How can you refuse to acknowledge Allah seeing that you were lifeless and He gave you life; then will He cause you to die, and then will bring you again to life; and again to Him will you return. (Kayfa takfurūna bi’llāhi wa kuntum amwātan fa‑aḥyākum thumma yumītukum thumma yuḥyīkum thumma ilayhi turja‘ūn.)
As in the previous verses, the positioning and composition of this verse has three aspects:
The Positioning of This Verse’s Meaning in Relation to What Precedes It
Consider this: Allah the Most High, having called on the people to worship Him and believe in Him, and having indicated the fundamental beliefs and the injunctions [pertaining to action] and having mentioned their evidences summarily, resumes [the discussion] in this verse and the three subsequent ones by setting out evidences for them and enumerating the bounties that the evidences comprise.
The greatest of these bounties is life, indicated by this verse.
The continuance of life (al‑baqā’), that is, life made perfect and complete through the ordering of the heavens and the earth, is indicated by the second verse.
Man’s superiority and ennoblement over all beings is indicated by the third verse,
and his being taught knowledge [is stated] by the fourth.
In respect of their form, these bounties are a proof of [divine] providence and purpose (dalīl al‑‘ināya wa’l-ghāya), so too they are proof of [the obligation of] worship. For it is obligatory to thank the Bestower of Bounties, while reasonably ingratitude is proscribed (ḥarām). In respect of reality, [these bounties] are a proof that things are given existence out of nothing (dalīl ikhtirā‘ī) [and thus] of the first creation and the resurrection of the dead (al‑mabda’ wa’l-ma‘ād).
Furthermore, just as this verse looks to the preceding ones, so it looks to the earlier ones that discuss the disbelievers and dissemblers. It infers with its amazed rhetorical question that it is hitting them over the head, and condemning, threatening, and intimidating them.
The Positioning [and Relationships] of the Verse’s Phrases
Know that here, [the Qur’an] turns from the use of the third person [in the previous verses] to the second person, for previously it was quoting [the disbelievers], now it is addressing them. This is to make a point well‑known in eloquence,
which is that if one describes a person’s iniquities bit by bit, a feeling of anger mounts in [the listener] till if [truly] human he feels compels to speak with the person face to face. Similarly, if one mentions someone’s virtues little by little, the desire to speak with him grows [gradually] stronger till one turns to him and addresses him directly. Thus, since the Qur’an was revealed in the styles and modes [of speech] of the Arabs, it turns to [the disbelievers] and addresses [them directly] saying: “How can you refuse to acknowledge Allah?/ (lit. how can you disbelieve in Allah?).”
Know too that since the aim here is to set out the proofs of the fundamental matters mentioned above, including belief and worship, and to refute disbelief and prevent ingratitude for bounties; and since the clearest evidences are those derived from the chain of human circumstances, and the greatest bounties are those hanging on the stem of that sequence and found in its nodes; it says: seeing that you were lifeless and He gave you life; then will He cause you to die, and then will bring you again to life; and again to Him will you return. This indicates the wondrous interlinked sequence, which has five nodes, from the stem of which hang the bunches of bounties. We shall now set out five matters to decipher those nodes.
The First Matter
Is about seeing that you were lifeless (wa kuntum amwātan).
While physically man consists of lifeless particles [once] scattered through the world, you see that they are brought under a particular law and specific order. Then, while they are hidden and silent in the world of the elements you notice that they are transposed to the world of animate beings through a specific rule and order which betoken purpose and wisdom. Then, while scattered through that world, you observe that they group together in extraordinary fashion and become sperm. Then through a series of revolutions they become clinging blood‑clots, then lumps of flesh, then flesh and bone, and so on and so forth. Although in each of these stages [the particles] are more perfect than in the previous one, they are relatively dead and lifeless compared to the subsequent one.
If You Were to Ask: Death is the absence of life and its cessation, and [the particles] had no life that it should cease?
You Would Be Told: Death here is metaphorical, to prepare the mind to accept the third and fourth ‘nodes’.
The Second Matter
Concerning and He gave you life (fa‑aḥyākum).
Consider this: Life is the most wondrous and subtle miracle of [divine] power. It is also the greatest of all bounties and the clearest of all proofs of the first creation and the resurrection of the dead (al‑mabda’ wa’l-ma‘ād).
[Life’s] finest and most obscure aspect is this: The lowest form of life is plant life, and its first level is the awakening of the embryo or vital cells (al‑‘uqdat al-ḥayātiyya) in the seeds. Despite being so obvious, widespread, and familiar, this awakening has remained a mystery to human science from the time of Adam till the present.
