Ghafir (The Forgiver)

68. It is He Who gives life and causes death. And when He decides upon a thing He says to it only: “Be!” and it is.

It is solely God Almighty Who gives life and causes death. He is omnipotent and nothing lies beyond His Omnipotence. His Will is inevitable and irresistible.

The blessed Verse treats of the most significant manifestations of Divine Omnipotence which is the question of life and death. Despite scientific advancement, the two phenomena are still dilemmas. Life and death in the broader sense of the words as applicable to plants, animals, and human beings in diverse forms are within Divine Omnipotence.

It is worthy of note that living beings, from monocellular to gigantic beings living in the dark depths of oceans to the birds soaring in the sky, to planktons, to trees whose heights reach tens of meters each have a particular type of life and circumstances. It is in the same vein that they differ in the manner of death.

Forms of life are indubitably the most diverse and the most wondrous forms of the world of creation, particularly coming from the inanimate into the animate world and vice versa are one of the most amazing manifestations of Divine Omnipotence.

It is needless to say that none of these intricate and significant issues constitutes any difficulty before Him and they come into being so long as He commands them to do likewise.

Therefore, the blessed Verse thus closes:

“And when He decides upon a thing He says to it only: ‘Be!’ and it is.”

The employment of

“Be”

and

“and it is”

indicates the incompetence of words in conveying meaning, otherwise there would be no need to such words since Divine Will directly leads to the creation of the being.