The Quran

259

Preface

أَو كَالَّذي مَرَّ عَلىٰ قَريَةٍ وَهِيَ خاوِيَةٌ عَلىٰ عُروشِها قالَ أَنّىٰ يُحيي هٰذِهِ اللَّهُ بَعدَ مَوتِها ۖ فَأَماتَهُ اللَّهُ مِائَةَ عامٍ ثُمَّ بَعَثَهُ ۖ قالَ كَم لَبِثتَ ۖ قالَ لَبِثتُ يَومًا أَو بَعضَ يَومٍ ۖ قالَ بَل لَبِثتَ مِائَةَ عامٍ فَانظُر إِلىٰ طَعامِكَ وَشَرابِكَ لَم يَتَسَنَّه ۖ وَانظُر إِلىٰ حِمارِكَ وَلِنَجعَلَكَ آيَةً لِلنّاسِ ۖ وَانظُر إِلَى العِظامِ كَيفَ نُنشِزُها ثُمَّ نَكسوها لَحمًا ۚ فَلَمّا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ قالَ أَعلَمُ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلىٰ كُلِّ شَيءٍ قَديرٌ

Yusuf Ali

Or (take) the similitude of one who passed by a hamlet, all in ruins¹ to its roofs. He said: “Oh! how shall God bring it (ever) to life, after (this) its death?” but God caused him to die for a hundred years, then raised him up (again). He said: “How long didst thou tarry (thus)?” He said: (Perhaps) a day or part of a day.” He said: “Nay, thou hast tarried thus a hundred years; but look at thy food and thy drink; they show no signs of age; and look at thy donkey: And that We may make of thee a sign unto the people, Look further at the bones, how We bring them together and clothe them with flesh².” When this was shown clearly to him, he said: “I know that God hath power over all things.”

This incident is referred variously (1) to Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones (Ezekiel, 37:1-10); (2) to Nehemiah’s visit to Jerusalem in ruins after the Captivity, and to its rebuilding (Nehemiah, 2:11-20): and (3) to 'Uzayr, or Ezra, or Esdras, the scribe, priest, and reformer, who was sent by the Persian King after the Captivity to Jerusalem, and about whom there are many Jewish legends. As to (1), there are only four words in this verse about bones. As to (2) and (3), there is nothing specific to connect this verse with either. The wording is perfectly general, and we must understand it as general. I think it does refer not only to individual, but to national death and resurrection.
A man is in despair when he sees the destruction of a whole people, city, or civilisation. But God can cause resurrection as He has done many times in history, and as He will do at the final Resurrection. Time is nothing before God. The doubter thinks that he has been dead or “tarried thus” a day or less when the period has been a century. On the other hand, the food and drink which he left behind is intact, and as fresh as it was when he left it. But the donkey is not only dead, but nothing but bones is left of it. And before the man’s eyes, the bones are reunited, clothed with flesh and blood, and restored to life. Moral: (1) Time is nothing to God; (2) It affects different things in different ways; (3) The keys of life and death are in God’s hands; (4) Man’s power is nothing; his faith should be in God.