The aspect of [life’s] being the supreme bounty: The only relations a lifeless body has are with the place it is located and the things that befall it; it is single, alone, even if a mountain. But you see that the moment life enters a tiny body like a bee, the bee can form relations with the whole universe and may do trade with all species [of beings]. It may then say: “The universe is my home and it’s just like my property.” For on passing to the level of animal life, you see that it roams with its senses and by means of them has disposal over [other beings] in all parts of the universe. Particular relations, commerce, and love are established between it and other species [of beings]. Especially if it rises to the level of human life, you see that it travels through the worlds through the light of intellect. It has disposal over the corporeal world and roams in the spiritual world and makes peregrinations through the World of Similitudes. And as it journeys to those worlds, so they travel to him by being reflected in the mirror of his spirit. He then has the right to say: “The world was created for me through the grace of Allah the Most High!” Thus, his life becomes multiform and expands [to include] physical life, and moral life, corporeal life, and spiritual life, each of which embraces many levels. In fact, it might well be said that just as light makes colours and bodies visible, so life reveals beings and makes them evident. It is life that makes an atom a world. And it is life that is the means of all the world being bestowed on every living being individually, and this without confusion or division except for a small minority of human beings. The aspect of life that is the clearest proof of both the Maker and the resurrection of the dead.
Consider this: The transference and spontaneous change of a number of lifeless particles from one situation and grouping to another opposing one without the intervention of any reasonable cause, is a decisive proof. Indeed, by its nature life is the purest and most sublime truth. In neither its outer (al‑mulk) aspect nor its inner (al‑malakūt) aspect is there any soil or blemish, for both are subtle. In fact, the lowest most insignificant animate being is also exalted. It is due to this mystery that no apparent cause intervenes between life and the hand of power, for [the latter’s] contact is not contrary to its dignity, although as has been stated previously, apparent causes are [otherwise] placed to preserve the dignity of divine power from contact with things that to the superficial view are inferior. You have already heard about that aspect of life which forms the clearest proof of the first creation and the resurrection of the dead, so here we shall just summarize it for you:
Whoever studies life and follows the progressive elementary stages of the body, will see the parts dispersed through the world of atoms. Then he will observe that they have been clothed in another form in the world of the elements. Then he will encounter them in the world of animate beings in another situation. Then he will meet them in sperm, then in a blood clot, then as a lump of flesh. Then he will see that they have suddenly assumed a form in the midst of these transformations. He will observe that throughout these revolutions [they follow] regular motions according to specific laws, from which it is apparent that each particle was programmed at the first stage and as though charged with the duty of travelling to a suitable position in a living body. The person grasps with his mind that it is intentionally driven and purposively sent. Now the second life will appear to him far easier, simpler, and more possible [than the first], and he will feel convinced in his heart.
Thus, this phrase, and He gave you life, is a proof of the following one, then will He cause you to die, and both together they form a proof in the face of the denial implied by how? (kayfa) [in this verse, 2:28].
The Third Matter
Regarding then will He cause you to die.
Consider this: The verse He who created death and life shows that death is not annihilation and absolute non‑existence; it is rather an act, a change of abode, and the spirit’s liberation from its place of confinement.
Moreover, the innumerable signs and tokens human beings have witnessed up to the present have planted in their minds the conviction and surmise that after death man is immortal in one respect, and what has immortality is his spirit. Thus, the existence of this inherent property in an individual is evidence of its existence in the race as a whole, because it is essential. Consequently [in accordance with the rule of logic], the particular proposition necessitates the universal one. Hence, death is a miracle of [divine] power the same as life is; it is not non‑existence caused by the absence of the conditions of life.
If You Were to Ask: How can death be a bounty, threaded [with others] on the string of bounties?
You Would Be Told:
Firstly: Because it is the introduction to everlasting happiness, and the introduction to something is like the thing itself, whether good or bad, for whatever the obligatory depends on is obligatory, and whatever leads to the proscribed is proscribed.
Secondly: And because according to investigative scholars among the Sufis, for the individual person it means being saved from what seems to be a prison filled with vicious animals and [being taken to] a broad plain.
Thirdly: And because for human beings it is the supreme bounty, for they would otherwise suffer appalling wretchedness.
Fourthly: And because according to some people it is a sought‑after bounty, for due to his weakness and impotence [man] cannot bear the burdensome responsibilities of life and the pressures of its tribulations and the pitilessness of the elements.
Death for such people is a door [through which they may] escape.
The Fourth Matter
Regarding and then will bring you again to life.
