The Quran

122

أَوَمَن كانَ مَيتًا فَأَحيَيناهُ وَجَعَلنا لَهُ نورًا يَمشي بِهِ فِي النّاسِ كَمَن مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُماتِ لَيسَ بِخارِجٍ مِنها ۚ كَذٰلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِلكافِرينَ ما كانوا يَعمَلونَ

Muhammad Asad

IS THEN - HE who was dead [in spirit] and whom We thereupon gave life, and for whom We set up a light whereby he might see his way among men¹ - [is then he] like one [who is lost] in darkness deep, out of which he cannot emerge? [But] thus it is: goodly seem all their own doings to those who deny the truth.

Lit., "whereby he walks among men". All the commentators agree in that the expression "he who was dead" is metaphorical, and that it refers to people who become spiritually alive through faith and are thereupon able to pursue their way through life unerringly.