The Quran

Preface

وَمِن آياتِهِ أَنَّكَ تَرَى الأَرضَ خاشِعَةً فَإِذا أَنزَلنا عَلَيهَا الماءَ اهتَزَّت وَرَبَت ۚ إِنَّ الَّذي أَحياها لَمُحيِي المَوتىٰ ۚ إِنَّهُ عَلىٰ كُلِّ شَيءٍ قَديرٌ

Yusuf Ali

And among His Signs in this: thou seest the earth barren and desolate;¹ but when We send down rain to it, it is stirred to life and yields increase. Truly, He Who gives life² to the (dead) earth can surely give life to (men) who are dead. For He has power over all things.

Evil makes of the souls of men what drought makes of land: it kills life, beauty, and fruitfulness. God’s Word in the spiritual world has the same wonderful effect as rain has on barren land; it gives life, beauty, and fruitfulness. And the effect of God’s Word is also seen through the lives of men who repel evil with what is better. They also convert dead souls (which harbour spite and hatred) into living souls, which come into the main current of spiritual life, and help in carrying out God’s beneficent Purpose.
Why should we wonder then at the potency of God’s Word, whether in our probationary lives here, or in the eternal life of the Hereafter.