اَلَمْ Did not تَرَ you see اِلَی [towards] الَّذِیْ the one who حَآجَّ argued اِبْرٰهٖمَ (with) Ibrahim فِیْ concerning رَبِّهٖۤ his Lord اَنْ because اٰتٰىهُ gave him اللّٰهُ Allah الْمُلْكَ ۘ the kingdom اِذْ When قَالَ Said اِبْرٰهٖمُ Ibrahim رَبِّیَ My Lord الَّذِیْ (is) the One Who یُحْیٖ grants life وَ یُمِیْتُ ۙ and causes death قَالَ He said اَنَا I اُحْیٖ give life وَ اُمِیْتُ ؕ and cause death قَالَ Said اِبْرٰهٖمُ Ibrahim فَاِنَّ [Then] indeed اللّٰهَ Allah یَاْتِیْ brings up بِالشَّمْسِ the sun مِنَ from الْمَشْرِقِ the east فَاْتِ so you bring بِهَا it مِنَ from الْمَغْرِبِ the west فَبُهِتَ So became dumbfounded الَّذِیْ the one who كَفَرَ ؕ disbelieved وَ اللّٰهُ and Allah لَا (does) not یَهْدِی guide الْقَوْمَ the people الظّٰلِمِیْنَۚ (who are) [the] wrongdoers اَوْ Or كَالَّذِیْ like the one who مَرَّ passed عَلٰی by قَرْیَةٍ a township وَّ هِیَ and it خَاوِیَةٌ (had) overturned عَلٰی on عُرُوْشِهَا ۚ its roofs قَالَ He said اَنّٰی How یُحْیٖ (will) bring to life هٰذِهِ this (town) اللّٰهُ Allah بَعْدَ after مَوْتِهَا ۚ its death فَاَمَاتَهُ Then he was made to die اللّٰهُ (by) Allah مِائَةَ (for) a hundred عَامٍ year(s) ثُمَّ then بَعَثَهٗ ؕ He raised him قَالَ He said كَمْ How long لَبِثْتَ ؕ (have) you remained قَالَ He said لَبِثْتُ I remained یَوْمًا (for) a day اَوْ or بَعْضَ a part یَوْمٍ ؕ (of) a day قَالَ He said بَلْ Nay لَّبِثْتَ you (have) remained مِائَةَ one hundred عَامٍ year(s) فَانْظُرْ Then look اِلٰی at طَعَامِكَ your food وَ شَرَابِكَ and your drink لَمْ (they did) not یَتَسَنَّهْ ۚ change with time وَ انْظُرْ and look اِلٰی at حِمَارِكَ your donkey وَ لِنَجْعَلَكَ and We will make you اٰیَةً a sign لِّلنَّاسِ for the people وَ انْظُرْ And look اِلَی at الْعِظَامِ the bones كَیْفَ how نُنْشِزُهَا We raise them ثُمَّ then نَكْسُوْهَا We cover them لَحْمًا ؕ (with) flesh فَلَمَّا Then when تَبَیَّنَ became clear لَهٗ ۙ to him قَالَ he said اَعْلَمُ I know اَنَّ that اللّٰهَ Allah عَلٰی (is) on كُلِّ every شَیْءٍ thing قَدِیْرٌ All-Powerful 2. Al-Baqarah Page 44 وَ اِذْ And when قَالَ said اِبْرٰهٖمُ Ibrahim رَبِّ My Lord اَرِنِیْ show me كَیْفَ how تُحْیِ You give life الْمَوْتٰی ؕ (to) the dead قَالَ He said اَوَ لَمْ Have not تُؤْمِنْ ؕ you believed قَالَ He said بَلٰی Yes وَ لٰكِنْ [and] but لِّیَطْمَىِٕنَّ to satisfy قَلْبِیْ ؕ my heart قَالَ He said فَخُذْ Then take اَرْبَعَةً four مِّنَ of الطَّیْرِ the birds فَصُرْهُنَّ and incline them اِلَیْكَ towards you ثُمَّ then اجْعَلْ put عَلٰی on كُلِّ each جَبَلٍ hill مِّنْهُنَّ of them جُزْءًا a portion ثُمَّ then ادْعُهُنَّ call them یَاْتِیْنَكَ they will come to you سَعْیًا ؕ (in) haste وَ اعْلَمْ And know اَنَّ that اللّٰهَ Allah عَزِیْزٌ (is) All-Mighty حَكِیْمٌ۠ All-Wise
(2:258) Did you not consider the case of the person289 who remonstrated with Abraham290 about who was Abraham’s Lord just because Allah had granted him dominion?291
When Abraham said: “My Lord is He Who grants life and causes death,” he replied: “I grant life and I cause death.” Abraham said: “But surely Allah causes the sun to rise from the east; now you cause it to rise from the west.” Thereupon the denier of the Truth was confounded.292 Allah does not direct the wrong-doers to the Right Way.