Consider this: As indicated by the verse Twice has thou caused us to die, just as twice thou hast brought us to life, and as is indicated by [the above phrase] being followed by and again to Him will you return, bearing in mind the Qur’an’s conciseness, [it may be said that these] point to both the life of the grave, and [the resurrected] life at the resurrection of the dead. If You Were to Ask: If a person is incinerated and his ashes are thrown to the wind, how could he be thought to experience the life of the grave? You Would Be Told: According to the Sunnis, the body is not a condition of life, so the spirit may be attached to a few particles. And If You Were to Ask: How can one conceive of the torments of the grave, for if one placed an egg on the chest of a corpse and left it there for days, not the slightest movement would be felt in it. So how could there be life and torment? You Would Be Told: The World of Similitudes (al‑‘ālam al-mithālī) has proved it, in the relevant places; indeed, its existence is certain according to the punctilious divine scholars. That world [of Similitudes] is characterized by its embodying meanings, transforming accidents into substance, and making mutable things immutable. The eyes that look to it from this manifest world are true dreams, true illuminations (kashf), and wraith‑like bodies, for these all intimate its existence. The Intermediate Realm (‘ālam al‑barzakh) is a firmer reality than the World of Similitudes, which is its image or exemplification. While the World of Dreams is the shadow of the latter [intermediate] world, and the World of Imagination is the shadow of the World of Dreams. These bodies are as transparent as mirrors. Now, if you have understood this, consider the World of Dreams and think of a person who is sleeping near you. He is resting peacefully and silently, but in his world he is fighting and being wounded by the blows he receives, or is bitten by a snake and he suffers pain at this. If it were possible for you to enter his dream, you would say to him: “Hey! Don’t feel hopeless and angry! This isn’t real [it’s a dream]!” You would swear it a thousand times but he would not believe you, and would say: “Can’t you see that I’ve been wounded and the pain I’m suffering? Can’t you see the man and his sword and the snake that’s hissing at me?” For the significations of his painful shoulder or cold in his head had been embodied as a cutting sword, for the result was the same. Or he imagined in the form of a snake what a betrayal that had wounded his heart had signified for him, for the pain was the same. Friend! Now that you have seen this in the shadow of the World of Similitudes, [the World of Dreams,] wouldn’t you accept it in the Intermediate Realm, the reality of which is far firmer and more distant from us? Will bring you again to life, in regard to the life of the hereafter:
the life of the hereafter is the outcome of all the world. If it were not for that life, there would be no fixed and constant reality, and all truths – such as bounties – would be transformed into calamities. You can think of further examples in the same way. We summarized its proofs when expounding And in the hereafter they have certain faith.
The Fifth Matter
Regarding and again to Him will you return (thumma ilayhi turja‘ūn).
The Creator manifested His power, combining opposites in this world of change (‘ālam al‑kawn wa’l-fasād) for [many] subtle instances of wisdom, and He placed apparent causes and intermediaries to display His dignity, and determined the chains of cause and effect. Then, at the resurrection of the dead when the universe is purified and [opposites] are separated out and join forces, causes will be removed and intermediaries will fall away and the veil shall be raised, and each person will see his Maker and recognize his true Owner.
An Appendix
Summarizing the Positioning of the Phrases
Consider this: Having rebutted the disbelief implied by the rhetorical question "How?" (kayfa), and having prompted the peoples’s amazement at it, the Most High offers [them] proof with what follows the circumstantial ‘and’ (al‑wāw al-ḥāliyya); that is, the four mighty transformations, all of which and each of which testify to the necessity of belief. Each transformation comprises numerous stages and degrees, and each is the preliminary and ‘stomach’ of the one that follows it. From the first stage of the first transformation till the last stage of the last transformation the fundament of the living body is constantly renewed. It casts away one shell and is clothed in one more perfect, then it discards that and is dressed in one finer, then it throws that away and puts on a better form, and so on and so forth. It continuously swaps its form for one more perfect till it reaches the acme of perfection and there it comes to rest on the establishment of eternal happiness. And all this is in accordance with a specified order and regular laws.
With seeing that you were lifelessit indicates the first transformation, which comprises [numerous] stages the last of which leads toand He gave you life, which points to the second transformation, which is the most wondrous of the truths of the world. It too comprises many stages the last of which concludes in the transformation ofthen will He cause you to die, which also has many stages pertaining to the Intermediate Realm. This finishes in the transformation ofand then will bring you again to life, which comprises many stages pertaining to the grave and then to the resurrection of the dead, and is concluded with [the truth of] and again to Him will you return.
How can anyone who studies these transformations attentively be so audacious as to deny [them]?
