therein and that verily Allah will raise up whoever is within the graves.”

Through these couple of verses, as a general conclusion, the Qur’an explains the purpose of stating these two reasons in the form of five points. 1) At first, it implies that what was said in the previous concerning different stages of the life of man and the world of plants was for the sake that you should know that Allah is the Truth. The verse says:

And, since He is the Truth, then the system that He has created is the Truth, too. Therefore, it can not be aimless and be in vain, as in another occurrence of the Qur’an He says:

And since this world is not aimless, and, on the other hand, we do not find the main aim inside of it, we will be certain that there is a resurrection in question.

2) This very system, dominating the world of life, tells us that it is He who causes the dead to be quickened.

The holy verse says:

He is the One Who gives life to the dust, changes the worthless life-germ into a complete man, makes the dead lands alive, and gives a new life to the dead. Can we be doubtful yet in the occurrence of Resurrection with this constant program of life giving in this world?

3) Another aim is that we recognize this fact that Allah is powerful of doing everything and there is nothing to be considered for His Power to be impossible.

The verse says:

The One Who is able to alter the lifeless soil into life- germ and causes the worthless sperm to go forth in different stages of life, covers it a new clothing of living every day, and causes the dry, lifeless lands so green and beautiful that the sound of life is heard from it thoroughly. Is such a One not able to return man to a new life after his death?

4) And, again, all of these are for that we know there is no doubt in the existence of the last hour of the life of this world and the beginning of the next world.

The verse says:

5) And all these are as a preparation for the last result, and that fact is that Allah will bring to life all those who are within the graves.

The verse concludes:

These five points, of course, which consist of different nature, are all complementation of each other and all of them end to one point. This factual point is the fact that not only the occurrence of Resurrection and raising of the dead is possible, but also it certainly will happen. Those who are doubtful about the existence of life after death can observe its similar scene in the lives of men and plants which are always before their eyes and every year and even every day, they occur again and again.

If they are skeptic in the power of Allah, this is the thing that they can see its clear examples by their own eyes. Was human not created from dust at the beginning? So, how may it be surprising that they raise again from the soil? Are the dead lands not quickened every year before our eyes? How can it be wonderful that the dead, after many years, become alive and raise from the earth? And, if they are skeptic in the occurrence of such a thing, they must know that the system governing over the creation of this world shows that there is an aim in it, else all things would be in vain. This fleeting life, which is filled with these masses of miseries and wretchedness, is not something to be worthy to form the final aim of the world of the creation.

Thus, there must be another world existing, a vast and eternal world, which is worthy to be counted as the aim of the creation. Note the Following Points:

Man’s Seven Stages of Life

In order to make clear the phenomenon of Resurrection and its possibility of occurrence, the afore-mentioned verses have explained the status of man in course of seven stages. The first stage is the time he was dust. The purpose of dust mentioned here might be the dust from which man was created. It may also be a hint to this fact that, besides this, all men are from dust, because all the food staff and the nutritious materials, which form the life-germ, are wholly taken from soil.

No doubt, of course, a considerable part of man’s body is formed of water, and a part of it from Oxygen and Carbon which are not taken from soil; but since the main part of the limbs of the body are formed from the materials taken from the earth, this meaning is completely true that man is originally from the earth. The second stage is the stage of life- germ. Soil, which is apparently a simple and ordinary element, has not any sense, movement, and life, but it can be changed into life germ. Life- germ is formed mainly of some living things which are very little and mysterious.

In men, it is called ‘sperm’ and in women it is called ‘ovule’. These floating tiny creatures are so little that there may exist some millions of sperm in a man’s sperm drop. It is interesting that, after birth, a babe has usually a slow and gradual development which is mostly in the form of quantitative evolution, while its development in the womb is accompanied with some quick transformations which are qualitative. The consecutive and amazing transformations of embryo in the womb are so much wonderful that, for example, a simple small pin to be changed into an airplane after a few months.

Today, the branch of embryology has been expanded into a vast science, so that its concerning scholars have succeeded to study embryo in its different stages and to discover many secrets of this mysterious phenomenon of the world of existence and introduce a great deal of wonders about it. In the third stage, the life germ reaches the state of congealed blood and its cells gather together beside each other in the shape of a berry of mulberry which technically is called ‘mudola’.

