Conclusion
The verse, Your creation and resurrection is but like a single soul,33 indicates the following meaning: “The creation and resurrection of all men is as easy for God’s power as the creation and resurrection of a single man.” Yes indeed. In a treatise entitled Nokta (Point), I explained in detail the truth expressed by this verse. Here we will indicate only a summary by means of a few comparisons. If you want more detail, then refer to Nokta.
For example, And God’s is the highest similitude,34 and there is no error in the comparison, if the manifestation of the sun were in accordance with its own will, it could be said that the sun bestows its mystery of manifestation on numerous transparent objects with the same ease as on a single particle.
In accordance with the mystery of transparency, the little pupil of a transparent particle is equal to the vast face of the ocean in receiving the reflection of the sun.
In accordance with the mystery of order, it overturns a huge battleship with the same ease as a child turning over his toy boat with his finger.
In accordance with the mystery of obedience, it causes a vast army to move with the same word that a commander uses to make a single infantryman move.
In accordance with the mystery of equilibrium, let us imagine there to exist in space a balance so sensitive and at the same time so large that were two walnuts to be placed in its pans it would feel them, and be equally able to hold and to weigh two suns. If two suns of equal weight were placed in the pans of the scale; the same power, which causes one of the walnuts to be lifted up to the heavens and the other walnut to descend to the ground, will move these heavenly bodies with the same ease. Since in this lowly, deficient and transient world of contingency, the greatest and smallest things are
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33. Qur'an, 31:28.
34. Qur'an, 16:60.
equal, and numerous, infinite things appear equal to a single thing, through the mystery of luminosity, transparency, order, obedience and balance, then of a certainty little and much, small and great, will be equal in the sign of the possessor of absolute power, and He will be able to summon all men to resurrection with a single blast on the trumpet, just as if they were one man - this, by virtue of the mysteries of the luminous manifestations of the infinite and utterly perfect power of His essence, the transparency of the inner dimension of things, the order decreed by wisdom and destiny, the complete obedience of all things to His creational commands, and the equilibrium existing in contingent being, that consists of the equivalence of the being and non-being of the contingent.
Furthermore, the degrees of strength and weakness that a thing possesses are determined by the intervention in that thing of its opposite. For example, degrees of heat are determined by the intervention of cold; degrees of beauty, by the intervention of ugliness; stages of light, by the intervention of darkness. But if something exists of itself, and is not accidental, then its opposite cannot interfere with it, for then a union of opposites would logically have to occur, and that is impossible. In something that exists of itself, there can then be no gradation. Now the power of the Possessor of Absolute Power pertains to His essence; it enjoys absolute perfection and is not accidental like contingent being. It is therefore impossible that its opposite, impotence, should intervene in it. Hence it is as easy for the Lord of Glory to create a spring as it is to create a flower. But if creation were ascribed to causality, then the creation of a single flower would be as difficult as that of a whole spring. For God it is as easy to resurrect and gather all men as it is to resurrect and gather one man.
All that we have expounded so far with regard to resurrection, the comparisons indicating it and its truths, is derived from the effulgence of the All-Wise Qur’an. Its sole purpose has been bringing the soul to surrender and the heart to acceptance. It is to the Qur’an that the right to speak belongs. It is true speech, and all speech is subordinate to it. Let us listen, then, to the Qur’an:
Say: “With God is the argument that reaches home: if it had been His will, He could indeed have guided you all.”35
Look upon the signs of God’s mercy, and see how He restores life to the earth after its death. Verily He it is Who shall bring to life the dead, and He is powerful over all things.36
And he makes comparisons for Us, and forgets his own [Origin and]
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35. Qur'an, 6:149.
36. Qur'an, 30:50.
Creation: he says, “Who can give life to [dry] bones and decomposed ones [at that]?”37
O mankind! Fear your Lord! For the convulsion of the Hour [of Judgement] will be a thing terrible!
