As-Sajda (The Prostration)

Verse 10

Table of Contents

    10. “And they said: ‘When we are lost in the earth, shall we even then be (returned) into a new creation?’ Nay! They are disbelievers in the meeting of their Lord.”

    In the previous verse we recited that Allah has given us two means of understanding (eye and ear) and He complains that we give thanks a little. The verse under discussion is one of the examples that states the ungratefulness of man that, after seeing all the providence and power of the Almighty, yet man doubts the establishment of Hereafter.

    In this holy verse, too, it says:

    “And they said: ‘When we are lost in the earth, shall we even then be (returned) into a new creation?’…” The application of the sentence “we are lost in the earth” refers to this fact that after his death man will become dust, like other kinds of dust, and, as the result of natural factors and non-natural ones, every particle of it will be thrown in a corner and it seems that there remains nothing of him until when he will be returned again in Hereafter.

    But, in fact, they do not deny the power of Allah in this action, but they deny the meeting of their Lord. They want to reject the stage of meeting their Lord which is the stage of Divine reckoning and giving reward and retribution in order that, consequently, they become free to do whatever they want to do in this world.

    The verse says:

    “…Nay! They are disbelievers in the meeting of their Lord.”

    In fact, this verse has much similarity to the beginning verses of Surah Al-Qiyamah that say:

    “Does man think that We cannot assemble his bones?” “Nay, We are able to put together in perfect order the very tips of his fingers.” “But man wishes to do wrong (even) in the time in front of him.” “He questions: ‘When is the Day of Resurrection?’”1

    Therefore, they do not need anything from the point of reasoning; but their lusts have cast a curtain over their heart, and their evil intentions hinder them to accept the subject of Resurrection.

    Else, the same Lord Who has given this property to a piece of magnet that it absorbs to itself the very tiny pieces of iron that have been lost inside so much dust by a search in the dust and it easily gathers them, can create such a mutual attraction among the particles of the body of man, too.

    The majority of the germ of the man’s body is water. Who can deny that the existing water in his body, as well as every part of its food stuff had been scattered in different points of the world, for example, one thousand years ago, every drop of it was in an ocean and every particle of it in a land.

    But, by the means of pieces of cloud, rain, and other natural factors they were gathered and finally were formed as the man’s body. It is not surprising that after their destruction and returning to their first state, they will gather together again and join to each other.