(2:259) Or consider him by way of example who passed by a town that was fallen down upon its turrets.293 He exclaimed: “How will Allah restore life to this town that is now dead?”294
Allah then caused him to remain dead for a hundred years and then raised him to life, and asked him: “How long did you remain in this state?” He replied: “I remained so for a day or a part of a day.” Allah rejoined: “No, you have rather stayed thus for a hundred years. But look at your food and your drink, there is no deterioration in them. And look at your ass (how its entire skeleton has rotted)! And We did all this so that We might make you a token of instruction for people.295 And see how We will put the bones (of the ass) together and will clothe them with flesh.” Thus when the reality became clear to him, he said: “I know that Allah has power over everything.”
(2:260) And recall when Abraham said: “My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead,” Allah said: “Why! Do you have no faith?” Abraham replied: “Yes, but in order that my heart be at rest.”296 He said: “Then take four birds, and tame them to yourself, then put a part of them on every hill, and summon them; they will come to you flying. Know well that Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise.”297
289. It was stated earlier that God is the protector and supporter of the man of faith and brings him out of darkness into light whereas the protectors and supporters of the unbelievers are taghut who lead him out of light into darkness. It is to illustrate this that three examples are cited here. The first is that of a person before whom truth was put with such clear and impressive arguments that he could not refute it, but since he had placed his reins in the hands of taghut, he still could not believe in it. The two subsequent examples are those of two people who clung to God as their support, and God drew them out of darkness so that they were enabled to perceive directly those realities which are beyond the reach of man's perception.
290. Here the reference is to Nimrod the ruler of the land of Abrahams birth, Iraq. The event which is referred to here is not mentioned at all in the Bible. However, the whole story occurs in the Talmud and is largely in harmony with the Qur'anic version. In the Talmudic version it is said that the father of Abraham occupied the highest office in Nimrod's government. When Abraham denounced polytheism, preached the doctrine of the unity of God and smashed the idols of the temple, his own father lodged a complaint against him before the king. This was followed by a conversation which is mentioned here.
291. The dispute was over the question: Whom did he acknowledge as his Lord? The reason why this dispute arose was that God had granted kingship to the remonstrator, namely Nimrod. In order to comprehend fully the nature of the dispute hinted at in these statements, it is necessary to bear in mind the following:
(1) All polytheistic societies from the earliest times till today share one characteristic: they acknowledge God to be the Lord of lords, the greatest of all deities. They are unwilling to acknowledge Him, however, as the only God, the only object of man's worship and service.
(2) Polytheists tend to divide godhead into two categories. One of these belongs to the supernatural stratum. The being invested with godhead at this stratum rules over the entire system of causation and is the one to whom man turns for the fulfilment of his needs and for solutions to his problems. With this godhead the polytheists associate spirits, angels, jinn, heavenly bodies and several other beings. To them they address their prayers. They regard them as the objects of their worship. It is at their altars that offerings and sacrifices are placed. The second category of godhead belongs to the social and political stratum, and refers to the being who has the privilege of absolute sovereignty: the one who is entitled to make the rules of conduct for human life, the one who is entitled to unreserved obedience, the one who has unlimited authority to command in worldy matters. Polytheists of all ages have either wrested this godhead from God altogether, or they have had this godhead distributed, in addition to God, among many others such as royal dynastics, religious divines and the venerated personalities of society, whether they belonged to the past or to their own times. Many royal families have laid claim to godhead of the second category and, in order to consolidate their claim, they have pretended to be the offspring of gods in the former sense. In general there has been collusion between the religious and the ruling classes on this question.
