Surah 1-2 - YasSarNal QuR'aN

Al-Baqarah (The Cow) | CAUSING LIFE AND DEATHQur’ān, in its inimitable style, depicts with eloquence and awesome brilliance.“Thereupon God caused him to be dead for a hundred years, then brought him back to life, andsaid, ‘How long have you remained thus?’ He said, I have remained thus a day or part of aday.’ God said, No. You have remained thus for a hundred years. Just look at your food anddrink, none of it has rotted. And look at your ass. We will make you a sign for mankind. Lookyou at the bones, how We put them up and then clothe them with flesh.’” (Verse 259)The man was not given a rational argument as to how a dead body could bebrought to life again, but was himself made to undergo that experience. Such apersonal direct approach is often more effective than any logical or visibledemonstration. It involves one’s senses, emotions and feelings. Its impact is sharpand overwhelming.While he was dead, the man naturally lost all sense of time and could not tell howlong he had been in that state. This is easy to understand, since human beings canmisjudge things even when they are in control of their senses. Our material sensesare not the only or the most accurate means of perception.God said: “No. You have remained thus for a hundred years.” (Verse 259) But the manhad no way of telling. His provisions remained in good condition.“And look at your ass. We will make you a sign for mankind. Look you at the bones, howWe put them up and then clothe them with flesh.” (Verse 259) Which bones are referred tohere: the man’s own bones, as some commentators maintain? Had it been so, hewould have immediately noticed, and would not have thought that he remained inthat state for only a few hours or a day. Therefore, we are inclined to uphold theview that the reference here is to the bones of the ass whose gathering together andcovering with flesh, before the man’s own eyes, was a compelling sign of God’spower. The fact that the man, the ass, and the provisions were affected in differentwais under the same physical and environmental conditions is another sign of thatabsolute, limitless and unrestricted divine power. Thus the man gas made tounderstand how God could bring that desolate town back to life again.As to how this miracle was achieved, the answer is: in the same way as everyother miracle, including the creation of life itself, which we often tend to overlook,forgetting how totally ignorant we are of its reality. All we know is that life comesfrom God, in the way He wills it to be.In his study The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin, the eminent British biologist,traces life back to the amoeba, a simple single-celled organism, but goes no further inexplaining the origin of life. For most unscientific reasons, relating to the historicconflict between science and the Christian Church in Europe, Darwin’s theory doesnot acknowledge the logical and evident truth that life must originate with a creator.Darwin claims that to explain life’s affairs by the notion of the existence of a creator is359