The Day ye shall see it, every mother giving suck shall forget her suckling-babe, and every pregnant female shall drop her load [unformed]: thou shalt see mankind as in a drunken riot, yet not drunk: but dreadful will be the Wrath of God.38
God! There is no god but He: of a surety He will gather you together against the Day of Judgement, about which there is no doubt. And whose word can be truer than God’s?39
As for the righteous, they will be in bliss;
And the wicked - they will be in the fire.40
When the Earth is shaken to her [utmost] convulsion,
And the Earth throws up her burdens [from within],
And man cries [distressed]: “What is the matter with her!” -
On that Day will she declare her tidings:
For that thy Lord will have given her inspiration.
On that Day will men proceed in companies sorted out, to be shown the deeds that they [had done].
Then shall anyone who has done an atom’s weight of good, see it.
And anyone who has done an atom’s weight of evil, shall see it.41
The [Day] of Noise and Clamour:
What is the [Day] of Noise and Clamour?
And what will explain to thee what the [Day] of Noise and Clamour is?
[It is] a Day whereon men will be like moths scattered about,
And the mountains will be like carded wool.
Then, he whose balance [of good deeds] will be [found] heavy,
Will be in a life of good pleasure and satisfaction.
But he whose balance [of good deeds] will be [found] light,-
Will have his home in a [bottomless] Pit.
And what will explain to thee what this is?
[It is] a Fire blazing fiercely!42
To God belongs the mystery of the heavens and the earth. And the
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37. Qur'an, 36:78.
38.Qur'an, 22:1-2.
39. Qur'an, 4:87.
40. Qur'an, 82:13-14.
41. Qur'an, 99:1-8.
42. Qur'an, 101:1-11.
decision of the Hour is as the twinkling of an eye or even quicker: for God has power over all things.43
Listening to these and other clear verses of the Qur’an, let us say, “yes, we believe and give our assent.”
I believe in God, His angels, His books, His messengers and in the Last Day. I believe that both the good and evil of destiny are from God Almighty; that resurrection after death is a reality; that Paradise is a reality; that Hell-fire is a reality; that intercession is a reality; that Munkar and Nakir are reality; and that God will resurrect those who are in the tombs. I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
O God, grant blessings to the most delicate, the most noble, the most perfect, the most beautiful fruit of the Tuba of Your mercy, him whom You sent as a mercy to all the worlds, and as a means for our attaining unto the most beauteous, the fairest, purest and most exalted of the fruits of that Tuba, the branches of which are outspread over the hereafter and paradise; o God, protect us and our parents against the fire, and cause us and our parents to enter Paradise with the pious, for the sake of Thy chosen Prophet. Amen.
O brother studying this treatise with an open mind! Do not say, “why cannot I immediately understand this ‘Tenth Word’ in all its details?” and do not be saddened by your failure to understand it completely. For even a master of philosophy such as Ibn Sina said that “resurrection cannot be understood by rational criteria.” His judgement was that we must believe in resurrection, but reason cannot aid our belief. Similarly, all the scholars of Islam unanimously have held that resurrection rests entirely on traditional proofs; it cannot be rationally examined. Naturally, so profound, and at the same time, so exalted a path cannot suddenly become a public highway for the exercise of the reason. But we would offer a thousand thanks that the Merciful Creator has bestowed upon us this much of the path, by means of the effulgence of the All-Wise Qur’an and His own mercy, in an age when belief by imitation is past and meek acceptance has disappeared. For the amount vouchsafed to each of us is enough for the salvation of our faith. Being content with the amount that we have been able to understand, we should reread the treatise and seek to increase our comprehension.
One of the reasons that it is impossible to approach a rational understanding of resurrection is that since the supreme gathering, resurrection, is
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43. Qur'an, 16:77.
through the manifestation of the Greatest Name, only through beholding and demonstrating the great deeds evident in the maximum manifestation of the Greatest Name of God as well as His other Names, is it possible to prove it as certain; and unshakeably believe that resurrection is as simple as the spring. Thus do matters appear and thus they are demonstrated in this ‘Tenth Word’ (Resurrection and the Hereafter), by means of the effulgence of the Qur’an. Were it not for this effulgence, and were our intelligence to be left to its own petty devices, it would be powerless, and condemned to believing in resurrection by way of imitation.