یُبۡعَثُ

15:37; 38:80.

Commentary:

The resurrection to which the words, when they will be raised up, refer is not the general resurrection of mankind decreed for the Hereafter but the spiritual resurrection of man that comes into being whenever a Prophet is raised. Iblis can lead man astray only so long as he is not spiritually resurrected. But once a man attains the spiritual stage which is designated by the term بقا (rebirth), Iblis can do him no harm. It is indeed a similar spiritual stage which is mentioned in the words, As to My servants, thou (Satan) shalt certainly have no power over them (17:66).

7:15; 17:63; 38:80.

Commentary:

The preceding verses, like the relevant verses of chapters 2 & 7, refer to Adam and other Prophets in particular and to mankind in general. In reference to Adam and the Prophets, the breathing of the Divine Spirit would mean the descent of Divine revelation on men, and in reference to mankind in general, it would signify the perfection of the human soul. The words, the day when they shall be raised, will therefore, have different meanings in reference to the two classes of persons. When taken as referring to mankind in general the words would mean the time of the spiritual rebirth of man when, having attained that state of spiritual ascent, he not only becomes safe against spiritual fall but also contented and pleased with his Lord. In this sense, the protest of Satan mentioned in the present verse would mean that he should be granted respite to deceive and seduce man till the time of his (man’s) spiritual rebirth, when he joins the rank of the sincere servants of God and becomes immune from any further interference by Satan and his followers. This dialogue between God and Satan is, as hinted above, only an allegory or a metaphor.

That the words, the day when they shall be raised, signify the spiritual rebirth of man and not the Day of Resurrection after death, is confirmed by the fact that Satan asked for respite to be extended not to the day of death, but to the Day of Resurrection. As a matter of fact, there being no possibility of man being seduced by Satan after his death, Satan’s request to be allowed to tempt man up to the Day of Resurrection, which is to take place, after death, would be meaningless. It is thus evident that these words do not mean the actual Day of Resurrection after death but the day of man’s spiritual rebirth i.e. when he attains to the stage of نفس مطمئنة (the soul at peace) in his very life. In fact, Satan and his followers can tempt a man only so long as he does not attain to this very high state of spiritual development when he becomes immune against the onslaughts of Satan. When referring to Adam and his true Successors, i.e. the Prophets of God, the verse means that Satan and his followers are allowed to find fault with them and put all sorts of impediments and obstacles in their way till the day when they shall be raised, i.e. till the time when truth finally triumphs and the enemies of the Prophets are vanquished and many of them join the ranks of the Faithful. This time of the final victory of truth over falsehood or, in other words, of the Prophets over their adversaries, is here called the day of resurrection. See also v. 19.

Commentary:

The verse furnishes yet another argument why pseudo-gods cannot provide true guidance for man, i.e. they are all dead. In order to be able to provide guidance they must be living because only the living can possibly know when and what defects might arise in human society that might require guidance for their removal.

It is a pity that, contrary to the teachings of the Quran, many Muslims still entertain the foolish belief that Jesus is alive in the heavens although the verse categorically says that all the false gods which men worshipped at the time the Quran was revealed were dead. So if Jesus was not dead, then he must be regarded as a true God and this is an unutterable blasphemy.

This and the preceding verse give four arguments to refute the alleged divinity of false deities: First, they cannot create anything and the possession of the power to create is an indispensable characteristic of God. Secondly, they are themselves created, and therefore are dependent on others and a being that is dependent on others cannot be God. Thirdly, they are dead and therefore are devoid of the power to do good or evil to any person and one who is devoid of such power cannot claim to be God. Fourthly, they do not know when they shall be raised to life. Lack of knowledge of the Day of Resurrection demolishes their title to Godhead.

19:34.

Commentary:

During the first few centuries of its life Islam made very rapid progress. Large numbers of people from every religion—especially from Christianity, entered its fold. They brought with them some very erroneous beliefs about Jesus Christ. As they had not imbibed fully the true spirit of Islamic teachings, their false ideas and beliefs subsequently found their way into Muslim religious literature with the result that they came to form part of the beliefs of Muslims. All these beliefs had been invented to invest Jesus with an extraordinary personality—a personality much above human level. It is these foolish beliefs about Jesus that the Quran seeks to demolish in the present Surah. By instituting a comparison between Yahya, who was a Prophet of an ordinary spiritual stature, and Jesus, it means to suggest that there was nothing in Jesus which distinguished him from other Divine Messengers. We give below some of the spiritual qualities and characteristics of both these Prophets as given in the Quran to establish the above fact.