After a short time, the division hole appears. This is the beginning of the division of the parts of embryo. The embryo has a particular name in this stage. In the fourth stage, little by little the embryo gets the form of a lump of flesh to itself without that the different limbs of the body being distinguished in it. Then, suddenly there appear some changes in the skin of the embryo, and its shape alters appropriate to the action it must do; and the limbs of the body gradually begin to be distinguished. But those embryos, which do not pass this stage and still remain unchanged in their former forms, may be aborted.

The Qur’anic phrase saying:

may refer to this stage of embryo which means: ‘completely formed’ and ‘un completely formed.’ It is interesting that, after mentioning these four stages, the Qur’an has stated the sentence saying that:

indicating that these rapid and wonderful changes in which a little sperm drop develops into a complete man, is a manifest reason to the power of Allah (s.w.t.) over everything. Then the Qur’an points to the three remaining stages of the embryo which happen after delivery or birth, consisting of the stage of childhood, the stage of puberty, and the stage of senility. It is also necessary to be mentioned that birth of man originally from dust in the form of a living creature, itself is a great transformation; and the different stages of the embryo are all counted as successive transformations. Also, the birth of man from mother is itself a very important transformation. Thus, the stages of puberty and senility are considered as transformations, too.

The application of ‘raise up’ in the sense of Resurrection, used in the above mentioned verse, seems to be a hint to the concept of this very transformation which will also occur in Hereafter. This point must also be noted that the explanation of the Qur’an about these different stages of the embryo, specially in those days when neither the science of embryology had come into being nor people had had any notable knowledge about man’s courses of embryo, itself is a living evidence to the fact that this great book has originated from the world of revelation and from the world of beyond nature.

Resurrection of the Body

No doubt, whenever the Holy Qur’an has pointed to the resurrection and the return of men, it means the return of the humankind with both the spirit and the body to the next world. So, those who have limited the occurrence of resurrection to only its spiritual aspect and believe in only the survival of the souls have never verified the whole verses of the Qur’an. It is clear that, as an instance, they have not kept in mind the verses like the above one, which explicitly speak about the bodily resurrection, else what similarity has the spiritual resurrection to the foetal course and bringing life to the dead lands by the growth of the plants?

The last sentence of the verse under discussion, in particular, as a conclusion proves clearly this matter, where it says:

We know that a grave is the place of the body, not that of the soul. In principal, the entire astonishment of the disbelievers arises from this very problem that how a man, who has become dust, can return to life again, else, the survival of the soul not only was not a surprising thing, but also had been accepted by the people of ignorance, too.

What Does “the Worse Part of the Life” Mean?

The Arabic word /’arŏel/ is derived from /raŏl/ in the sense of ‘a low’ and ‘unpleasant’ thing. The objective of the Qur’anic phrase /’arŏal-il-‘umur/ is the most unpleasant period of the man’s lifetime when he reaches to the utmost point of senility, and as the Qur’an says, it is the time when he forgets all he had learnt and becomes just as a child from the point of having knowledge. From the point of impudence, he is usually like a child, because like a child, he easily becomes worried by a slight thing and or becomes very happy and content by a small and an ordinary affair. He often loses his patience and sometimes his manner is rather childish.

There is a difference, of course, that people do not expect intelligible things from a child, but they usually expect them from him. Moreover, in respect to the children, there is a hope that, by the growth of the bodies and spirits, all these deficiencies remove, but there is not such a hope in respect to the old and feeble individuals. There is also another difference that; a child has not had anything to lose, but this aged man has lost all the vital capitals of his life.

Thus, the state of old men, in comparison with children, is much more pitiable and unwholesome. In some Islamic narrations, the Qur’anic phrase /’arŏal-il-‘umur/ has been rendered into the age of being one hundred years old, or more than that. This condition may depend on the kind of persons. There are some persons, of course, who reach this stage of weakness and forgetfulness when they are less than one hundred years old, while there exist some people who are more than one hundred years old and are completely intelligent and aware.

In respect to the great scholars and scientists, in particular, who are always busy studying the scientific discussions, this status is rather rarely seen. However, for this part of the lifetime, we must refuge to Allah. By the way, the remembrance of such years can be a factor to bring us out from pride and negligence and to make us contemplate what we were at the beginning, what we are just now, and what we will be in future.