(3) Nimrod's claim to godhead belong to this second category. He did not deny the existence of God, and he did not deny that He was the creator of the heavens and the earth, and that He alone governed the entire universe. Nimrod did not claim for himself that he held the reins of the entire realm of causation in his hands; he claimed rather that he was the absolute sovereign of Chaldaea and its inhabitants, that in his realm his word was law, that there was no authority superior to his own to which he was answerable. Any Chaldaean who did not either acknowledge him to be his lord or took anyone other than him to be so, was a rebel and a traitor.
(4) Abraham asserted that he acknowledged none else but the creator of the universe as his God, the only object worthy of his worship. He also denied categorically the godhead and overlordship of anyone else. This raised the question of how far the new creed could be tolerated, in so far as it was opposed to the tenets of the national religion and rejected the current ideas regarding the deities it worshipped. It also alerted the establishment in so far as Abraham's ideas might constitute a serious threat to the national state and to the position and privilege of its ruling coterie.
292. Even though it was clear from Abraham's very first sentence that none other than God could legitimately be regarded as the Lord, Nimrod resorted to an unreasonable reply. But Abraham's second statement left no room even for Nimrod's brazenness. He knew well enough that the sun and the moon were subjected to the overlordship of the same God as Abraham had acknowledged as his Lord. What, then, could he say in reply? To accept the Truth which Abraham had made crystal clear by his argument meant that Nimrod ought to part with his absolutist despotism. The devil within him was not prepared for that. Hence he was left wonderstruck, unable to get out of the darkness of self-adoration to the light of Truth. If he had taken God rather than the Evil One as his patron and supporter, the true path would have been opened to him after Abraham's preaching.
According to the Talmud, Abraham was interned in prison on the orders of this king. He remained in prison for ten days, after which the king decided to have him burnt alive. It was then that the famous incident of Abraham being thrown into the fire took place see Qur'an (21:51 f f).; (29:16); (37:83).
293. It is irrelevant to ask who the person was and the place where this incident occurred. The real purpose in mentioning this event is to show how God showed light to the one who had chosen God as his protector and supporter. As for determining the name of the person and the locality, we neither possess the means to do so, nor is such an endeavour in any way beneficial. What seems to be evident from the statement that follows is that the person concerned must necessarily have been a Prophet.
294. This question does not signify that the person concerned denied or entertained any doubts regarding life after death. His enquiry merely indicates his wish to have direct knowledge of reality, like the Prophets of the past.
295. The restoration of life to a man considered to have died a hundred years ago was in itself sufficient to make him, for his contemporaries, a living testimony.
296. That is, the rest and inner peace that one attains as a result of direct personal observation.
297. People have subjected this incident and the one above to very strange interpretations. If one bears in mind, however, God's dealings with the Prophets, one will not feel any need to strain one's energies in hammering out such artificially-contrived interpretations. The truth of the matter is that the kind of function that ordinary believers are required to perform requires of them no more than believing in certain truths without perceiving them through their senses. The function entrusted by God to the Prophets is such that they ought to have direct knowledge of the truths, the acceptance of which they are required to invite others to.
Thanks to the nature of their mission, the Prophets had to tell the world that while others resorted to conjecture and fancy, they spoke from personal direct observation and experience; that while others could claim to possess only imagination, they possessed reliable knowledge; that while others were blind, they alone had the God-given capacity to perceive the Truth. It is for this reason that the angels come to the Prophets and they see them with their own eyes. It is for the same reason that the Prophets were allowed a glimpse of the system of governance of the heavens and the earth. It is for the same reason, again, that they were enabled to observe Heaven and Hell and witness scenes of resurrection.
The Prophets are in possession of faith in the Unseen at the time they are invested with prophethood. After being designated to prophethood, they are further honoured by special favours and privileges, and initiated into what may be termed as 'faith in the seen' (for the 'Unseen' is changed for them to the 'seen'). This favour is a special prerogative of the Prophets. (For a further explanation see (Surah 9, nn. 17, 18, 19 and 34.)