About Jesus it is said that:

1. He was a Prophet of God (3:50).

2. He was of the righteous (3:47).

3. God taught him the Book and the wisdom (3:49).

4. He talked to people as a child i.e. in rather early age (3:47).

5. He was granted nearness to God (3:46).

6. He was kind and dutiful to his mother (19:33).

7. He was kind of heart and compassionate (5:119).

8. He was not haughty and unblessed (19:33).

9. He was blessed by God and was strengthened with the Spirit of Holiness (2:254; 19:32).

10. Divine peace enveloped him (19:34).

11. His name Messiah was given to him by God (3:46).

About Yahya it is said that:

1. He was a Prophet (3:40).

2. He was noble, chaste and a Prophet from among the righteous (3:40).

3. God gave him the Book and granted him wisdom (19:13).

4. God gave him wisdom while yet a child (19:13).

5. God was well pleased with him (19:7).

6. He was kind and dutiful to his parents (19:15).

7. He was kind-hearted, pure and pious (19:14).

8. He was not haughty and rebellious (19:15).

9. God was pleased with him and he was unequalled in some respects (19:7-8).

10. Divine peace enveloped him (19:16).

11. His name Yahya was given to him by God (19:8).

By instituting this comparison we should not be understood to mean that Jesus and John were of absolutely equal spiritual standing and there was nothing to distinguish one from the other. Jesus did indeed possess a higher spiritual status than John. What the Quran wants to make clear is the fact that there was nothing in Jesus which should raise him to the pedestal of Divinity. He was no doubt a great Prophet of God and was immune from sin but so were all other Divine Messengers, John being one of them. About him Jesus says: "For I say unto you, among those that are born of woman there is not a greater prophet than John, the Baptist" (Luke 7:28).

The verse should not be understood to signify that Prophet Yahya was not murdered but died a natural death, a view mistakenly held in certain quarters, because it runs counter to an established fact of history. The words "peace was on him" used in the verse seem to have given rise to this manifestly wrong view but they lend no support to it. The word "peace" has not been used in a physical but a spiritual sense. In fact the verse refers to three periods or states of man’s life. The first state begins with his birth and ends with his death. The second state which is called برزخ (Barzakh), literally meaning 'the period of earning merit or demerit is over', commences with death and continues till doom. The third state has been called "The Day of Resurrection" in the Quran. It is the day of the complete manifestation of God’s glory. It is these three states or periods of man’s existence to which the present verse refers and in all of which, it says, Yahya will enjoy spiritual peace.

21:96; 36:32.

Important Words:

برزخ means, a barrier; a bar; a thing that intervenes between any two things; an obstruction or a thing that separates two things; the interval from the time of death to the Day of Resurrection. The word is technically applied to the period or state from the day of death to the Day of Resurrection (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The word لعل (that) conveys the idea of doubt. As used here the word shows that the disbeliever will have been so deeply impressed by God’s Greatness and Majesty and his own insignificance that he dare not declare with certainty that he will make amends for what he had left undone in life on earth. He only expresses a hope that he will do righteous deeds if he were sent back to this world.

The word کلمة has been used in the verse, as at several other places in the Quran in the sense of a full sentence. The Holy Prophet also used the word in the sense of a complete sentence in a well-known hadith:

أصدق کلمة قالھا لبید، الا کل شیء ما خلا اللّٰه باطل

i.e. the truest sentence is the one which the poet Labid uttered and which is to the effect, "Everything besides God is subject to destruction." See also 4:172.

The verse incidentally disproves a commonly held belief that a man passes into Heaven or Hell immediately after his death. In fact after death he lives in برزخ which is an intermediate state of incomplete realization of the punishments or rewards of Hell or Heaven respectively or a state of preparation for their complete and full realization. The Quran has compared barzakh to the embryonic state and the resurrection to the birth of the fully developed soul.

Commentary:

Resurrection is called بعث (ba‘th) because after death man will be endowed with new and better faculties and new avenues for spiritual advancement will be laid open to him.

11:124; 16:78; 35:39.

Commentary:

Another invincible argument in favour of the theme dealt with in the preceding verses is embodied in the verse under comment, viz. that God alone knows the unseen in the heavens and the earth. The fact that the possession of knowledge of the unknown is the sole prerogative of God is established by the knowledge of the unknown which He vouchsafes to His Messengers and His righteous servants, instances of which are to be witnessed in every age among the true followers of Islam.

The words "when they will be raised up" may also mean "when their resurrection as a great nation will take place?"

7:15; 15:37; 17:63.

Commentary:

The clause, the day when they shall be raised, signifies the time of the spiritual rebirth of man, when having attained to the stage of النفس المطمئنة (the soul at peace) he becomes quite immune to spiritual fall. It does not signify the Day of Resurrection after death, because there is no possibility of man being seduced by Satan after his death. See also 15:37.