Now We Commence with the Positioning [and Relationships] of the Constituents of the Phrases
The First Phrase, That Is, How can you refuse to acknowledge Allah seeing that you were lifeless? (Kayfa takfurūna bi’llāhi wa kuntum amwātan): The interrogative form is [used] here to call attention to [the disbelievers’] error so that they might see it themselves and come to think fairly and acknowledge [Allah].
The use of the second person in you refuse to acknowledge Allah (lit. you disbelieve) indicates, as was discussed above, [Allah’s] intense anger [at them],
and the non‑use of do you not believe instead of you disbelieve indicates their extreme obduracy, for they hold back from belief, for which there are evidences, and accept disbelief for the futility of which there are manifold proofs.
The circumstantial [conjunction] and (wa) (al‑wāw al-ḥālīyya) in seeing that (lit. and) you (wa kuntum) implies an unstated phrase.
[The conjunction indicates that kuntum amwātan is circumstantial (ḥāl) to the verb takfurūn. The circumstantial word or phrase has to be together with the factor governing it (‘āmil dhī’l‑ḥāl). Whereas there are four phrases here, two of which refer to the past (are in the perfect tense) and two of which refer to the future are (in the imperfect tense). They are therefore opposed to the rule of simultaneity.
Therefore the circumstantial and implies an unstated sentence or phrase], which is:
“seeing that (lit. and) you know that you were lifeless (lit. dead). [In this way, the words you know are circumstantial (ḥāl) to the doer of the verb takfurūn – (lit.) you disbelieve.]
If You Were to Ask: They know the first life and death, but they don’t know they are from Allah. Also they don’t accept the second life or agree that they will return to Allah the Most High?
You Would Be Told: It is a rule of eloquence to accord the ignorant man the status of a knowing or learned one [that is, not to call ignorance ignorance] if there are clear evidences to dispel his ignorance. Since reflection on the stages of the first death and first life compels one to acknowledge the Maker and knowledge of them convinces one intellectually about the second life, [the disbelievers] as though had knowledge of that sequence [of events].
The use of the second person in you (kuntum), indicates that they had a specific existence in the world of minute particles too. The particles did not come together haphazardly and become a particular body by chance.
And the choice of you were lifeless (lit. dead) (amwātan) rather than ‘lifeless, inanimate (jamādāt)’ or ‘particles’ alludes to the meaning of the verse when he was nothing – [not even] mentioned?
Now the phrase: and He gave you life (fa‑aḥyākum):
If You Were to Ask: The conjunction fa‑ and denotes succession and contact [that is, there should be no ‘distance’ between what precedes and succeeds it], but doesn’t it interrupt the stages and isn’t there a long interval between death or lifeless beings and life?
You Would Be Told: The fa‑ indicates the source of the proof of the Maker, and that is the transformation of particles spontaneously from an inanimate to an animate state without the intervention of a reasonable cause, which compels the mind to acknowledge the Maker.
Moreover, the stages in the conditions of inanimate beings are defective and inconstant, and are characterized by [swift] succession.
And the choice of He gave you life (aḥyākum) rather than (lit.) you became alive (ṣirtum aḥyā’an) is for clarification; that is,
“you became alive and this was possible only through the Maker’s power. It has to be concluded therefore that it is Allah the Most High who gives life.”
Then the substitution of then will He cause you to die (thumma yumītukum) for you will die (tamūtūn) indicates, as has been mentioned, that death is a vast act of [divine] power in accordance with the measuring of divine determining (qadar). You have surely noticed that it is only a tiny minority who live out their full natural span. This makes one realize that death is not a natural consequence. It is the dissolution of the body, not the extinction of the spirit; it is indeed, the liberation of the spirit.
In the phrase and then He will bring you again to life (thumma yuḥyīkum), then (thumma) indicates the intervention of the Intermediate Realm with its strange wonders.
In the phrase and again to Him will you return (thumma ilayhi turja‘ūn), “then” indicates the existence of the great veil,
while its raising, and the repulsion of causes and dismissal of intermediaries are indicated by to Him will you return.
If You Were to Ask: Returning to Allah the Most High necessitates having come from Him in the first place, and because of this some people have imagined there to be union [with Allah] and some Sufis have fallen into doubt?
You Would Be Told: Just as in this world there is existence and its continuance, so in the hereafter there is existence and its continuance. In this world of flux and change existence emanates from the hand of power without intermediary, but [its] continuance is encompassed by composition and decomposition, and the disposal of power and change, and for the instances of wisdom mentioned above causes intervene [in it]. But in the hereafter both existence and [its] continuance will appear [directly] from the hand of power with all their necessities and compositions, and everything will know its True Owner. If you think about this, you will understand the meaning of “return”.