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Sura 10
Aya 31
31
قُل مَن يَرزُقُكُم مِنَ السَّماءِ وَالأَرضِ أَمَّن يَملِكُ السَّمعَ وَالأَبصارَ وَمَن يُخرِجُ الحَيَّ مِنَ المَيِّتِ وَيُخرِجُ المَيِّتَ مِنَ الحَيِّ وَمَن يُدَبِّرُ الأَمرَ ۚ فَسَيَقولونَ اللَّهُ ۚ فَقُل أَفَلا تَتَّقونَ

Muhammad Asad

SAY: "Who is it that provides you with sustenance1 out of heaven and earth, or who is it that has full power over [your] hearing and sight? And who is it that brings forth the living out of that which is dead, and brings forth the dead out of that which is alive? And who is it that governs all that exists?" And they will [surely] answer: "[It is] God.2 Say, then: "Will you not, then, become [fully] conscious of Him -
  • The term rizq ("provision of sustenance") is used here in both the physical and spiritual connotations of this word, which explains the reference to "heaven and earth" and, subsequently, "[man's] hearing and sight".
  • The people referred to here are those who believe, firstly, that there are beings endowed with certain divine or semi-divine qualities, thus having, as it were, a "share" in God's divinity; and, secondly, that by worshipping such beings men can come closer to God. This idea obviously presupposes belief in God's existence, as is brought out in the "answer" of the people thus addressed (cf. 7:172 and the corresponding note 139); but inasmuch as it offends against the concept of God's oneness and uniqueness, it deprives those people's belief in God of its true meaning and spiritual value.