Saba (Sheba)

3. “And those who disbelieve say: ‘The Hour (of Judgment) shall not come upon us.’ Say: ‘Yes! By my Lord, the Knower of the unseen, it shall certainly come upon you, from Him is not hidden the weight of (even) an atom in the heavens nor in the earth, and neither is anything smaller than that, nor greater, but (all) is in a manifest Book.”

It does not matter that the blasphemous words and expressions may be cited in order to criticize or nullify them.

1- The rejecters of the resurrection often merely claim something and they have no reasoning for it.

The former holy verses, though referred to Unity and the attributes of Allah, contained something about the subject of Resurrection, because, as we will see later, the problems of the subject of Resurrection will not be solved except by the way of infinite knowledge of Allah.

That is why, the verse under discussion at first says:

“And those who disbelieve say: ‘The Hour (of Judgment) shall not come upon us.’…”

Not only for us, but also for neither of human beings there will be a Resurrection.

By this way they wanted to get ‘freedom of action’ and perform whatever they could do, hoping that there is no reckoning and no justice at the end.

But, in view of the fact that the evidences of Hereafter are manifest, by means of a decisive sentence, and in the form of stating the conclusion, the Qur’an orders the Prophet (S) to declare:

“…Say: ‘Yes! By my Lord, the Knower of the unseen, it shall certainly come upon you…”

The emphasis is on the word ‘Lord’, because the Hereafter is one of the affairs of Lordship. How is it possible that Allah is the cherisher of human beings and makes them progress alongside the path of development but in the midway He leaves them and, by death, everything comes to an end, while man’s life becomes aimless and his creation would become naught.

This very subject has been emphasized on in Surah At-Taqabun, No. 64, verse 7, where it says:

“The unbelievers think that they will not be raised up (for Judgment). Say: ‘Yes, by my Lord, you shall surely be raised up; then shall you be told (the Truth) of all that you did…”

And since one of the objections of the opponents of Resurrection was that when the man’s body becomes dust and its particles will be scattered around, who can recognize them, and gather them, and return them to life again?

On the other hand, who can keep the account of all the deeds of the servants, hidden and manifest, inward and outward, and reckon them in a proper time?

So, in the continuation of the verse, the Qur’an adds:

“…from Him is not hidden the weight of (even) an atom in the heavens nor in the earth…”

The Qur’anic word /ya‘zub/ is derived from /‘uzub/ which originally means: ‘going far from the family for finding a pasture’.

The verse continues saying:

“…and neither is anything smaller than that, nor greater, but (all) is in a manifest Book.”

Thus, neither the atoms of the man’s body scattered about in the earth nor their being mixed with other creatures, nor even the entrance of these parts into the body of other men by means of food stuffs, none can create any problem for their being returned together in Hereafter.

Their deeds will remain in this world, too, though their forms change, and He is well aware of all these things.

Similar to this meaning is also recited in Surah Qaf, No. 50, verses 3 and 4, where the Qur’an says:

“What! When we die and become dust (shall we live again?) that is a (sort of) Return far (from our understanding)” “We already know how much of them the earth takes away; with Us is a Record guarding (the full account).”

Concerning the objective meaning of the Qur’anic phrase /kitabun mubin/ (a manifest Book), many commentators have said it is ‘The Protected Tablet’.

But there is another question asking: what is the Protected Tablet? As we have said before, the most probable meaning which can be stated for it is that it is the very tablet of the infinite knowledge of Allah wherein everything is recorded, and no change will occur in it.

The vast world of existence is also a reflection of this Protected Tablet, because all the particles of ourselves and all our sayings and deeds will remain protected in it, though their appearance will outwardly change, but they will never vanish.