Salaam and welcome to our weekly programme “The Path towards Enlightenment” which present to you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of God’s final scripture for the guidance of all mankind, the holy Qur’an.

We start from where we left you last Friday and here are ayahs 82 and 83 of Surah Naml:

وَإِذَا وَقَعَ الْقَوْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ أَخْرَجْنَا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ تُكَلِّمُهُمْ أَنَّ النَّاسَ كَانُوا بِآيَاتِنَا لَا يُوقِنُونَ

وَيَوْمَ نَحْشُرُ مِن كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ فَوْجًا مِّمَّن يُكَذِّبُ بِآيَاتِنَا فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ

“And when the word [promise of judgement] shall come to pass on them, We shall bring out for them a walking being from the earth who shall speak to them that the people had no faith in Our signs.”

“The day We shall resurrect from every nation a group of those who denied Our signs, and they shall be held in check.”

In continuation of the previous ayahs which we explained to you last week on the intransigence of the disbelievers who are likened to the dead for their refusal to use their God-given faculty of the intellect to hear, see and reflect on the realities of life and the purpose of creation, rather than irrationally rejecting resurrection, these ayahs refer to the Divine Promise of making clear everything in this transient world itself before the final judgement when all human beings are raised to life. Ayah 82 means to say that in the end times God raises to life a person who is the embodiment of perfect faith and true belief, to speak to the deniers of resurrection and the disbelievers of their lack of faith, and also to identify and segregate those, who despite the claims of accepting faith, did not believe in the evident signs of the Almighty Creator. In other words, before the general resurrection and final judgement, preceded by the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (AS) and establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity and justice, God will raise to life from the earth one of the most excellent persons. This being, called Da’abba by the holy Qur’an, is neither a beast nor an ordinary creature, but a human being of utmost accomplishment who walks, talks, and is capable of addressing people of both the types, that is, the faithful and the faithless. According to authentic hadith or narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny), this being who would sift truth from falsehood and verify the faithful and the faithless, is none other than the Barometer of Faith, the Leader of the Pious, Imam Ali ibn Taleb (AS). 

And this day coincides with the day prescribed in the next ayah – the day when from every nation, a selected group of staunch believers and intransigent disbelievers will be raised to life. This is the day that has been explained in hadith literature as “Raj’at” or the day of partial resurrection. These two categories of people would be resurrected to see the return for their own goodness or vices in this world itself before they meet the punishment that awaits them after the General Resurrection and Final Judgement.

The fact of raising the dead to life by God’s Will, is an undeniable reality that has taken place in ancient times as well, as mentioned by the holy Qur’an. For instance, when the Prophet Ezra asked God to show him the scene when the dead are revived, God made him and his riding animal die for one hundred years and then raised him to life. This has been mentioned in ayah 259 of Surah Baqarah, which reads:

“Or him who came upon a township as it lay fallen on its trellises. He said, ‘How will Allah revive this after its death?!’ So Allah made him die for a hundred years, then He resurrected him. He said, ‘How long have you remained?’ Said he, ‘I have remained a day or part of a day.’ He said, ‘Rather you have remained a hundred years. Now look at your food and drink which have not rotted! Then look at your ass! [This was done] that We may make you a sign for mankind. And look at the bones, how We arrange them and then clothe them with flesh!’ When it became evident to him, he said, ‘I know that Allah has power over all things.’”

The holy Qur’an also mentions in ayah 73 of this same surah the revival of an innocent person who was murdered by the Israelites, and his identification of those that had murdered him. Moreover, among the miracles God granted to Prophet Jesus (PuH), was the raising to life of some of the dead. Therefore, in view of these facts, It cannot be denied that God will indeed raise to life some of the virtuous true believers who had died centuries and even millenniums ago, with a desire in their hearts to witness the global government of Imam Mahdi (AS). 

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The raising of the dead to life on the Day of Resurrection is an irrefutable reality in view of the fact that God has already shown glimpses of His Infinite Power in this transient world by granting new life to some of the persons who had died long ago and their corpses turned into dust.
2. In the end times, before this transient world comes to its end, some of the most faithful and some of the most faithless will be brought back to life to respectively see the reward and punishment of their deeds.

Now we listen to ayahs 84 and 85 of Surah Naml:

حَتَّىٰ إِذَا جَاءُوا قَالَ أَكَذَّبْتُم بِآيَاتِي وَلَمْ تُحِيطُوا بِهَا عِلْمًا أَمَّاذَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ

وَوَقَعَ الْقَوْلُ عَلَيْهِم بِمَا ظَلَمُوا فَهُمْ لَا يَنطِقُونَ

“When they come, He will say, ‘Did you deny My signs without comprehending them in knowledge? What was it that you used to do?”

“And the word [of judgement] shall fall upon them for their wrongdoing, and they will not speak.”  

These ayahs mean to say that God, addressing some of the leaders of evil and infidelity, asks them what made them deny Him, the heavenly scriptures He had revealed, and the Prophets He had sent, when they could have used their intellect to understand facts and realities, instead of sinking deeper into sins because of their lack of belief.

It is evident that on the Day of Judgment the disbelievers and the unrepentant sinners will have no way to justify their lack of belief and sinful acts. They thus deserve the punishment which they had brought upon themselves despite given ample respite to reflect, rectify, repent and reform themselves.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Beliefs and ideology should be based on knowledge, awareness, logic, and certitude of true faith, otherwise mankind suffers the consequences of evil deeds.
2. On the Day of Resurrection, the unrepentant sinners, oppressors, atheists, polytheists, and all other disbelievers, will have no excuses after having witnessed the manifestation of truth.

FK/AS/SS